Hong Kong actress Zoey Sham, 37, has been living her best taitai life since marrying Malaysian tycoon Dixon Chin in 2012.
She and Dixon have two sons, aged nine and five.
Recently, Zoey took to Instagram to complain about an incident that happened when she sent her son to an ‘interview class’, which is a course that seeks improve a kid’s speech and communication skills.
According to Zoey, who is a quarter Thai, she had no make-up on when she dropped her son off for class.
She ran into an older lady with short hair who was not fluent in Cantonese. The woman then ordered Zoey around, barking: “Jie Jie, you come here!”
For those who don’t know, domestic helpers in Hong Kong are addressed as ‘Jie Jie’, which means older sister.
“Actually, I was not too offended by that. Perhaps my dressing really made me look like a domestic helper, and at times I have been mistaken for one when I have no make-up on. It wasn’t weird, but I felt like the lady’s attitude was very bad,” said Zoey.
Zoey then asked the woman: “What are you talking about?”
That was when the woman realised her mistake, and said: “Oh, I’m sorry. Mummy please come here and sign off.”
Before leaving, Zoey asked for the woman’s name, only to find she is the school’s principal.
Zoey said she is now considering changing schools for her son. When asked for the name of the institution, Zoey simply revealed that it is a “very popular school located in the Kowloon Tang district”.
The actress even created an online poll to ask her followers if she really resembled a helper that day. Funnily enough, her husband and brother were among the people who voted “yes”.
Zoey emphasised that while she, too, saw the humour in being mistaken for a Jie Jie, she was upset by the principal’s tone when she thought she was talking to a domestic helper.
“This is what I’m mad about… Her attitude towards a domestic helper is to order her around. I don’t even treat my helper this way. A person who doesn’t have respect for others, how is she fit to be an educator, much less a principal?” said Joey.
She then urged other parents to understand the workings of a school well before signing their kids up for classes.