All About Full-Time Maids

[SMH FOREST]

Sigh... talk about lack of luck in getting a helper.. i think im an ultimate case of no luck with them!


I am sending my maid back to agency today... this is most likely going to be my last maid unless my hubby protests against it...

For the previous maid, I had sent her back cos she was too lazy... for the 4 months that she was with me, she would slack in every item... for each schedule, she will cut corners everywhere... even tho my work schedule stated scrubbing of bathroom tiles 2x a week, after 2mths in my hse, mould started appearing on the walls... for each laundry cycle, there will be a 2nd quick rinse but she totally cut that off.. Since my child attends full day cc and the purpose to have a maid is to keep the house clean (as my child is asthmatic) and have her cook for us, i see no purpose in keeping her if she cant even do those basic house keeping duties..

To that, I took an ex spore maid... who worked in a muslim house before.. she was great in the first week, but started slacking in the next weeks... during cny, she didnt listen to my instructions to not give food to my boy unless she had asked me first... and took offence with me telling her off... first, she wrote a letter to me and my hubby, threatening to cut herself... when i questioned her abt it... she said its cos i had told her i would send her back if she can't follow my instructions.. i told her im telling her to buck up... n to listen to instructions... however, the straw came when i caught her smoking this morning!!! Yes, smoking! Prior to this morning, my hubby had suspected it bfore, cos he had stepped into the living room 1 night, and smelt smoke frm the kitchen... my hubby is a smoker, but he avoids interacting w my boy when he does so... however, this morning, when i walked into the kitchen, i smelled smoke and it was v intense... maid was in her toilet, and soon after, came out.. as she goes abt doing her chores, i smell smoke from her, and immed questioned her abt it... she at first denied it, but i smelled her clothings and there's no question abt it... my decision was made there n then... there's no way im going to keep her!

I called MOM this morning... cos' i felt cheated by this maid... before i hired her, i told her clearly that my boy is asthmatic... i tot of blacklisting the maid, but all the lady could say is... \"can u ask her to quit smoking?\"... i then said, but the fact is i told her my boy is asthmatic and she had stolen my hubby's cigarettes to smoke? the next reply is... \"u have to email to the work permit division\"...

once again, being a FDW employer in singapore is a big pain in the butt... we are so helpless... and there's no policy guarding us at all!!

now i really need to think how to manage w/o a maid all of a sudden.. i have night concalls every day.. and its going to be a strain to wash n iron clothes... esp my boy's uniform nightly and still remain sane for my hours of concalls!! :imdrowning:

[24hr-mum]

mayb u buy more uniform n jus iron once a wk, not nightly

[SMH FOREST]

hi 24hr-mum,

ya… i’ll prob do that…will call up the cc later…


btw, anyone knows whats it like to blacklist a maid?

the agent says my loan for the maid (3k+) will be GONE if i blacklist the maid, cos she has no means to return it… her reasoning is that the $ is given to the indo agent… not them… Is that the truth??

[piyo88]

Can anyone share how long is the waiting time (from selection till bringing home) for a new Philipino maid, if you have employed one in the recent months?


If you don’t mind sharing, please pm me the employment agency that you’ve got your maid from, if you find their service is acceptable.

Thanks for sharing.

[The Little Cheng Mommy]

I have lost faith in hiring good helpers and faith in good maid agencies. I’ve been hiring maids since 2008, and has changed 3 maids so far. The 4th one is going to go soon too. Cos she has TB!


NOW, 4th maid (phil). Just arrived Dec 2011. Agent said she had working experience in Taiwan, 3 years as domestic helper taking care of family with 2 children. When she came, she did not know how to do housework (she used the toilet bowl brush to brush the surface of my toilet. used newspaper to clean the glass of my dining table etc etc). She can’t cook (agent said she ‘can cook chinese dishes well’). Okay, after patiently guiding her, she’s okay with housework. I look after the kids. The problem is, almost 3 weeks after working for us, MOM sent us a letter telling us that maid’s X-ray looks suspicious. She passed her initial medical checkup. Though her xray film showed a scar on her lung, the clinic doctor said it looks okay and is not TB. But when MOM saw the film, they queried the result. MOM asked us to bring maid to TBCU to get further checks to confirm if she has TB or not. We brought her there last Fri, did some tests. The Prof said my maid has TB, but don’t know if latent or active stage. Needs more tests. So she’s on medication now everyday for the next few months. Mon to Sat must bring her to polyclinic to take the medicine. This is ridiculous! If her results come out to be active TB, then my whole family (+2 young kids) would have been exposed to TB by now! Then all of us will need to go for xrays and tests. I am just furious why MOM couldn’t inform us earlier. is there a way for maids to wait till MOM verifies the medical reports before they start working in families? Now we can’t just send her back too. Cos she needs to finish at least 2 weeks of medicine before she is safe for travel. I really pray hard her TB is at the non-infectious stage. Cos the TB medication is very damaging to the liver. How can my young children withstand these medications? What’s the long term effect?!?
BTW, we noticed maid to have slight chesty cough when she arrived. but we just passed it off as normal cough. then later on, she started hiding in the toilet to cough.

