strange encounter with the maid during our stay at the SWAN

[gm]

I did a review a while back stating our wonderful stay but I forgot to mention this strange incident!!!:

I arrived back from the parks and were walking back to our room when we noticed someone singing loud in a different language (like praying)when we were in the hallway. when we got closer to our room we noticed the maid buggy outside our room and our room was open and the maid was singing out loud from our room. She did not notice us coming in and when we entered my kids got quite a shock!! the maid had her hands raised up in the air and she was literally praying with singing in her language. Her hands were going back and forth in the air and she was moving her body and her eyes were closed. We stood there for about 4minutes before she opened her eyes and was suprised to see us there. She just smiled and asked for our room card to make sure we were in "our" room to verify. She had about finished cleaning except for the vacuming at which she asked if we wanted our room vacumed and we politely refused because we wanted her to leave after that strange incident. she didnt give us an explanation on what she was doing and we didnt ask. When we left my 10yr old son said "maybe she was blessing our room" lol!!! my 5 yr old had a different idea though!!!. It was just very odd and strange because I started to look around the room thinking was it messy and was she upset or was it just her prayer time? lol. The thing that bugged me was that when we entered the room we were quite but my daughter was talking but she still continued to pray in her language which was jamaican by the sounds of it.

anyways this was the only strange incident during our wonderful trip lol
:eek: :eek: :eek: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[ducklite]

I just reread this post, and am rethinking what I wrote earlier. In rereading it, I picked up on a couple more things. My bet is that the housekeeper was Haitian. They speak Creole, a derivative of French. While the original religion of Haiti was Vodou, in the 1800's Catholicism was introduced by missionaries, and the majority of Haitians are Catholic. Within the past forty years other forms of Christianity have also emerged, most frequently Baptist and evangilical Protestantism. It's very likely that your housekeeper was a Christian who was praying in Creole.

Anne

[J. Thornhill]

I'm pretty sure Jamaicans speak english, though with a heavy accent and patois variations which are occasionally very difficult to understand. That being said, the whole thing would have upset and angered me as well.

Quite honestly, a workplace is a workplace. If I started in with some incanatations during a staff meeting, I'm sure I'd probably have to explain myself to the rest of the marketing team.

I might even have gone so far as to firmly, though respectfully inquire as to what exactly she was doing. If I was not satisfied, I might have spoken to a superior.

These things are always sort of tough. On one hand you want to be respectful of someone's culture and faith, while on the other there's a time and place for everything.

Sorry you were jarred like that. Again, it would have thrown me for a loop as well.

Jonathan

[CamColt]

Wow! That is strange.:confused:
Thats even worse than what my parents encountered in Bermuda last week. They returned to their room one day to find the maid sitting watching tv. :eek:

[Bob NC]

When we returned to our FW cabin one night, we found nothing had been cleaned. We could tell the maid had been there though, because even though she didnt put the dirty dishes in the diswasher, she DID leave the diswasher detergent in a more prominent place in the middle of the counter. Oh yeah, she also left a prominent new stain in the toilet.

All in all, I'd take the Haitain praying any day. (But after your room blessing ya shoulda purchased a lottery ticket).

[DisneyFan09]

I'm LOL but I know I wouldn't be had any of these things happened to me!! Bob NC that is way too funny!! I think with all of the different cultures being represented at WDW odd things are bound to happen. ;)

[bweagle]

DH and I were staying in Chicago last week and returned to our room one evening to find our maid had used the restroom in our room, plugged the toilet and not bothered to fix the situation. Not a pleasant situation to come back too. We called down to the front desk who sent up a guy with a plunger....they're answer to our complaint "sometimes things like this happen":rolleyes:

[Rgood2us]

LOL

bweagle

Certainly gives a new meaning to the popular phrase "XXXX Happens!"

:D :D :D :D

[tigger'spal]

One time we were at a hotel and our room was cleaned at 7pm because the maid had come and said she had come but she didn't do anything at all. The maid who came at 7pm was nice and she said sorry over and over.

