All About Full-Time Maids

[toddles]

Although I must say that my mil’s neighbour’s maid is really poor thing. Her employers don’t give her enough to eat, and verbally abuse her all the time (I’ve heard the shouting). my mil sneaks food to her, and she’s so happy when she sees my dd cos it reminds her of her own dd.


it’s almost like slavery when she has to pay off her loan and undergo all that. and she’s the timid kind and is not the type to go embassy and kick up a fuss. think she’s been ‘suffering’ this for quite long already…

[janet88]

i3mum:

Hi Janet & LKVM,


I agree with both of you, in the end we, employers are the one who suffer. These maids, no matter how well you treat them, their wishful thinking is to get even better & more than what they have, never satisfied! Sometimes, it's just so intolerable!

Sometimes, it's good to have maids who have worked before...this way, they will appreciate what they are given. NEW ones take everything for granted. But prob is when you take one who has worked before, they tend to be very yaya-papaya.

[hquek]

i3mum:

Sigh.. these maids are getting from bad to worst.....with the support from the MOM, it seem like nothing we can do...


My current Indo maid is with me for 4 months and she has bad attitude problem. She is our 5th maid, and although she has bad attitude, but we \"close\" one eye, despite the fact that we have changed so many maids, knowing there is no \"perfect\" maid.

Recently, I realised she kept a diary, and I translated it, to my horror, She noted down every single thing when she got reprimanded and she wrote it like as if she was being ill-treated!

We concluded that we will want to send her off, but we hope to do something, in case another employer take over her...

Any advice?

Advise you to keep a diary with photographic/video evidence (if possible), on the stuff she's doing. You have to protect yourself - if she has diary, why not you keep one also to refresh yourself on what happened and why she was berated.

It seems that in the courts, maid diary is admissible as evidence (I'm not clear on this - just reading newspaper reports that states what maids put in their diaries were considered).

My ex-maid used to keep forgetting instructions (eg wash baby bottle clean...there was once when there was soap still left inside - lucky we had habit of rinsing it just before use). Until I wrote down the facts of what happened, and the dates, and made her sign against it. Then she'll suddenly be very clear and know what to do/not to do next time. It's always like that with her, don't write down, she'll forget; once I write, she'll not repeat that mistake.

Sorry to say, but I think it best not to keep her. Someone who's collecting such evidence probably has only ill intention. Gosh, is she here to work, or on a vendetta?

[janet88]

I know of someone who has a maid who moonlights...best of all, she writes down the amount she receives from each 'client'. :shock:


Hi i3mum,
I hand it to your maid...writing all the times she got reprimanded. Has it occured to the maid why did she get reprimanded in the first place ???

You have 2 options - 1) send her HOME or 2) back to agency. But in my opinion, it's best to send her HOME. She doesn't deserve to find another employer and stay here.

[gumiho]

May I know is it true that those maids who did not complete their 2 years service with the employer will be "mark" by MOM ?

[janet88]

fionong:

May I know is it true that those maids who did not complete their 2 years service with the employer will be \"mark\" by MOM ?

Nope. Maids be marked only if they have commited crimes.
Other than my 1st maid, the rest did not complete their 2 years.

[hquek]

LKVM:

Yes and I think nowdays maids completing 2 yrs is big achievement oredi

Current maid completing her 'ns' of 2 years with a few more months. Sigh....I'm losing hope of finding another maid that can 'last' 2 years.

[i3mum]

Hi fionong,


I think it's hard to speak to the new employer. The agents can;t wait to sell off the maid to earn money, they will tell all kind of lies.

fionong:

Request to speak to her new employer ?
Some of the maid agencies allow such arrangement before transferring the maid and mostly depend on the maid agencies.
For those maid agencies which are out to make monies from the maid, I don't think they will allow such arrangement.

[i3mum]

This maid has worked before, but in saudi arabi, taking care of old people & there was no one at home with her, so she has alot of freedom. I think she is not so poor, so she thinks she comes to Singapore is a hardship, being monitored by my inlaws.

janet_lee88:

Sometimes, it's good to have maids who have worked before...this way, they will appreciate what they are given. NEW ones take everything for granted. But prob is when you take one who has worked before, they tend to be very yaya-papaya.

[i3mum]

Hi janet_lee88,


I think she has alot of free time to write these. I was shocked to see this, luckily i did the translation online.

Im thinking to send her off to her home, but will the diary she wrote do anything to us?

My hubby says if she shows the diary to Indonesian embassy or MOM, probably they will jeered at her, cos we did nothing. We did not ill-treat her, or starve her.

janet_lee88:

I know of someone who has a maid who moonlights...best of all, she writes down the amount she receives from each 'client'. :shock:

Hi i3mum,
I hand it to your maid...writing all the times she got reprimanded. Has it occured to the maid why did she get reprimanded in the first place ???

You have 2 options - 1) send her HOME or 2) back to agency. But in my opinion, it's best to send her HOME. She doesn't deserve to find another employer and stay here.