Maid Stories

Well, I feel so blessed having truly nice and very concerned neighbors who happen to watch our house (and maids) while we are at work. You see, hubby and I work full time and we leave our precious daughter at home with our trusted maids.

I got a surprise call last Thursday from one of my neighbors informing me that one of our maids into a “major fight scene” with our neighbor and her helper. So surprised with the news, I asked my FIL to immediately go to our house (who lives 10 minutes away from us) to check what happened. I immediately called our house also and asked yaya to ensure Sam’s safety and away from all the brouhaha going on outside.

It appears that the cause of the away was a “love triangle” amongst our lady neighbor, a boy helper, somebody’s helper (Sam’s playmate yaya) and my helper! I was informed that it was a huge fight with exchange of bad words, hair-pulling and kicking scene. My helper was outnumbered and was hurt during the fight hence FIL accompanied her to our village security to file charges against her attackers. It was resolved during the “talks” that this incident will not happen again and more so, respect should be given to the owners of the house (us) before dealing with our maids. That is, if they have issues with my maids, they should inform us so we can deal with her accordingly and not to resolve the issue through street fight! Shame on them! :(

Anyway, I really felt helpless and scared when I got the call from my neighbor. I am afraid what might have happened to Sam with nobody to ensure her safety. Imagine, leaving your daughter to your so-called trusted hands and putting all your hopes with them to take care of your child while you are at work! Good thing I’ve got really nice neighbors who were so concerned with my daughter and our property, who called us immediately to report goings-on inside our house. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know all of these and I am sure my maids would not tell!

So, what happened to our maid? Despite my in-laws asking me to replace her immediately, I’ve decided to give her another chance. It’s hard to look for a new replacement especially we’ve already trained and got so used with her ways. She knows how we want our things done inside the house and teaching a new maid would be quite handful and time consuming especially for working moms like me. We’ve become stricter and we imposed new regulations inside the house which I believe would refrain my helper from mingling with other helpers in our street. She’s now on her “probationary” status again, until such time she can prove to us that she can be trusted again.

Sad to say, we will miss Sam’s BFF. Her yaya was also banned from going out so her alaga was also affected. So I guess one less afternoon playmate for Sam! :( We are still hoping that will change, eventually. Kawawa naman kasi yun bata!

Lessons learned:

1.Be really, really nice to your neighbors! Befriend them and let them be your eyes and ears while you are away!
2.Establish good relationship with them. Exchange contact numbers so they can reach you should there be any concerns, emergencies or problems.
3. Avoid getting young helpers -- they tend to fall inlove easily!
4. Maids should not entertain boys, texters, manliligaws etc... Be on watch!
5. Restrict their freedom. Small afternoon chit-chat with other helpers ok but should not be a venue for tsismis or ligaw time. Afternoon play/ relaxation should be kept to a minimum only (1-2 hours)