More on Reni

Over the last few days, more requests and comments from Reni...

• Asked me to buy her skin lotion. I told her sure, but I will deduct from her paycheck because I do not supply anything else other than the daily essential items. Then she said no need. Will she use the lotion in my room when I am not around, I am not sure.
• Even before I said anything (my washing machine broke recently) she told me she cannot wash the big items like bedsheets and curtains using hands.
• Asked me and hubby if we have Facebook account. Are you scared yet? I am. I did a quick search but could not find her name in Facebook.
• Told me she doesn't want to bath or feed Zac as he is too young, she is scared. Said she fed her boy twice and the boy choked and end up hospitalised. Why do I have this feeling that she is just giving excuses so she won't have to do so much?
• Got my washing machine fixed today and she asked me what time she should wash the clothes? Told her no washing clothes using machine. Machine is only for 'big items'. Serve her right for making demands even before I said anything. Now she has to wash the clothes using hands!
• She napped on the floor yesterday (she naps daily) so she can watch over Hayley who is also napping downstairs. She coughed slightly at night and told me it was because she slept on the floor in the afternoon.
• Told me Hayley took 1 hr to finish lunch yesterday but a check with papa confirmed she took less than 30 mins. She lied. Probably trying to sound to me how difficult it is to watch my girl.
• Asked me for some notepads. Said she would like to write down the recipes papa taught her so she can go back and open a restaurant.
• Went to Hayley's basket (where I store her stuff like powder, lotion, hair bands etc) and asked if I can give her a hair band (while holding one of it). I asked her why she needs it, she said her hair is getting long. I gave her one. My friend told me I should not have given her, if she wants, tell her not to touch anything that belongs to the family, but instead I will buy her one. This will train her NOT TO simply take things from the house. Sigh.. I really need more training to become an efficient employer.

As for other housework I have no complaints. She will wake up at 6am (sleeps at 9.30pm) and get all the sweeping, mopping, wiping, clothes and car washing done. She still needs a lot of training and reminding on cooking and general house cleaning. She will not automatically wipe dirty areas etc unless told to.

The funniest thing is, she told me she is scared to wipe my girl's bum after she has done her business. Oh boy....

I am sure there will be more to come. So stay tuned.......

Next we are going to get CCTV installed all around the house just to be sure!

Maid, got also susah, don't have also susah. How la like that???

Reni the maid

Reni is my Indon maid, she started with us yesterday. After months of waiting, from Filipino to Cambodian and in the end it was an Indon maid. Will tell you more about the journey of how I ended up with an Indon maid later (long story :-))

Today's post is about Reni. My first impression is "yier... why so black and so plump one". She has very dark skin, like Indian and is very plump. All sorts of questions came through my mind, what if she climb the chair to wipe the fan and the chair could not hold her weight? can she fit into my tiny toilet? will she eat a lot?

Reni is not one of those typical maid which I usually hear a lot about. This is her first time to Malaysia and her first job as a maid. She attends school up to 18 years old (she claimed). She can read and write in Bahasa Indonesia (I gave her a few Bahasa words to read and she managed to read them correctly). She has 6 siblings and she is the eldest. She is separated from her husband and has a 2.5 year old son. She said she is 25. I got all these infor from her, whether they are true or not I cannot verify. When I checked her passport, she is actually 24 so it's ok, she didn't lie too much about her age.

I think she didn't come from a very poor family. She knows how to use rice cooker, iron and said her father owns a handphone. I am nervous when I found out about all these. This means that my maid is pretty smart, don't need me to teach her step by step on how to do the housework or use most of the electrical appliances but it also means that she's pretty exposed and would probably be cunning and cheeky. Sigh... pros and cons.

Anyway, she is supposed to help me with the housework, cook and watch over the kids when I am not around. I am still uncomfortable leaving her with the kids alone for now. Motherly instinct so I am going to trust it. She does things pretty quickly, she woke up at 6am this morning and when I got up at 7.30am she is almost done with the house work; sweep, mop, wipe etc and even wipe clean both the cars. A closer inspection revealed that her work is pretty sloppy, there are still dirt marks on the cars, the toilet is not brush clean properly etc. She is also the type who needs people to constantly remind her to do this and that. Once she is done with what we've asked her, she will sit there and do nothing. She's not the auto type who will go around the house to look for things to wipe/clean. She also does not look like one who adores kids.

