The Tragic Maid Story

(It's up to you to decide whether it's the story or the maid that's tragic.)

This morning was a regular morning - Abang was at kindergarten, Adik was playing and watching TV while Mummy did some work at the dining table to supervise Adik. Bibik, our maid, was washing her clothes in the bathroom when her phone rang.

It went something like this.

"Hello.... Ya..." Very normal sounding. And then, "HAH?!?!?! APA?!?!?!"

That's when my ears perked up. Oh-oh. This doesn't sound good.

".... MINUM RACUN...?!?!" (blah blah blah DRANK POISON?!?!)

I don't eavesdrop very well, especially when it's in Bahasa Indonesia, but I did manage to pick up some key phrases. At this point, I was hoping the caller wasn't referring to her husband.

Then a lot of "WHY? WHY? DOESN'T HE LOVE HIS CHILDREN? WHY?"

Since I was facing my computer at the time, I Google Talk-ed to Daddy, "Oh-oh. Maid got crisis."

Eventually she hung up and then, visibly upset, came to tell me that her husband had attempted suicide. He's been working in Muar for the past couple of months and had asked her to go visit him. We agreed to give her some time off in July, when Daddy and I will be away and the boys at Atok's house.

Apparently that's too far away for him.

According to Bibik, when he first told her he's planning to come over and work in Malaysia, she wasn't too happy. That's because he wanted her to stay with him to cook and wash his clothes for him (you're allowed to roll your eyes). She didn't want to, she wanted to continue working with us. "I don't want to live in a jungle," she told me because her husband got a job in a plantation.

After he had arrived, I *ahem* accidentally read an sms on her phone (really, it wasn't intentional, the sms arrived when I was helping her with her pre-paid card which she said was wonky). I didn't know who it was from, but it basically said "Are you maaaaaad at meeeee? Why are you maaaaad at meeeee? Why aren't you replying my sms?"

My first thought was "Aiyo so whiny". But I know our maid, and she's very thrifty with her money. She only uses the money that Nenek gives her for cleaning her house once a week to buy her pre-paid cards. When those credits run out, she'll just wait until the next time she cleans Nenek's house and use that money to top up her credits. Rarely does she ask me for her salary to buy pre-paid cards; I think probably fewer than five times, total.

So The Husband gets all insecure wondering why his wife isn't replying his sms. And he calls her very often because her phone will ring incessantly, like 4-5 missed calls. When she finally answers, I hear her explaining in a rather exasperated way that she was either cooking, or cleaning, or watching the children, you know, doing the stuff she's paid to do!

Yesterday she got a similar whiny sms but with the added "If you are maaaaad at meeee then maybe it's better that I drink some poison and just die." I think she did reply that sms to reassure him that she's NOT mad at him (which is quite remarkable, really).

LO and BEHOLD, he did it anyway. And that's when she got the dreadful call this morning.

I told Daddy, "The Husband is such an idiot."

Daddy replied, "Most men are."

Of course it could be part of some elaborate scam. But when I dropped her at Puduraya this morning, she only had a small bag, RM100 cash which I gave her and a return bus ticket. (I know the bus timetable and fares because I'd been researching for her soon-to-be-not-happening weekend to visit you-know-who.) And all her salary is with me, as she requested at the beginning of the contract.

I'm wondering what the scam entails, if it is one, which would be tragic for me. If it's not a scam, then tragic for her.