Sad but true, that is what these girls think that they are to their employers - Mates!
I don't even know where to begin, my mind being jumbled up with so many things to write at the same time.
Let's start with the ridiculous demands from the Their Government, insisting that maids in Malaysia are allowed to go out on their off days with passports in hand. Don't get me wrong - I'm all for them having a day off each week, but going out on their own? With their passports? Seriously! If you asked me, I think they are underestimating what their 'Pembantu Rumahs' are capable of doing here....far away from home sweet home under the watchful eyes of their families and in some cases, their husbands too.
Take a deep breath and visualize this:
Exhibit A
Maid goes out on weekend, meets fellow worker from her country, exchange phone numbers, meet again the following week, and a couple of months later - pregnant. Tells employer that she wanna quit or sometimes, marry the father and demands that he has the rights to visit his wife and mother of his child at the employer's home.
Exhibit B
Maid goes out on weekend, meets fellow country-mate, exchange numbers and address, following week meet again and gives him a duplicate key to the front gate and door of employer's home, complete with details of when is 'the right time to visit her' or in a worse scenario, 'when is the right time to rob the house'..
Exhibit C
Maid goes out on weekend, meets contractor from her country, exchange phone numbers, fall in love at first sight and run away to live with Casanova.
All the above incidences have happened to friends of mine at some point.
Hmm. Still wanna have a maid? I guess I do need the extra hand at home. Call me a neat freak, but I love my home to be spotless 24/7.....I was able to do these by myself 10 years ago, but now......
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| No doubt, she has the sweetest smile, when she's pleased.... |
Nia is 22 years old. Came to work for us 4 years ago when she was only 18. From day 1, we treated her as one of the family. More like one of my kids, because every time we bought anything for Kelly and Daniel (foodwise), she'll have her share too. Then one day, unintentionally in a rush, while buying McD's for the kids' late nite supper, we forgot about her. When she realized that there wasn't any for her (note, that she already had her dinner) she strode into the kitchen, turned off the lights, sat on the floor and sulked to glory. She even turned down Kelly's offer to share the burger and fries with her. Reminiscing that itself is bringing about twisted nerves once again.
That's not all. Very recently, she stated that she wants to open up a Facebook account too. I wish I could laugh at that actually, but I honestly can't. In addition to that, 'Mate' also hinted that she would like her room to be air-conditioned, and wanna purchase a camera, for us to take pictures of her tenure in Malaysia!! Hey, if you think she's talking about a regular digital camera, you're wrong...After seeing Kelly's new DSLR, she wanted that type too...Ok, now I'm laughing. Bontade..
I used to love making her feel good about herself - generous with my praises and compliments whenever she had the initiative of doing something smart, but that has backfired. Now, she thinks no end about herself - and often credits herself (sneakily) about being the smartest among the other maids in the family, because of her ability to speak English... When she first arrived, the only English words she knew were 'Please',' Thank You' and 'Sorry'.
SLEEP - one of her priceless passions. her favorite times of the year has to be during the school holidays, where she conveniently wakes up between 8.30am to 9.30am...And on the last day of the hols before school started this year, she gave herself an extra treat by waking up at 11.00am. Hey Malaysians, she's better off than most of us, ay?
Even her constant cravings for certain particular disches to be cooked by her 'Mate' (which is me) is entertained. She'd go "Ibu, when you gonna make roast chicken", "Ibu so long I haven't eaten Devil curry.." and heck, she normally gets what she wants because silly old me will cook it for her in the next couple of days. And she appreciates all these...NOT! Because for the slightest thing that is done against her wishes, she retaliates by giving us a 'gift' in the form of the most annoying sulk! And sulk, she's good at.
One of the other maids in our family even went to the extent of giving my Aunt the cold shoulder for not being invited to the posh and glamorous 'Masquerade Ball'. Don't you just wanna.....
Rm600 goes into her account each month. On top of that, she also enjoys these privileges:
Free meals which obviously include breakfast, lunch and dinner...Not to mention all the additional snacks i.e. burgers, pizzas, KFC, Satay and whatever else that Sunny normally picks up on his way home from shooting.
Free accommodation (She's got a small but nice room to herself and pushed her luck a little when she requested for air-conditioning to be installed there!!!)
Free shampoos, shower creams, toothpaste and even sanitary towels...Not forgetting the free haircut, so that they don't go around walking like zombies with half the hair covering the face, especially when she oversleeps.
Last but not least, I'm not even gonna elaborate on the amount of presents she receives during Christmas, angpows during Chinese New Year, duit raya during Aidilfitri and cash from the Aunts every time they attend parties (which they enjoy) just to help wash a few dishes.
Hang on, there's one more...In Nia's case, let's not forget to add that she even goes to the movies with us, with her own set of popcorn, snacks and drinks provided. Why do I feel irritated just typing that out?
"Oh deary me..." as Ali Nadeem from Mind Your Language used to say, but a few nights ago was hilarious! Last week, we did a photo shoot at a young, rich and single male's house where she came along too. MATE was obviously impressed at the size of the Mansion the minute we parked and more impressed to learn that he was still a bachelor. So, 2 nights ago, Mr Rich Bachelor returned the gesture by coming over to our place to view some designs. Guess what? She went out of her way to escape from wearing her uniform. Only much later did we realize that she didn't wanna represent herself as 'the maid' to Mr Rich Bachelor. Because when we went to his house, she wore a normal outfit and was assisting Sunny with the lightings...Could've passed off for an assistant or something...Cute, eh?
Some people think that whenever I release my frustrations about Nia, I'm being cranky. These are the ones who don't have a maid at home to know how difficult things get sometimes, having a stranger there, observing you by the side of their eyes from morning to night. So, it seems pretty silly to me, when people pass remarks about a situation they have no idea about. Part of being 'humane', I'm not gonna mention the things we have seen on our CCTV.
No offense intended, but some of these girls remind me of 'Made in China' products - mostly good at first sight, but after a while, you'll realize that MOST of their good points were nothin' but fake! And that's when you know you can't keep them for long. Once again, sad, but true.
But when all is said and done, I love Nia very much and will definitely miss her when she goes back at the end of the year.
