From Joey:
Hi ms. Annie sana makakuha ka ng agency na magbigay ng maayos na maids… Nakakakunsumi talaga pag nabibigyan ng mga alanganin. Sana me makuha ka rin na mayordoma para hindi na ikaw lahat ang mag papaalala sa kanila. Kailangan talaga ng mga househelp kasi maalikabok sa Pilipinas.
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Employment agencies offer no guarantees as to how the maid would perform or turn out to be. That’s why they warn employers , just like “take care of your belongings, management will not be held responsible”. Agencies do not know these maids personally. Most of them were recruited by recruits of recruits, thru newspaper ads, walk-ins. Tsambahan, tyempuhan, swertihan lang. Nakita sa kanto, nagkakilala habang nagpapa-load. So it’s basically “employers beware”.
In the same manner, employment agencies do not know what kind of people employers are. Kung sex maniac ba or mga balasubas. Others don’t pay their maids well. Others lock them up while the employers are away. Other make batok their maids. It’s also a risk on the part of the maids. But of course, I would like to think that most employers are decent people and treat their household helpers kindly.
I think I’ve told you this story before, maybe two years ago. Two maids who were employed by a powerful politician in the north were texting my maid asking for help. They wanted their agency to get them out of that misery. The old man would call the prettier one to come up to his room every night to make his birdie fly away. It became part of the maid’s chore to give him a happy ending every night. During day time, he made it his priority to make chancing to the two of them. Manyakis pala.
Maids are so flighty. The danger of ending up in a situation like the above do not enter their minds. I was just speaking to the village security a few minutes ago. Kasi when I dropped off my two maids at the gate, there were two other maids who were also at the gate, their gate passes being checked by the guard. Every now and then I would see maids from other homes dragging their maleta out of their employer’s homes. Does that mean hindi ako nag-iisa? The village security told me “Hindi lang sa inyo mam, mas grabe pa sa iba, minsan ilang araw lang yung maids, isang linggo, ang gugulo”.
I was worried kasi baka ako ang may diprensya, baka kasi ang sungit ko talaga. He assured me “Mam, ang bait mo pa nga, yung iba namamalo, nagmumura”.
Joey is correct, some of them are hunting for a male employer who’s already nauseated with his aging wife. That would be their chance. We’ve had maids who hugged and kissed Edmund’s polo shirt and openly professed their secret wish “mapansin sana ako ni sir”. Meron din tinatarget yung anak ng amo.
And you can’t blame them. They see that on teleseryes, movies, and that happens in real life. Malay mo nga naman. That’s the same thing why we’ve had drivers before who were trying to charm me. Baka nga naman sa halip lang na driver ng kotse, bigla silang magka kotse.
Many are working to send money to their children in the province. These are more serious in their goals. They just want to earn a decent living. We’ve had maids who were able to build homes for their parents from their salaries. Some have children who are nurses, engineers, accountants, magugulat ka, kasi magaganda na ang buhay ng mga anak.
Mayordoma:
There was a time when I appointed a mayordoma. After two weeks, she hated her job, bakit daw lagi na lang sya ang tinatawag ko.
Maybe I should hire a mayordoma with a college degree. I’m afraid to put an office here at home with a full time personal assistant / cum mayordoma, baka kasi ligawan naman ng mga drivers. Edmund doesn’t want to have a home office, pag uwi nga naman namin, may office na naman dito sa bahay, puro office na lang.
