New Employee

One of the big changes around the house over the last month is that we have a new housekeeper. Our old housekeeper, Mae, tendered her resignation in early March which prompted a search for a replacement. After talking (through a translator) with several candidates we settled on a Xue Feng - an early thirties woman with absolutely ZERO knowledge of the English language.

At first we were a bit concerned. While Mae was not perfect, (we were, in fact, pondering making a change before her departure) she had been with us for 8 months and knew the routine. She was also learning English very quickly which greatly helped communication. However, after one month of Xue Feng working for us, we have absolutely no more apprehension. This woman is so good that we're severely concerned that she is a retention risk. If she decides to market her skills elsewhere she could get snapped up by any of the following:

• The Gap - She could join their staff as a traveling instructor of the class "Folding 101."
• The Container Store - Organization is her middle name. Every cabinet in the house has gotten a once over - she has created at least 20 additional cubic meters of storage space in the house.
• Billy Bob's Window Cleaning - She has been with us for four weeks and has cleaned the insides and outsides of all the windows ... twice.
• The Army - The Sarge would be quite impressed by the tightness of her bed making - Juliet is convinced she uses glue.
• Victoria's Secret - She organizes Annie's bras by color, hue (cream and bright white are separated, and type (underwire is separated from padded, strapless, etc, etc).
• Dry Clean Supercenter - The woman starches and irons underpants - how cool is that?