Not really. It actually lasted a whole three days. Three days! Yep, after three days I am now officially maid-less. Now, I realize that to some saying things like "my driver" and "my maid" seem snotty and yuppy, but I assure you that in Thailand these are staples where Expat families are concerned. Drivers are a necessity and maids are a luxury that you simply cannot afford to pass up. Well, it looks like this girl is now giving up her Thailand luxury.
Friday was Khun T's first day working for us and all seemed to go well. She walked in with a big smile on her face and was ready to get to work once I showed her where all the cleaning supplies could be found. She did her job, asked if I was pleased, then left right a 5pm, money in hand. It seemed like the beginning of a great relationship. Even though she didn't speak English and even though she wasn't nearly as good at charades as Khun P was, I was sure that we would get there. I'm saying this a lot lately and I swear that my pride is suffering because of it, but again, sadly, I was wrong.
So here we are on Monday and Monday was okay. I mean, she came on time, did her job and all, but she left at 3pm. Khun P never, ever, left a minute before 5pm. In fact, sometimes she would stay a few minutes late just to put socks away. Khun T left an entire load in the wash with instructions for me to change them when done. Umm, okay. What exactly I am paying you for, Khun T??? Oh, well. Maybe she had something more important to do. Benefit of the doubt and all.
Wednesday was the real kicker for me. You see, clothes are my absolute least favorite chore to do. I hate washing. I hate drying. I hate folding. I HATE putting away. In my ideal world I would only have to do clothes thirteen times a year. Now why thirteen times? Why not once or twice? Why thirteen? Well, I have it all figured out. You see, the way I figure it in my ideal world I would own 400 pairs of underwear (one for every day of the year and spares of course) plus enough clothing for every day of the month with a few spares. I would devote one day every month (plus January 2 for undies, so 13 total) to washing my laundry. With five people in my house it would be quite the chore only doing it on those days, but only having to do it once (twice in January because we can't forget the undies!) would be doable.
So the kicker. Well, on Wednesday morning when I went to get the big kid dressed for school he had no clean uniforms. Why? Well, because Khun T didn't wash them all and the ones she did wash she ruined. Apparently she didn't know how to use the washer and put the detergent right in the washer on the front loader. Both "clean" shirts had oily stains on them that I know were not on them originally. Plus, she shrunk one of the shirts leaving it shaped like a square instead a t-shirt rectangle. If that wasn't bad enough, when I went to get middle boy dressed his shirt was covered in the same stains. So, after digging through big kid's back pack for his back up clothing, and after digging through middle boys drawers for a non stained shirt, I was pretty pissed because we were late to school. And well, she ruined uniforms that I JUST PAID OFF!
After I got back from school I was debating on how to fire Khun T. Should I do it before work and not have her work that day? If I do that, should I be nice and pay her for at least coming in? Should I do it after she works? How??? I've never fired anyone. I've had people quit and I have had other people fire people, but I personally have never had to do it. I can't do "sad eyes" and people on TV always look so sad when they get fired, so I knew it would be worse when done in person. Once she walked in with her sweet smile though, my "how" turned into "okay, benefit of doubt. I'll giver her another chance". I was totally ready to cave, plus she was due to cook, and since I can't pass up good food, she was staying put.
After debating all morning, I had finally decided that if Khun T was going to stay that not only did I need to set expectations on her hours, but to teach her how to wash clothes. If I were going to pay her the same as Khun P she was going to do the same and stay the same hours. I knew that the hours thing would be a big one because she cooked my "going to be served at 6pm" dinner at noon. And then left it on the counter. All day long. Turns out, she was trying to skip out on me again and that was her way of ensuring that happened.
At around 4:30 she took her "I'm done" stance in the kitchen and waited for her pay. Right after I hand her the money (plus extra for cooking) we start our very messed up version of charades. At first she made it sound, and look like, that since I paid her extra that she didn't want me to pay her the next week. When I repeated this back to her and then acted out my part, she laughed and said no. After a few more tries, what she really wanted finally came across. Turns out, Khun T had somewhere to go the next day and she wanted to me pay her not only that days wage, but the next day and the next weeks wage as well. She didn't even really ask so much as tell me that I needed to pay her. She said that she didn't have money to go to where ever it was she was going, and that I needed to pay her so that she could. Umm, okay. That didn't set well with me at all. I didn't even know this woman at that point and it took about 5 minutes of back and forth to even get to understanding each other.
Politely I told her that I just didn't have what she wanted. Truly, I did not. Even if I had, I would not have given a total stranger what is considered a large amount of money by Thai standards. So, after all of the other stuff with the laundry, the uncleaned bathroom mirrors, the uncleaned front room floor etc., I made the very hard decision to fire her. And let me tell you, when I say "hard" I do in fact mean hard. It took about 15 minutes from start to finish to get that point across. I think she got what I was saying when I told her that we didn't need her anymore. She just didn't want to accept it. She kept saying "what, I no good??" Okay, that made me almost cave because she totally combined it with the sad eyes. After calling not one, but TWO, English/Thai speakers, she finally understood and accepted what I was saying. Instead of telling her that she was no good I simply told her that we wanted to do the cleaning ourselves (to which the English/Thai speaker laughed. See next paragraph). I mean come on, who can look a person, a very sad eyed person, in those sad eyes, and tell them that they are no good??? I sure can't, that's for sure.
So, again, I am now maid-less. And since I have three children and no help (domestic help that is, as my hubby is fantastic at child rearing) Thai people think I'm crazy. I remember telling someone once that I didn't have a nanny or a maid back home and they thought that was nuts. She said "how did you do it?" By the grace of God, really.
Well, I guess that about does it for me this evening. Hope all is well.
Kristen
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