We've had our current maid or "home-helper" since Thane was born....so that's about 10 months now... (don't wanna get flamed for using the wrong terminology but to simplify my blogging from this point forth, I shall use the word - maid)
She's been really good help till today and especially with taking care of my baby boy. In terms of chores and work around the house, if you gauge against my "Dugong High Standards", she's maybe a 7/10, which is really more than anyone can ask for in a hired-hand.
Between Li-Anne and I, we've ALWAYS taken pride in how we treat our maid. We've wanted, from day one, to treat her as part of our family, we've always made it a point to tell our children that we're lucky that "Auntie" chooses to stay with us, we made it a point to teach our kids to respect her, say their P's & Q's, we included her in everything even down to the jelly soya-bean drinks which we buy 3times a week, we even made sure she had her meals on time and that she had her extra portion of rice because we know she's a carbo maniac.
Here's the clincher -> LiAnne and I would take turns at night (and still do) to tend to Thane when he wakes (2-3times a night) just so that our maid get's uninterrupted 8 hours of sleep. Only on the rarest of occasions when we're both totally worn out by our baby boy, will we wake her to help out and even so, I would make it a point to tell her to wake a little later in the morning to compensate for the waking hours.
Why humbling you ask?
Because of our firm believe (and we actually tell people this) that if we all treat our maids like the way WE DO, things will turn out alright, and you won't have all those maid issues which we frequently hear and read about. We sometimes judge others for how they treat their maids and I'm not even talking about maid abusers -> i'm just talking about deviations from how we treat our maid.
Its funny how things turn out sometimes and how God uses these little things to teach you a lesson....just when you THINK you've got it all figured out and you're all proud about it, you find you've got it all Wrong somehow...
We just recently found out that our maid has been "bad mouthing" us to our parents in our absence.....it seems like she thinks she's now an indispensable piece of our family. We're apparently "lazy" and needs her help in everything...
We also found out that she's plotting to go on "home leave" in December, just to avoid having to help us pack and move to our new home. On the pretext that she has urgent personal issues at home to settle, she's requested for home leave (right smack in the middle of our move) and wants to only return in mid-January.
And the finishing move!! -> she says she's got no money to pay for her return ticket and embassy fees (for processing home leave) and that if we do not sponsor her, she will not return back to Singapore.
Can you believe she had the audacity to say that?
Is she entitled to home leave after 11months on the job? NO!
Am I obliged to sponsor her return trip home only after one year on the job? NO!
Does she have the right to say she does not want to return to Singapore? NO!
She's ON 2-YRS CONTRACT for crying out loud!! But does anyone care??
How are employers protected from something like this?
Sure I can say no and forbid her to leave the country but do I really want to keep an unhappy maid in the house, at the expense of my children's well-being and safety?
Well, we made a snap decision to get rid of her...she's gone in 3 days..she ain't a keeper...that's for sure...
I guess the worst part of this entire drama is that Terelle and Thane has gotten so used to having her in the house and they really treat her as part of our family. Her name is always mentioned together with "family" and we're terribly, terribly dissapointed at how things have turned out.
We managed to interview and secure a replacement maid on short notice..this will be our 3rd maid -> I must already be on the grey-list in MOM for BAD EMPLOYERS.
Anyway, I just wanna say that I'm truely humbled.... does this mean it was wrong for us to be nice to our maid? HELL NO....of course not.
But there is no absolute right nor wrong, I guess at the end of the day, we do what our conscience tells us is right...but all of us are never in a position to judge someone else just because they are doing something different....
Hmmm...maybe this time round with this new maid, I shall pretend I'm some big ear-hole debt collector or something...don't mess around with this SIR!!
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