Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Runaway Maid and Closure

Ever since i hasnt been able to blog that much, i had chosen to jot down my thoughts and all that was happening in our lives in a little note book so that I could create a new blog entry whenever i am free. This way, i can avoid straining my memory bank to recap the details of what i am to blog about.

Anyways.

I am still writing this post with a heavy heart as this is the first major misfortune that had happened to our family.

On 25 January 2011, our maid Wati ran away from our home after stealing our monies and other items. On that fateful day, my hubby and I had to bring HK to visit his PD. We didn't bring Wati along with us as it was nearing lunch time and we would like her to stay home and cook lunch. HY was already at the nanny's home.
We decided to trust her as she had been working in our home close to 4mths. Furthermore, she does not hold any door keys and we reckon we will just be away for an hour or so.

Before we left, Wati helped us with our baby bags and followed us to the door to lock the gate. When we returned 1.5hrs later, we discovered that all her luggages and belongings had disappeared. She was also nowhere to be seen. All the monies meant for our Chinese New Year red packets,some other old local currency and Brunei monies were stolen from our locked drawer. We estimated our losses to be close to $2K.

Prior to her disappearance, there was nothing abnormal about her behaviour even though she had always seems moody, quiet and does not argue when she was given her tasks. She also had the habit of staring into space or looking out of the windows.

We reported the runaway maid and theft to the police, sent the story to STOMP and wrote to MOM to blacklist her. According to my friend, this story came out in the new paper and Straits times. We wanted justice and answers but there was no information and nothing we could do. The only way was to wait for any news of Wati. I had to be strong for the children and continue with our daily lives. It was a very difficult, stressful and devastating period for us.


On 09 February 2011, 15 days after Wati had disappeared, She reappeared.
That day, i brought HY to his new school and then to the GP near our home.
Upon our return, i noticed a woman with her head covered with a floral scarf sitting at my neighour's front door. It did not occur to me that the woman was Wati.
I walked past her and she followed me closely behind, begging and calling out to me. I was in such a rude shock that i shouted loudly to my husband that the maid had returned. Wati kneeled down at our doorway and begged us for forgiveness.

We called in the Police and $900plus was recovered from her, including 3 old hps that she had stolen in December (!) and a pair of bikenstock slippers belonging to me.
According to the police, it is very likely that she will be jailed for theft. We decided not to pursue this matter and hence did not bother to follow up with the police on the result of her trial.


This is how Wati looked like when she ran away


Ever since Wati ran away, we tried to cope without a maid and even threw out thoughts of engaging another maid. However due to the business nature of my husband, lack of help from my in-laws and my own parents, we had no other options but to employ another maid to help with the housework and the children. We had since requested for a replacement from the Maid Agency. This new maid is due to arrive in early March. Hopefully, she will turn out well. Will post her details when she arrive in our house.

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