About Me

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
A 40 something dad of five and a half wonderful kids with amazingly different traits and temperament from whom he wants a break from at times, yet wish they never grow older.....and be with him always.....(howzat possible?)and now wishing that he can be a stay at home dad......

02 August, 2007

We are going to miss you...NOT!

I don't like to call them "maids"...House helper sounds more decent! And this is the picture of ours which was taken a week or so after she first arrived in Malaysia. Her size now....has increased by one third.What good life she has. Even the agency exclaimed to her "Have you been doing work or have you been eating a lot?". She really CAN eat (half a pot of a small rice cooker is just lunch!)!
Having her is like, to quote wifey "having another child of ours in the house except that she irons and play with the two younger ones"! My wife cooks at 5.30 am for breakfast and lunch every day, mops the floor, washes all the toilets (including my maid's) and I do the laundry of about three loads a day.
Her contract is ending in January 2008...but wifey decided to send her home before it expires since wifey wants to train her replacement before our fifth baby arrives early October or late September. She's flying off this coming Saturday.
Called her dad this morning and told him to wait for her when she arrives in Jakarta and the first thing he asked "Berapa uangnya kesemuanya" (How much is the wages in total that she's going to be paid?) I was like....."Aren't you going to ask the flight details etc etc.....?". When I broke the news to her...it was exactly the same response "Bagimana dengan uangnya..mahu dibayar dengan cek atau apa?" (What about the wages? How are you paying?By cheque?). In my heart, wasn't she interested why we are sending her back earlier than she is supposed to go back? The thing about her and her dad is that it's all money money money...It doesn't matter whether she actually deserves to be paid the wages in full or otherwise. What is due to her is still due to her...., right? Regardless of how incompetent she has been and how wifey and I have been doing half of her workload thusfar!
We have had good ones before....One was with us for almost six years until she was betrothed to a man who was 10 years younger than her and who was really leeching her financially that she had to resort to keeping and seling my wife's wedding ring and jewelleries (in spite of us bringing her for a holiday abroad, buying her jewelleries and giving bonuses). We just had to send her home! She actually named his son with the new husband after our second son, Yusof whom she looked after since he was three month old!
The other one only lasted for a year because she was offerred a teaching position back home after paying the middle person (did you know that to secure a government job you need to pay thiese middlemen fees? That's the extent of corruption there) her one year of salary working with us...Only to find out after she got back that that middle man wanted more and she was left in the lurch! She recently gave birth to a baby girl and named her after our first daughter, Siti Khadijah....My parents are flying over to Medan next Monday and I have told this ex-helper to wait at the airport to get goodies from us which I am sending through my parents!
But this present one......I don't think she'll be sorely missed.....
Keeping our fingers crossed that the new one who's arriving tomorrow will be better tah the existing one! Pray for us, yah!

9 comments:

Halwafy said...

Good Luck on your new one...coz really, no matter what the agent says and how much you pay..it's all luck..

Your wife and you must be pretty patient to let her off just like that - I would melenting at the first sign of curi tulang and would really lecture my maid if she does not do what she's supposed to...:)

Anonymous said...

Salam to u. So i got the right person ya? Which alumni i belong to? I think the one very near to yours (if i remember yr alumni correctly, that is)! Actually it's yr name that rang the bell. Muka manalah nak ingat! Was also in the debate team. Tu yg rasa familiar.
Maids??? ...urghhh...tapi nak buat macam mana kan? Sabar, sabar and tawakkal, kan? Every time nak ambil maid baru, i punya doa mengalahkan doa nak pergi interview kerja!! ha ha

Xis said...

Haq
hopefully you'll find a better maid later. My god-sister's maids have been serving her for almost 12 years.. and they have been good in what they do.. cooking, housekeeping etc.. And they are like family to us..

ZEYN, THE PERPETUAL STRANGER said...

Abg Haq,

maid woes - been there.

i guess it all lies to one's intention to work. we've never been cruel to our maids but 2/3 of them were really from hell!

with or without them, i'd rather do the house chores myself.

have a great weekend, bro!

zaitgha said...

i think it goes both ways...been lucky with maids so far, but i only had 2. the last one was with me for 6 years and i was really like a queen...she was fantastic...and like you, mana jer we all pergi angkut dia sekali...but when we shifted here she decided not to come with us and i already decided to stay home anyway...so we send her home...

Dad of 4+1 said...

Halwafy - Not that we are patient...Our anger is undescribable that there are no words which can reflect it!

Anon - Owh you were down the valley huh? I was there 81-85...U my batch? You are right on the doa before ambil new maid!

Xis - Ur god-sis is so lucky!

Zeyn - That's why wifey does all the things herself...What to do, we need someone at home to receive the kids bila balik sekolah and look after them while we are at work.

Zai - I agree it should be both ways but when the other just shuts you out tu yang problems start!

Harajuku PearL said...

My parents started having maids when Mom started working but we were tasked to do our own chores anyway. However every single one sure have an issue. The worst is the one that uses black magic!!...When we found out, me and my brother dare not to come home until our parents reached home first. Waiting for her to be sent back home was sooo agonising...
Pato didn't belive in having live in maids at all after a bad experience at his parents. So doing housechores is literally split between the 2 ducks...but he cleans the toilet (as stated in fine print in the marriage cert)...hehehehe

Wish u all the best with your new helper!!!

Pearl

sherrina said...

maid...maid...payah nak cari yg decent maid. Dulu nyaris ditinggalkan dalam umah masa banjir sbb maid lari. Panik tgk air naik. Pastu kene tibai sampai lebam, kurung dalam store. Pengalaman dok dgn maid indon. Penah dapat maid melayu tapi zaman la ni tadak dah. Depa lagi suka keje kilang.

Dad of 4+1 said...

P & P - Horror nya! Thanks for the wish!

Sherrina - Alamak...teruknya! Ya lah, my mum used to have a local helper till I was about 19!

on my mind certainly constantly

on my mind certainly constantly