Maids & Drivers Stories

1. Mrs. D was one of the major exporters of embroidered linens like Barong Tagalog and saya to the US and Japan. Her business shrank after the Asian financial crisis. Instead of shipping in bix boxes every friday, the trade volume was down to a miniscule one balikbayan box every two weeks, eventually the orders stopped coming. Her loyal buyers switched their allegiance to China’s cheaper linens.

She has a silver gray Mercedes Benz she purchased during the height of their export business. It’s five years old but it seldom leaves the garage. Sobrang ingat-na-ingat sya. Most especially after her husband died, Mrs. D didn’t even want to use the Benz.

Her driver of seven years left their employ. He got mad at them for not giving him P15,000 cash advance supposedly for the repair of their roof. That’s not the only cash advance he had. He is a habitual mangungutang. He would borrow from Mrs. D’s son, from her daughter, from the other maids, for their neighbor’s maids and drivers.

Mrs. D hired a new driver. He seemed okay, very respectful during the first 4 days. He started work on a Tuesday. He did not show up on Saturday. Then on Sunday, while Mrs. D was in the kitchen, she heard someone start the Mercedes Benz. She looked and saw the driver. She thought he was probably going to clean the car. Mrs. D went up to her room to get ready for mass at the nearby Carmel church.
She heard their gate opened, when she went down to check she saw her precious car leaving the garage.

The new driver stole their vehicle.

2. Every time Mrs. M takes a shower, her trusted maid of 18 years was the one readying her clothes, her things. She’s the only one allowed to enter their bedroom and dressing room.

Mrs. M was scheduled to go to the US. She knew she had US $2,000 in her locked drawer. But when she looked for it, the envelope was gone. She asked her husband if he took it, he said he didn’t even know she has money there and he did not a key to her drawers.

Mrs. M confronted her trusted yaya, she said the same thing. She didn’t even know she had money there and she didn’t a key. She must have heard Mr. M’s alibi.

Trusted yaya pointed at the other maids. She said she noticed Maid Lala entering the masters bedroom. Since Mrs. M fully trusted yaya, she fired the other maids and hired new ones.

Little did she know that for 18 years, this trusted yaya of hers has been stealing money from her drawer, bag, wallet while Mrs. M is taking a shower. Yaya also steals some of her expensive underwear.

Mrs. M went to the US. When she came back, she checked in at the Edsa Shangrila Hotel for one night. The maids and drivers were informed that her arrival would be the day after. She rented a hotel taxi the next day and went to their house in Greenhills. The maids didn’t know that it’s her. They were nagulat but nevertheless happy to see her. “Good afternoon mam”. Mrs. M went straight to her bedroom. It was locked. She knocked, yaya answered “naglilinis pa ako!” The yaya didn’t know that it’s Mrs. M. She thought it was one of the maids. She opened the door after Mrs. M continuously knocked without saying a word. When the yaya opened the door, she was shocked to see Mrs. M has arrived. Mrs. M was shocked to see trusted yaya. She was wearing her dress. Their carry on luggage was standing beside the bed, while some of her fashion accessories, jewelries were on the bed, as if being packed. Yaya was stealing practically all jewelries or small valuables and stuffing them in the carry on luggage.
her game plan was to leave that afternoon, the day before Mrs. M was scheduled to arrived from her US trip.

Mrs. M called the village security and she was put in jail.

3. Mrs. Patsy was afraid her maids might steal from her bag. She’s heard too many stories of people losing money inside their very own homes. She’s all too careful not to leave her bag out of her sight. Except when she takes a bath. She leaves her bag outside.

One day, she was already in the shower, but for some reason, she remembered she withdrew P25,000 the day before. She left the shower, wrapped a towel around her and slowly and quietly went out of the bathroom. She caught her maid making kalikot her bag. P5,000 was missing from the 25,000 bundle. The maid tucked it inside her pants.

4. There were times that I would leave my handbag on the kitchen counter for a few minutes to get something from my bathroom. Paalis na ako ng bahay pero laging meron akong nalilimutan. Since my bag’s always heavy, I would just leave it on the counter. Many times, I would feel like, parang merong gumalaw. Parang bigla na lang naubos ang cash ko. Minsan I would have 10,000 tapos parang naubos na agad. Sa dami ng iniiisip, hindi ko na matandaan. lagi na lang parang ang bilis nawawala ang pera ko.
I suspected our former cookie. pero mahirap magbintang kung hindi actual na nakita. So from then on, I never leave my bag on the kitchen counter. If I left something upstairs, I bring my bag with me.