Something that recent events here at home has brought to my attention is the fact that I seriously need to work on my personnel management skills. And perhaps, better screening for household personnel, especially since we put a major premium on trustworthiness in people who work for us.
In a fit of posting more information than I normally would on a public location such as my blog, my family has only ever taken on household helpers recommended and/or vouched for either by other family and friends, or by those who had once been our employees.
Okay, maybe that wasn't so much of a TMI, in fact, I think it's a very reasonable practice considering these are people we entrust with assisting in our personal health and upkeep, and that of our beloved pets who are, in fact, considered in this household as being good as family. And at some point, the help becomes almost like family to us. We don't see each other every holiday or send cards or anything, but most of the oldest of our help can often count on being able to reach us by phone whether it is just to say hi or if they might need some emergency assistance.
Now I can't say I'm "good" for that is a very vague accusation to place on my head. And no one has ever accused me of kindness either which is contrary to the rest of my family, all of whom are, in my opinion, very kind people often to a fault.
I have heard our ex-helper, Charine Ambrasado (yes, her real name), accused the person who recommended her as a helper for our family of lying; that he had promised we would be kind employers and are generally good people.
However, Charing*, might I remind you of the basic philosophy of Christianity that you are to "do unto others as you would have them do to you."
You were given every chance to redeem yourself for all the transgressions you managed to get into beginning your short stint working for us in March. Oh your first month was great; in fact, I asked that my mum immediately grant you a pay raise because of your excellent start. And then I left for Ireland and returned to find that you hadn't been preparing meals for my aunt as you had been taught and had completely stopped meal planning, you weren't cleaning the house properly, and you had the audacity to use my desktop computer without permission. You could not be trusted to return on the agreed time on your day off, whether scheduled or unscheduled. Naturally these were all given the appropriate sanctions which you also blatantly disregarded.
You were looking for a level of kindness that is earned through consistent good service, not granted automatically. We are still strangers and despite you working for us and living under our roof, had only deserved, up to the point that you left, to receive only the basic courtesies as any human being ought to be given, including the food you carelessly wasted whenever it did not suit your taste.
I reread this now and it all sounds quite cruel, cold, and very calculating but on the other hand, I do pat myself on the back for the one kindness I believe I have done: blessing her in my prayers and leaving her to the Lord's hands without seeking to make her suffer by making those she used as her accomplices suffer the consequences of their stupidity.
*Charing is a local gay (my apologies to those who find the use of the word "gay" to be offensive; in my culture, it is not considered as an offensive term) lingo vocabulary word defined on Tusong Matsing as "not serious, a joke, not okay, not true, not real." In simpler English: lies, lies, lies.
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