Sorry to hear about this. I think if you live here long enough this is one of those unfortunate situations. I had the same thing happen a few years ago. It is a horrible feeling not to be able to trust your maid. I had a maid for 3 years and she was always very good, did a great job and was honest. One day I started missing some cash that I had in a drawer. I wasn't sure but then I counted and placed some money in a drawer and sure enough it was missing.
First of all, I am very sorry to hear about this as it must be tough since she has worked for you for so many years. 12 years would be like part of the family. Ours hasn't worked that long but she already is like family. Ours actually asks us for loans or if we can pay her in advance sometimes and although that can also be stressful I would rather do that than her have to steal from us. Once you lose that trust, you will always wonder. Not sure if you want to give her one warning. Anything else missing from your house @Avocado?
I would agree with this based on my experience. Once you lose trust you will never get it back.
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.
Thank you all for good advice. I have good talk with her like Sunny mention. I am aware of what I buy so it was easy to see things like toilet paper missing. I only buy 4 at a time. In this case I just saw 4 rolls and then later in afternoon I see 3 rolls. I thought I going crazy. I look in her bag and I see it. My heart broke. I love this maid like sister.
That is terrible about the jewelry. I cannot believe she would dare to put the necklace in photos. What has this world come to when things like this happen. I think if you live in South America long enough you will experience this. I also had the same thing happen to me years ago but it wasn't with theft of my goods at home. The maid was using my debit card to make small purchases for herself. I believe she was also buying extra food at the store each time she would buy my groceries. I fired her immediately which I think is the only thing you can do.
My pleasure, Avocado. Glad to hear you had a good talk with her. If she is a decent person, it must've been very hard for her to face the consequences of her acts. You both learned some very important from this.
Actually, this sort of thing happens all over the world, even in the States. I have lived in three continents and six countries. In the States some of my neighbors (gated community) complained about maids and gardeners stealing from them.
This is very true. I have several properties in various countries and this problem exists everywhere not just Argentina. Just the other day here in the gated community that I live in, one of our good friends and neighbors caught her maid taking some stuff. Nothing major and just same kind of thing as @Avocado. It was food items. Our friend has a live in maid and they buy her food but her mom went into her room and she found a bag full of a bunch of food items (she goes to Tijuana on the weekends). Stuff like energy bars, beef jerky, and various food items.
