new maid, jumi

i hv 2 maids at home now. a cross-over period of 2.5 weeks, hoping that the old one will be able to do a proper training and handover job.

well, where do i start?

the new one is limited in english ability. i hv to go slow, and she's trying to learn simple english. keeping a notebook too! maybe, she won't even understand when i use the word 'scallop' and 'celery'...sigh! breathe in and continue to write!

well, my old one, yati has all the attributes that an employer would love - hardworking, good initiative, smart, keen to learn and an all-rounder. it was with years of grooming and according her with the right compliments and values, i would say, so my effort cannot be denied too...(blink blink)

i can see her putting in effort to teach the new one. but this morn, she briefly told me that the new one shed tears ystday, when she was being told about certain things not done in proper. bully case at home? definitley not.

so, i hv no choice but to end up seeing thru this misunderstanding.

summoning them before me, the points driven across were simple and sharp:-

yati is experienced and unselfish, she's teaching jumi everything that she has learnt. the new maid has to understand the good intentions and not take her words as criticisms. i told her, if i were to take over yati's job, she will likely end up being scolded by me. i could see tears running in yati's eyes when i came in to mediate. afterall, she's doing her best, and the last thing that she would risk having, is to have the new one misunderstanding her intentions. btw, i hate seeing maids cry...

i emphasise on the stuff that i'm very particular with, handling food with cleanliness and some issues to do with proper handling of my children. if claire gets up early in the morn without heater to bathe, i will boil!

i did highlight to yati that we cannot expect the new one to do everything in accordance with the her style, but there're some minimum expectations with ironing, washing...surely, u dun need to be reminded more than twice about towels, clothes and bedsheets to be washed separately!

tmrw will be a week from her joining my household. and i told jumi that there will be a test for her, and yati, obviously will be the 'judge' at the end of the day. i guess, by giving credibility to yati, she will be able to assume her trainer role more effectively.

with yati's impending departure next sat, i dare to say that i can nvr find another capable helper like her. maybe, my household food items will taste different too. different pple, different strokes with cooking lah!

sigh....my dear hubby and kids have been warned. well, maybe that will make us less reliant on domestic helpers and i can do without one after claire completes her p6.