Eye Level Malaysia Back to school promo
Join our Facebook Group
Shopee Ramadan Sale

Thursday, September 06, 2007

How long does it take to train a maid?

Due to my health condition, it would be ideal to have a permanent maid. Someone to be around all of the time. At the moment, I have a part time helper. She is reasonably good but she is not around all of the time which is what we prefer. But just how long does it take to train a maid? Don't expect those that are provided to you by the maid agency to be fully trained. At the most, they will teach them to make some beds.

Some people suggests getting an experienced maid. That will cut down the training time. On the other hand you have to balance that with having one that is too street smart or street wise. Theres the issue of trust and a longing for new pastures when they are more experienced, I think.

So lets take for example you take in a new inexperienced maid. I think it will take several months to train one up to your expectations. Afterall how can you expect someone who is young, away from their family and country and who perhaps does not speak your language and does not know how to use modern appliances to adjust overnight? I think you should be prepared to spend at least one or two months of your time training and teaching them. I don't think working mothers have this time and thats why we have problems sometimes.

As for me, I'm not prepared to spend that time only to face the risk of them running away afterwards in cohorts with the agency after my hard work of training and teaching them. Nosiree. And thats why even though we would prefer to have someone around most of the time, we are not taking in a full time maid for now.

Recently I saw a family of 5, parents and 3 kids out for a meal with a maid. The maid looked rather unhappy and left out. When the food came, she stood up and took some portions of the noodles for the kids. Why does she have to do that, I wonder. The kids look old enough to help themselves to their own food. Just like most children can wear their own shoes by school going age. None of the family members made any effort to speak to the maid throughout the meal. No wonder she looked miserable and left out. A maid is not a member of family but they could at least have made some small talk with her, I think.

I sometimes do pity the maids and their plight of working far from home and family in a strange land with strange equipment and in a language they do not understand. Don't you?

Popular Posts