All About Full-Time Maids

[st2]

Sorry my typo mistake. I meant to say Indonesian trainer in SIP classes. When the Indo maids arrive in Singapore, they have to attend the SIP classes, they are taught these tricks.


But I’m sure all involved that have money to be made with maid’s transfers will encourage/hope maid to break/spoil things or act crazy to get employer to send them back to agency for transfer.

[ashana]

sunny_side_up:

Actually u are right. In the past I used to tell my maid cannot do this cannot do that but she don't listen. I bo bian cos I need her so I closed one eye.aftrr that I tell myself not to tell her off anything Liao unless I want to send her off.if not she will think I everytime say but in the end also give in. So unless u ready to let her go, must learn to close one eye.

I think so too. My EQ has gone higher after living with a domestic helper. To be a happier person, I've learned to close both eyes at certain times too!

I believe employers should have all rights to lay out their expectations and rules in the household. They should communicate clearly to their domestic helpers, allow them reasonable time to adapt and give them timely gentle reminders.

However, if it has come to a point where the employer feels distressed to repeatedly express their dissatisfactions over the same issues and the helper intentionally refuse to meet and abide by them, the ball is then in employer's court. It is up to the employer to live with it or let the helper go. Don't give your helper too much power to decide your mood of the day.

[anyhowsay1]

st2:

Sorry my typo mistake. I meant to say Indonesian trainer in SIP classes. When the Indo maids arrive in Singapore, they have to attend the SIP classes, they are taught these tricks.


But I'm sure all involved that have money to be made with maid's transfers will encourage/hope maid to break/spoil things or act crazy to get employer to send them back to agency for transfer.

What st2 said is exactly what my former maid told me. This is exactly what happened at MOM itself. My former maid (a myanmar girl) told me that on the first day at SIP, the myanmarese trainer told them that they can call their agent and demand their rights if they are not happy with their employers. Also (a) the trainer told them it is illegal to work in Singapore if they are under 23 years old. (b) Then the trainer asked if anyone is under 23 years old. None of them put up their hands eventhough they knew that quite a number of them there ARE IN FACT UNDER 23 YEARS OLD.

So by stating (a) first, then asked (b), the trainer is subtlely trying to tell the maids that 'you better don't put up your hands if you are underaged' because you are warned already.

So does that mean that someone in MOM is already aware of our situation but chose to close one eye?

[ashana]

anyhowsay1:

st2:

Sorry my typo mistake. I meant to say Indonesian trainer in SIP classes. When the Indo maids arrive in Singapore, they have to attend the SIP classes, they are taught these tricks.


But I'm sure all involved that have money to be made with maid's transfers will encourage/hope maid to break/spoil things or act crazy to get employer to send them back to agency for transfer.

What st2 said is exactly what my former maid told me. This is exactly what happened at MOM itself. My former maid (a myanmar girl) told me that on the first day at SIP, the myanmarese trainer told them that they can call their agent and demand their rights if they are not happy with their employers. Also (a) the trainer told them it is illegal to work in Singapore if they are under 23 years old. (b) Then the trainer asked if anyone is under 23 years old. None of them put up their hands eventhough they knew that quite a number of them there ARE IN FACT UNDER 23 YEARS OLD.

So by stating (a) first, then asked (b), the trainer is subtlely trying to tell the maids that 'you better don't put up your hands if you are underaged' because you are warned already.

So does that mean that someone in MOM is already aware of our situation but chose to close one eye?

Hmm... ...They were taught to lie about their age and educational status even before they arrived Singapore. They have to lie in order to get the work permit and passport.

[Seunggi]

Hi. Would like to ask those with Cambodian maids in Singapore - how do you send money back for them? I went to Western Union once with her but the fees to send money back via Western Union is so expensive! For example to send back US$250 the fees is $50!


She says they don’t use bank accounts back home so I’m not sure if there are other ways to send back money?

[ashana]

st2:

They get away with their bad behaviour is because they can transfer as many employers as they like and most of us tolerate it. If MOM can only do one thing, and willing to help us is to NOT allow transfer. This will make the maids think twice about losing their job

I told my current helper I don't entertain transfer request. She will have to go back to her country. I learned that from previous helper when she demand to go back to agency immediately and we don't have a helper for almost 3 months.

[hopes]

anyhowsay1:

st2:

Sorry my typo mistake. I meant to say Indonesian trainer in SIP classes. When the Indo maids arrive in Singapore, they have to attend the SIP classes, they are taught these tricks.


