Haha... sounds so like an agency's name.
Much as I hate to talk about it, I thought I should just let everyone know I am OK, still managing the situation and God is with me :)
After the maid was found at the embassy and the police officer went down to take her statement on Tuesday that she was neither abused or mistreated, the police officer called me and told me to settle it with the agent. I called the agent, the agent told me to buy her an air ticket and send her home. I called the embassy, the embassy said the same. I quickly went online that Tuesday, got her an air ticket for Saturday as advised by the embassy, gave the itinerary to the agency so that her work permit would be cancelled and it came to a close. I had to bring her air ticket, her passport and her special pass and of course her remaining salary to the embassy for her. It was a long walk in Nassim Road from Orchard MRT. I passed the Saudi embassy, the Japan embassy and don't know what else before I finally found the Philippines embassy.
These people....super waste my money.... I pay agency fees for a 2 yr contract but I only got 6 months. Waste my time.... Don't want to work, don't even start la... tell me say her hubby never allowed her to come here in Singapore, she came without his approval that's why she gotta go back... and worst of all, waste my emotions :( When I handed everything to the officer at the embassy, I asked if I could speak to her and when I spoke to her, I broke down coz I felt so so betrayed in a sense coz we loved her as a family and she did this to us. I said "Thank you for taking care of my home and my kids for these 6 months but NO THANK YOU for running away." then as I continued, I broke down so I quickly wished her luck and God's blessings and hung up. Felt like such a wimp.
I walked out of the Philippines embassy's office crying. Had to call the hubby to let it all out. Felt so horrid that a person we treated so nice decided to go and just go like that. After, crying it out, I felt much better and went back to work. Well, at least there was a closure.
Anyhow, I sms her God's blessings and told her to make sure she received all that I handed over to the officer.
All the best Mary Jane. God bless.
Then started our new search for a new help.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Maid saga
What's the relevance of the maid to a mother's journey in faith????
The answer here is the maid is my main source of help to care for the kids while i work... so it is of big relevance.
And so I thought I was all ready to do something for my little angel, Jeremiah.... telling my boss that I like to work a 3 day week and all....
Well, I told my boss and HR that I like to do a 3 day work week so that I could give more time to move towards the wellness of my child. And the target was April to start....
And what happens?
Before I even started my 3 day work week,
Mid March, the dear helper that I had trained for a good whole 4 months and thinking that I could dive into my Glenn Doman program soon since she has kinda stabilised, dropped the bomb on me saying that she like to go home when her medical check up was due saying that her husband is stressing her to go back and she did not want to lose him.
So I informed the agency. The agent told me to probe further to make sure she was really serious about going home.
I probed..... and apparently she still was not very sure. She said her husband asked her to go back but she will try to tahan coz her hubby ask her go back since the time she came coz he never ever agreed her to come Singapore work in the first place.
Then April came, we celebrated her birthday with dinner and a nice birthday cake just like we would have celebrated a family member's birthday and ten days later, she told me again that this time she is very sure she wanna go home. When I probed again, she said not sure again. Then said maybe she wanna try for a caregiver job as it had better pay and prospects. Unlike any other employer, I told her to go find out properly and not at the end of the day realise that there is no real job out there like the aesop's fable dog who looked into the water and saw another dog with another bone, jumped into water and ended up with no bone at all and lost his own bone too.
I called the maid agency again. Agent then said will look through the bio datas and if there was a suitable replacement, they would get back to me.
I was getting worried so I went to another agency and managed to get another maid in on Apr 22. May 5, the old helper's (MJ) loan would have been paid up and she was free to go and if her agency dont find me replacement, I can't possibly just wait on no end.
The new maid came in and was trained by the old help MJ. May 4, new help said she is not suitable for our home and wants to be returned to the agency. That day, May 4, old help MJ went on off. Came back that night, gave me $350 saying her sister lent it to her and asked me to settle whatever she needs to settle with her agency and get her airticket home. I wasn't sure if that was the procedure so I told her to hold on to her money and I would check with her agency the following day.
Mon 5th May, I called agency. agency told me I had to take $375 from MJ ($195 (insurance + documentation) plus her air ticket money. The agency was supposed to give me a free replacement and I think they were charging it on her since she did not finish her contract and just worked six months. That night, I was home late as I was looking at bio datas at other maid agencies. I did not feel quite right with MJ's agent.
Tues, 6 May, I told MJ what her agency had advised me and MJ gave me her $350 plus she had $250 salary with me she said should be able to settle whatever with agency and get her air ticket. I said ok, took the money and planned to look for a day which she could afford her own ticket as requested.
That afternoon, when I returned from lunch in the office, the new maid called me, crying hysterically saying old help MJ was missing with her luggage and all.
I rushed straight home and filed a police report to safeguard myself that afternoon.
Called the agency but the agency said they did not know of the matter and had not seen MJ.
MJ handphone was still on. I called but she wouldn't pick up then I sms her, telling her to come back and close the case of missing person and I would then send her back but she did not reply me.
Wed, she sms me telling me to leave her air ticket with her agency.
However, things were not as simple as it seemed then coz MJ had been filed as missing person and i can't help her out of the country till she close the case police said.
Thurs 11 plus in the morning, agency called and said MJ is at their residence. I immediately called the police to ask what's the next course of action. they said to bring the gal to police station to close the case. I told that to agency but agency said "no such thing. we had missing maids before. we just need to call the police and said we found her." apparently they don't seem to believe I had made a police report. they then said you can ask the police to come our office and get her.
so i told that to the police. However, when the police got to the agency office, the agency said the gal has ran to the embassy!
