I'm working from "home" for these two days, which supposedly to be a good thing, for i can be more productive when i don't have to spend time dressing up and commuting, and i can concentrate better when i'm by myself.
But then, i forgot one thing - i am not really by myself because it is school holiday now and the two little girls are at home, all day long.
Well, i'm ok with the constant noise actually, since i'm not doing any programming, which then i will need absolute silence - yes, i get distracted easily, as i have short attention span.
Yet, what i cannot stand is when i heard the maid is being "bullied". That really irritates me to no end.
Probably it is a bit exaggerating to use the word "bully", for it sounds strange to say a 25-year-old is bullied by a 10-year-old and 7-year-old. All the girls did were just throwing tantrums and throwing their weight around, which i think most people do to their maids in Singapore and Malaysia (and i absolutely abhor that).
Actually i've wanted to blogged about several incidents concerning the maid that had happened over this past year, but then as usual, i never got to it and eventually just didn't wanna write about it anymore. Those incidents would just go and show how the kids are getting more and more out-of-hand each day when their mother isn't around, or sometimes even when the mother is around!
There was one morning when my landlady found the maid crying in the kitchen and asked what happened. The maid then told my landlady that the younger daughter accused her of stealing money (which was only a few dollars of pocket money i think); she was very sad and told my landlady that she didn't do it. My landlady then reprimanded her little daughter for not keeping her own things properly but accused others of stealing when the things go missing.
Just now similar incident happened again. The elder daughter was shouting at the maid for misplacing a piece of paper (her school work), and i heard the maid kept telling the girl that she didn't see it nor take it. Then she helped to look high and low for it, and eventually found it somewhere in the living room.
There was also once when i was alone with the maid, i casually passed a remark to her about how naughty the girls have become, especially the way they treat her. Then the maid related an incident that one day the little girl came back from school and commanded the maid to remove her socks, saying that, "you are the maid and you should do this for me". I was pissed when i heard that.
But perhaps what i'm more pissed is at myself, for not doing anything about it. Seriously, i do not know what i can do. I've hinted to the landlady once about how i couldn't stand the sight of such nonsense and told her i am not sure if i should or should not stand up for the maid. The landlady then asked me not to, for she said if i do so then the girls will know that i'm "spying" on them. So in a way, i guess i was told to stay out of it.
This maid has been here for almost a year already, and she is really a simple, sweet-natured and timid girl, which explains why the kids would step all over her. Sometimes i look at her, thinking about her life as a maid, and i told myself i should stop all my whining and be grateful for what i have.
You know, we are so blessed that we were not born into poverty, and have the chance for decent education, plenty of opportunities to earn a good living and to lead a rather comfortable or even luxurious life. As a maid, she gotta leave her family and friends to a foreign land with culture and language that are strange to her; she gotta live and work for a family who may mistreat her; she has no days off, and gotta wake up early at around 5.30am and only get to bed at 11pm or later, everyday; she doesn't get any leisure time of her own, does not get to go out and be with friends, does not get any true relaxing time when she doesn't have to worry about the madam or the kids needing her to do something.
Don't get me wrong - my landlady is a nice person. She can be very harsh and strict, but definitely with a good heart. She actually treats the maid well, making sure the maid is well-taken care of. The maid is not perfect, as she does make mistakes sometimes, and when that happens, my landlady will sure scold her and i see nothing really wrong in that. It's the behaviour of the kids that really gets to me.
And all those who know me in person should know very well that i have absolute zero tolerance towards naughty kids or spoilt brats. Fortunately i'm not gonna have any of such of my own.
Labels: rant
