| accident
We are on vacation in the US with my helper and children, staying at my parents' house. A few days ago, we went out for a walk around the neighborhood and when we came home, the helper took my 13 month old in to wash her hand while my 3 year old stayed with me outside as I folded the strollers. I heard loud cries and later saw my 13 month's old hand all red and swollen. I asked the helper if she used hot water accidentally but she denied it saying she only used cold water. After a few minutes blisters began forming and my baby was inconsolable. Finally we took her to the ER and the doctor said she had a second degree burn (the blister was the size of a 50 cent coin).
All this time, I pretty much ignored her in the ER as I was busy talking to the doctors or trying to console my baby. She acted like nothing serious had happened and walked around the ER reading newspapers (and even jumping around playing with my older one when we were at home and I was trying to calm down my baby). I told her what the doctor said and she said sorry in a half hearted manner.
On the way home, I asked her what really happened and she said she only used cold water. But how could cold water cause second degree burn? She said maybe someone used the sink before and that was why hot water came out of the cold water tap. But she did admit she did not test the water herself before putting my baby's hand under the running tap and that she just grabbed the arm of my baby and her own hand never touched the water. Is that even called handwashing?!
When we got home, I later found out the first thing she said to my mom's helper was she was concerned whether she could still have her holiday the following day! Anyway, I called my husband to tell him the story and he wanted to talk to her. We were both really angry because it seemed she did not understand the gravity of the situation and showed little remorse and just continued playing around. After talking to my husband I saw that she was crying and went down to the basement. When she came back up, she was talking on her mobile outside my room and refused to come in and help me bathe the kids. She has her own room in the basement but I think she deliberately talked outside my room. I even heard her say "one month notice" in english very loudly. When I asked her she did not budge and finally came in reluctantly. Then she said to me that if I was unsatisfied with her, I can release her. Her attitude changed 360 degrees. She refused to look at me when I talked to her. She said my husband did not believe it was an accident and that he blamed her. Well, regardless whether hot water really came out of the cold water tap or if she accidentally turned on the hot water tap, she should first test the water herself and let her own hand run under the water together so if the water turned hot, she can immediately take the baby's hand away. Since her hand never touched the water, my baby began crying and she still continued to wash believing it was cold water and that my baby was only fussing. She could not even distinguish between a fussy cry or a painful cry. Even though I was outside in the garage, I knew the cry was different so I ran in to see what was going on.
That night she refused to eat dinner and refused to talk or look at me. My baby was hurt under her care and here she was throwing a childish tantrum.
So I am wondering if I release her immediately, do I still have to pay her one month even though she caused an injury to my baby? We are in the US now and still have about 4 weeks here. The next morning, her attitude was back to normal as she came up to say bye to be before she went on her holiday. She said sorry for what happened. It was like things were back to normal. Before this happened, we were supposed to go out for dinner so I asked her to come back at 7:30 pm and when she found out we were staying home for dinner (cos I did not feel comfortable leaving the kids home) she asked my mom's helper why she had to come home early then. My mom's helper later told me that my maid thinks something like this is 'natural' and did not know why we had to get so angry and upset about it. WHAT?!
I mean, I cannot accept that she refused to accept responsibility and turned around and got mad at me for telling my husband or at my husband for getting angry at her. (FYI, I know my husband and he never yells. His tone was probably really angry and he grilled and grilled her about what happened.) My mom's maid later told us that my maid said I ignored her at the hospital and that I looked angry and she didn't feel happy that I was ignoring her. My mom's maid said it's normal we were angry because we are parents and that we are concerned about our baby!
There is one year left in her contract.  |