Very recently I happened to fire my maid. Yes you women may read the last three words again and shudder.
It took a lot of strength and strong intentions to put the act in motion. Not to forget complete procrastination that lasted more than a year.
She was rude from day one. Insolent, disobedient, lazy blah and blah. Have you already shrugged your shoulders and said, “So?” I would have by now.
But to add to this illustrious list of adjectives, she was also in some serious state of denial as well.
And as much as I would like to say it was the other things that got her going, I know internally as a person I would have been okay with it all if it wasn’t for her extreme sense of not accepting things as they were.
The morning I was supposed to bid her farewell. Two things happened. Firstly she was late ( yet again ) and again left out a room unclean because she had to hurry off to another workplace.
Post the big bombshell which began with, “Kal se mat aana” (please do not come from tomorrow), her first reaction wasn’t “What is my mistake?” but instantly, “Diwali tak kaam karne do, bonus le ke jaungi” (Let me work till Diwali, I shall leave work only post taking my Diwali bonus).
I could barely contain myself. I decided to not reply to her last bit and showed her the door instantly.
Why did I narrate this rather insignificant piece of my life to you today?
Because in life we will always have the Chandas (umm yes that was her name 😀 ) of the world haunt and sap us through their negativity. Identify and fire them before the Diwali Bonus becomes twelve months of your life.
They are everywhere, hiding beneath promises of a lasting forever or quick cup of coffee at your favourite food joint or a nice tea break at work. They are there, under your noses, behind your walls listening for gossips, floating around like ghosts you can never see.
They are the labyrinth of doubt you breathe right now, the crazy notion that you are not right and the insane idea that you cannot be yourself.
The hard part is not that they are who they are or that we can see them as it is. The tough part is they are people we love, people we care for. People we wish would wake up one day and see who we are for who we wish to be.
But the good part is we can keep them! Yes like an early Christmas card this one too has hope ringing through our ears.
And you know what are the steps to do so?
Be yourself. And rest will follow.
Good night 🙂
I hope this message on a rather blue Monday night brought you a smile or even more an idea to fire your Chanda tomorrow morning. Just a hint of warning, when it gets to Diwali Bonus the next step to it is “the door” 🙂
Tell us do you have a Chanda (or Chandu 😛 ) in your life? How do you deal with them?
Disclaimer 1: This is the first maid I have fired in twenty eight glorious years of my life 😀
Disclaimer 2: I almost always love them to death, if you don’t believe me you can read this post Sunshine Rinku
Information 1: Diwali is a hindu festival (Obviously this blog has international reach, what da ya know? 😛 )
Well, my first chanda ..I loved her..she was great at work and she never took an off without informing me…
Then after we shifted, came the next Chanda …This one too never took off without informing me for almost 1.5 years but she wasn’t very good at her work…Then she started going on leaves for a month or more, no prior information…I didn’t say anything the first time around …But when I was in the hospital 3 weeks back, she went away again without informing..That was it…I decided enough was enough..I couldn’t have an absentee maid while I myself was unwell ..So, now I have already replaced her and am waiting for her to come back all smug thinking I’ll keep her again..Like to see the look on her face this time…
I think they take us for a ride because we think they are poor and we should give them chances and not take away their source of income…But there is only so much we can do!
Yes Naba it is exactly (unfortunately the last point) that they are poor and deserve our patience that holds us back…
Hmm, yup, the negativity-spreading maid must go. There’s just no point giving her that bonus.
Plus, there are other Chandas in our lives too, you know. For our own peace of mind, we should cut them all out!
I agree 100 % every single one them need to disappear at least in spirit if not in person 🙂
What a coincidence I fired my maid 2 months back and got back my trusted old maid who used to work 2 years back at my home ! She had the same issues, running away without cleaning properly ! I think we all know when to bid goodbye to our Chandas 😉 😀
I believe we need to give them byes, goodbyes seem like a luxury for them now 😀
hahahahaha.. good that you took the courage and showed her the door.. Our goodness sometimes pose hindrance and tells us against to do away with people who have negative effects on us.. But its no use having such people hanging around us coz that can soon convert our goodness into bitterness 😀 All the best in finding a reliable help..
Well help I found! Reliable only time will tell 😀
Hope you got a good one now.
I am really scared to say about my luck for maids NOW! What if they vanish tomorrow.
hahaha dont say Indrani then!
My mother shares the same blues with her chandas. Finally she settled on her oldest chanda who never took a day off unless she was severely ill. We really need to be super lucky when it comes to maids. 🙂
Old is gold eh? 😀
Hmm – so you had a hard time and beyond the humor I see the irritation. I am lucky to have great ones in Bangalore. They are Nepali, so they talk Hindi, honest, punctual, hard working and regular. We don’t have chai, breakfasts or bonuses. They get their salary and annual hike.
Moving to bangalore as I write this!
Thankfully I haven;t had to deal with a Chanda yet. I’m my own chanda 🙂
Hahaha this is funny 😀 In that way we are all our chandas 😛
I haven’t had to deal with a Chanda yet. I’m my own Chanda 🙂
😀
I am my flatmates are about to fire our Chanda. She is getting intolerable. This was the best thing I should have read. 🙂
I hope it helps you too! 😀
Remember all the chandas we had to put up with in Noida. What a pain in the ass they were..Specially the house maid in our sector 39 flat.
he he that one was very interesting 😀
We should never be so dependent that we tolerate unreasonable behaviour. Good point highlighted here.
Glad you liked it Lata 🙂
Sometimes you got to do what you got to do and it sounds like it was long past time for her to be shown the door. Good for you for taking the initiative!
Initiative that I hope I never have to do again 😀
I never fired maids – maids only fired me all the time. Btw, I too have joined the bandwagon and written a blog post on maids.
Oh God!! Link please 😛
Baapre … ““Diwali tak kaam karne do, bonus le ke jaungi” … that is sheer arrogance ! :O
Ain’t it? 😀
good to see this post.. felt like it was story in my house.. Today I Fired my maid.. after lot of procrastination… It was sapping the positive energy in our house.. finally i had to do this for the sake of my child and wife.. enough is enough.. But the decision was made based on data..