Hiring Khun Moo

Ever since I realized we were moving to Thailand I have been doing a lot of soul searching about the morality of hiring a housekeeper.  The thinking went like this:

Pro:
- I like Thai food, and a Thai housekeeper would make better Thai food than I would.
- Chris wants his shirts ironed.  By someone who is not me.
- Every apartment we were shown had maid's quarters, and every foreign family we have met has hired a maid.
- If there is a place for someone to live on our back porch, and someone who needs a job that wants to live there, then it seems like a good thing to help someone out.  This is way more efficient than donating to a charity.

Con:
- I am inherently lazy and should not pander to that side of me.
- My children will think this is normal.
- I don't really want another person hanging around the house with me during the daytime.

So last week I read an ad in the US Embassy bulletin recommending Khun Moo as an excellent cook and housekeeper and who is honest and a "very quiet person who will respect your family's privacy."  I figured that sounded as good as anybody, so I called her up and we agreed to meet, Saturday at noon.

Saturday morning I was nervous.  I read and re-read the embassy pamphlet, "Questions To Ask In A Maid Interview."  We cleaned up the house to show that we're very tidy people and will be easy to take care of.  I bathed the kids.  We practiced formal greetings in Thai, and had the children march out of their room to bow when I whistled, a la The Sound of Music (their idea, not mine).  I bribed them to act like they like each other.

When she arrived, the kids were champs.  They bowed, said 'Sawadee Ka' and departed, holding hands, to sit on the couch and read books with their arms around each other.  Chris and I sat with Khun Moo at the dining room table.

"First of all," she said, "I am 55 years old.  Is that too old for you?"  Chris and I exchanged eyebrow raises. "uh, no...no, um we like 55.  55 no problem."  She went on, "I am 55, and I can't walk around the mall with the babies all day, then cook dinner, then walk to more malls at night.  I work for you 7am to 9pm, no problem, but no walking all day in malls."  I reassured her that I don't really like malls.  Or walking.  And that if I was going walking in a mall, I absolutely would not want her coming with me.

A glance at the children shows them sitting in a beam of sunlight, Theo's head on Lucy's shoulder.  I try not to giggle.

In broken English, her story came out.  No children.  Husband died.  Has worked as a housekeeper for many, many years.  Can't keep up with the mall-walking like she used to.  Would appreciate being able to live in our tiny maid's quarters.  Happy to watch the kids one evening a week.  Says she likes to be by herself, and promises not to gossip with the other maids in the building.  Kind of reminds me of Mom, if Mom were a tiny Thai woman in polyester pants.

So, we hired her.  I have no idea what she's going to do for me all day.  Apparently I need to pick up the embassy brochure entitled, "How to direct the servants what to cook for dinner every night."  Also the one called, "We Don't Expect You To Have a 14 hr Workday."  Also need to start looking into the legalities of sending her to live with Beth once we move from here.  But when I sent her a text offering her a job, she wrote back, "thank you. for your kindness."  And it seemed like we were doing the right thing.