Servants: Can we rely on them all of our lives?<\/p>\n
By Myra Sidharta<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): One of the city's leading newspapers recently
\ncarried an article to prove that servants bring profit to their
\nemployers. Having relied on servants all my life, I was happy
\nthat this article, illustrated with tables of the nature of the
\nprofit, was published. Not so a friend, who was afraid of an
\nuprising and a demand for higher pay. That fear is rather
\nsurprising for a person with a brilliant career and a yearly
\nnine-figure income, of which probably not even one percent goes
\nto the servant.<\/p>\n
Indonesians who have lived in foreign countries can tell how
\nblessed they are with their servants here. They do not have to do
\nmenial jobs and can go out without having to worry about baby-
\nsitting.<\/p>\n
When I was at an international conference a couple of years
\nago, I sat next to a lady who told me that she had been able to
\nwork all these years because she had no children. I told her then
\nthat I could keep on working in spite of my children because I
\nhad my servants. When we parted, I heard a voice behind me say,
\n\"Psst, where are you from?\" The voice was from a middle-aged lady
\nand I told her that I was from Indonesia. Whereupon she said:
\n\"Oh, I thought you were from out of this world! Did I hear right,
\ndid you say you have seven servants? And they are living in and
\nare available around the clock?\" I confirmed it. But I admitted
\nthat, although they are available, we treat them as human beings.
\nWe don't call them at night and we give them days off too. She
\nsighed: \"To think that we can barely afford to have a cleaning
\nwoman once a week!\"<\/p>\n
Whereas we, Indonesians, count our blessings, we also have
\nfantastic stories to tell. One example is that of my friend
\nTanya, who was not so lucky with servants. She found out some
\ntime ago that her servant had used her telephone to call some of
\nher friends to gossip about her. And another friend found out
\nthat her houseboy used her mobile phone to call his girlfriend
\nlong distance!<\/p>\n
Be careful when you have good servants, because your neighbors
\nmay snatch them away. That happened to the Sutomo family, whose
\nservant was taken away from her by another family who had to
\nserve abroad. They had to go to Norway and the poor woman thought
\nthat it was near Holland, where her former employer lived. She
\nreturned a few months later after having a nervous breakdown. She
\nhad spent days in the city searching for the Meyer family. And
\nwhen she was packed off in a plane she cried, regretting that she
\nhad not met them. She was later admitted to a \"jail\", which
\nturned out to be a psychiatric ward.<\/p>\n
I myself have been rather lucky with my servants. Some are so
\ngood that I have them now for decades, like my driver, who joined
\nhis father as a boy of 14. His father was the jaga (night
\nwatchman). But because he had nothing to do but watch the house,
\nhe kept a becak, which he rented out to a driver. Apparently he
\nmade a lot of money from this enterprise, because he soon managed
\nan armada of eight becak. They were all parked in front of my
\nhouse, which gave me a safe feeling, because they scared away
\npotential thieves. His son started working as a house-boy and was
\nlater promoted to driver. He has banged up quite a few cars, but
\nhe is now a good driver.<\/p>\n
He knows all the addresses of my friends and I only have to
\nmention their names to go to their houses. He also tells me when
\nthe car needs servicing, when the road tax expires. More than
\nthat, every month he checks the phone, electricity and water
\nbills to inform me how much I have to pay. Now he is learning
\ntyping from his daughter, so he can help me with the filing of my
\nbook collection.<\/p>\n
But nobody can beat my dear friend Nora. She has a maid, who
\nis not only a superb cook, but a private secretary as well. When
\nI have a message to convey I call Yatmi, and not one of the two
\nunreliable secretaries that Nora pays to hang around.<\/p>\n
Just recently Nora told me triumphantly that she does not have
\nto go shopping for cosmetics. \"I just send my driver to buy one
\nlike the old one. And Yatmi managed to buy a refrigerator for me.
\nShe is so good she went shopping around the whole city, comparing
\nprices and thought that one shop in Pasar Senen offered her the
\nbest price,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Poor Nora, she should know how much fun it was for Yatmi to go
\nto the shops to buy a refrigerator and cosmetics.<\/p>\n
I wonder what Nora would do without servants during the Idul
\nFitri holiday, when Yatmi will be among the crowd that goes mudik
\n(homebound trip). Yatmi will be wearing Nora's daughter's cast-
\noff designer's jeans, Estee Lauder eyeshadow and lipstick. In her
\nbag she must have new clothes for herself and a lot of oleh-oleh
\n(small gifts), which she found while shopping for the
\nrefrigerator. And Nora herself will most likely check into a
\nhotel again and enjoy the room service.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/servants-can-we-rely-on-them-all-of-our-lives-1447893297",
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