[mjenni27]

What about this upset you? Was it that she did not notice that you had entered? That she did not speak in english? That she might have actually been praying? :confused: It is very possible that your 10 yr old is right. A lot of people pray with their hands in the air. I know that some of my best prayertime comes when I am doing menial labor (the body is busy but the mind is quiet and you get a chance to have a good one on one with God). She may not have even been singing in Jamaican, she may have been singing in the Spirit. True, a workplace is a workplace, but you do not have to leave your God at the door when you punch the timeclock. While some may be angry to hear this, it is no different than a person singing along with the radio when they are working. How is it OK for a person to sing to a secular song while on the clock but somehow taboo for them to sing praises to their God when they are working. I would have been thrilled to have walked in on this (jumping for joy even :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: ) and probably would have started a conversation but to each his own. You had a very special encounter with one of the employees there, a chance to see the human side of her, enjoy it instead of trying to analyze it.:D

[gepetto]

Originally posted by mjenni27
What about this upset you? Was it that she did not notice that you had entered? That she did not speak in english? That she might have actually been praying? :confused:


I don't think the person that posted this was upset. Maybe they just found it a little odd since it was taking place in his room.

Until I found out exactly who this person was praying to I would probably hold off on the jumping for joy.

[mjenni27]

Originally posted by gepetto



I don't think the person that posted this was upset. Maybe they just found it a little odd since it was taking place in his room.

Until I found out exactly who this person was praying to I would probably hold off on the jumping for joy.

You are correct that I should not have assumed that the original poster was upset. The post merely says that they were bugged. But for the record, I was not the first to think gm upset, J. Thornhill got the same read from the post.

Maybe I am just to naive to think badly about anyone that they were devil worshipping in my room.

[April76]

I can understand being surprised about walking into your room and seeing your maid behaving in an unusual manner -- not what you expect to see when the cart is parked outside your room!

It seems perfectly normal to me that you would wonder what she was doing... I know I'd be curious (and glad I didn't find any "surprises" in the bathroom ;) )

Just another "memorable moment" from WDW! :D

[gm]

mjenni27 please do not assume I was upset LOL!!!!!!. IT was just a STRANGE ENCOUNTER thats all!!!!. I mean, I didnt expect to find someone singing aloud with their hand raised up in our ROOM of all places. I am not sure about you but I definitly would think that is strange at a workplace when the room owners could just walk right in since our room was open and occupied by US. It was not that this room was emptied out by us and the maid was cleaning it up for the next person to occupy the room. I mean we were still occupying the room. Like I said it was just a STRANGE ENCOUNTER thats all nothing else!!!!!!!!!!. :D :D :D :D . I dont think I said the word UPSET or BUGGED in my original post nor did I say that she was devil worshipping!!!!!LOL :p :D some people just crack me up by taking things way too seriously. Like I said it is just strange to encounter this in your room that is occupied by you and hearing someone in another language singing or praying and doing strange body movements instead of doing her job. :D :D :D :D

[mjenni27]

GM,

I have seen cleaning people at hotels that I have stayed at singing with the radio and without it often. So to me, that doesn't seem that strange. As to bugged, it may not be what you meant but it is what you said. To quote "The thing that bugged me was that when we entered the room we were quite but my daughter was talking but she still continued to pray in her language which was jamaican by the sounds of it." If I mistook your statement, I apologize.

[gm]

oh thats right I did say the word "bugged". Yes that did bug me that my daugher was talking and the maid did not hear her because she was busy singing in her language with her hands raised up and body moving. YES I would understand if she had a radio on and she was dancing to the music while cleaning but in this case she wasnt and again like my original post explains it was a strange encounter. LOL!!! just never experienced it before thats all!!!:D :D ;)

[Bob NC]

Ya know.....Sometimes it seems you could make a post that says...."Hi, I'm having a wonderful day"....and get an argument out of it.....