But I'm sure all involved that have money to be made with maid's transfers will encourage/hope maid to break/spoil things or act crazy to get employer to send them back to agency for transfer.

What st2 said is exactly what my former maid told me. This is exactly what happened at MOM itself. My former maid (a myanmar girl) told me that on the first day at SIP, the myanmarese trainer told them that they can call their agent and demand their rights if they are not happy with their employers. Also (a) the trainer told them it is illegal to work in Singapore if they are under 23 years old. (b) Then the trainer asked if anyone is under 23 years old. None of them put up their hands eventhough they knew that quite a number of them there ARE IN FACT UNDER 23 YEARS OLD.

So by stating (a) first, then asked (b), the trainer is subtlely trying to tell the maids that 'you better don't put up your hands if you are underaged' because you are warned already.

So does that mean that someone in MOM is already aware of our situation but chose to close one eye?

We cannot control what happen in their own country, but how can this happen in MOM.

If really happen, it is too much!!!
In fact the trainer is against the law, worst if she is working under MOM... heiz...

[anyhowsay1]

sunny_side_up:

i will think so. cos initially jus now they try to be good, clean everything, but after awhile after they know the surroundings well, then will try to take short cut. my maid jus came for 2 weeks. still ok now will take things out of my cupboard to clean, but sometimes still abit blur. but i doubt this will last haa.

Yes indeed. The graph of initiative and effort is downward trend over time. Mine had to be told to scrub toilet floor, take old food out of the fridge (don't let old food fossilized in the fridge), cook the veges before they rot etc...

It's like, heck, why don't I just do it myself? :roll:

[anyhowsay1]

[quote=\"st2\"]Do we behave the way the maids do towards our bosses and still keep our job? No, I doubt anyone of us can get away with that.


We can't get away with even showing black face. Everything has rules and guidelines to comply. Non compliance means our bonuses will be affected.

I do not disrepect maids.....I respect them as I would the next person. But these days, most maids come in with an agenda of how to best take advantage of the employer and have a good time.

Sometimes i have this feeling that the recruiter's marketing strategy is painting a picture of Singapore as 'free for all'. Make money in singapore is very easy. Lots of shopping and beautiful places to visit, find boyfriends. [this is what my maid told me]

MOM is not interested in any ban of bad maids.... I imagine they are happy to have less paperwork and just let them circulate because there is levy to collect.

Though money is a very important consideration for our government system I believe, MOM still do ban maids. Of course, they are not trigger happy. Just ban everytime they received an email/letter of complaint from an irate employer. We need to produce hard evidence and are able to prove our case beyond reasonable doubt. We got to be persistent, keep knocking on the doors of MOM until they have no choice but to seriously look into your case. If you go to MOM, you will see that there are many officers, each handling a case that is assigned to them. If the officer is slack, then your case gets shelved. So if you are serious enough to ban the maid, it is important to email MOM, cc the Dept head and all related depts whom you think can bear weight on the officer to expedite. You won't believe how decentralised they are at that place. It's like what the right hand does, the left hand does not know.

Of course....there's also the noble standpoint of \"maids are human too... they left their family...from the village etc\". ....Really?

I think this is an old argument that certain parties kept using over and over again cos they were stuck in that mindset. Life evolved, expectations changed..things might have been different nowadays but that sort of argument still serves very well to win sympathy votes for the maids.

To ban a maid from working in Singapore, for eg. stealing....we'd have to charge her in court.

yes. (1) police report (2) report to MOM
I think it is only fair that employers go through these set of procedures. This separates the genuine cases from those where employers could have wrongly accused the maids by mistake.

[st2]

Police report is not enough to ban her. For MOM to consider a ban on a maid, she must be charged and convicted in court. Ban case is usually very serious issues like somebody is physically hurt or died…stealing? "How much? You employer want to pursue or not? If yes, then go to court, if not then quickly buy her ticket to send her home." Stealing is not serious to the police.


Maid looking for boyfriend, shopping etc…i can close one eye…as long as she knows the consequences of pregnancy and broke with no savings, she loose her job. I only expect her to do her job as agreed, follow instuctions and do the job…work half clean and want full pay, break things and act crazy until she can transfer and find an employer to give in to her.

I believe MOM…right hand don’t know what left hand is doing… because they are not interested in knowing, knowing more is more work for them…they are already very busy with standard answers and procedures…going through the motions.