This is..not a bad idea? I know several people that kept paying their cleaning people during COVID despite them not being able to come, because they were remote workers and could easily afford it.

It's called noblesse oblige. People with means in their daily lives constantly make financially unsound decisions out of a sense of duty and responsibility.

That microsoft is cutthroat here, sure, it is the nature of transactional corporate relations, but it would be a sad, ugly world if individuals internalized this same dehumanizing ethos in their personal dealings.

I paid our cleaners during the first months of covid despite them not coming over... we've been using the same few people for almost a decade now. All the restrictions our governments created really fucked over people like them.

I don't uber/lyft, and I don't have cleaning staff. I do keep the lawn company coming, without too much respect to the amount of savings I have. There was a time when I didn't, but... if keeping these extra services amounts to less than a single percent of my cash on hand, I'll likely keep them going.

My roommate and I literally kept our maid on retainer during COVID when she could not come.