Kisah Pembantu Rumah - Part 2

So I’ve got a new maid. She came in last Saturday.

Phew… you don’t know how relieved I was when I finally got the new girl. I was in panic mode when Sri told me last week that she wanted to go home mid-Dec. That’s too soon! I haven’t got a replacement for her!

I had inquired from an agent-friend earlier on but she told me it’s not easy to bring in Indon maids nowadays. Nak get yang illegal pun the same thing, lagi pulak sekarang ni we hear so many horror stories about maids. Eeee… I cringed thinking about our fate if the maid ran away!

As luck had it, two days after Sri broke the news to us and as I was frantically trying to call agents for a new maid (to which all said have to wait at least 2.5 months), a dear friend, SW, told me the agent for her Nanny McPhee ada lagi 4 orang maid available right now! And that I should call the agent right away!

I didn’t call him right away but he called me a few minutes after that. We arranged to meet and the best part is, I got to select and interview the maids as they are all here already. First time I dengar orang boleh interview maids, usually one just choose from the biodata and photos.

So,I went to the agent’s house with Mdm Tai Tai since MrNordin was in JB. Upon arrival, the agent called upon all the maids to line up in front of me so I could take a good look at them. Hee.. hee… rasa macam mem besar pulak!

Please remember that I have never hired a maid before in my whole life, that was the first time I was given such tasks. I didn’t know what to ask, not sure whether my choice would be the right choice etc, etc.

Out of 4, I picked 2. One elderly lady – I quite like her coz she had a pleasant face, but I think she’s quite slow… don’t think she larat kerja at my house. The second choice was this young girl aged 23 and had worked in Singapore before. She’s too skinny for my liking but highly recommended by the agent.

When it comes to choosing a maid, I think we just need to trust our gut feel. No line of questioning would bring out their true colors coz their answers would be standard answers. So, I did just that, trusted my gut feel, chose the young one and prayed hard that she would not run away!

Two days at my house, I think she’s ok. Only speak when spoken to, that’s what I like. Sri has been teaching her what to do around the house, boleh lah… it’s too soon to tell anyway.

One interesting fact tho’, this new maid prefers to converse in English. “I prefer English,” she said when I picked her up from the agent’s place. Having worked for a Chinese family for 4 years before this, she speaks better English than Malay, so it seemed.

But her sentences always ended with Chinese connotation like this, “I looked after the house, lor…” “I cooked, lor…” Hee.. hee.. I found it strange coming from an Indonesian gal’s mouth!

And yesterday afternoon, we all went out for nasi kandar lunch. We brought her along. Guess what? We all ate with our hands while she ate with fork and spoon!

Hee.. hee... not bad, huh… our new maid! I suppose, she was used to doing that before this and doesn’t know our norm yet. So we let her be...

And last night, we had Roast Duck for dinner. When I asked her, “Pernah makan duck tak?” She said, “Selalu !"

I think she’ll be happy staying with my family.