to manage or not to manage

yet another interesting article came out in the media today "rural womenfolk to be trained as home managers" - local, especially the rural womenfolk will be given training on housekeeping to be gainfully employed as home managers (should not be referred to as 'domestic maids' as it had a negative connotation). this move is to provide employement for women agaed 18 years & above and at the same time to reduce the dependency on foreign maids which is now numbered circa 325,000. malaysians are hard pressed to get good home managers to take care of their homes, children & the elderly. it is said that locals would definitely be better as they understand the way of life here. there is no minimum pay set at this point of time but it is said that some very good educated home managers could be paid RM2000.

this of course sparked off a very interesting discussion among the deejays on a local radio station this morning. one asked 'why only the women? what about the men who aren't able to get jobs? can't they be home managers too?'. another disagreed & said that women do better job as they are more meticulous. of course listeners were invited to give their opinions. one guy said 'yeah guys do a better job'. one lady said 'nolah, men are so lazy. they won't do a good job'. and yet another male species said 'definitely women cos they love routine. men don't like routine so they would not find being a home manager very challenging' (don't know which lubang cacing this rat has been living in).

i mean its good that the relevant ministry is coming with solutions to create jobs for the locals. of course if given a choice between a local & foreign help, many a person would opt for the locals - no levy, renewal of passport, etc etc etc (not very informed on this area as my previous helps were local or indon who have been granted m'sian pr). as far the 'who would do a better job?' - it doesn't really matter. but thinking about the men (or the most of whom i know) i doubt they would do a very good job at it. yeah, they may be able to cook & clean when left alone to their own devices but be a domestic help? hmmm...

one guy (lets refer to him as latok) who was an ex-colleague was so damn lazy that he wouldn't even put a dirty plate in the sink for the office cleaner to wash. he used to brag that he & his wife did not have to lift a finger at home cos they have a maid (plus he's living with his in-laws). a group of us bought some fruits to be shared among the colleagues. the last to finish off the food was latok, so we told him to clear the stuff & left for home. the next day when we got back into the office, we saw the dirty plate (from the previous day) still on the table. so what we did was put the plate on his chair. i think he made a fuss about it but we told him off citing that he should probably bring his maid to the office.

what's the going rate these days for foreign maids - RM500 - RM800 for a foreign maid? would you then be willing to pay RM2000 for a local home manager? and how many households can actually afford to fork this kind of moolah for hired help?

someone i knew got a local 18 year old girl to work. okay, young girl can trainlah. one week into the job (not that she did much really cos she was still learning), she went back home for the raya celebrations. one week back in her kampung, she came back to kl. that very night she got back, she cried and said that she didn't want to work anymore & wanted to go back to her kampung to be with her parents. so, no choicelah send back lah.... then as replacement she got a bossy indonesia maid but since this one was pretty good at her job, had to stick it out till the friend coultn't take it anymore, quit her high paying job & is now a full time home minister.

i took a makcik from east m'sia who was looking for work in kl to be near her son (he was supposed to do his practical). a little bit controlling lah this woman, she used to ask me everytime i went out - who, what, why, when till i told her that even my hubby wouldn't ask me so many questions. then she got news that her son was posted for practical in pahang. when we brought her back to the in-laws place, she wanted to stay back with my mom-in-law to take religious classes. then we sent her back to celebrate raya with her family; when we asked her if she wanted to take a longer holiday so that she could spend more time with her family she thought we were indirectly firing her. so one week into her holiday, she called me & informed me that she's not coming back to work. how???

for those who can afford to quit their job & become full time home ministers, it is an honorable sacrifice to make; and most have made it without an ounce of regret. for those who can't but make an effort to juggle the work & the home, they deserve utmost respect & appreciation.....