The Maid

"Saya nggaak bisa kerja lagi, ibu *sob sob* Saya biasa kerja kilang *sob sob* Saya ngak biasa kerja di rumah orang *sob sob* Saya perlu berkawan. Sini tiada kawan. Saya ngak bisa kerja kalau tiada kawan *sob sob* Tolong la ibuuuuuuu". And the crying continues...


That's what my mom's maid said 2 nights ago. She was weeping and crying non-stop like an abused person (although we never touch a single hair on her body!). My mom then asked her why did she agree to follow us to come to KL (we took her from Kedah during the Hari Raya holidays) if she knew she can't work as a maid. In between her sobs she said that she thought she could stand working as a maid and she was told by the agent that if she doesnt like working as a maid then she can leave. Wah wah wah....


I can see my dad's vein almost popping out from his temple. You see, she came to work with us a month ago. My mom never really needed a live-in maid before because we take turns to do house chores and there was never an extra room for the maid anyway. But since my brother had moved out from the house with his wife and son and needed someone to take care of his adorable son, my mom thought it would be best to get a live-in maid. She could take care of my nephew and do the house chores as well.


So we got Aton, a 20 something year old Indonesian girl to work for us. She seemed like a very hardworking person. The house was spotless. Both my parents were very happy with her work. After she got her first pay, she asked my dad whether she could buy a mobile phone. So my dad asked my brother to bring her to the shop and she got herself a Nokia handphone worth RM200 I think. BIG MISTAKE it seemed. She started to contact her pals and 2 days after that she told us that she wanted to quit and work in a factory. She said she was not used to working as a maid and that she needs to be surrounded by friends.


So there was a big drama at the house because my dad who has a raging temper (probably due to his high blood pressure) scolded her and told her that she should not have lied to us, that she should have told us she wasn’t used to working as a maid coz we wouldn’t have taken her in the first place. My dad threatened to take her to police station for lying to us. Lagilah kuat minah tu nangis. She was saying,

“Ampun Pak! Ampun Ibu! Memang salah saya! Ampun ya Gusti! Jangan bawa saya ke Polisi. Saya mintak ampun ya Pak! Tolong saya Pak!!!”


After crying for about 45 minutes, my mom then told her that she could leave in the morning if she wanted to. My dad was adamant of asking Aton to stay until we get a new maid. I told him we couldn’t keep her in the house against her will. Furthermore, we don’t want her near my nephew and it would be dangerous to not let her go coz she might do something to the baby.


So my parents let her go.


Now we have to find another maid. In the meantime I am back to doing the laundry myself and I have to wash all them dirty dishes everyday from now on. My poor soft hands! Sigh…