How many Maids???

I was just lazing in bed about 5 minutes ago...and wondering the number of maids that I have had. Let's start from the beginning.... this does not include my grandparents' maids nor my parents'...otherwise we would not be able to go to bed tonight. Hahhaha

Actually, come to think of it...this is going to be a looooooooooooooooong post too. So grab a cup of green tea, folks!

Okay. Had my first maid, i.e. one that is under my direct employment when I had my first child. She was an Indonesian. All I can remember is that she didn't stay long because she was like crying early in the morning almost every single day. As mom says "hak yann chang!". The moment you come downstairs, the maid runs to you crying about something or other. I think she was complaining about my mom's maid cum housekeeper, Chan Cheh most of the time. (Wonder how is Chan Cheh doing in China....)

Then comes another replacement, also from Indonesia. This one stayed till I left to join H in Singapore with S1. This one is quite lazy. She doesn't really do much...as I lived with my parents' then (with H working in Bangkok), and mom already has Chan Cheh and a Filipino maid to do everything. All my maid has to do was to carry S1, and wash his clothes. I supposed that's why she put on more and more weight as time progressed. Heheheh. When I left for Singapore, my MIL took her over. Apparently she was sent back after some neighbours saw her having "male guests" into the house when everyone was out.

My maid in Singapore was a Filipino, R. She worked with me throughout our time in Singapore. Even took her with me to Bangkok when we re-located. She is not without headache. Remembered one episode whereby she went MISSING in one of our trips back to Malaysia. She went out and I was to pick her up at a set time and place. It was a nightmare as we couldn't find her. Thought she was r@p3d and murdered. She eventually returned back to my mom's place late in the night. Anyway, took her with us to Bangkok as S2 was only 1 then, and she was quite good with him. In Bangkok, her job was to look after S2 and cook. I had another part-timer, FP that did all the cleaning and laundry. But R wasn't happy in Bangkok as we lived in a house, unlike in Singapore where all she had to do was stick her head out of my apartment window, and she could speak with 2 or 3 Filipinos. Plus, there weren't Filipinos in our area. She started to act out, not following instructions, and doing all sorts to p!ss me off, until one day I asked if she wanted to go home. Then only she said YES. So I sent her back to Philippines. After she left, there were lots of love letters sent to my house from Bangladeshis based in Malaysia. Odd, isn't it? ...when she was in Singapore 95% of the time? Anyway, apparently, she is married to a rich THAI guy now! The irony huh? ...when she hated Thailand so much then???

After R left, I had to find another replacement. Wah....think I had like a total of 5 maids in 8 months. The problem was that I lived near the ISB compound, and all the Mat Salleh expats tend to spoil the maids. I have maids coming in for interview demanding BHT 10,000 per month with 5 day work week, and work till 6 pm kind. There was one time dad was there and he commented "never heard of maid working 5-day week!" (mm patt thia ker...maid cho 5-day week!) hahaha.

Ok. This will not be in order....will type whatever I can remember.

- One who came and worked for few weeks. It was a major holiday, and she was given 2 days off or something like that. Mom so happened went past the maid's area (maid has their own kitchen area etc), and it was a whole mess. Food eaten not thrown and her plates not washed. Mom couldn't TAHAN and cleaned up her area. When the maid returned, I told her to leave. I mean if she can't even keep her own area clean, how can I expect her to keep my kitchen clean?

- Another maid only lasted one day. She decided not to work. Not because there was lots of work....as I had my part-timer, remember? On this day that the maid came to work, I actually took her out to lunch with me. My friend treated me to Japanese Lunch at the Hilton hotel. I brought the maid with me to help look after S2, while I had my lunch. My friend even ordered her a bento set. When we got home, I was giving her instructions for dinner....and then she just said that the job was not for her. Mmmm...I wonder what was so difficult about her job? Basically, all she did was tag S2 about at Hilton.

