To report to police or not?

My friend told me a recent case about a local lawyer who discovered her Indo helper stealing her SIM card and made unauthorised IDD calls for over $2,000. She was immediately reported to the police after receiving her monthly bill. The Indo was jailed for two months. This happened to me too! I took a different approach and with retrospect, I made a big, big mistake.


In April 2006, having revealed my helper making over $2,000 worth of IDD calls from my monthly bill, our ornaments and gifts were gone but didn't come to our attention since I would have thought we might have misplaced it. I was indecisive as to whether I should give her a second chance, which I did. But guess what, she used the phone to send more SMS out to her lover and friends locally and overseas. This was really beyond our tolerance. Trust issue is gone! Still we kept her until July. I starting interviewing helpers and meet the one I have now. She learned "a lot" about me. My previous Indo DH spread false allegations about me, such as, hitting her, not paying her during her holidays, not allowing her having holidays - you name it - It was my present Filipina who told me about it after speaking to our neigbouring DH.


Now that my Indo is gone, I really shouldn't care about it. But my neigbouring DHs keep on asking whether my present helper is paid properly, if she is allowed to speak to anyone, etc. Give me a break!


Conclusion:

I believe I made a big mistake not to fire my previous Indo immediately and allowed the extra two months while searching for a new helper. What if she really uses a knife to slash herself or burns herself with an iron and accuses me of doing it (this happened to a Chinese family who lived in Robinson Road and was later freed from the allegations).

It is not really to the extent where I have to report to the police since I gave her a second chance to improve and she did challenge my tolerance again. FYI, I have a helpers' insurance that covers any loss or unauthorised IDD calls but on the condition that I have to report the case within 24 hours.

Now that the nightmare is over, my advice to all employers out there is to settle any termination peacefully and quietly, but make sure everything is black and white.

Good luck to those who are searching for the right helper, yes, I have found one that I like and we are getting along very well for the past three months. Patience is the key to the search!

"To report to police or not?" for me I would report immediately