A new chapter begins.

Alas, I welcomed my new subordinate just over a month ago.

The first week of orientation was rather challenging as my new subordinate, though originating from the Philippines, was not proficient in English at all. At times, my frustration got the better of me as I quietly pondered as to whether I had inadvertently hired a Cambodian maid or not! I had to speak rather slowly whilst using a little sign language, which is rather difficult for me. As my previous boss aptly put it during one of my presentations many years ago, "it sounds like a choo-choo train when you talk!".

In my moment of despair sometime during those initial few days, I made the following analogous comparison between my previous subordinate and my current subordinate. If J was a BMW, my new subordinate arrived at my door step as a Proton Saga! I should count myself lucky...one of my girlfriends has just lamented that one of her earlier maids was akin to a tut-tut!!

Through training and a lot of patience, I am glad to report that my Proton Saga has since been upgraded to a Toyota Vios / borderline Toyota Altis! There's still a lot of room for improvement.
My wish list for our Toyota Altis:
i)  Smile more.
ii) Tune into the same frequency as my little zoo members and interact more with the family.
iii) Be more creative and have greater initiative especially when dealing with my little zoo members.

Contrary to what was written in her biodata, I have since discovered that she had never worked before nor does she know how to cook. She has been blessed with two boys and a husband who does all the cooking at home!

I also noted that our then Proton Saga appeared to be constantly running low on diesel all the time during those two weeks. One incident that really irked me was the morning when I was rushing out to send our Proton Saga to the service centre for its mandatory health check 10 days after arrival before having to dash off to the kindergarten to pick up the Little Genius. As I was strapping the Little Man into the car, I asked my subordinate to get something for me from inside the house as well as to pull in the laundry in case it should rain whilst we were out. The response really infuriated me as she moved at turtle speed to carry out those tasks when it was clear that I was in a rush to send her for her check-up. What ever happened to employees who made sure they were always on their toes so as to stand out and impress the employer during their initial few weeks at their new job?

Yours truly immediately contacted the car distributor (otherwise known as Maid Agency) to do some tweaking, so the proprietor adjusted its programming to the following frequency "In Malaysia, we do things fast, fast". At least now when the ignition key is set at URGENT, our Toyota does travel a gear faster.

Complaints aside, at least our Zoo grounds are a lot cleaner now and it has freed up our time, allowing us more time coaching the girls in their studies and mucking around with the Little Samseng. AND of course I have time to blog again as well as indulge in baking muffins for the family.
So YIPPEE to my Toyota Altis upgrade and fingers crossed for further future upgrades! I look forward with glee to the day I welcome a LEXUS into our household!

~ Jottings from the Heart
by a blessed Mother of Four who continues to persevere with her resolution to be more patient and to have better anger management skills. I tend to close one eye more, and my reprimands are less harsh than a year ago. I have also learnt to let go of my frustrations or irritation, once the reprimand is given.