All About Full-Time Maids

[peapot]

Kopiying, be careful during the last month of the contract. Maids can turn looney and starts plotting their getaway. Remember my previous maid??


Actually I wouldn’t wait till my maid clears her loan then change her if I find her unsuitable because I would lose the agency fees.

[carebear]

minnie2004:

I'm wondering how much freedom your maids have in eating the food in your house. Yesterday when I wanted to eat my leftover grapefruit in the fridge (it was a really juicy & sweet one), just to find out it's been finished by my maid. I was unhappy for a while as I really wanted to eat that :x. I think I might be giving her too much freedom as basically she can eat anything in the fridge. I suspect she's eating my kids' fruits when she's preparing them. I don't mind her eating the cheap ones like apples & oranges but I don't want her to share the expensive ones like blueberries etc with my kids. But I'm just too thin-skinned to say it. My DH has no such problem. He'll just tell her straightforwardly something like \"don't drink my coffee, this is very expensive stuff\".

So far, i have given my past and present maids freedom to eat when it comes to food, ie they can eat anything that we eat. So far, they have not abused this privilege.
They can eat salmon also if there is left over. I used to keep left over salmon but then forgot to eat it, so it is better to let the maid eat it if she likes it!

How much can they eat anyway?
I will educate them on the nutritional quality of the food usually.
My previous maid ate a lot of instant noodles initially as she found them delicious. However after i told her that they are high in salt content and it is unhealthy to eat it frequently, she ate them less frequently.
If i want to eat a certain food, i will either tell my maid not to eat it, or wrap it in aside and put a note saying not to eat it.

I realize that as with any employer, i have to be very specific about what they can do or eat or not, in order not to cause any misunderstanding.

[Blobbi]

minnie2004:

I'm wondering how much freedom your maids have in eating the food in your house. Yesterday when I wanted to eat my leftover grapefruit in the fridge (it was a really juicy & sweet one), just to find out it's been finished by my maid. I was unhappy for a while as I really wanted to eat that :x. I think I might be giving her too much freedom as basically she can eat anything in the fridge. I suspect she's eating my kids' fruits when she's preparing them. I don't mind her eating the cheap ones like apples & oranges but I don't want her to share the expensive ones like blueberries etc with my kids. But I'm just too thin-skinned to say it. My DH has no such problem. He'll just tell her straightforwardly something like \"don't drink my coffee, this is very expensive stuff\".

Minnie, I suggest you harden yourself and just tell her. Otherwise, the resentment will accumulate, and the subsequent blow up will be bad for both of you for sure. She might even think, \"how come M'am so nice all the time, then suddenly blow up when I've been doing it all along.\" And it's justifiable cos she didn't know she was doing something that irked you.

My son has a lot of organic fruits - no way I want my maid to touch that! Don't worry - she'll understand. Your husband has already told her, so there is precedence. Aside from this limitation, my maid has leeway for everything else, no problem. In fact, one or two of my previous maids got rather fat after only a 1 year stay at my house!

[autumnbronze]

minnie2004,


Yes, I agree with Blobbi abt seeting your expectations with this issue. You shd tell her that she needs to check with you first before taking something that is meant for the family. I started strict with her with regards to food, but now I have relaxed. She does have relative freedom to cook what she wants to eat on the days I am out. And we give her a share of everything we eat too, like cod and salmon or goodies. However, my helper so far has not pilfered food that is not hers. Instead, she will ask first, esp with regards to leftover food.

I have had experience with previous maids where they just took second helping w/o checking with me, and the food was meant for DH. But then again, I just told myself that they are not used to having "good food" and just told her to check with me first. Then there was another who refused to eat leftover catered food with us (the whole extended family) and actually gagged aft putting a mouthful. And to think that this girl had worked in HK and was used to eating maggi :!:

Haiz, you get all sorts lah … but the bottom line is that if you are not happy with the current situation, better sort it out like ASAP. After all, you are the employer.

I also think training by the maid agency and maid’s backgrd plays a big part lah. Because this one seems to have been trained well and she seems to come from quite a ‘cultured’ (can’t think of a milder word) family backgrd, looking at her family photos and level of EL. So I have not had problems with hygiene etc …

[Hiccup]

[quote] really? I find their lying and acting skills at best amateurish LOL when someone's obviously trying to cover up a mistake, it's so easy to spot the loopholes.


It's the same vibe u get when a little kid has his hand in the cookie jar, and he claims he's trying to get an ant out hehe[/quote]
It is correct to say that it easy to spot the loopholes, but they die die will never never admit it. They also like to use emotional blackmail on you too. Recently, my maid after making a mistake and was caught by me immediately placed the blame on me in my face. :x Thereafter, started crying very sadly that I could not bear to continue asking her. She knew she got away with it. She is just with me for barely 3 months and is already lying to me. Wonder how long I can tolerate her nonsense

[skunk]

Hiccup:

It is correct to say that it easy to spot the loopholes, but they die die will never never admit it. They also like to use emotional blackmail on you too. Recently, my maid after making a mistake and was caught by me immediately placed the blame on me in my face. :x Thereafter, started crying very sadly that I could not bear to continue asking her. She knew she got away with it. She is just with me for barely 3 months and is already lying to me. Wonder how long I can tolerate her nonsense

Many women from backward countries are raised in this way. Taking a leaf from our own poor ancestral roots, 一哭二闹三上吊.

We should behave like the men in their country do, \"just do what i say and shut up.\" LOL

[nettie]

My maid want to renew her contract with me and she is going back on home leave for 3 weeks.


I called the embassy and they told me that they need to validate the contract, issue exit pass and join dun know what club. total payable is $110.00

Help! so expensive to go back home leave? :?

[ooptimizer]

Yes, I remember it was something like this when I renewed the contract.

[autumnbronze]

Hi Mods,


Perhaps you may want to consider merging this in the \"All about Full Time Maids thread?

[minnie2004]

autumnbronze:

minnie2004,

Yes, I agree with Blobbi abt seeting your expectations with this issue. You shd tell her that she needs to check with you first before taking something that is meant for the family. I started strict with her with regards to food, but now I have relaxed. She does have relative freedom to cook what she wants to eat on the days I am out. And we give her a share of everything we eat too, like cod and salmon or goodies. However, my helper so far has not pilfered food that is not hers. Instead, she will ask first, esp with regards to leftover food.

Hi autumnbronze and blobbi,

We generally share all our food with her. We even let her take out some food for herself first before serving us so she doesn't have to eat leftovers from us. But she abused it and used to take out the best pieces for her. My DH told her off once, saying she shud save the best for the kids first. She cried (she always does that whenever my DH tells her off) and doesn't dare to do that ever since.

Also, i have a feeling she doesn't want me to know what she's cooking for herself when we are out. There's one day we all went out and she cooked her own lunch. I came back home unexpectedly and saw something (looks like some kind of congee with green beans) she cooked for herself in the kitchen. When I went back seconds later, the food in the pot was gone. Later I found out she put the leftover food in a plastic container in her room instead of the fridge. It's as if she's hiding something :|. She's one of those quiet type and doesn't talk much so it's very frustrating for me to guess what she's thinking. :?