[Ajax]

In '99 we returned to our room at POFQ from an EE :( at one of the parks around 11am. We found our Mousekeeper sitting cross legged on the end of one of the beds watching Jerry Springer.
She freaked! I don't think I've ever seen anyone move that fast that wasn't on fire. TV off, armoir doors closed, remote on the nightstand, bed smoothed, all at light speed! Profuse apologies followed.
We didn't have a problem. The room was very well cleaned, she was a nice person, and was just taking break. :D

[Poohbear123]

This would not surprise me, as when riding a Miami-Dade County Bus, you SEE this ALL the time!:rolleyes: If its not a Spanish person, spewing in spanish about Castro, than its the Haitians or Jamaicans talking very loud, in english AND thier Language quoting Bible Scriptures! You being from Texas, this is NEW to you!;)

[materialgirl8558]

Maybe the person who was praying in your room was Islamic. I am not very well informed on that religion but I do know that 5 times a day they have to face Mecca to pray. Hey you never know.

[mjenni27]

Not Islamic for sure. Islam teaches praying on knees and bowing toward Mecca. With hands raised doing whatever she was doing definitely rules out Islam.

[Bob NC]

Well I say the only business they have going into my room is to work. I'm sure management would agree with me too. Nothing against any religion, but they have 16 hours a day of personal prayer time, 8 hours work time.

[mjenni27]

So Bob,

Are you saying that in your whole career, you have never done anything personal at work? If you have then you have no right to expect anything different from them. If you have not done anything personal (gotten a drink of water on company time, gone to the bathroom on company time, talked about anything relating to your other 16 hours of life, etc.) then you are probably the only person in America who hasn't. Give her a break, if she cleaned the room, then what does it matter that she is praying or making a shopping list while she is doing it?

[Bob NC]

mjenni27...In an earlier post you likened it to, (paraphrasing), "singing while you work"....Now it's like going to the bathroom or having a personal conversation? Well, like most people who work, I do go to the bathroom and get drinks of water....BUT, I am sure the maid does all those things too, and she has every right to. But why does she have the right to use a room *someone* has paid for in order to practice her personal religion? I used to work in a hotel, and while I got drinks while working, occasionally went to the bathroom, even had personal conversations....I did NONE of those things in a guests room.

[Tluvs2talk]

It seems that every topic on this board turns into an argument anymore.

[Saa62]

I feel I must chime in on this one. The thread was started with "strange encounter with the maid during our stay at the SWAN". Nothing to the effect of "I didn't like what saw" or "she shouldn't do that in my room" just a statement about what was encountered. I did not see anything judgemental, racist or religous that would be considered offensive. Perhaps a bit of curiosity about what was really going on, but nothing condeming the activity. Please give the initiator a break, it was only an observation.

[Bob NC]

Honestly sorry for my off topic replies.....I earlier made a post asking why nobody can make an observation without it turning into an argument....Then <poof>, I got sucked into the arguers rant.

Sorry.

[DisneyFan09]

Saa62- "Ditto"

[Tluvs2talk]

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

[walt's assistant]

At the severe risk of prolonging this debate....

I am a devout Catholic man and have a deep respect for many religions and beliefs. HOWEVER, religious beliefs aside for a moment, that maid's behaviour was simply unprofessional.

That maid's job is to clean the room. Period. And a guest's room should be treated by a maid the same as if it were the guest's private home...which, essentially, it is for a brief period of time.

There is nothing wrong with prayer. That maid has every right to pray. However, if she has a personal need to stop and pray publicly during work hours, her manager needs to be aware of it (and agree to it as an "OK" activity on company time) and a private place should be defined and agreed to for her use.

[stepping down from my soapbox now...]

[StevieD]

Geez, you guys are rough. Live and let live. As long as the room is clean, what's the problem? We should all be a little more tolerant of each other.

[raidermatt]

I agree, this is a strange encounter, and personally, I would have been irritated. Especially if it took 4 minutes for her to stop. Actually, I wouldn't have given her 4 minutes.

She was using the time for a personal activity, which is usually between her and her employer. However, when I return to my room and she is still in it because she is engaging in her personal activity, and, she continues for 4 minutes after I return, it's a problem.