To tell how bad situation here is I caught my maid stealing from me. I hire her for 12 years and always very good person. Last few weeks I notice my pantry missing some food. Normally I keep more but with tight budget I can't buy so much. Today I find in my maids bag cans of tuna and toilet paper and some other things. I feel very bad. I don't know if I should fire her. This show me truly how bad the situation is here.
If you can communicate with your maid in Castellano, talk to her. Tell her that you have noticed pantry items missing and that you know they are missing because "yo siempre hago una lista de lo que tengo en la alacena" and now you see that tuna cans and toilet paper rolls have disappeared. Tell her that things have become expensive to you too and you have been thinking about stopping the maid service, and now that things have started to disappear you are not sure you can trust her anymore. Most likely she will deny that she took anything and, if so, then you'll have to decide whether you want to give her another chance (since what she's stolen so far is pantry goods and not money). If she admits that she did take those things, that's a good thing, at least the woman is not a lier. In either case, it will be very difficult for you to trust her again. I wouldn't, I just can't forget that type of thing.
If your maid is reliable and performs well, dismissing her means having to search for and train a replacement, which can be quite challenging. Finding trustworthy and dependable maids isn't easy, as you know.
Yet, this unfortunate experience could lead to positive outcomes. By retaining your maid, she now knows that you keep a close eye on your belongings and feels a loss of trust. Moreover, she realizes that her income is at stake and knows that for a maid it is also not easy to find a good and fair employer, who won't exploit her.
I hope this situation can be resolved favorably for you. 🤞🏻
My mother always had two maids, a live-in, who was like a mother to me, and another woman who came three times a week to do the hard work (floors, glass, polishing, etc.). Our home had a separate service area with two small bedrooms, a bathroom, and a clever layout that kept our maid discreetly out of view. Yet, it's nearly impossible to shield everything from a live-in maid—she inevitably sees and hears things, even when we attempt to keep our conversations private. Often, when my father conducted business from home, he'd occasionally forget to shut one of the doors to his office. My mother would spend hours on the phone, often paying little attention to who might be listening.... We can never be certain what details maids may pick up about their employers' lives.
Because of that, I have never had live-in maids, keep nothing of value at home (no jewelry, nothing valuable that's easy enough for a thief to take).
BTW, I just thought that, in your case, it would help to keep a running list of what's in your pantry very visible to the maid. I know that sounds a bit too much, but it might help prevent more things from disappearing in the future.
(Sorry for such a long post!)
