Maids "turn up the heat"

So says the headline. But mostly it is a complain-fest about the distrust between the maid's sponsors and the maids. The article, here, says that "... the number of domestic workers being abused in the Kingdom is rising at an alarming rate. [Umm hmm, it is. And what is being done about it? Nothing. That's what.] On the other hand, the number of maids getting back at their sponsors is growing even more." [Really? What did you expect would happen? That they would remain working and idly taking the abuse that is doled out?] Reported is one instance where a maid was abused and abused and abused and she just couldn't take it anymore, so she extracted revenge, which was "final." I don't specifically recall reading about that particular instance, but then, since it is so common place, I could have read it and even posted on it.

One housewife [emphasis, mine] says that she was paying her maid handsomely, "SR1,700 per month." [$454.54.] Supposedly, the maid asked for more and when she did not get it she took the woman's "jewelry safe" and "ran away." Sure. It could have happened. Do I believe the maid was being paid that much? Nope. Do I believe the maid could have taken the jewelry and run away? Yep. But I'd be willing to bet that the maid did it because she wasn't being paid. At all.

Interesting that the Middle East is the ONLY part of the world that finds it "really hard not to live without the help of a maid." No where else in the world... I'm not talking about a housekeeper [or, houseboy]. When we lived in the States we had a housekeeper. She once a week. We paid her. Quite a bit. Having a weekly housekeeper is not unusual. Having a full-time maid is for most of us, anyway.

Why is it that everyone seems to believe a maid is going to extract revenge by taking it out on the children? Does anyone understand that there is a difference between a MAID and a NANNY? If you want someone to take care of your children, hire a nanny. A woman, Marian Al-Hasan, says that she was "shocked when I saw bruises and cuts on my nine-month-old baby's body. I asked the maid about it." The goes on to say that she installed a "nanny-cam" to discover that "the nanny terrorized and physically abused my baby." Which is it, Mrs. Al-Hasan? You said MAID and then decided she was a NANNY. They are NOT one and the same. Someone has seen "The Nanny Diaries" a few too many times, maybe? For the sake of the rest of us and in fairness to the maid, get your story [as in fiction versus non-fiction] straight. Allegedly, the maid nanny was "... upset with us because my mother-in-law is constantly yelling at her. But she is an old lady, what do you expect?" To be treated with some civility and respect?! Out of the question, I guess. A lot of mother-in-laws are "old" and you don't hear them yelling. Blah, blah, blah. Excuses, excuses, excuses. One right after the other. Gets old.

There is some highly implausible report of a maid hitting a child before school every morning, too. "The student was very afraid and she asked us not to inform her parents about it." Umm hmm. Sure. When you need to make the story really set in, bring out the kiddies ala Harry Reid and his co-horts, you know, democrat style. That way you are guaranteed to extort the sympathy factor time ten for maximum ick. "She said that her maid hits her every morning because she is the reason why she wakes up really early to drop her to school." Does the maid put her on the back of her bicycle? Maids, women, are not allowed to drive here. Only the most gullible would believe the story.

This is telling, though: "Most Saudis are more concerned about maids performing black magic rather than stealing valuables." And for finality we get a sob story about how some woman "said her husband left her and married the maid because she put a spell on him." Say what?! Seriously!! "I accidentally noticed a piece of thin fabric which held some hair and some unknown words written on it under my husband's pillow... I later discovered that my made was making a love talisman for my husband to make him leave me and marry her." Right. The woman's occupation? Housewife. So that's two housewives in one article, both requiring a full-time maid.

Marrying the maid. It must be an issue. Who knew? It is okay, and it isn't. A man named Muhammad "found himself in a difficult situation after he divorced his wife and married the woman who was working as his housemaid." How common is this practice, anyway? He goes on to complain that the marriage lasted a month, and when the maid his new wife left him he was "left alone, nursing a guilty conscience." Aww. How sad.

"No one can deny the fact that some men fall in love with their maids or need their care and service, especially those who suffer from ailments." Then, apparently, the practice is okay, because it is "permissible for ill people." [Emphasis, mine.] Now that would be one lucky maid! According to one expert, Dr. Saleh Al-Sadlan, "it is permissible to marry housemaids if men suffer from chronic diseases and do not have anyone to look after them... Such a marriage is good for a man because she will become a wife and a maid." See? Didn't I say lucky! Could it possibly get any better.

Another expert, Dr. Khaled Al-Mosleh, has an opposing view and sanely suggests "that this kind of marriage is impermissible because of the injustice to the new wife." Although he gives credence to the credibility of such a marriage so that a man can "avoid the social stigma of mingling with an unrelated woman," or to marry the maid "to satisfy their lusts..." Well, there you go. Even though it is not permissible it is okay. Kind of sort of. "...these marriages are impermissible because of the great injustice done to the wife... The injustice may cause her to resort to black magic and sorcery..." What is it with the black magic!? Which, of course, is only practiced by the maids.

Wonder just how many of those marriages - where a man marries his maid - end up with them both living happily ever after. Just like in the fairy tales...