Greed

Wati became really greedy! She also knew that we needed her to care for my mum as we didn’t change her though her agent did come by to counsel her. Counselling maids, to me, is a really damn waste of time!

It’s now slightly past 2 months since my sister caught her with the mobile phone she bought using my mum’s money. Wati even stole the prepaid SIM card in my mum’s mobile, another $30 so she can top up the card. As my husband had purchased the prepaid SIM card previously, I contacted Singtel to terminate the card.

She even raked up over S$1000 on overseas calls to her boyfriend by using the house phone. She would take the cordless into the toilet to make the call when there is no visitor. Long ago one of my Indonesian maids also did a similar thing. Each day right after I leave my home, she would pick up the phone to call Indonesia – not sure who she called. I only found out when the bill came and I sent her to her agent immediately. Of course I never recovered the expenses incurred!

Anyway, as I visited my mum at home about 2 – 3 times a week, Wati didn’t show any indifference. It’s as if she did not do anything wrong or everything was ok ie she is at my mum’s house to take care of my mum.

My mum was again hospitalized earlier this month so Wati had to again accompany my mum during my mum’s hospital stay. This time, she crossed the line. She stole a mobile phone belonging to a patient next to my mum’s bed. How stupid can she be? I supposed she didn’t think about ever being punished by the police. So far, my sister only counseled her. Words = no weight!!

I told my sister no point in pressing charges even if she has a glimmer of hope that she could recover the stolen money and also the overseas call charges. Even if Wati gets charged, so what?? She’d probably spent maybe 2 weeks in jail, then she is repatriated. She can no longer work in Singapore – big deal! There is Hong Kong, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia where she can still work! She won’t feel the heat!

In fact, press charges and the employer will be so much poorer! As an employer, you would still need to pay the levy while the maid is being housed and fed in the embassy!