House Help Saga (My Thought)

Chai! househelp is very good, especially when you have suffered the physical,  emotional and psychological damaging effects of excessive hardwork. They say it’s at old age we begin to see the effect on our back and waist. God help us.

Wow! Having a househelp does help.

 You wake up and be like;

‘Bilikhiiii! Do this and that and this and that’.

 

Out stretched in the evening from a day of HARD WORK doing more or less nothing you go…

‘Shukhurraaa! Pass me that remote control over there! Have you finished this and that and this and that’

 

The MAJOR categories

Lekki househelps:

These ask if you have a washing machine before they take the job. They use earphones when drying clothes or doing the dishes. They carry human hair and have many followers on instagram…Lol

 

Calabar househelps:

 Booooooy they can cook, like winsh..(don’t mind me I like food too much). They are very expensive because of all the orishi rhishi they can cook. Yes, the delicious cooking of Ekaete, Imabong, Onobong, Bumbumbung does not end in the kitchen. So if you must, hold your husband tight. Wisdom profiteth to…….

 

My advice to cut a long story short..

·         Pray hard before bringing them into your home.

·         Get photos of them as soon as they move in, it’s never to early for them to runaway or just disappear from your house. Having a picture would at least give them something to work with.

·         HIV, Hepatitis B, Tuberculosis test is a must please. You don’t want them infecting your children.

·         I may be wrong, but I feel the younger househelps you can train through school are better-of; depending on the circumstances of the nature of your job and other factors. They can better be controlled and it would reduce the ever present tendency to want to relinquish the entire running of the home to them; bearing in mind that they are some chores they would be too young to do. Also see it as an opportunity to help change the life of a child and your contribution to making the world a better place for you and for me [ Michael Jackson ] lol.

·         If you ask me I would say that getting a househelp yourself by going to the village ( in the footsteps of our mothers) does seem to yeild better results as against using Househelp agents..that would school the househelps to misbehave after a few months so you can send them away and they can then recirculate them to an unsuspecting ‘madame’ for a fresh agency fee.

·         Learn from my mistakes and don’t pay for a full year; and if you must please ensure the agent doesn’t know where the househelp resides lest the househelp disappears suddenly whilst on an errand…unknown to the unsuspecting ‘madame’ that the househelp has been hand picked again for recirculation at another full year payment from their new victim.

·         Should you force them to stay when they want to leave? Big No! It appears also  when the agents notice you are able to put up with the terrible attitude of some of their househelps, they school them to feign psychiatric illness to force you to return them to their agents before the year paid for expires. And of course they would promise to send you a replacement that would never come..

 

·         When you have a househelp, never get tired of repeating the same thing over and over. Sometimes it helps when you don’t expect them to use their discretion. They prefer to be told every single thing. Then why not? If that would stop you from acting like a wounded lion all around the house.

·         Petty stealing seems to be the order of the day with most of them, caprisone, ribena etc. So don’t let it shock you or get you exasperated. Remember the homes most of them are from. The tendency exist for them to want to jump at anything that would give them some relief , happiness. Are my wrong to have learnt to ignore this one?Especially after several punishments that don’t seem to yield  much. Please I need someone to advice me on how to deal with this, such that our children don’t start learning to steal from them? Waiting for your advice…

·         The more you treat some of them nicely the more they act up and resist you because for the most of them, ill treatment seems to be their comfort zone growing up. So when ‘Madame’ is re-strategizing on how not to be  so nice to them anymore because they appear to be unappreciative, try praying for them and be a bit patient. They can’t give what they don’t have, they may not know better.

I could go on and on…but I have to stop myself. What has been your worst Naija Househelp Saga? Please share let’s all learn the latest style they are using now!.