the maid-less issue

I have been wanting to talk about this but never got a chance to. Well, there will never be one (a chance) if I don't seize it, right? So, anyway, here's the story :

We did have a maid but for a short while. More like 4 months to be exact. What happened to her? We sent her back to the agent. It wasn't because of her or her work but the agent's.

See when we were scouting around for a maid last year, hubby's friend gave him the agent's contact. Since he got his maid stuff done up pretty quickly, we decided to give it a go.

The maid we got had no legal working permit. We knew that even when taking her in. Why did we even bother? Well, because the agent assured us that she would be able to get a working permit for her within a couple of weeks. So, we said "ok". Giving her the benefit of the doubt. Besides, we needed help during that time because it was our most difficult period with lil MOnster. We just let it slide. Furthermore, we didn't pay anything up-front, just her salary every month. The agent told us to only pay after she's done with the paperwork.

OK now, I know that should ring some kind of a warning bell but we chose to ignore it because we liked her. Even my MIL liked her. Things were going well. WE just went along and chose to wait.

Months passed and every time we asked the agent for her permit, she'd give all sorts of excuse. The boss wasn't in to sign, it's stuck at Putrajaya etc...all sorts. Then, it was the last straw. She exhausted all her excuses and eventually told us that she couldn't do it. But, she will want to give it another try. That was it. Hubby and I decided that no point risking the kids, the family and my MIL too since she goes there to help out occasionally, we told the maid we'd be sending her back. She did ask us to give the agent another chance but because of all the stories she fabricated, we didn't trust her anymore.

We felt bad for the maid. It's like denying someone of a job despite her/his good performance. Of cos, not forgetting, we felt bad for ourseleves. Imagine having to do the dishes, wash the clothes, the house...everything all on our own now...hehehhe...:-P

Still, we didn't want to risk it. Oh..why didn't we just get another agent? Well, you see, I believe it was almost divine intervention because when she came, handling Em was the most difficult. She helped us out alot - mentally and physically. When she left, that 'difficult' period was already in it's decline. We figured that, having to wait for another few months for a new maid to come, get her settled in, Em will be able to walk! So, we decided not to go through the hassle.

And now, here we are - 7 months on the road..without help on a full-time basis. The part-timer still comes around once a week. Yes, I am still pretty hopeless :-P. But, we've regained our privacy though we did eventually get used to a stranger in the house. We also gained wrinkly fingers. More now. But, we're surviving.