{key sarcasm} A really awesome thing happened today. {/sarcasm}

Our maid, Sri, who has been really great for many months, said she was returning home to her new husband. No worries, we said, do you happen to have a friend who’d like to work? In fact she did.

The friend came and has been working with us for about four days. She smiled, said good morning every day, and seemed overall quite content. We pay quite well, aren’t the least bit demanding, and always allow any employee to return to their home when asked. Our maid, Sri, left as planned this morning, with her bags in hand and a warm goodbye to Novita.

A few minutes later the new maid came to Novita saying that she had found that Sri had left her handphone in the house and may she run and take it to her? Sure. Why not?

Novita waited. And waited. And then waited some more. She never returned. Novita, you see, has quite a warm heart. And in that warm heartedness, she decided to hop in the car to search for the new maid out of concern – perhaps she got lost in the 300 meter radius? Perhaps she got hurt in the span of only 20 minutes? Perhaps she fell into the festering canal?

No dice. Then the pieces started falling into place.

Upon returning home, Novita tried to call Sri. Her phone was turned off. Red flag #1. As a last resort, she checked the new maid’s quarters. No clothes or any belongings. Cue heart drop.

This means it was all pre-meditated and planned, and that our wonderful trustworthy maid of nearly a year just screwed us.

Someone please explain this one to me. How can someone work closely with us for the better part of year, come into our home, accept a larger salary than most, receive vacation days in as many numbers as she needed, including four months to get married, and then very warmly say goodbye while planning to deceive us? We simply cannot comprehend it.

Now, before you think, “Stupid bule”, realize we’re both pretty good judges of character, and have had absolutely no problem with Sri in the entirety of her time in our home. Novita, being Indonesian, is like a Bloodhound for sniffing out troublesome employees; and Sri was never even a slight concern.

Where is her pride?

I was pissed, understandably, but have realized there’s no reason to carry on with that frustration. It’s Novita that I’m concerned about; she seems almost heartbroken that someone could spend so much time with her, talk about intimate details of life, and then completely shatter any resemblence of trust.

I never wanted to be the type of employer that takes the maid’s I.D. card for hostage so they won’t pull this kind of stunt, and at least will alert you before bolting. Now I understand why my neighbors all do that, and why they’re surely having a good laugh at our situation. “Suckers!” they may say.

After a quick sweep of the house, luckily we haven’t noticed anything missing, besides our trust. Perhaps that’s what actually fell into the canal.