Helpers are human too

I always try to put myself in my helper’s shoes whenever she does something to make me really angry. Like the other day, my instruction to her was that we were having Western for dinner. This means, she does not have to cook rice and to serve with a fork and knife, not fork and spoon. They really don’t know the difference. The other day, we roasted chicken and potatoes and she cooked rice unnecessarily to go with it.

Anyway, my instruction was to marinate the beef, then leave it till I come and cook it. Then I told her that as sides, to cook garlic mushrooms (explained exactly how to do this), then caramelise some onions (explained exactly how to do this) and then fry/grill a tomato cut into half (explained exactly how to do this).

When I came out to cook the beef, she had already cooked it! Lucky for her, she had undercooked it so it was still salvageable, so to speak. Although really, it would have been perfect if I had cooked it from start to end. If she had ruined it, I would have gone ballistic as it was tenderloin beef, the most expensive kind that my mother buys for us. I asked why she chose not to follow my instructions when I clearly said to wait for me to cook it and she said that it was getting late and Tee was getting hungry. Fair enough. When I asked Tee if she was hungry, Tee shook her head. When I asked the helper if she had asked Tee if she was hungry, the helper shook her head. Fantastic! She had made an assumption. Good assumptions are good. Bad assumptions are not. NO assumptions are the greatest!!! That’s my rule. It was 530pm. I told her that the next time if I asked her NOT to cook something, she shouldn’t cook it and if she felt that she needed to cook it, then to come and ask me first.

Why do they do this to me?!

As for the sides, just you wait for this. It hasn’t ended, my story…..She cleverly made one big stir fry of mushrooms, onions and tomatoes. That made me so flipping mad!!! I explained SO CLEARLY, each dish. I even said they were SEPARATE dishes. Yet she screwed up. I reiterated to her that I remember SO CLEARLY saying ‘take ONE TOMATO, cut it into half and then throw it onto the frying pan to cook it slightly’. She said, “Oh, I thought you said use only half a tomato”. So she used half a tomato and cut it into thin wedges and added it into her mushroom stir fry. Would it have made you mad? The garlic mushrooms were Tee’s favourite dish as well! UURRGGGHHHH!!!! Why can’t they just F*CKING LISTEN???!!!! Perhaps I should ask her when the last time was that she’d cleaned her ears?

So. Did I scold her? No. Did I raise my voice? Not at all. I just reminded her that she needed to listen more clearly the next time and if she wasn’t sure, to ask. And if she couldn’t remember, then to *F*CKING* write it down. No, of course, I didn’t use the F word but my whole body certainly FELT it.

Then I put myself into her shoes, told myself that if I were new at a new job and didn’t have the skills to perform all those new tasks, I’d make some mistakes along the way too. I also told myself, that not everyone was as confident as I was, to ask even a stupid question. I could ask a hundred stupid questions and feel no shame but not everyone knows how. Some people are insecure and do not know how to ask. They have fears. It’s alright to have fears.

So this is how I psycho myself into calm whilst the steam slowly whirls out of my ears whenever my helper pisses me off.

But boy, do they drive me mad still.