Fri, noon, I called the embassy, they said they had no one of that name there. Then I called the police, the police said she was there. After I hung up with the investigating officer, I called the embassy a second time, this time, the embassy said yes she was there. What A RELIER! THANK YOU LORD!
Anyhow, police said fri and sat, the embassy was closed. Monday, he got other cases pending so only tues he will go to the embassy to get a statement from MJ that she is not abused and just plainly wanna go home. Then they will hand over the case to the agency and told me to deal with the embassy and agent then.
Boy! I was so stressed till she ended up in the embassy! I could not sleep and I was throwing out almost anything I ate. I was so worried that she would do anything silly.
So all you people out there... thank the Lord if you are able to stay home and take care of your own kids and thank the Lord if you've got good helpers. Seriously, these days, I really don't know what these helpers want out of us.
I just pray that when the police interrogate her, she wont spout nonsense about me and my family so we all can send her home!
The answer here is the maid is my main source of help to care for the kids while i work... so it is of big relevance.
And so I thought I was all ready to do something for my little angel, Jeremiah.... telling my boss that I like to work a 3 day week and all....
Well, I told my boss and HR that I like to do a 3 day work week so that I could give more time to move towards the wellness of my child. And the target was April to start....
And what happens?
Before I even started my 3 day work week,
Mid March, the dear helper that I had trained for a good whole 4 months and thinking that I could dive into my Glenn Doman program soon since she has kinda stabilised, dropped the bomb on me saying that she like to go home when her medical check up was due saying that her husband is stressing her to go back and she did not want to lose him.
So I informed the agency. The agent told me to probe further to make sure she was really serious about going home.
I probed..... and apparently she still was not very sure. She said her husband asked her to go back but she will try to tahan coz her hubby ask her go back since the time she came coz he never ever agreed her to come Singapore work in the first place.
Then April came, we celebrated her birthday with dinner and a nice birthday cake just like we would have celebrated a family member's birthday and ten days later, she told me again that this time she is very sure she wanna go home. When I probed again, she said not sure again. Then said maybe she wanna try for a caregiver job as it had better pay and prospects. Unlike any other employer, I told her to go find out properly and not at the end of the day realise that there is no real job out there like the aesop's fable dog who looked into the water and saw another dog with another bone, jumped into water and ended up with no bone at all and lost his own bone too.
I called the maid agency again. Agent then said will look through the bio datas and if there was a suitable replacement, they would get back to me.
I was getting worried so I went to another agency and managed to get another maid in on Apr 22. May 5, the old helper's (MJ) loan would have been paid up and she was free to go and if her agency dont find me replacement, I can't possibly just wait on no end.
The new maid came in and was trained by the old help MJ. May 4, new help said she is not suitable for our home and wants to be returned to the agency. That day, May 4, old help MJ went on off. Came back that night, gave me $350 saying her sister lent it to her and asked me to settle whatever she needs to settle with her agency and get her airticket home. I wasn't sure if that was the procedure so I told her to hold on to her money and I would check with her agency the following day.
Mon 5th May, I called agency. agency told me I had to take $375 from MJ ($195 (insurance + documentation) plus her air ticket money. The agency was supposed to give me a free replacement and I think they were charging it on her since she did not finish her contract and just worked six months. That night, I was home late as I was looking at bio datas at other maid agencies. I did not feel quite right with MJ's agent.
Tues, 6 May, I told MJ what her agency had advised me and MJ gave me her $350 plus she had $250 salary with me she said should be able to settle whatever with agency and get her air ticket. I said ok, took the money and planned to look for a day which she could afford her own ticket as requested.
That afternoon, when I returned from lunch in the office, the new maid called me, crying hysterically saying old help MJ was missing with her luggage and all.
I rushed straight home and filed a police report to safeguard myself that afternoon.
Called the agency but the agency said they did not know of the matter and had not seen MJ.
MJ handphone was still on. I called but she wouldn't pick up then I sms her, telling her to come back and close the case of missing person and I would then send her back but she did not reply me.
Wed, she sms me telling me to leave her air ticket with her agency.
However, things were not as simple as it seemed then coz MJ had been filed as missing person and i can't help her out of the country till she close the case police said.
Thurs 11 plus in the morning, agency called and said MJ is at their residence. I immediately called the police to ask what's the next course of action. they said to bring the gal to police station to close the case. I told that to agency but agency said "no such thing. we had missing maids before. we just need to call the police and said we found her." apparently they don't seem to believe I had made a police report. they then said you can ask the police to come our office and get her.
so i told that to the police. However, when the police got to the agency office, the agency said the gal has ran to the embassy!
Fri, noon, I called the embassy, they said they had no one of that name there. Then I called the police, the police said she was there. After I hung up with the investigating officer, I called the embassy a second time, this time, the embassy said yes she was there. What A RELIER! THANK YOU LORD!
Anyhow, police said fri and sat, the embassy was closed. Monday, he got other cases pending so only tues he will go to the embassy to get a statement from MJ that she is not abused and just plainly wanna go home. Then they will hand over the case to the agency and told me to deal with the embassy and agent then.
Boy! I was so stressed till she ended up in the embassy! I could not sleep and I was throwing out almost anything I ate. I was so worried that she would do anything silly.
So all you people out there... thank the Lord if you are able to stay home and take care of your own kids and thank the Lord if you've got good helpers. Seriously, these days, I really don't know what these helpers want out of us.
I just pray that when the police interrogate her, she wont spout nonsense about me and my family so we all can send her home!
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