On her first day, she even asked me if I would allow her to watch TV if she is done with her work and I am not at home. And today, she asked me if she can go for an hour nap (she's napping now). She dare to ask these when I am home, what would she do if I am not home?

I am also beginning to feel uncomfortable having a stranger around. I hope this feeling would go away after a few days, after I got accustomed to it.

Sigh.. got maid also got issues, no maid also got issues.. how la like that???

Maid oh maid, where are you???

It has been almost 4 weeks and our maid is still not here.. SIGH SIGH SIGH...

Tomorrow I am going back to work and I will have to take leave again when she arrived to properly guide and train her. I hope my boss won't kill me.

We actually paid additional so we can get the maid in 2 weeks and we paid our deposit on January 18th but now it's been 4 weeks. So how? Do we ask her to pay us back the additional since she didn't keep her promise of delivering the maid in 2 weeks?

I have been in touch with her quite often and she kept telling me they're having issues with the long holiday, with flight arrangements and immigration. I know she's definitely not pulling my leg but I am just so upset that the entire arrangement is not going according to my plans.

Maid

Would you hire a maid?

We just did. Yes we did. We have finally paid our deposit for a Filipino maid and she will be arriving in about 2 weeks. We have been thinking about this decision for weeks and finally decided that we should just go for it. I have always protested against the idea because I dislike having a stranger at home, what if we got a cuckoo one? what if she is crazy? what if she's actually giving me more headaches (like those we always hear about) rather than helping me out? and most importantly will it be safe for my kids to be around a stranger?

Normally people would hire a maid to help with chores at home and to ease the burden of sending too many kids to the babysitter. For us, hiring a maid is actually more costly, something we are prepared to pay in hope of exchanging for quality life with the kids. I am starting to feel the toll on my body having to juggle housework and the kids and I fear to think if I will be able to cope when I need to be back at work in a couple of weeks. My work is no easy peasy stuff, it requires a lot of my attention (even weekends and after hours) and occasionally working late and I certainly do not want to be worried if papa will survive alone with the kids. An extra pair of hands during times like these is all we need. Also, I want to have quality life with my family, time to read to Hayley, time to play with Zac and time spent with papa instead of spending most of my time on folding clothes, washing dishes, sweeping the floor, changing the bedsheets etc.

Hopefully with a good maid, I will be able to free myself from the house chores and actually get to spend some quality time with my loved ones. As papa mostly work from home, he will be able to supervise the maid most of the time. We are also planning to install some CCTVs at home for a peace of mind as he does needs to be out occasionally. Hopefully these will be sufficient.

Even with a maid, Zac will still continue to be at aunty's. I do not trust a stranger with an infant. Call me kiasu, I am just being safe. As for Hayley, we will continue to send her to aunty's after school for a few months while we monitor the maid. We'll judge her performance in a few months and let our instinct tell us if we are comfortable to let her take care of Hayley. Hayley should be old enough by now (we hope) to tell us if the maid is being nasty to her.

With a maid and kids at babysitter's, it means we will need to squeeze our belts tighter each month. Come to think of it, our maid practically gets paid and doesn't have much to do :-). We're a small family with a small house and I'm not letting her touch my kids unless I am at work. Anyway, both papa and I agreed that if we get a good maid, we will enjoy her assistance for 2 years and then decide if we wish to renew her contract. If we didn't get a good one this time around or felt that we didn't like where things are going, we'll just scrap the idea and consider it as a lesson learnt (and have tremendous 'heart pain' for many days to come on the money wasted) and we shall try no more. Like my sister always said (she has an Indo maid by the way), 'You never try you never know. So just give it a try and see if this solution works better for you. Why suffer housework?'.

I really really hope that I will get a good one and I will know how to handle her and I won't treat her 'too' nice (our agent said that is a common mistake with all first time employers) and gave her the impression that she can take me for granted. I always tell myself that maids are humans too and they should be treated with respect. I don't even mind if she wants to sit on the dining table and have dinner with us together. My motto is 'If you treat me well, I will treat you well'.

So now I need to prep up a room for the maid which means more work for me until she arrives :-( and make some adjustments to our home. I am sure I will need a few days or weeks to adapt to having someone new at home with us 24 hours a day. If anyone has any good tips to share on how to be a good employer or how to make the best of your maid, please share :-)