All About Full-Time Maids
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hquek, just curious why you call your current maid "ex-maid"?
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Hi Funz
Just wanted to let you know that there are things that we may not know especially when we are out of the house. And the hp is a very distracting gadget and will definitely affect their work. Eg, if she talked till midnight, she would get up late even though she retired to her room since 9-9.30pm the night before. As a result, she became increasing impatient with the kids and was scolding and naging at them. As a SAHM, it is very irritating to hear and see her scolding the children. Also caught her talking for 50minutes with 3 kids running in the house. She was not llike this a year ago. We looked back and concluded that the cause of it is the HP. Do be careful that your kids interest is not their priority once they talked. As a very hands on SAHM or "maid" who does not even have any time to chit chat on the phone, and sharing the workload with her, I find it unacceptable (e, I will bring the kids out so that she can do housework/cooking without distraction only to find out that she spent time on the phone.) BTW she is allowed to talk after she retires to her room but should be in bed by 11pm. -
Hi Tamarind,
I think Filipino maids are more modernised, my sis-in-law’s maid wears the earpiece while she’s doing houseowork(looks as if she’s in some big business). She also spends 70% of her salary on HP bills, apparently chi-chatting with her husband in the middle of the night. After her 2 years, she had literally earned nothing. So she came back after 2 months of home leave and came back to work for her again, of course without the earpiece during working hours & have cut down on her phonebills.
As I always mentioned, treat a maid like a child, which is your 5th child, have a talk with her,
1. how much of her salary does she wish to save at the end of her 2 years ? 10% or 70%
2. allocate proper break time for her, just like a normal employee, eg cleaner who may be on a 12 hr shift but have a few short breaks.
3. we understand their loneliness & yearn for their love ones. Perhaps, involve her in watching the TV with the kids so that her mind is not focus on messaging or whatever.
Since she is an honest maid and one that get along with your kids, you should work the things with her slowly, just like asking a child to cut down on logging on to facebook. It takes time to see the results. -
[quote]Any other precautionary measures that I can take? Suggestions will be appreciated!
:celebrate:[/quote]Never leave valuables or money around, they may be trustworthy for years but there may come a time when they will yield to temptation.
my relative had her indon for 6 yrs and quite honest, came the 7th year, watch and 600 bucks missing, maid was missing too and was caught at the ferry terminal by the cops. My relative didnt know till the cops called her home. The length of time with a maid does not necessarily mean that they will remain the same forever. We may treat them as family but they dnt see it that way. No matter what, they are still an outsider and they know it.
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Maids don’t have 情, esp Indonesian ones. Much as we try to treat them as part of the family, they don’t see it that way. To them, treating them nice is expected. With maids, it’s not possible to leave valuables or even small sums of money around.
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Janet and Moonee, totally agree with what you say. That’s why I learnt not to be emotionally attached to the maid and treat her just like an employee and not part of the family. And I don’t think its just Indonesian, this can be any nationality.
If its just calling family then I think its only normal, they will miss their family. I can understand. But there are many maids who spent their time on the hp calling friends and Singapore boyfriends. That is totally difficult to understand because I don’t even call my friends only except birthday because I m so busy with my kid. I have seen maids who go downstairs to use their hp. This way their employer will not know. Always set the rule before they start work. I believe this helps. Its not too late to extend these "goodies" when you see the maid perform later. If they perform then you can give them hp, money, off day, more rest hours, presents etc… -
Breadandmuffins:
If her work is affected then yah, need to address the issue.Hi Funz
Just wanted to let you know that there are things that we may not know especially when we are out of the house. And the hp is a very distracting gadget and will definitely affect their work. Eg, if she talked till midnight, she would get up late even though she retired to her room since 9-9.30pm the night before. As a result, she became increasing impatient with the kids and was scolding and naging at them. As a SAHM, it is very irritating to hear and see her scolding the children. Also caught her talking for 50minutes with 3 kids running in the house. She was not llike this a year ago. We looked back and concluded that the cause of it is the HP. Do be careful that your kids interest is not their priority once they talked. As a very hands on SAHM or \"maid\" who does not even have any time to chit chat on the phone, and sharing the workload with her, I find it unacceptable (e, I will bring the kids out so that she can do housework/cooking without distraction only to find out that she spent time on the phone.) BTW she is allowed to talk after she retires to her room but should be in bed by 11pm.
So far the only times that my maid was on the phone for prolonged periods outside of her rest times were times when there were issues on her home front. Like when her mum was hospitalised and when her boyfriend back home was in a motor accident.
But if she starts getting short tempered or is neglecting her work, a short talk to remind her to watch herself and buck up usually does the trick. If the day comes that she gets complacent and her attitude turns bad, I will have no compunctions about replacing her. -
Funz:
If the day comes that she gets complacent and her attitude turns bad, I will have no compunctions about replacing her.
Dear Funz,
Totally agree with you! I treat my maid really nicely to the extend I think all of you will throw rotten tomatoes at me! :lol:
But I think my attitude has always been this and she knows it - If there is anything major that went wrong or her attitude turns bad, I will have no compunctions to replace her (nobody is irreplaceable no matter how good). This keeps her in check. I seriously warned her against over-feeding my son - told her if she overfed him till his weight goes uncontrollable, her job is on the choping block! :x
:celebrate: -
[quote]=\"moonee\" Never leave valuables or money around, they may be trustworthy for years but there may come a time when they will yield to temptation. [/quote]
Good point, thanks moonee! I think I have not been too careful in this respect and will look into it. :slapshead: -
tamarind:
Title: Maid hitting baby.
Hello Tamarind!
Just wanted to say \"Hello\" since this enormous thread was initiated by you! :salute:
I could not bring myself to click and see the \"Maid hitting baby\" clip or whatever as I don't think I can take it! So I jumped to the last of this enormous forum and started talking, hope you don't mind!
I will be slowly blogging about my experiences with my maid and all feedback and comments are welcomed! [But hopefully no rotten tomatoes.....]
heh...heh
:celebrate:
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