Maid to Last ......NOT

Those who know me will know that I have not had very many domestic maids. Reason being I had one who was with us for a long time. Nikka was with us for more than 8 years so I only had one, another Filipino for 2 years before her and maybe another one or two temporary ones in between and along the way.

I did not have many problems with one maid who left last year..my first real Indonesian helper. She was slow in the beginning but she picked things up very fast. With the exception of her very very deep voice, I found her to be totally acceptable and was sorry to see her leave after her 2 yr contract ended.

Then came my latest…good lord, as I write this I suddenly had a thought – am I actually writing an entry that revolves around her…???! Well, yes, looks like that’s exactly what I’m about to do. Hey, isn’t a blog supposed to be cathartic…

She is slow…let me tell you she has been slow ever since she arrived 9 months ago. The odd (or rather infuriating) thing is this – I noticed that she can be quite efficient, yes, you got it – only when she chooses to be so. She hardly has any initiative but never mind all that. She is quite a bit of a Ms Defensive – “taaak, ibu tak beli cheese. Iya, Ani udah check la..” And voila, the cheese is there in the fridge but hey, she will still defend herself.

This week though she has been really - really testing my patience. In the last week –

i. she insisted her bibik wants to come to our house to snap a picture of her – to send back to Indon
ii. my son found a book where she wrote she bought a handphone tapi majikan tak tau
iii. she told my sister’s maid that her boyfriend back home is pressuring her to return to Indonesia
iv. she also told the other maid that she cant stand my two older sons so she wants to leave

So last nite we confronted her.

i. She literally begged that we allow this bibik to come and we said NO.
ii. She told on the boys (weekdays are meant to be PS free) but the boys main ps tadiii
ii. She said her father never really agreed to allow her to come here to work in the first place – DUH…

No mention of boyfriend, no admission of owning a handphone but she did say she has a phone card and borrows the handphone of our neighbor’s maid, which she had told me some time ago.

I have had enough so we said please decide if you want to work - otherwise, feel free to leave. But since she will be in breach of her contract should she decide to leave, she will leave empty handed. She did not seem to mind. My dad’s theory - the bibik may be somebody who’s got some contact that can offer her a new job – thus the need for the picture.

She said she would inform us of her decision this morning but she did not. Hubby said, what if she changes her mind, maybe she wants to stay…Oh please, I would rather have her leave….