All About Full-Time Maids

[mrswongtuition]

tamarind:

Dear all,

My blog has been criticized by expats who think that most Singaporean employers do not treat their maids like humans.

http://singaporemaid.blogspot.com/2009/08/about-my-maids.html

Scroll down and read the comments.

I know that many Singaporeans treat their maids very well, and the expats are making very unfair judgements about us.

Please help to drop a comment and prove that they are wrong !

Because they only read about the 'bad sheep' amongst us. They do not know of the good employers.

I don't care if they want to say anything because I know I'm good to my maid and my maid knows it & appreciates it

[tamarind]

mrswongtuition:

Because they only read about the 'bad sheep' amongst us. They do not know of the good employers.

I don't care if they want to say anything because I know I'm good to my maid and my maid knows it & appreciates it

mrswongtuition,
The general image of Singaporean employers are so bad, that there are many government rules which are very unfair to us.

For example, if a maid comes to work for me and after 3 days, she says she wants to go home, I have to pay for her air ticket !

I have heard of cases where the maid was found to be ill on the first day of work, she had the illness before she arrived in Singapore. Somehow she still passed the medical checkup. Employer had to pay thousands of dollars for her medical bills !

[tamarind]

Any Muslim parent here ? I need help about some matters regarding my Indonesian Muslim maid, can you please PM me ? I only need to ask some questions to clarify about something.

[bobianah]

This is the first time I’m looking for a maid and I’m feeling a bit stressed.

Tamarind, thanks for your very imformative blogs. I read some of them…the bad maids are indeed very scary!
Has anyone got any experience with Myanmar maids?
Any maid agencies to recommend?

thanks in advance

[cmm]

My maid will be going on her first day off this coming Sunday. She'll be spending her day off with her cousin who has worked here for a number of years as a maid.


I've heard of many horror stories of how maids pick up bad behaviour from other maids on their days off, so I'm rather anxious about it. Much as I prefer otherwise, I believel it's beneficial for her to take time off work to recharge. Would appreciate any advice on do's and don'ts on this.

Also, as my maid has never ventured out on her own before, I'm concerned that she may lose her way getting around....

:?

[ChiefKiasu]

cmm:

My maid will be going on her first day off this coming Sunday. She'll be spending her day off with her cousin who has worked here for a number of years as a maid...

Perhaps you should consider bringing her out to a shopping centre, movie, or some place (eg. birdpark, zoo, etc), not as a maid, but as part of the family? That way she can be free to do her stuff and shopping, and you can control the setting?

[cmm]

ChiefKiasu:

cmm:

My maid will be going on her first day off this coming Sunday. She'll be spending her day off with her cousin who has worked here for a number of years as a maid...

Perhaps you should consider bringing her out to a shopping centre, movie, or some place (eg. birdpark, zoo, etc), not as a maid, but as part of the family? That way she can be free to do her stuff and shopping, and you can control the setting?

She's been with us for almost 1.5yrs... we are satisfied with her work so far. She's got 1 day off every month per her contract but she opted not to take the day off.

We bring her out every weekend/public holiday etc. She follows us wherever we go, shopping mall, swimming pool (yes, she goes into the pools & enjoys the facilities), restaurants, etc etc. But she's never traveled on the public transport before (we drive). So I'm a bit concerned that she may lose her way.

She's allowed to do her own shopping when we go to the malls.

Her cousin has been working in Singapore for a while and would like to catch up with her. So my maid requested to have a day off just for this time.

[mummyjoyce]

cmm:

My maid will be going on her first day off this coming Sunday. She'll be spending her day off with her cousin who has worked here for a number of years as a maid.


I've heard of many horror stories of how maids pick up bad behaviour from other maids on their days off, so I'm rather anxious about it. Much as I prefer otherwise, I believel it's beneficial for her to take time off work to recharge. Would appreciate any advice on do's and don'ts on this.

Also, as my maid has never ventured out on her own before, I'm concerned that she may lose her way getting around....

:?

Well... be prepared for a change in behaviour after her off days. Their expectations change after speaking to many different maids that she will meet. Most of the maids will bard about how much freedom they have at home (for e.g. having mobile phone, go out by themseleves to buy things, walk the dogs (can talk to other maids), salary, etc etc).

[daisyt]

Used to have maid for 5 years. When my girl reached 10yo, we decided its time to let go. Too much hassle and stress for me. Maid who had dental problem and need huge sum to repair her teeth. Maid who complained leg problem, cannot walk properly but yet can wore platform shoes and walked properly when we brought her out in weekend. Maid who always stare at a photo of a little boy, cried every night, claimed that boy was her nephew and insisted she was single. Maid who did not wash her own panties everyday, instead hide them in the drawer. I don't know how often wash because I seldom see she hung out her panties to dry. :shock: :shock: Maid who broke my husband's new perfume (used once only) on her first day of work. Maid who started mopping the floor and cleaning the barang barang in the morning, till afternoon, still cleaning. The chair she used to stand on, for cleaning, its still in the original position, unmoved and never moved even after cleaning.


Of course, there are good ones too. One, when she was sick, we asked her to take the medicine and rest. After napping for 1 hour, she told us its enough and she get back to work even after we insisted she rested more. After some gudiance on cooking, she could cook so well.

[hquek]

A fren saw a maid in a grocery shop allowing her charge (about 1 yr old baby) to play with pencil and chew paper. When pencil dropped on the floor, the maid stepped over it (by accident, don’t think it was malicious) and then later picked it up and just handed it over to baby.


Maid was very fierce when my fren asked if she should wipe the pencil first seeing that she had stepped on the pencil first.

BTW, there was only the maid and the baby.