Today we paid our Mae Bon for her first month of employment. She works for us 5 days a week, and we pay her the equivalent of $300. I have struggled with this small amount of pay for quite a while- yet here is what I know now:
-this is the going rate in our community, if a mae bon is paid more than others she may have trouble with the other mae bons who will try to sabotage her work ( put bleach in the washer) so she will be fired and then they can get her job which has a better salary
-some mae bons work 6 days a week, 12 hours a day
-there is a pecking order for mae bons, based on your nationality and who you know
- if one mae bon helps another get hired, then the newly hired mae bon is expected to repay the first mae bon with some hours of labor
-they do like to take a long lunch and visit :)
- the $300 we pay our mae bon is close to what a college graduate earns in Thailand...
so it is all relative
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