Great surprises from my Indo helper

Having made HK$2300 worth of overseas IDD calls and SMS, my Indonesian helper has finally left yesterday. She even took one of our mobiles out on her holiday. When we were out, our landline was always engaged for at least an hour. The pages from our magazines were ripped out. The story hasn't ended yet, to my surprise, my new Filipina helper, who arrived last evening, discovered many of my belongings in the maid's room (e.g. the kid's gifts, VCDs {she helped herself to watch them when we were out}, my body cream and scrub and many of my other trivial delights hidden under the pillow, between the mattress and behind the cabinets). Though I don't seek repayment of kindness for what I'd done to my Indo helper (i.e. buying her occasional treats like snacks, noodles, Indo newspaper, Indo books to keep her entertained in her free time), I truly don't seek for revenge. It discourages me to treat my future helpers well.

I have hired a Filipino this time - she seems sweet - most importantly, it is because I can communicate with her in English. What I admire her most is that she graduated from Agriculture, which I suppose would be more quiet than the one before. Cross my fingers this time!

goodluck for that jessie!!!, I am planning to fire my filipina helper and hire indonesian? you think its a bad idea?

Dear Abby,

If you plan to hire Indonesian, do make sure you have the patience - most of them can't speak English and don't have much sense of hygiene. Honestly, I kept her for ten months because I felt sorry for her since she had paid a huge sum for the commission to work in my home. I dismissed her because she was dishonest. My least expectation was to look for someone honest, not an expert chef. Having screened through a lot of helpers, I managed to find a great Filipina, at least I can leave the home to her.

Indonesian helpers may appear to be quiet at first because of their inability to express themselves, gradually, their playful character will be revealed. Tried two Indo but still would prefer Filipinas.

FYI, my present helper did not have an outstanding reference. Her previous employer was an old Chinese lady and spoke to her about my Filipina. She had negative views about her but I judged for myself in the interview. I guess it was the gut feeling that told me my present helper was right for the place. I made her fill out a questionnaire for me.

hmmm, I interviewed both filipinas and Indonesians before hiring my present helper, who's Indonesian. Her English is very good, on par or better than the Filipinas that I interviewed. Having worked in Singapore probably helped. She cleans very well and pays great attention to details and her hygiene standard concerning food is probably even higher than mine, haha. Personally I would not hire anyone, Filipina or Indonesians, who has no prior experience or no reference (I insist on talking to previous employers). Whoever tells you they a)don't know previous employer's phone # b) employer doesn't want to be disturbed, cannot be trusted. If you detect any incongruency, dig deeper, there's a story behind. You have to at least find out what they're trying to hide, then judge for yourself if it's a dealbreaker for you. I don't think there are "perfect" helpers out there. Everyone has flaws, you just have to pick someone whose flaw you can live with.

I have just employed my second Sri Lankan helper. Both have been very good. I don't think you can hire someone purely on nationality, but for me the idea that an Indonesian helper will have paid a huge sum to an agency (and pretty much all of them do) would make it difficult for me to hire one.