[nms1]

The Little Cheng Mommy:

I have lost faith in hiring good helpers and faith in good maid agencies. I've been hiring maids since 2008, and has changed 3 maids so far. The 4th one is going to go soon too. Cos she has TB!


NOW, 4th maid (phil). Just arrived Dec 2011. Agent said she had working experience in Taiwan, 3 years as domestic helper taking care of family with 2 children. When she came, she did not know how to do housework (she used the toilet bowl brush to brush the surface of my toilet. used newspaper to clean the glass of my dining table etc etc). She can't cook (agent said she 'can cook chinese dishes well'). Okay, after patiently guiding her, she's okay with housework. I look after the kids. The problem is, almost 3 weeks after working for us, MOM sent us a letter telling us that maid's X-ray looks suspicious. She passed her initial medical checkup. Though her xray film showed a scar on her lung, the clinic doctor said it looks okay and is not TB. But when MOM saw the film, they queried the result. MOM asked us to bring maid to TBCU to get further checks to confirm if she has TB or not. We brought her there last Fri, did some tests. The Prof said my maid has TB, but don't know if latent or active stage. Needs more tests. So she's on medication now everyday for the next few months. Mon to Sat must bring her to polyclinic to take the medicine. This is ridiculous! If her results come out to be active TB, then my whole family (+2 young kids) would have been exposed to TB by now! Then all of us will need to go for xrays and tests. I am just furious why MOM couldn't inform us earlier. is there a way for maids to wait till MOM verifies the medical reports before they start working in families? Now we can't just send her back too. Cos she needs to finish at least 2 weeks of medicine before she is safe for travel. I really pray hard her TB is at the non-infectious stage. Cos the TB medication is very damaging to the liver. How can my young children withstand these medications? What's the long term effect?!?
BTW, we noticed maid to have slight chesty cough when she arrived. but we just passed it off as normal cough. then later on, she started hiding in the toilet to cough.

Please please please document all of this and once it has been resolved, send a letter to MOM and your MP. I think we all understand that no system will be perfect but it's not fair on you to have to go through this. There has to be a better way to handle these cases.

A friend of my maid was actually just turned back at her medical in the Philippines as she had a patch on her lung so it is possible for them to pick it up earlier. In her case, at least the employer hadn't already brought her in although they are now having to go back to square one.

[peapot]

Yes, agree totally. Should let MOM know. MP should be able to help. My friend told me that the government is not doing anything to help employers because they want to slowly wean us off maids. They find that we rely on maids too much. They are also increasing the no of NTUC childcare centers. Don’t know how true??

[Princess_n_Prince_T]

hi Little Cheng mommy,


so sorry to hear about your case… can’t you send your maid back to the agent for these 2 weeks while waiting for her to complete her medication? or else i can imagine the fear that you have about the exposure of TB for you n your family, especially your young kids…Honestly, i don’t believe the maid agency don’t know about the maid’s health condition.
Nowadays… no need be so nice and courteous with the maid agency, if we are not firm with them, they will treat us as easy prey…

[nms1]

peapot:

Yes, agree totally. Should let MOM know. MP should be able to help. My friend told me that the government is not doing anything to help employers because they want to slowly wean us off maids. They find that we rely on maids too much. They are also increasing the no of NTUC childcare centers. Don't know how true??

I think there is some truth in what you say. The government also realises that our traditional sources of maids have more options open to them now so the supply is likely to become tighter unless other sources can be opened up.

However, if they think that opening up more childcare centres is the answer then they are being very naive. It's not just those of us with pre-school children that need support but those with children at school. My P2 daughter is home by 2pm, I come home at 7pm. How are we going to fill that gap? There are a lot of things that need to be looked at - school hours, after school care, flexible/shortened working hours for parents. The list goes on.

Yes, people in other countries survive without maids but we need to look at the whole structure. I am lucky as, if push came to shove, my m-i-l could look after my daughter in the afternoons but if she couldn't I would be very stuck without a maid.

[Princess_n_Prince_T]

SMH FOREST:

btw, anyone knows whats it like to blacklist a maid?

the agent says my loan for the maid (3k+) will be GONE if i blacklist the maid, cos she has no means to return it... her reasoning is that the $ is given to the indo agent... not them... Is that the truth??

hi SMH forest,

if u are terminating the maid work permit if she still have outstanding loan, yes, the loan that you pay to the maid agency will BE GONE... cos the maid agency got no one to chase after the $ that they spent on her in bringing her in SG...as to whether is the $ is to the SG agent or indo agent, this i'm not very sure...