Do’s and don’ts to avoid a fight with your foreign domestic cleaner:

1- Do not think that there is only one right way (your way!) to communicate.

2- Learn from generalisations about your cleaner’s culture, but do not use these generalisations to creat stereotypes.

3- Practise, practice and practice!. If you don’t, you do not learn.

4- Do not think that communication problems happen because other people are on the wrong. Always search for new ways to make that communication work.

5- Listen actively and empathetically. Put yourself on her shoes and you will improve your communication skills.

6- Try to look at the situation as an outsider. Analysing the situation as a “third person” will give you more in depth and will help you to resolve the problem quicker.

7- Remember that cultural norms might not apply to the behaviour of your particular domestic cleaner. We are not only shaped by our culture; the ethnic background, the family or the education influence how we grow as individuals.