- This maid lasted a few months. How long exactly, cannot remember. But she was a cook. And she did teach dad a few Thai dishes. So foodwise was not a problem. Yummy foods. But the problem arose with her supervision of S2. Numerous times, I told her NOT to let S2 play with S1's Lego pieces....only the larger Duplo ones. But she kept giving him those Lego pieces. And naturally, S2 was at that age of putting things in his mouth.... Many things, I can close one eye or even two eyes, but choking is no joke! And I told her off one too many times, and she just didn't like it and quit!

- This other maid...very cialatt. Good cook, and good with S2. But then, one time the complex security saw that she had a man in my compound. (Maid's quarters is outside my house) And I went to tell her not to do it again. Of course she denied it.....and then started to say the guard tried to spy on her when she was in her towel at midnight. I was like "HUH? No way anyone can see you in your towel if you walk between your room and the bathroom." Then she said that she was hanging out her clothes. I was like "Why the heck are you washing your clothes clad in just a towel in the middle of the night?? If I am a man, I also want to spy lah!" (Btw, my Thai was quite terrer then...all these exchanges were in Thai, ok!! Good, hor?)
Anyway, I was gonna let it go. I told her that whether she did let a man in or not before, I don't care. Just do not want to have a repeat. I thought case closed.
Later that day, she came to me and said that since I didn't trust her of not having a man in the compound, she felt that she couldn't work for me anymore. Dad just arrived, and dad said better just let her go....maybe she a bit Chee-Sin. Better she asked to go herself than I have to fire her later.

- Another cialatt maid. Cooking okay. Looking after S2 also okay. The reason that I told her to go was because she made a disappearing act for over a week without informing me. Then when she came back, told me about her son had accident and he called her to come etc etc. No way her son could have called her lah...as I was in the house when she left abruptly. I wasn't sure what was happening. I lectured her about her being a terrible terrible mother to say her son had accident...blah blah blah. Plus, isn't there a phone that she could use to call me?? Not just disappear into thin air for over a week, right?? A whole load of baloney.

All these 5 maids in Bangkok were in the span of 8 months. I just got so fed-up after that. I decided not to hire another maid. I told my part-timer (who continued working through these 5 maids) to work extra hours, and I just had to manage S2 and the cooking myself. It wasn't too bad....

When we moved back to Malaysia, I took on an Indonesian named Siti. She was really very good, and smart. But when it was 21 months into her contract, and we were in the midst of extending her contract, she ran away!!! Leaving RM 3000 with me. She didn't take anything from my house....even tidied up before she left.
You say lah. What is wrong? Everyone said it must be a MAN! Only a MAN can make a woman so GILA!

After Siti, I thought...okay. Such a good worker also can runaway. Maybe switch to Filipino, which I did. In the beginning, she was quite blur...but did smarten up eventually. So much so that when I left to come to Jakarta, sis No.4 decided to take her on.
But ALAMAK! This stupid girl when to get herself pregnant after about 4 months working for my sis. And worse...she told my mom that it is a miracle baby as she has not been with any man. Mom said "You are Virgin Mary, ah???" Hahhahah

Anyway, now moving to Jakarta....

- Started off with this young girl, A....who decided to run-off with my air-cond maintenance man after knowing him less than 2 months! Donno if they got married or not. Don't care lah.

- Had one that came to work for about a week to replace, A and then decided to not continue.

- My longest maid here....Y whom was with me for over 2 years. It was unfortunate that her son passed-away and she just couldnt' continue. The last I heard, she is pregnant. Probably delivered already.

- Then I have the blur and talkative maid, T. She was pretty good in her work, and was with me for 5 months. It's just that she is not exactly focussed when I talk to her...and d@mn blurr. I think I blogged quite a bit about her in my posts. Just couldn't tolerate her....

- My part-timer who worked for 5 months, then turned full-timer for one month...This one slacked like crazy when she was a full-timer. Only knew why when she left....cause he was pregnant. This one also I blogged about....think she stole S1's mobile phone.

- Then came the current maid that just left this morning.....

So. Let's have a count. How many maids??
I think it's 17. Correct?

Maids. Indonesian. Thai. Filipino. All the same.
All will give you headache!