Suspect my maid has hp, advice needed

[verykiasu2010]

nettie:

.........
She got carried away after she had the phone. .......

............ but the HP addiction had got her into trouble.

that is the summary.....99.9% of maids are like that

[Hard Truth]

So very true that 99.9% of the maids let the use of hand phones consume them.


From both the above accounts they started as good maids. Maids that most employers would like to have.Good work, good attitude, super clean, taking care of kids etc.

As narrated by the employers, the usage of the phone increased and their work slackened. At the end of the day both the employers and the maids lose out

Employers get upset and the maids gets bolder and then when the limits of the employers have been tested the maids get into trouble.

Why then do employers still want to give their maids unlimited use of the hand phones?

Why do employers want to create their own problems? In thinking that they are being "understanding" the employers are indirectly giving the maids the leeway and opportunity to slacken in their work.

Given the opportunity to yak away or to do boring work, there is no prize for guessing what the maid will choose,

[nms1]

I think to say that 99.9% slack off when they have a hp is a gross exaggeration - I have had 4 maids all of whom have had a hp and it hasn’t had a negative impact at all.


We have to face the reality that they will all have one nowadays and we have to find ways to deal with it.

[sankan]

See so many of us are having the same problem a really good worker starting to get worse as time goes by cos of hand phones and off days…And its not that i slackened and gave her handphone. You have no choice but to give them a handphone else they will try hundred difft ways to sneak one in. I think very minority number of maids are able to restrain themselves when they have a handphone but for majority of them it is a new found freedom. Just like teenagers or a kid who got a new toy. Plus they dont have any family to police them esp no husband around. My maid lived with her husband for 14 yrs with no problem but now he is a really bad man and she wants to leave him and find somebody new!!


So what is the solution? IF i say i will take away ur handphone she wont agree. else she may even say something so rude that I will loose face… What is MOM going to do about this? When so many many of us are having the same problem and all because of handphone… Just like companies have a policy on personal calls during office hours, why not MOM set some rules for the maids. Alteast one or two rules which is favourable to the employer? Some thing to put these misbehaving maids in place…

I never ever let my maid take my kids to playground or any other place alone… What if she yaps on the phone and forget to take proper care… IF something happens she will get away with a sorry but her sorry wont reverse the situation. So I am not taking any chances…


The biz thing is what she told me But how to find proof that she is doing some stuff? I dont want to get myself into trouble…

Also can i get a ticket and send her back? Is that allowed? What if she refuses to go?

And my biggest biggest worry = How am I going to control the next maids HP? I can set the rules but what if she doesnt want to listen like wht my current maid is doing? I change her again? And the money that we spend changing each one of them…

Really wish there was some rule on hand phone usage…

BTW, my maid also has a FB acct and accord to her operated by her cousin as her ph doesnt have data plan. I said that is the last thing i need. To see my kids photos on her page…

[Metis]

Just continue to monitor her suspected phone usage before you decide on your next course of action. I let my current maid and previous maid use hp and I have been lucky that they are responsible users. Unfortunately, my sis-in-laws chatting on hers very frequently and distracted. My problem with my previous maid started after I passed her my old laptop. By then, she had been with me more than a decade so I trusted her. She became quite engrossed messaging, Facebooking and videocalling. Her contract expired a year later and she didn’t want to renew so our parting was cordial. I didn’t want to fire her!

[verykiasu2010]

new maid first time in Singapore


contract stated no handphone, acknowledged between maid agency and maid and employer on the day of arrival to employer house

a few months later maid was found to have hp yakking away merrily and screaming at the top of her voice - one day when I came home at odd & unexpected hour to pick up some forgotten documents - i thought she was screaming murder in the house - she was actually having a hell of time chit-chatting with don’t know who !!! my neighbors were thinking something wrong with the maid screaming at the top of her voice talking in hp … all the way we assumed she did not have as she has not requested for one and she agreed not to have one …

till this day I have no idea where the phone comes from, where the sim card come from, where she got the money to pay for the sim card …

God knows what else she was up to. this is definitely my last maid. no more.

[Lynn2010]

All my maids have hp. I can understand some maids really abuse the privilege. Once i scolded a maid (not mine) - i saw her chatting happily on the phone, pushing the pram, trying to cross the road but not concentrating. The car came, i screamed at her (I'm a pedestrian). She kept apologising to me. All this happen within the condominium compound. I told her if i ever see her on the phone and pushing the pram, i wont hesitate to complain to her madam.


But at the same time, i believe i should not deprive them from contacting the \"outside world\". Just like us, we may have problems, anger, frustrations, etc with our boss and we prefer to talk to our own friends.

Difficult to be a good boss

[Hard Truth]

Lynn2010:

All my maids have hp. I can understand some maids really abuse the privilege. Once i scolded a maid (not mine) - i saw her chatting happily on the phone, pushing the pram, trying to cross the road but not concentrating. The car came, i screamed at her (I'm a pedestrian). She kept apologising to me. All this happen within the condominium compound. I told her if i ever see her on the phone and pushing the pram, i wont hesitate to complain to her madam.


You did the right thing. It was fortunate that you were around. Have you ever thought what would have happened if you were not around? If she continues doing that, the next person who complains to her madam isn't going to do any good because the pram would have been crushed and madam would have been crushed too.

But at the same time, i believe i should not deprive them from contacting the \"outside world\". Just like us, we may have problems, anger, frustrations, etc with our boss and we prefer to talk to our own friends.

Why do you feel that you are depriving them from contacting the \"outside world\"?

Difficult to be a good boss

[Hard Truth]

nms1:

I think to say that 99.9% slack off when they have a hp is a gross exaggeration - I have had 4 maids all of whom have had a hp and it hasn't had a negative impact at all.


Would you like to share with us what you did with your maids that the possession of handphones did not have a negative impact at all? I think I understand what verykiasu2010 meant when he said 99.9% but you will have to ask verykiasu2010 if you are not comfortable with the figure

We have to face the reality that they will all have one nowadays and we have to find ways to deal with it.

I am not sure I understand what you mean when you say that \"We have to face the reality that they will all have one nowadays\". Why is this so?

[Hard Truth]

Enjoyed your posting and sharing my experience with you as there were some similarities

verykiasu2010:

new maid first time in Singapore
Same for us

contract stated no handphone, acknowledged between maid agency and maid and employer on the day of arrival to employer house
Same for us

a few months later maid was found to have hp yakking away merrily and screaming at the top of her voice - one day when I came home at odd & unexpected hour to pick up some forgotten documents - i thought she was screaming murder in the house - she was actually having a hell of time chit-chatting with don't know who !!!!! my neighbors were thinking something wrong with the maid screaming at the top of her voice talking in hp ..... all the way we assumed she did not have as she has not requested for one and she agreed not to have one ......

First 3 months work was good and we got to like and trust her but it was all a great charade. First we heard voices in our home in the dead of the night. And these ghostly voices became bolder and we hear them in the day. Then we discovered that it was our maid with a handphone.

till this day I have no idea where the phone comes from, where the sim card come from, where she got the money to pay for the sim card .......
Ha! You did not asked how she did it did you? I have my nice little way of persuasion ( don't worry I did not use any of the torture that you see on movies) and she told us that she smuggled it in on her body the first day she came to work for us. Hope I may have solve the mystery for. Yours could be more creative or innovative
God knows what else she was up to. this is definitely my last maid. no more.