Maid Issues... YET AGAIN...

The third time's a charm? In previous posts I have been yammering away of my attempt at finding a nanny/maid for my baby. And so far? I have failed... The first time, there were problems at the immigration and we decided to go with another agent. The second agent proved a disappointment when he was unable to deliver after several promises were made. I don;t understand until today what was his problem but we are no longer interested and just requested for our deposit back as we didn't want the headache of handling this weird agent. By weird, I mean...

- keeps making promises of the maid's arrival... and the day came and went with no news from him

- we would call and sms repeatedly... with no reply, sometimes for days

- he offed his hp the whole week during Chinese New Year 

- he finally sms hubby phone with a weird remark "in Jakarta to settle maid's application (apparently there was a problem) and he couldn't call because he lost our hp number" ...what??!

- again promises were made... then again not answering his hp

Come on now... wouldn't you feel stressed and suspicious? Thank goodness he agreed to return our deposit money... and that only I think because hubby and threaten to go to the police. Silly guy! I knew from the start there was something wrong with him. After all, who in their right mind (if legitly interested in work and commission) would turn down a potential client's call by saying he's having lunch? Tsk Tsk...

Okay, that's strike two... now we have gone with another agent... sigh... they even provided (at a charge of course) us with a temporary maid to take care of things until the permanent maid arrives. Hopefully this time things will go well for us. The way hubby talks about her, she seems confident and there was no talk of me and hubby submitting the forms for them (like with the other 2 agents). So the RM6k that we will be paying this agent will really go to their hard work of getting the maid to us... The set expected date is in April. Like I mentioned before, I don't really mind if it's late... just gotta be assured that she's coming. 

Off to a lighter note, well not quite... now that hubby had called me to tell me that the temp maid is coming in tonight, I find myself unprepared. I haven't had a maid since I was 11 years old, so am at a lost as to how to handle one. I wonder if she expects to take care of the baby only? I know I am taking a maid for my baby... but I need time to actually trust her. She's a complete stranger who is going to touch and cuddle my baby... :(   no... not yet... not so soon... I would rather do everything myself. 

Since the start of my confinement I haven't actually taken care of Shiya 24/7 as I have help from the nurses at the hospital and eventually from my parents, hubby and Kak Ita (she also took care of Farel and Lissy) at home. This gives me time to catch up on some snooze and take care of myself such as eat, bathe and of course pumping time... 

So tomorrow starts a brand new schedule.. because I can't yet find it in myself to let a complete stranger have her time without me being there... hmmm... havta start work in 34 days...  :(   wonder if I can find the courage then... 

Maid Agency Frustration

We're currently looking for a maid. Well, her main role would be as a nanny when I'm at work. Then of course there are the normal housework such as ironing, laundry etc. Nothing too strenuous.

However, getting a good maid is seriously a trial that is heavy on the mind. There is of course the extravagant costs of actually obtaining one... this is just to get the passport and medical documents from the place of origin (the most common and easiest is from Indonesia). I think it's due to the problem of immigration for the agency or whatnot, it seems we still have to settle the immigration part ourselves. If it comes cheap, it's ok... but it seems we're paying the full price of an agency intervention. -sigh- Since this is our first time doing this, I am quite frustrated and frankly stressed out.

We actually found a good agency that I have no doubt will probably handle everything for us without exception. Unfortunately they are not offering Indonesian maids. Instead they only have Philippines maids (highly recommended) and Cambodian maids. Now I would love to get Philippines maids, except they are super expensive and a Muslim one is hard to come by. Cambodian on the other hand would probably drive me nuts as they can't speak English. I can't even negotiate terms with an Indonesian agent who's language is close to BM, can you imagine me trying to communicate with someone who has no understanding of English or BM? Goodness, I'll probably hyperventilate and be admitted to the hospital for high blood pressure! Not good...

Now some might wonder, what happened to the other maid agency that we chose before? Bad news there... to make the sad story short, the maid that they had so called processed for us was rejected by the immigration. Imagine my shock when I was told that the maid was registered under another employer in Malaysia. Needless to say, I was so angry I cried for a good hour after that. It was lucky that we were able to get back our deposit money.

So now, hubby had vetoed and chosen another agent... though he is actually from Pahang. I must say that after the first debacle, I am a bit wary especially when I can't even go visit the office. There are no proper brochures, no proper listing of expenses and basically no business card.   :(

But we've paid the hefty deposit, as I place my faith on hubby's judgement. This week will determine it all since the agent reassures us that the maid should be on a flight over to Malaysia by end of this week.

Could it be the ending to our search? We'll see.

Take away from the lesson learnt above:
1. Always ask for a business card
2. Request a list of all the costs
3. Should check for any guarantee/exchange should the maid be unacceptable
4. Should check what's the additional costs should the maid fail in obtaining the working permit or fomema exam
5. Pay by cheque and request for official receipt

The Nanny Search

It is times like these when you find out who is really dependable and sweetly helpful. Why? Because it is not easy to get help from anyone... and I mean anyone... be it friends, family or colleagues. Well, if it's hard to weedle out info from your family and friends, can you just imagine what it'll take to get info from strangers?

And so begins my rocky journey in trying to find a nanny for my darling princess. I foresee myself being a paranoid mummy, and it shows in the way I try and select my nanny. After all, I won't be home to supervise her from morning till evening! :(  So it must be a trustworthy lady and even then, I will have to closely observe her later.

My initial idea was to try and do it the economical way. Meaning trying to arrange the selection from Indon (since it's so hard to get an English speaking Cambodian) myself and doing the immigration part here directly. The tricky part would be to identify the maid in Indon itself as I don't really know anyone who can help me find a good and dependable person there. Hmm... it's not like I can just agree to anything and anyone. A couple of people actually managed to pass me numbers to agencies over there, but again I felt as though I was heading for a dead end. My mind is dizzy with unanswered questions and insecurities because let's face it... I could be lied to by these people and I wouldn't know it. That is  how gullible I am. Sigh...

So next was to explore the agencies over here and I was able to get 3 numbers from my in-laws. One didn't bother to return my call and the other 2 was different in 2 ways... information I was getting and the price tag. The first agency had a cheaper price tag... a diff of arnd RM2,400! But my chit chat didn't turn out so well. They couldn't really assure me that the maid would be coming on time (around Jan/Feb would be ideal). No real explanation was given on how to proceed or the procedures involved in obtaining the maid from Indon. Soooo... I was left with more questions and uncertainties. This agency was used by my BIL and the maid had arrived late..plus.... heard that should they wish to replace this current maid (they're not that happy with her), they wanted to use a different agency. Now my confidence in this agency is really shot down.

The second agency had a hefty price tag. My mind still struggles to accept that we would have to pay that much. Honestly I am still trying to reconcile myself to the thought. But the major difference was the information given was so much and reassuring. The agent really follows up with me and though I would ask the same questions, I will always get and answer. The best part is that the maid is set to arrive either end of this month, or early next month... which is just perfect as it's better to be early than late.

So there you go... my headache for the past couple of months. Tugging and bothering people to answer my text and questions... even to the point of calling them for help... and of course, the constant computation in my head for benefit vs costs... My big fear? Being swindled by these people whom I've never dealt with before.

Some part of me wish I could go whining to my parents to please help me... but I am 27 years old and I guess the good decisions and the bad ones will have to come straight from me.

I just hope this search will be over soon and that we find a good and dependable nanny/maid for my darling... hopefully, hopefully...

Insyallah...