"But I did lock the front door grilles just as you had instructed me to!"
— Yosevina Nogo Ritan, housemaid.
My wife and I are working from eight to five; five days a week. By the time I come home in the evenings, it would normally be close to 6 pm. My wife, being the Legal Manager in her workplace, would normally come home a little later than that. Those of you who are like us would know that it is extremely difficult to cope without a housemaid.
Our previous housemaid worked for us for four years. But she fell in love with a fellow Indonesian and announced that she wanted to quit within 3 days. We practically begged her to give us a little bit more time to find a replacement. She then gave us up to a week. Well, you know what they say, love can't wait...
After she left, we were without a maid for 2 months. We called up all the agents we knew in KK to no avail. We also asked some friends for help; and their friends' friends too. And then finally, it just so happened one day we were at a reflexologist centre where an Indonesian lady told us that her niece was looking for a job. That was music to our ears. My wife swiftly arranged for an interview.
Enter Yosevina Nogo Ritan...
She said everyone knew her simply as Fin. Her papers showed that she's 22 years old, but I had a shrewd suspicion that she's only a teenager. When my wife first met her, she had only arrived from her village in Indonesia. Out of desperation, my wife brought her home that very morning itself.
That evening, I met Fin for the very first time. This was about 3 weeks ago. Now I don't have any problem with Indonesian Malay, but I couldn't help but smiled when my wife tried to talk to her — they were (and still are) like chicken and duck, trying to communicate with each other, if you know what I mean.
Well, it soon became obvious to me that Fin wasn't a very bright person. We had to teach her everything from scratch. But at least on that first day, I managed to teach her how to flush the toilet and lock the door by pressing that little button on the door knob.
— Yosevina Nogo Ritan, housemaid.
My wife and I are working from eight to five; five days a week. By the time I come home in the evenings, it would normally be close to 6 pm. My wife, being the Legal Manager in her workplace, would normally come home a little later than that. Those of you who are like us would know that it is extremely difficult to cope without a housemaid.
Our previous housemaid worked for us for four years. But she fell in love with a fellow Indonesian and announced that she wanted to quit within 3 days. We practically begged her to give us a little bit more time to find a replacement. She then gave us up to a week. Well, you know what they say, love can't wait...
After she left, we were without a maid for 2 months. We called up all the agents we knew in KK to no avail. We also asked some friends for help; and their friends' friends too. And then finally, it just so happened one day we were at a reflexologist centre where an Indonesian lady told us that her niece was looking for a job. That was music to our ears. My wife swiftly arranged for an interview.
Enter Yosevina Nogo Ritan...
She said everyone knew her simply as Fin. Her papers showed that she's 22 years old, but I had a shrewd suspicion that she's only a teenager. When my wife first met her, she had only arrived from her village in Indonesia. Out of desperation, my wife brought her home that very morning itself.
That evening, I met Fin for the very first time. This was about 3 weeks ago. Now I don't have any problem with Indonesian Malay, but I couldn't help but smiled when my wife tried to talk to her — they were (and still are) like chicken and duck, trying to communicate with each other, if you know what I mean.
Well, it soon became obvious to me that Fin wasn't a very bright person. We had to teach her everything from scratch. But at least on that first day, I managed to teach her how to flush the toilet and lock the door by pressing that little button on the door knob.
One morning, before I went to work, I had instructed her to at least lock the front door grilles if she wanted to have her beauty afternoon sleep (she has her regular 2-hour afternoon sleep, not nap). When I came home from the office that evening, she had just woken up.
I called her from the front door and said, "Didn't I tell you to lock this grilles when you go to sleep?".
And she replied, "But I did lock the front door grilles just as you had instructed me to!".
And I had to explain to her that there is no use to lock the grilles if the key to that lock is left in the key-hole. But I was lucky that she didn't snap back at me and say that I didn't instruct her to remove that key.
As the days passed, Fin has been quite a good test for anger management. I am not sure how much longer I can stand her ignorance, but mercifully I am still able to control myself so far.
Please, God, I am having trouble controlling my blood pressure. With all the power that you have, could you please give Fin just a bit of common sense?...
No comments:
Post a Comment