Chapter 11

Considering it was my first night in a new bed, and the linens are new and a bit stiff, and I was alone, I didn't really have a very bad night. It only took about 10 minutes to get to sleep after I pounded the shit out of my new pillow to make it better fit the shape of my head, and I slept the night through. When I found the bedside alarm clock, which was not set, it was only a few minutes after 7 a.m. I rolled out of bed, climbed out of bed, and rolled into the shower. After soaking under the hot water for an unreasonable amount of time, ignoring the near constant water shortage in Bangkok, I shaved, and wrapped myself in a towel with the radical idea of finding some clean underwear, a pair of slacks, and a comfortable polo.

I was more than a bit stunned to see that while I was showering, Suchin had heard me, slipped into the bedroom and made my bed. She also laid out some clean clothes for me to wear, and I was actually quite pleased with her selection. She was obviously well into her new role and trying hard to please. Perhaps the fact I did not come sniffing around her room in the wee hours of the morning helped. This may work out well.

So I got dressed, fiddled with the alarm clock so it would be armed in the future, and drifted into my kitchen, where Suchin had a fresh pot of coffee brewed, and was making me a full breakfast.

"I don't know your tastes yet, so I just tried to copy what you ate at the hotel the other morning. I hope it is acceptable," Suchin explained.

"It is perfect," I replied. "I hope you will eat along with me, and while we dine, we can talk about food, and clothing, and any other expectations I have. My biggest expectation is that you will always try to do what is right, and I won't hold it against you if it turns out it is not what I would have done or liked. I expect it will take several months before we are completely in tune with each other."

"I had not planned on sharing a table with you, I thought I should eat either before or after you," she noted.

"My preference is we share a table whenever practical if it is just the two of us in the house," I explained.

"It is not what I expected, but I will gladly comply," she said.

"Great," I said, as I got up and found another place setting. When she started to shoo me away from doing so, I said, "Don't ever be concerned when you see me doing things for myself."

About that time she served me, and then quickly put together some food for herself. While we ate, I laid out my expectations. I told her there would always be money available for her to use when shopping, and I expected to pay for her food as well as mine. She would need to account for the money she spent. There was to be no smoking in the condo, and she was not to have guests without my permission. I explained I was comfortable with her having friends or other domestics from the building in for lunch or a snack, but I wanted to meet them first.

We talked about the types of food I liked and disliked, and I think she was very happy to see I enjoyed American, European and Thai cuisine. I told her if she wanted to initially cook mostly Thai food I was OK with that, at least while she learned to prepare other foods, and there should always be a freshly cooked pot of rice each day. I also expected her to use top quality ingredients, and food quality was not a place to skimp on the budget.

I told her I had noticed a spirit house on the condominium grounds, and told her where it was located. I said she should regularly make gifts of food from the condo, and she should be generous when the monks came by each day. I expected her to give them fruit and eggs and well as rice and the household budget would be sufficient for her to do so. She absolutely beamed with joy at that news.

I broached the subject of my bringing in girls at night, and told her she should treat any of my guests with courtesy. She should also expect to be treated with courtesy by my guests. Also, my guests were not to be the topic of conversation or gossip within the condominium community's domestic staff.

We spent more than an hour talking and she indicated she had a much better feeling for my likes, dislikes and expectations. I specifically asked if she felt safe in the condo, and detected just a bit of hesitation in her answer.

"Does your bedroom door have a lock on it?" I inquired.

"No, it does not," she replied.

"I'll get that taken care of immediately," I said and grabbed my Blackberry off of the counter and called Anong.

"Good morning. Are you on your way over here? You are, excellent! Can you call a locksmith and have one come by today and put a good lock and deadbolt on Suchin's bedroom door? Great! Thank you. See you in about 15 minutes."

I looked at Suchin and was rewarded with a huge smile.

We began working on a rough outline of which duties would be performed daily, weekly and monthly. I made sure she understood I was not terribly concerned with getting specific tasks done on any given day; I wanted the condo to be clean and fresh and I expected her to determine what needed to get done.

About that time, we heard discreet knocking on the door and I had Suchin let Anong in. I stressed security to Suchin, the deadbolt was always to be in place and she should never open the door until she had verified who was knocking through the peephole.

Once Anong was in I told Suchin I needed to talk with Anong for about thirty minutes and afterwards I would want to talk to both of them together. Suchin asked if we wanted beverages and we both declined.

I walked Anong through the gist of my discussion with Suchin and explained how I really needed a local business manager who would handle things like the household accounts, Suchin's pay, dealing with any contractors or vendors, and watching out for my interests while I was away. Based on our conversation last night, Anong was already on the same page and expressed solid interest in the job. I mentioned a salary figure significantly above what I figured she was hoping for, and she readily accepted.

I told her I wanted her to set up a couple of bank accounts: one for the household expenses, and one for payroll. I gave her a couple of checks drawn on my First Alien Enterprises Checking Account and told her to use them to fund the two accounts. I told her how much to pay Suchin weekly, and how much of a household petty cash account she should advance to Suchin. I told her I expected her to draw her own salary from the payroll account, and I would always make sure there were sufficient funds to cover expenses and payroll. I figured that would be an easy task for Gandalf to manage.

I also wanted her to quietly see if there were any nice cooking schools or classes on American/European cooking Suchin could attend. I knew she was comfortable cooking Thai food, but this morning's breakfast was really pretty bad, even though I told Suchin otherwise, and I thought a bit of continuing education might benefit me.

We also set up a weekly two hour household review meeting at a standard time for whenever I was in town.

We had Suchin join us and we went over the parts that impacted her. She was excited to know the details of how she would get paid, but wanted to know if we were paying her in cash or check. She was concerned she did not have a checking account. I pulled some cash out of my wallet and asked Anong to use it to help her get an account set up. While we were in the middle of working out those details the locksmith arrived and we all headed to Suchin's room to discuss the locks she would be getting. I told the locksmith I wanted her to have a high quality lock for her room, and she should get the only keys. I also wanted her to have a deadbolt she could throw when she was in her rooms. He said it would take less than 30 minutes to install, and he had everything he needed with him.

We went back to discussing the logistics of getting Suchin a checking account, and finally Anong looked at me, smiled and politely reminded me I didn't need to worry about the details, this is what she got paid for.

I asked if either of them needed anything else to do their jobs, and both told me they were fine. I let them know I was going to do some shopping today, was going to hang out at a few clubs tonight and would be leaving for Pattaya for a few days. I asked if Anong and Rom wanted to have lunch with me here at the condo once I got back, and we could put Suchin's cooking to the test. Suchin looked aghast, Anong said she was good for it and would check with Rom, but was pretty sure she was off that day – and Rom was always up for a free meal.