I found out my housemaid’s name. It was a stroke of genius really; I told Novi to pretend that she had forgotten it, thereby saving myself from the embarrassment of having to do so. And now, knowing her name, I felt much better about firing her.
I suspected that she might have been stealing from me and, having made completely sure that she was, (without even showing me what she was purloining as she had been previously) I wasted no time. Never one to shy away from confrontation, I waited until she had left the house and then went to Novi’s bakery where I made Novi write a text message to her, telling her not to come again, and why.
The very thought of having to clean my own house urged me on to find someone pretty sharpish to fill her position and, within the day, I had found one and asked her to start at 7.30 on Monday morning. However, there was a worrying thought. The old pembantu, (housemaid) hadn’t replied to my dismissal message and I was concerned that she may arrive on the Monday as usual, along with the new one, thereby creating a rather embarrassing situation; one which I would have to deal with myself rather than foisting it upon Novi. So I rushed back to the bakery and forced Novi to send another message to the pilfering wench confirming that she had received the previous message. No reply.
“You’ll have to come to my house early Monday morning,” I announced to Novi, thinking that I could hide up in my office while she dealt with any tricky situations that might arise.
“OK,” she sighed as I cackled my way out of the door.
Monday morning arrived and I lurked in my office, peering slyly out of the window. 7.30 and nobody had arrived. Well, it was raining and Indonesians, despite living in one of the wettest countries in the world, have a peculiar aversion to the stuff.
7.45: After much pacing I called Novi. She’d overslept, damn her selfishness. My god she would rue the day.
8.00: No rain. No old pembantu. No new pembantu.
9.00: Steve ponders the unpalatable thought of cleaning his own house.
09.01: “Novi ......”
