Indonesian maids tak kenang budi

About 5 months ago I managed to hire one Indonesian maid through another maid that has been working with arwah nenek for over 10 years now. The first month wasn't that great, she had problem of her own, but we managed to bridge the gap and gain each other's trust. She copes well after about two months working with us. And she blends well with my mom's maid too (we are staying with at my mom's).

 

Just after raya she told me that her cousin wanted to come here to work and ask me if I can find an employer for her. I did, and I tried to find a nice person for her. At the same time, another friend of mine also asked me if I can help her find a maid through my maid. And we did. Both are equally in need of job, they have debts to pay off, and little stomachs to feed. I personally like maids that have difficulties in their life, so they will be motivated to work hard to earn their income. But of course, it depends on individuals, some, out of desperation will turn out to be criminals. However, judging from my maid, a religious person, responsible, and a kids lover, I thought that her relatives would somehow pose the same kind of attitude.

 

Went through a lot of hurdle, to bring them in, as in A LOT. I don't have to elaborate on the difficulties of bringing these two to Malaysia, they have however been solved with the help of my husband and my maid's husband.

 

Not long after they started working, both asked if they can go on long leave for raya haji. One of them was only allowed to go one day off and expected to come home that night, but she didn't. She stayed on for 4 nights, and after a few calls and sms of angry employer, she decided not to go back to the employer. It was soo easy for her to decide not to go back after all the money spent for her passport, tickets to Malaysia, and some money to leave for her children by her employer. And she had the guts to ask me find a new employer for her.

 

The other girl went back also after 4 days of holiday then ran away the next day to work in factories that supposedly giving her income of RM1k. Little did she know that some amount from the pay received has to go to rentals, food and basic necessities. What more can I say. They can betray my maid, who is actually their cousin.

 

I was too embarrassed to even face my friends on this issue, tapi ku gagah kan jua, but what can I do, things are beyond my control. I cannot imagine a mother of two (both of them) can just do things without thinking. They think that it is easy to switch employers as they like. Although I didn't make any profit out of getting these two maids here, I feel responsible, and so does my maid. But I can't do anything, because I am not an agent, I don't take money so there is nothing I can refund, as all the money spent goes to the passport, fines, imigresen, lodgings, food, etc.

 

All I can say is that I feel sorry for my friends, and lesson learnt, never trust anyone, and don't even try to help Indonesians, they want to find job here, go through agent! Serik.

 

Masa Acheh banjir dulu, Malaysian datang nak tolong pun, deorang campak benda to our fellow Malaysian selepas case lagu Negaraku ciplak tu, remember? So you know la my conclusion. Tak perlu cerita panjang. Tak kenang budi punya orang.

 

To the two girls, I lent you my money to leave with your family, akan ku halal kan duit ku... kerana aku tak ingin menunggu mu di padang mashar nanti.  (As if they know how to read this)

 

      

Career Changing

Iris is 10 months now. Not because she is 10 months, only I can find the time to write. It is because I changed my job.

Changing job is never easy. What more changing your career altogether. It was the toughest decision ever. Even choosing the man to get married to, wasn’t as difficult.

I started my career in audit 7 years ago in one of the Big4. I enjoyed my time there, I complained a lot though, but I loved it. I was so workaholic, that going home past midnight was just a routine for me. When I got married, I knew I had to leave audit to find back my life.

I left audit and joined the corporate world after 5 years in one of the largest insurance company in Malaysia. I must admit I had a great prospect, good position, challenging tasks, attending external conferences, meeting big shots from big corporations, meeting regulators and governance body, I enjoyed every single bit of my work.

But what I didn’t like, was the inflexibility. There were no understanding and flexibility for young working moms like myself. Going home at 6.30pm is considered very early. Certain fixed period of time, you cannot plan for leave, and definitely cannot afford to fall sick. And every time you will be praying hard that your children don’t get sick during those period otherwise, you’ll be going to work unfocused, you can’t take leave to care for your child and forced to come to work, so all you see in the numbers are practically meaningless boxes or lines or filling up the excel sheets.

Those times are the accounts closing period. And it’s fixed period. Like every month, you are froze every first week of every month, every quarter will be the first two weeks of the next month from the quarter, and every year end closing, you are practically froze for the whole of January EVERY YEAR (regardless of weekends and public holidays).

After I had Iris in my life, I realised that I could not go on with this. When I tendered, I got to know that I was in the Bumiputra talent management list, they were going to groom me, and going to give me big position in 5 years time. Yea I had my beauty prospect there, but that means nothing if I have to sacrifice my time with my child(en).

I want to be able to take EL when my child is sick. I want to be able to go home at 6.30pm happily, no need to creep to the door hoping that my boss didn’t see me. I want to be able to enjoy my weekends and public holidays. I want to be able to utilise my annual leave by just staying at home, don’t have to have reasons like to fix my car or to go to the bank or to go for checkups just to take one day off. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love challenging work. I don't mind having piles of things to do. But I want flexibility. I guess the working environment just didn't suit me well.

And now syukur Alhamdulillah, rezeki Iris, I found the right place for me to be in, with better pay and better flexibility. I don’t know about my career path though. Because I have left accounting completely. Not that I am confident that I will be a CFO one day, but at least the path that I had was leading towards there. Now, I don't have that option anymore. Sadly, I bid goodbye to the life I had dedicated to for the last 7 years.

 

I am now in one of the government’s financial institution governing body and I am doing Risk Assessment and Monitoring. Interesting right. InsyaAllah. May Allah give me the patience in learning and developing my love for the new job as much as how I loved doing accounting. Ameen.