Maid Woes

I hate to admit it, but I kinda miss my maid who was previously with me for 2 years, but I had to send her back because we discovered she had a lover. This despite the fact that she has a husband and a 3-year old boy at home.

Over the 2 years, she started respecting me less and less, and would even shout back at me. But she was good in her work, did them all well and with minimal supervision. Her greatest strength was her genuine care for Matt. She watched Matt grow up since he was a baby, and we believe she truly loved Matt like her own kid. Whenever Matt wasn't well, she would even stay up with me to towel him down through the night, feed him medicine, and I could trust her with doing only the best for Matt. That's why I tolerated her rudeness for the longest time, but I could not possibly keep a helper who has a lover right? So when her 2-year contract was up, I did not renew her.

After she left, there was a brief 1.5 months with a black-faced, useless helper whose greatest strength was lying, and whom we thought was gonna kill us at one point in time. She was often quiet, and I think her silent and perhaps scheming ways exuded an unpleasant air which Matt detected and detested. Despite being punished, Matt bit her continuously even after one month each time she baby-sit him. There was peace at home when she left.

We thought we hit jackpot when Matt took an immediate liking to the next helper. Then the cracks started to surface. 2 weeks into joining us, she had kutu which she said she contracted from the Philippines agency. I freaked out, and my immediate thought was I couldn't keep a dirty maid who can't even keep up good hygiene. But I thought, ok, hair lice happens even if you are not dirty, so I gave her benefit of doubt.

But she was one truly dirty maid. While I am not that zealous about cleanliness of the house, I think expecting a minimal standard is not unreasonable. More and more lazy and sloppy streaks showed the longer she stayed with us. She would cut corners, and had 1001 excuses when we asked why certain things are not done as instructed. These excuses naturally irritated us.

Then the deaf tendencies emerged. She hears nothing of what we say, and does everything wrongly. I cannot ascertain if she was doing it on purpose, but I much suspect she is not. I dare not trust her with anything Matthew-related such as administration of medicine while I am at work. My father-in-law pointed out aptly that perhaps she wasn't even aware that she was being scolded when we reprimand her.

It has been 6 months. My maid-management tactic - avoidance of contact- has made it possible for me to last this long. Plus I was too maid-out to train a new one. She is 80% auto-pilot, with occasional scolding, so I tried to enjoy whatever help that was supposed to come with the money I dish out every month to pay for a helper.

But my brand of maid-management tactic can only last for so long.

Of recent, though, my impatience with her started re-surfacing again. There's a lot of negativity at home because I lose my cool with her, her duh-ness, her excuses. Plus we suspect she might have been stealing, but we have no evidence, and perhaps ignorance is bliss. I am crazy enough to entertain the thoughts of calling up my maid-with-lover and tolerate that. I must be really desperate, you think? :p

I guess I was just delaying the obvious need to change the current helper. The time has come. I am about to take another plunge. Wish me luck.