Don't treat your maid like your dog

Ili Jun 22, 09 5:27pm
I refer to the Malaysiakini report Shocking! Maids are humans too.As parents, it is our responsibility to gave our attention and love to our own child. Do you think your child needs a maid when you are around the house on weekends or at night after we come home from work? No! Believe me, the children don’t need or want the maid around them. They need and want their parents. Just because we have hire maids, that doesn't mean we can take for granted our responsibility as parents. We work from 9am to 5pm, come back home feeling tired but so are the maids. Believe me, it is not easy to take care of the child, cook, clean the house etc, sometimes even I can't do it alone. Again, your maid is human, they need rest and their own time and space after a long day work. But like I said as parents, even if you're tired, this is not an excuse. It is the parents that have to entertain/give attention to your child. Just imagine if even on weekends the maid takes the child to the playground. Just ask yourself, ‘where were you when the child was growing up? Personally. I think parenting is not just about supporting a child financially but also emotionally.Correct me if I'm wrong but to me, working as maid is also a profession and deserves equal treatment and benefits (like any other employee) such as off-days and medical support etc. Do you think they come here gladly to serve us Malaysians? If so, that is a laziest thought a human being can have.They came here to work in Malaysia so that they can support their families back home. It is the same concept of ‘work’ that we do except for the differences in categories. But it is still a job. We hire them as maids to work for us, but that doesn't mean that we can treat them like a robot or a slave. True, they work in our homes, we give them a room to sleep in etc, but that is part of their benefits for choosing to be a maid. And by all means, they deserve an off-day (like Saturday/Sunday) that they can enjoy. An off-day meaning they don't have to any of the jobs we employed them for. So when they're having their day off, then it is our responsibility to do our own chores over the weekend or on our off-days. I am proud to say that I have befriended some of the maids that I met. And they are lucky to have nice and fair bosses, but many of their friends don’t. They have to work long hours, are lowly paid, have no medical support and are sometime treated like animals.They are forced to take contraceptive pills so that they won’t get pregnant even if they are married. They can’t have a relationship or go on dates. Come on, these are natural human feelings; how can you stop love? Love is beyond borders and we can't control it. In relation to this love thing, to me if it is about a behaviour/attitude problem so please settle it like normal people do and that is to talk about this problem with your maid. But if the problem persists, then just find another maid that respect your rules and regulations. But don't treat them like they are dogs. Even dogs have feelings that should be respected.Both side, the bosses and the maids should respect and consider one another. Just imagine if you, the employer, are treated the same way by your own bosses. Would you like that? I'm sure you also couldn’t stand the stress and would protest. It is the same with these maids because you know what? They are just like us - human beings.