A situation with a maid's employer.

It was a long queue at the payment counter in an apparel shop at a shopping mall around 7:00pm today. I was standing in queue with my 2 kids age 4 and 2. My wife was not with us as it was her turn to go for maghrib prayer at a nearby Mosque.

Behind us, there was a SouthEast Asian lady standing in line, she was quiet. As it was a long queue, my kids got a little cranky after a while. The older brother wanted to see some toys in the toys section and he insisted that he wants the little sister to follow him. The lady at the back told me, it's ok for me to follow my kids. She will stand in queue and will watch our stroller with clothes in it until we come back. After getting some toys to distract my kids attention, we all returned to the queue. That's when the incident started.

The lady started talking to me. She was asking if she can buy a prepaid reload at the cashier in the shop. I told her no, she can get it from the cashier in Carrefour. I later find out that she's a Muslimah from Philippines leaving behind 2 kids in her home country and that she is currently working as a maid for a Muslim Arab family. She was standing in queue while he employer continued shopping. While she was talking to me, my wife called asking if I'm still queuing and that she will come soon as she had finished her prayer.

The maid later told me that somebody very important to her in her family had passed away 4 days ago and she was not allowed to go home by her employer. Perhaps she was asking about the prepaid reload so that she can talk longer to someone back home, perhaps she's worried about her kids back home, I assume. I tried to call my wife again to ask of her whereabouts, I want her to come soon so that my wife can have a chat with that maid while in queue.

However, suddenly her employer, an Arab lady (non Qatari) saw us and she mistakenly thought that I was taking the maid's number. She started yelling, asking me to delete the phone number I had just taken, if not she will call the police, etc... I was not in argument mood and just said "OK...". My big mistake was that, I was really unprepared to answer more intelligently. She just came suddenly and I was not prepared to argue plus I was with 2 cranky kids.

Later on, my wife arrived and joined me in the queue. The employer looked like still wanting to say something but as my wife was already with me, she just left the shop, cancelling her shopping plan, while we continued queuing. Perhaps it was my wife's appearance, that made her backed off. I was just wearing jeans, t-shirt and slippers (perhaps I looked like a poor guy with no class at that moment). My wife was wearing an Abaya. Anyway, my wife and I are both from another Southeast Asian nation, neighbouring Philippines.

My wife and I discussed this matter on our way home, initially we had some doubt with the maid's story. But, after seeing the employer's attitude and adverse reaction, we doubt the employer. If the maid's employer is reading this, we would like to appeal you to treat the maid nicely. If the maid's story is untrue, why do you have to yell and show all that reactions. Do you have something to hide? Is it a crime to talk to someone?

This is not the first time we talked to maids. Every time we went to playgrounds, my wife had chatted with some maids, alhamdulillah some are sharing of how good and respectful their employers are eventough we did not ask about it. Respect is not fear.

What goes around comes around.