Suspect my maid has hp, advice needed

[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.

[hquek]

I am wondering if mine has hp (I don’t go through her stuff) but will rather stay in the dark. If she is hiding it from me, she can’t use it openly…so I rather have it status quo.


She doesn’t have to leave the house much, but has a friend one floor down with whom she chats with from time to time standing in the yard.

[Hard Truth]

hquek:

I am wondering if mine has hp (I don't go through her stuff) but will rather stay in the dark. If she is hiding it from me, she can't use it openly...so I rather have it status quo.


Hope you don't take this negatively. Some food for thought. If she has one and you would rather stay in the dark, she may figure that she is \"smarter\" than you and try some other stuff believing that she can always outsmart you. If using it \"openly\" means \"within your sight\", then you are happy that she goes to the bathroom (or some \"private\" places) to make her calls? Or you would not mind if you are out shopping with your friends, she can pull out her hidden phone and use it the whole time you are gone because it not \"within your sight\"?

I hope she does not have a hp then you will not have to worry about all these \"food for thought. But then you would rather not know

She doesn't have to leave the house much, but has a friend one floor down with whom she chats with from time to time standing in the yard.

It is good that you allow her from time to time to chat with her friend. When will this chatting becomes unacceptable to you?

[Lynn2010]

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

Hi Hardtruth,

On why i think i deprive them from contacting \"outside world\"? I always put myself in their shoes. If i'm a maid, i hope to be able to confide in my friends not my boss.

Anyway, if they cross the line, i just sack them.

[isetan]

Hi,


I have another story to share.

My maid’s contract too don’t allow for a hp.

On the first day we took her home from agent, the agent asked her to surrender her hp to us. She did it diligently and we locked it up in our cupboard.

1 month later, one fine day, there was a music ring tone suddenly came out from the yard’s toilet (where she used her daily bath). I questioned her and she said she was listening to the music from her hp. We queried how come she has another hp? And she kept quiet for a while and further trying to lie that there was no SIM card in the hp. she was just merely listening to the music. We knew she was trying to lie.

She was actually carrying 2 hp from the beginning! We are monitoring her performance now and will not hesitate to send her back to agent for "brain washing".

[Hard Truth]

Lynn2010:

Hard Truth:

[quote=\"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

Hi Hardtruth,

On why i think i deprive them from contacting \"outside world\"? I always put myself in their shoes. If i'm a maid, i hope to be able to confide in my friends not my boss.

Anyway, if they cross the line, i just sack them.[/quote]With the added information of \" Anyway, if they cross the line, i just sack them.\" I can now understand why you will allow them the opportunity to speak with their friends when they are frustrated or depressed at times. And I agree with it.

In my reading of your original reply when said \"you should not deprive them\" I read it as you are \"obliged or force to allow them\". I am glad to have asked you for clarification (BTW I will also sack them if they cross the line)

I have also posted some comments on some of the recent posts and was hoping for some response (like you did) but so far you are the only who was willing to go into a discussion.

The intention was not to criticize them but to seek clarification and understand why hand phones are creating problems for both maids and employers.

Next question for the discussion, How may people feel that the incident describe by Lynn2010 (the maid with the hp pushing the pram) have \"cross the line\"? (Hopefully it would not be just a Yes/No response but with a reason to explain why)

If it is all right with you, let's wait for others who are willing to participate to give some responses before you and I give ours.

[nms1]

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?

My first maid was banned from having a hp when she joined us at my husband's request. I didn't agree but ceded to it anyway. After a while she bought herself one and my m-i-l found out, told me but we both turned a blind eye. Eventually my m-i-l told her that she knew as she would fetch my daughter from childcare so it made sense for her to carry a hp then.

She used to send the occasional sms during the afternoon when my daughter was sleeping and she was in her room ironing or whatever and she made calls at night but not that often.

We didn't impose any ban on the rest of our maids and they all had a hp when they came to us. They were told very clearly that they were not to use the phone while they were working apart from maybe an sms or something in the afternoon when they take a break. They have all stuck to it. My previous one used to chat for ages every evening but she always finished her work first and never stayed up too late talking. They have all used their common sense and put their work first.

I would much prefer that they have a hp and can contact their friends and family. It also means I can contact them when they are out.

Why do we have to face the reality that they will all have one? Exactly for the reasons above. They come here to work, not as slaves. We do not have the right to prevent them from communicating with the outside world. How would you like it if your boss said that you couldn't carry a hp and were not allowed to make any phone calls whatsoever (in or out) when you were at work, not even during your lunch breaks? Yes, some of them get into trouble when they have a hp and take days off but we can't treat them all like slaves because of a few black sheep.