The new Ahyi gives me surprises everyday!
Let's start from
the day after her interview on the last Sunday of July which we immediately agreed that she will start work 1 week later on a Monday. 2nd week of August.
(Becoz my previous part-time Ahyi was supposed to leave end-July but since the other fulltime Ahyi played us out, she agreed to extend working for me until i find another fulltime Ahyi...and so i wanted to give her 1 week notice too.) BUT the very NEXT DAY (Monday morning), i get a knock on my door. It's her sis who works for the family downstairs! Surprise! Surprise! She said that she wanted to clarify with me what i told her sis yesterday, about the salary etc. Then she said that becoz the other family (whom her sis turned down before she came to us) wanted to employ her now and they want her to start immediately on Tuesday! And she doesnt wish to wait till the following Monday to work for us becoz it meant she had to feed herself for one week without a job! She mentioned that her sis stayed at home yesterday and had to cook herself. How ridiculous does that sound to you??? But she prefers to work for us becoz the other family has a kid and a granny. So...i told her to talk to her sis again and let me know immediately IF she wants to work for us OR them. She came up again to tell me later that her sis will wait a few more days and work for us. It's good but i think we've already lost some faith in her.
Then...
1. On her first day of work, she told me that she woke up at 4+am becoz she took on another job in the morning 5-7am cleaning an office with a group of Ahyis. How is she going to keep that morning job when she start living with us??? Leave our house at 4am and come back to attend to my kids at 8am???
(She's supposed to be our Mon-Sat fulltime live-in helper whenever we needed. We told her she can stay out if she wish to now, but she'll have to start living-in after the new baby is born. Most likely after my confinement since Elvis can handle Joel while the confinement lady & myself will handle the new baby. Otherwise, her work hours start from 8am to bring Joel to school till 10pm.)
2. Since Joel doesnt "need" her to play/feed him (and she has that morning job), i let her leave earlier at 8pm on the first day of work. Since then, she has been thinking that she leaves at 8pm everyday. She rushes me/Joel to bathe/eat at 7pm so that she can go off at 8pm sharp!
3. She said she's planning to find a bigger rented room with her sis. That means she wont live with us in the future???
4. She said at the most, she'll leave later at night after we have the 2nd kid.
5. She said her husband visits her in Shanghai every now and then and if she live-in, she wont be able to see him at night.
(Note: She gets Sundays off and Saturdays she gets to leave earlier since we're mostly out anyway - at least before the new baby arrives.)
6. She cooks
almost vegetarian dishes for me everyday. Lunch is probably 1 stir-fry vegetables and 1 vegetable OR tomato soup (w/o any meat). Dinner, add 1 more vegetable dish. IF Elvis comes back to eat, she will cook another meat dish. I've since told her to add some meat (and salt) inside the soup for more flavour. So now, it tastes much better. I also have to remind her every now and then that I LOVE MEAT & SEAFOOD!!!
7. One day, lunch was a cabbage that tasted a little spicy (but doesnt look like there's any chilli inside). I thought that perhaps it's the garlic or ginger. For dinner, she cooked another brocolli that also tasted the same - spicy! So when i asked her, she said she added chilli sauce inside. Since i couldnt see any chilli bits, my guess is she used the bottle of garlic chilli sauce.
(That's probably why i miss my fast food meat patties and fries.)
8. Ok...hygiene! I'm not fussy about her cleaning around the house (even though she is absent-minded and always forgets what i tell her to do). But i got a shock this week when i realized that my toilet looked like a public toilet! She dumped her blood-stained tissue paper inside the dustbin inside the toilet like what Chinese people did. (FYI, same goes for shit) YUCKS!!! SO GROSS!!! So, i told her that in Singapore, we dont have that practice. I told her to flush the toilet paper and she can throw her sanitary pads in the kitchen dustbin. So those are out of sight on Day 2. Phew~
9. She said the sensor door card is spoilt. (My previous Ahyi had no problem using that same card for 2years+. Before that, we have been using the card.) Then i saw it and realized it's becoz she punched a HOLE on it and looped the key there! She kept saying that her sis' card also has a hole and it works fine. The management office confirmed that it's becoz of that hole and i had to pay to get it replaced. After that, i made sure to remove the handwritten block & unit number on the card since she keeps the card & key together (which also includes the property name).
10. For the first few days, i realized that she doesnt lock the door whenever she goes to the market or when she goes out to throw the rubbish. Throw rubbish very fast, so it's ok lah. But i told her that when she leaves to go out, she has to lock the door. Then she said that most doors lock automatically when it's closed!!! (Why then didnt she open the door again with her key???)
AHHHHH...
UPDATE!
She was supposed to tell me her "decision" today whether she will stay-in OR continue to rent a (bigger) room with her sis. (FYI, she has been complaining that her sis' rented room is very small and very warm. They also have to bathe on the rooftop with just a curtain. No aircon, no heater, no water heater. So, i told her that she can bathe here before she goes home during winter.)
When i asked her in the morning, she said that she did not get the chance to discuss with her sis last night or this morning. I said before & during the interview, we already said we wanted a full-time live-in Ahyi. She act blur... Then she said that she can stay till 10pm no problem.
In the afternoon, she broached the subject herself and said that she can quit her 5-7am job after 1 month (when she get her salary). Then she can live-in with us. I asked her how does she expect me to trust that she will not just leave us after my baby is born or when someone else offers her a little more money? Besides, she started giving me problems the day after interview! She said, "I wont lah". I said, "Say, ¥100 more?" (Approx S$20) She kept quiet. She continued to defend herself and said that it's the other family who backed out on their words so many times and she's afraid too.
At that point, i had already decided to let her go and find a replacement from an agency. I just didnt know how to tell her she's given the sack!
Later in the afternoon, she asked me again if i thinks she's not trustworthy. I said, "YES!" I told her she has so many versions! And since her first day of work she said cannot stay-in, wanna stay with sis, dont wanna give up part-time job, can stay later till 10pm, cannot stay-in coz wanna see husband at night, can stay-in coz husband only visits occasionally, can start stay-in after i give birth... I'm not sure if she even knows what she's saying!!!
So, yes! I said it! YOU WILL WORK TILL THIS SATURDAY! END OF 2 WEEKS.
(We had intended to pay her a full month's salary for her 3 weeks of work this month - to make her happier and hopefully more committed to her job. I dont know who is out of luck? She or us?!)
