MARCH 20 — The new Indonesian maid ruling provides that one maid would perform only one task while fees would be charged for additional services.

Therefore, the following situation emerges:

“Siti, it’s time to bathe my daughter.”

“Ma’am, she is already three years old. She should bathe herself.”

“Okay then, I’ll bathe her myself. Sir should be back home soon, you go prepare dinner.”

“Ma’am, you should cook for your husband, not me. Because I’m not his wife.”

“It’s toilet time for grandpa, you go and help him.”

“Ma’am, grandpa is a man and I’m a woman. How could you ask me to help him? I have a sense of self-respect too, you know?”

“Siti, you are here to work, how could you say no to everything I asked you to do?”

“Ma’am, my government said that one maid can perform only one task in Malaysia. I’m responsible for cleaning, not taking care of children or senior citizens, and cooking.”

“My previous maid was not like that. Isn’t taking care of the needs of the whole family a maid’s responsibility?”

“Ma’am, times have changed. Nowadays, one maid only focuses on one task. This is what we called professional!”

“You said no to everything I asked you to do. How could this be professional?”

“Ma’am, sorry lah! A, B, C, D — you can choose only one of the four chores. Once you have made your decision, you can never change. It’s the rule.”

“But maids from other countries are not like this.”

“Ma’am, Indonesia is now a big country. A maid represents the country’s image. So we have to be careful.”

“It’s not reasonable to do so little of work, right?”

“Ma’am, how could you say so? This house is 1,500 square feet and it’s very tiring to clean it. Actually, I’m about to inform you that from now on I’ll just clean the ground floor and you should clean the first floor yourself. Also, you should buy an automatic vacuum machine so I wouldn’t need to work so hard next time.”

“Hey, I’m your Ma’am, not your maid. How dare you ask me to do things like that?”

“Ma’am, don’t vent your anger on me. I have my pride. I can lodge a complaint, you know?”

“No, no... how dare I get angry? You tell me then, what should I do so you can do all the work for me?”

“Ma’am, it’s actually negotiable. You pay me RM5 each time you want me to bathe your daughter; RM10 for cooking and RM2 for helping grandpa. The charges would be doubled during night time.”

“Siti, you are just so professional and I really appreciate you. How about this? Next time, you be the Ma’am and I’ll be the maid serving you. Oh! You better bring your abang and anak here so that I can support them too. What do you say?” — mysinchew.com

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.