Update on our staff: The maid that wanted to quit decided to stay and the driver, well, that's another story.
See past post for full background. Now fast forward to last week. Frazzle Du (as we dubbed him because he got frazzled very easily) asked me if we found a new driver. I told him not yet, so he said he would drive for us until we find someone. So, last weekend, we contacted a couple of drivers and interviewed them. The only criteria I had was safe driver (knows the roads, wears a seatbelt, uses common sense, particularly when children and pets are around) with experience and non-smoker.
Driver #1 showed up and got into the car and immediately I smelled cigarettes, granted I have animal smelling skills right now due to pregnancy, but come on! Then he drives without a seatbelt on and speeds up in our compound where children are rollerblading right in front of him. So before we even left the parking lot of our compound Josh and I decided he would not do.
Driver #2 showed up and was fine, although drove little jerky, but nothing horrible. (He was the runner-up)
Driver #3 was a really cute little guy, very smiley and commuted 1 hour for the interview! But Josh noticed that he drove with both feet! We have an automatic car, so he had his left foot on the brake and his right foot on the gas and we think both were pressed at the same time several times during our test drive. He was a really cute guy, but we didn't think having the brake and the gas at the same time was going to be good for our car and we preferred to find someone who lived closer to us.
Then we found Driver #4, who works for our neighbors who have a 6 month old baby and are moving to Brussels at the end of the month. They highly recommended their driver who even cooks excellent Chinese food for them 3 times a week. So we met Mr. Shao, took him for a drive, negotiated a salary and schedule and hired him. However, he can't start until the 24th. So, on Monday, I asked Frazzle Du if he would like to drive for us until the new driver can start. His response was, "I suppose I can drive for you." So I confirmed, "So you will drive for us until the 24th?" His response, "No, I'll just keep driving for you for the long term." Josh and I were a bit dumbfounded by this response since we gave Frazzle several opportunities to stay. So, I just told him that we already made arrangements with the new driver.
So, we've survived being without a driver and I've driven myself successfully to work twice now. I am horrible with directions and check emails or read on my way to work usually, so I wasn't actually sure I knew how to get to work! But I did it! And for those of you who think I'm being a bit dramatic, you obviously have not been in a car in Beijing! And my office is way out in the boondocks, so I'm very proud of myself! ;) It's a very liberating feeling, but I'll be very happy when April 24th arrives.
