Our helper wants to fly back to a tiny town Somewhere in Java, Indonesia, for her daughter’s birthday. Melanie will turn 5 on Aug 12th. Her mother wanted to be back so badly she said she would pay her own way, just so she could set the dates.
Cost of her ticket? HKD 11,000.
No, it’s not Hong Kong – by any standards that’s expensive – it’s more than our vaccie tickets to Melbourne. And she didn’t say a word, Kings happened to see the cost of her ticket when he unexpectedly asked her for it to cross-check against the dates we’ll be going on vacation.
“You’ve been paying her too much” says everyone we told this to. (Because we pay her double if she decides to stay in and work on a Hong Kong holiday– but other than that she gets normal HK helper wages). “You’re spoiling her.”
How come no one said “Wow, she must badly want to be back for her daughter’s BD”? Am I just too stupid to live that I truly believe she really wants to be with her daughter? But I do. And no, I’m not a psychic octopus – I was rooting for Germany, this World Cup.
Suddenly I see all those recent stupid mistakes she’s been making in her work differently. Stuff like way too much salt in the veggies, rendering them inedible. Then feeding it to Rockstar because she hadn’t tasted it. (Noticed Rockstar drained an entire mug of water in one sitting. Went nuts. Nearly fired her on the spot.)
Stop it, Aileen. Hong Kong is the Wild Wild West of Helperland. This is exactly how you ended up getting taken for a ride by your previous helper. It’s so bad here you know quite a few people who refuse to hire a helper who has worked in Hong Kong. The Sunday maid congregations all over Central are lethal – they learn to use and abuse the maid laws very quickly. They know the law better than their employers – that means you.
You’ve lapped up Dying Relative stories. Previous Employer Abuse tales. “We are people too” propaganda. To the tune of extra tickets home, extra vacation time. You are the pariah of some upper-echelon Mummy circles because you often close one eye to helper back-talk and didn’t stop her from using the swimming pool (in your defense you didn’t find out that was a faux pas til last Monday because you used to work your bum off.)
All those things that have happened to your friends.
Your girlfriend’s helper went to the police and claimed she (your girlfriend) stole from her (the helper) after she was fired for stealing out of your girlfriend’s wallet.
Your other girlfriend’s helper keeps a clear folder on her previous employer’s compensation packages that were slightly short of the regulatory standard, rather than actually tell them they might have erroneously under-paid, because she wants to file a civil complaint “for all those times my employer was rude to me.” (Yes, your other girlfriend was probably shown the folder as a threat.)
What is the matter with you?
Erm, at least I didn’t lend a helper HKD 50,000 over the course of 5 years like our family doctor did?
Erm, that’s who I stubbornly insist on being? Because I don’t want to be changed for the worse by bad experiences. Heck, I just always hated skeptics.
I struggle to achieve some kind of middle ground in between Babe in the Woods and Resident of SkeptiCity even though I kinda live right here. But I’m not unbiased – every time I meet a skeptic, I gravitate towards Idealist territory. Yes, Hamlet, I remember Mrs Sng in Lit class said the sweeter the idealist, the bitterer the cynic upon disillusionment.
So I try not to do it too often. But come on, I agreed to spend my life with someone who was heavily in study loan debt, would be putting his 2 siblings thru school and well, had odds greatly stacked against him coming even thus far. And I was happy with how that all turned out in the end. So. I hate skeptics.
Anyway. We were looking for a replacement because of all the dumbb mistakes.
But. 11-freaking-thousand Hongkie dollars just to go home for her daughter’s birthday for 2 weeks. She must want to go home bad. Bad enough to completely relieve her of her wits?
Even as all around me if I listen hard enough I can hear the ghosts of tai-tais past screaming “NNNnnnnoooooo……..oooo…..!”I can feel myself giving her the benefit of doubt.
Out of gratitude for the blessing of getting to be with Rockstar every single day.
And after her trip if she’s still making the dumbb mistakes then I’ll look for a replacement.. Oh, maybe she’ll decide not to come back (happened to yet another girlfriend). That’s actually fine too.
Oh, hell. Loan sharks are gonna be knocking on our doors now, aren’t they?
Rockstar, meet Tai-Yee-Long. Tai-Yee-Long, meet Rockstar.
