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    All About Full-Time Maids

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Domestic Help
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    • janet88J Offline
      janet88
      last edited by

      Writing letters are a thing of the past.

      Now maids want to TALK. So if and when I bought my maid a phone card, I will tell her, ‘USE SLOWLY. Don’t talk talk talk until card finished. If you finish the card, use your own money to buy’.

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      • H Offline
        hquek
        last edited by

        KSmom8:


        Agent mentioned that we could provide a phone card for the maid to call home. Could anyone share how much to buy for the card and how frequent? Don't want to spoil her ... Also, do maids still write letters? Used to buy pre-paid overseas letters and stamps for my previous maids but my current maid has a handphone so didn't need to do this for her.

        TIA
        ex-maid wrote letters so I bought those pre-paid types (can't remember what it's called but you can't put things inside). current maid only talk.

        I bought her a card that costs $8 - think the word $10 is printed. Don't buy too high denomination unless you dun mind her yakking away nonstop - $8 is good for a few hours I would think.

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        • H Offline
          hquek
          last edited by

          janet_lee88:
          Writing letters are a thing of the past.

          Now maids want to TALK. So if and when I bought my maid a phone card, I will tell her, 'USE SLOWLY. Don't talk talk talk until card finished. If you finish the card, use your own money to buy'.
          fully agree. first card I buy, after that, she will pay for her own card. Immediately her calls slow down. Make it clear to her upfront, I'm sure all will be fine.

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          • janet88J Offline
            janet88
            last edited by

            These maids are all like that…when they pay with own money, they will know what is heart-pain and learn to control spending…be it soap, shampoo, phone card. If employer pay for toothpaste, they alone can finish 1 tube of toothpaste in 1 month.

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            • janet88J Offline
              janet88
              last edited by

              One thing I just remembered…my maids used to turn on the fire full blast when boiling water with the windows wide opened. My PUB (gas) was very expensive even though cook only once a day. Usually boiled 4-5 times water daily as we drink a lot of water.

              With strong wind, it takes a longer time to boil water…maid had the kitchen windows wide opened while she was in the hall :x

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              • M Offline
                minnie2004
                last edited by

                janet_lee88:
                One thing I just remembered...my maids used to turn on the fire full blast when boiling water with the windows wide opened. My PUB (gas) was very expensive even though cook only once a day. Usually boiled 4-5 times water daily as we drink a lot of water.

                With strong wind, it takes a longer time to boil water...maid had the kitchen windows wide opened while she was in the hall :x
                The maids sure don't care about our utility bills or anything other expenses unless they're paying for it. We have to remind our maid again and again to turn off the lights when not in use and turn off the heater when she's done showering.

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                • janet88J Offline
                  janet88
                  last edited by

                  Minnie,

                  My 2 kids will suffer under the hands of the maid if I’m a working mum. They are very observant with the maid’s actions…like when she handled the bowls/plates roughly or when she vacuumed…they will tell point the finger and say, ‘you are in trouble, break mummy’s bowl’ or ‘you dropped the bowl in the sink, sure break’.

                  My cooking oil and Jif finished very fast. Always reminded the maids to cut down on oil, sugar and salt for health reasons. Jif even faster :x so have to buy Giant brand. After sending off my last maid, the PUB and grocery bills cut down drastically.

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                  • H Offline
                    hquek
                    last edited by

                    janet_lee88:

                    My cooking oil and Jif finished very fast. Always reminded the maids to cut down on oil, sugar and salt for health reasons. Jif even faster :x so have to buy Giant brand. After sending off my last maid, the PUB and grocery bills cut down drastically.
                    When my kids were babies, I used Pigeon bottle wash - 1 pack $9 that type, and each pack lasted like 3 weeks plus. A friend asked me if it's normal her maid runs through 3 packs of the same bottle wash in 1 week. Upon checking, she found out that her maid treats that bottle wash like water....woah lau.....definitely no heart pain (on the maid's part).

                    Anyway, I sian. My current maid just told me she wants to go off early. contract supposed to end Feb 2011, and she would like to leave in Dec 2010. Gave me some story about her parents fighting etc...but I rather think she can't wait to go HK to work.

                    Can anyone enlighten me if conditions in HK ARE really better? I only know about the pay, but am not sure about the other aspects.

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                    • janet88J Offline
                      janet88
                      last edited by

                      When kids were babies, I used Tollyjoy bottle wash as it’s cheaper for a 900ml pack as compared to Pigeon. Inspected maid’s washing for 2 weeks, and then as-and-when.

                      Told the maid to use just a little to wash every morn…unless bottle is oily, then wash with bottle wash again later in the day.

                      Maids in HKG earn higher pay, have off day every Sun. The houses there are small and doesn’t require much time to clean up. The employers are STRICT, market stall owners are FIERCE. Maids have to do marketing, bring kids to/fro tuition and they cannot afford to screw up bcos employers will just sack them. I’ve got a friend who’s in HKG bcos her hubby is posted there for work.

                      My 2nd maid thinks she can FLY after learning to cook few dishes. She was the laziest and the most rude maids I’ve ever had.

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                      • P Offline
                        partime-mum
                        last edited by

                        My brother’s maid who has only been with us for 1yr informed that she want to be release and transfer to another employer. She said that her new employer will request for release letter. Can somebody advise me what is this release letter for? When can we pass the maid to the new employer? Is it Ok for us to pass the maid to new employer once she has found a new employer or we need to wait till MOM issue her new WP under new employer name?


                        The maid said that since we did not buy her air-ticket to fly her back to home next yr, we need to compensate her by cash now. Is it true?

                        Since her mind is already set on getting new employer, is it better for us to send her back to agent or back to her country?

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