Cleaning up in Hawaii homes

Rafael Cantoria helps employees of the Maids get the job done, and get it done right

Rafael Cantoria Title: Field manager Job: Makes sure cleaning teams for the Maids Home Services are doing their jobs properly

Rafael Cantoria applied for a job at the Maids Home Services in Honolulu on a whim, and was surprised when they actually hired him. But he's happily been working for the franchise ever since, checking the work quality of the company's six home-cleaning teams and doing some of the cleaning himself. Cantoria moved to Hawaii in 1990 from the Philippines, where he had worked 22 years for the U.S. Navy at Subic Bay. The high school graduate started as a warehouseman, then moved up the ranks to customer service supervisor, then supply systems analyst, picking up many employee awards along the way. Eventually, he applied to move to the United States. Why? "Everybody likes to come here, to make more money, of course," he said last week. "That's everybody's dream." With his wife and children, his first stop was Hawaii. "When we got here, I told my family we will not stay here long, but the more we stayed, the more we wanted to stay." He found work immediately, as an operations dispatcher at Honolulu Wood Treating Co., where he had been working until shortly before he joined the Maids in 1997. Cantoria is 61 and lives in West Loch Fairways with his wife, Teresita, with whom he has three adult daughters.

Question: What is your main responsibility at the Maids?

Answer: I'm responsible for all the training when they hire a new employee, and I assume the responsibility of the quality control. I make sure that all the cars are running well and properly stocked, with towels, chemicals; I'm responsible for giving the workers their work sheets. And I make sure the keys are with them.

Q: To the homes, you mean?

A: Yeah, to the homes. Some of the customers give us their keys. I also give them instructions, if there are special instructions from the customer.

Q: Do you do cleaning work, too?

A: Oh, yes, yes. When somebody is not coming to work, I take their place. I work as a regular, also, but mostly supervise, to run the teams.

Q: How long have you been with the Maids?

A: I started May 7, 1997.

Q: What were you doing before you joined the Maids?

A: I was a dispatcher at Honolulu Wood Treating. I was laid off because construction slowed down.

So there was an opening at the Maids, and my sister-in-law and wife applied. While we were there, they (the Maids) asked me to apply, too, so I did. I was interviewed by Mira (Savara), the wife of the owner (Arun Savara). I told her, "You win if you hire me, because I speak English and I speak Filipino, because most of your employees are Filipino." So they hired me. She said, OK, come back to work -- the following day. I was going, "Oh, why did I apply?" It was just a joke. I was still enjoying collecting unemployment, and it was more than I was going to be getting paid. But I'd rather work collecting minimum wage than take unemployment. So I went back to work.

Q: So your sister-in-law and wife never hired on?

A: No, I am the one who landed the job. (Laughter)

Q: How did you learn about cleaning then?

A: They let me watch the video, about their system, how they do everything, how you stir the right chemicals, how the team works. I had applied for supervisor, so I had to be trained in the field first.

Q: Are you the only field manager?

A: Right now, yes.

Q: Does that mean you inspect the work that others do?

A: Yes. I have to check all the teams -- random checks -- for the quality.

Q: What do you look for?

A: I'm looking for the quality, if they are on time, if they are late, or they are off the system, or on the system, if the maid still needs some kind of training. Not only that, I have to talk to the customers, if they are home, to see if they are satisfied, if they have any complaints or comments. I take notes about that and discuss with the team.

Q: How many people are on a cleaning team usually?

A: Four: one supervisor, one assistant and two regular maids.

Q: How many teams of cleaners does the company have overall?

A: We have six right now.

Q: Do the teams clean only private homes or do they do offices and such, too?

A: We clean offices, doctors' offices sometimes, and guests houses, and we do some of the diplomats' houses. We have one big one, the Taiwanese, up on the Pali. We are cleaning that one, too.

Q: How many houses does a team do each day?

A: It depends on their budget. Every house has a different budget. But the average is about six to seven houses a day.

Q: Do you go all over the island?

A: No. Our area is from Kalama Valley up to Kalihi. The other side (of the island) is their area, a different owner.

Q: How many Maids companies are there in Hawaii?

A: Only two. The franchise covers the U.S. and Canada. Our main office is in Omaha.

Q: What kinds of things do you clean in a house?

A: Mostly the areas that we clean are the kitchen, the bathroom, dusting and vacuuming, and mopping the floor, of course. Sometimes we do the windows. A lot of our projects are move-outs and move-ins. Those we have to clean everything, from top to bottom, inside and outside, the windows, the screens. You have to move every appliance to clean behind, underneath, like that.

Q: What do you do if you find work that is unsatisfactory?

A: I have to teach them to do it right: It's supposed to be this way. I have to deal with them, because they're all different kinds of ethnicity, different kinds of attitude.

Q: Can you get people fired?

A: Uh, ... I don't want to do that.

Q: So you report to the company owner?

A: I have to correct it right then and there in the field, then I monitor their improvements.

Occasionally, they (the owners) will ask me how is this guy doing, but that's the only time I will tell them: Well, here is where this guy is weak, so I am concentrating on where this guy is weak.

Q: How many locations do you have to inspect each day?

A: I mostly check the first-time cleanings, to make sure the customer is satisfied, so the customer will go regular.

Q: That makes sense.

A: Yes. So we ask the customer what they need and so on. Some customers are very picky, and if we're gone before they get home, they'll call the office and we'll have to go back and fix it.

Q: What are your normal working hours?

A: Me, I'm teaching about 10 to 11 hours a day, because I have to come in first before everybody comes in, and I go home last. Once in a while the operations manager sends me home early, when everything is running fine. Or if I ask them, too -- "Oh, I have to go home early" -- and they'll give me a break.

Q: Do you like the variety of seeing all these different homes?

A: Yes, yes. You know what makes me happy and satisfied?

Q: No, what?

A: When the customer comes in and says, "Wow. How did you do that?" Or, "It smells so nice." Because some of these people haven't cleaned their homes in 20 or 30 years.

And you know what I like most? A lot of these people are old and retired and they're spending their money to clean their house. They like to sit around and watch us, and they like to talk to us while we work, and we listen to that, they talk about their youth, and they love it that we listen to them. I love talking with these people and hearing their stories.

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