All About Full-Time Maids

[Dawnie]

I don’t really like to hire an experienced maid. Their expectations and salary are higher. My friend just hired a fresh Filipino maid for $400 a month, additional $20 for no Sunday off.


My current maid of 5 years is getting $450 with 1 Sunday off. My maid was ok for the first 2 years, but now, she pissed me off every single day. Attitute is bad, lazy, disorganized, etc. I am contemplating if I should end her contract and get a new one. I am just afraid that a new maid may be worst off.

[Divamama]

Thanks ladies. I’m not hiring a confinement nanny cos my mom insisted on helping. She’ll probably cook for me and my toddler, and I hope breastfeeding will go smoothly with my second baby too.


My main concern is how I’ll take care of my toddler and the housework. My 2-yo daughter is not going to school till next Jan and she’s very jealous of her baby sister already. My mom has no patience with my daughter and she doesn’t help out very much with the housework too. Plus my husband is traveling very frequently and I can’t count on him to do much. Stress.

Was counting on hiring an experienced maid who can take care of my daughter, at least keep her occupied while I take care of my newborn. But I never imagined that maids are so demanding nowadays. Treating them well only resulted in being taken advantage of.

Sigh, don’t know if I’ll ever find help. I salute all mothers who did everything single-handedly.

[nms1]

Divamama:

Hi all, I'm hiring a full time maid for the first time and would like to ask about the rates of transfer maids. I've gone to many agencies and it seems like the average is $500 plus all Sundays off? I don't mind giving the maid her Sundays off but I find that the salary is very high. Some even asked for $600-700.


I'm really taken aback. The problem is, I did have a filipina maid for 3 weeks but I sent her back to the agency due to her terrible work and habits. This maid had been in SG for 7 years, record was good, and interviewed well. But she couldn't do proper housework or she couldn't be bothered. Just taking advantage of my leniency.

So now I'm stuck tothe same agency with limited choices of transfer maids. Sigh so disappointed and stressed cos I'm delivering next month and really need help with my toddler and soon to be newborn. can anyone share with me your experience with your transfers? And how much their salary is? We paid $550 to the maid but felt really cheated given the low quality of her work.

I would suggest that you try again for another week or so but if you don't find anyone, wait until after the baby is born. Even though you are a 2nd time Mum you won't want to be training a new maid while you are settling in with the new member of the family. If you aren't having a confinement lady, hire a part-time cleaner, cook as much food as you can now & freeze it, find volunteers to entertain your toddler while you take a break & make sure your husband is ready to help. If you will be going back to work after the baby is born, start to look again once your confinement is over.

All my maids have been transfers and I've hired them all on the basis of gut instinct - they just felt like the right one. And I've been very lucky so far. If you find it tough to interview, bring her back to meet your mother/mother-in-law or someone else you can trust. A good agency will allow you to do that; you can also then see how she interacts with the children.

[KSmom8]

My maid has been rude, slacking in her chores, ignoring to help out with my DS2. Finally arranged for a new maid to come in 2 weeks time, current maid does not know. Recently, agent advised her to do her job well till her contract expires ( she does not want to continue anyway ) so that I will agree to buy an air ticket ( more expensive ) to an airport nearer to her home, instead of what is stated in contract. She seemed fine and was quite happy cos i had bought a gift for her that day. However, the next day, she was so ill that she had to lie in bed. Brought her to doc, blood pressure was ok, no fever, no ear inflammation, she complained of giddiness. Doc said could be middle ear imbalance, could occur after a bout of flu…but she did not have flu previously. Anyway, decided to give her benefit of doubt, cos there is no physical sign for this ailment. She lay/ slept in room most of day, for 4 days!!! Seemed well enough to do minor chores that needed to be done urgently, and during those times, she would seem ok, and then at other times, she would just lie down. On the 5th day, she decided to rearrange the cleaning schedule…she only vacuum floor and did not mop, hang laundry from washing machine… took her bath about 9am ( supposed to be around 7am ) which is around the same time as my DS2 bath, and went to bed thereafter at around 10am. This effectively meant that she had no intention of helping with preparing DS2 for school or with heating up his lunch! On the previous day, she also took a late bath but at least she helped with heating of food for lunch and rested after we had left for school. I was so mad that just before I left to send DS2 to school, I told that if she was so ill, I would need to send her to hospital. However, since I had no time, Sir would do it or Agent will send her, then I stormed out of the house. Miraculously, when i returned, my maid was up, offered to help carry groceries, prepared food for dinner and was ok for the rest of the afternoon and night ( though she did not keep the laundry ). I learnt that sometimes I need to lose my temper at the maid…normally I will try to keep cool and discuss things over with my maids. I now think no need to be nice, otherwise maid will makan employer. Just hope that it’s the end of her giddy spells and lying down to rest… Don’t think I can tahan for 2 more weeks ( already bought her air ticket and to her destination of choice! ) Hubby thinks that I should send her home immediately, but DS1 in midst of exams so an extra pair of hands would be helpful and I don’t want to waste the air ticket …however, if she decides to be "unhelpful" again, then it will be so stressful again. Any advice?

[Shiroi Ryuu]

For all employers of Domestic Workers in Singapore, just an update for those who are too busy with work and didn't managed to catch the news.


On Wednesday, 18th July 2012, 11th case of maids felling off high-rise building.

I did a relevant blog post, and so maybe interested personnel would like to find out more on their own.

http://shiroiluke.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/11th-case-of-a-domestic-worker-falls-to-her-death/

[nms1]

Shiroi Ryuu:

For all employers of Domestic Workers in Singapore, just an update for those who are too busy with work and didn't managed to catch the news.


On Wednesday, 18th July 2012, 11th case of maids felling off high-rise building.

I did a relevant blog post, and so maybe interested personnel would like to find out more on their own.

http://shiroiluke.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/11th-case-of-a-domestic-worker-falls-to-her-death/

If this happened in the \"early hours of the morning\" as the report says was she really cleaning windows or hanging washing? This is the 2nd or 3rd case where the timing has been very suspicious. I suspect that either she was sneaking out or she was running away rather than doing housework. This point seems to be brushed under the carpet and instead MOM imposes a rule to try to solve the problem.

When she heard that I have to supervise her cleaning windows my maid just laughed and said \"I'm not a child so why do I need an ADULT to supervise me\".

[Susie21]

This is what the Govt trying to answer a problem yet they know very well that this is not the root of the problem

[Susie21]

KSmom8:

My maid has been rude, slacking in her chores, ignoring to help out with my DS2. Finally arranged for a new maid to come in 2 weeks time, current maid does not know. Recently, agent advised her to do her job well till her contract expires ( she does not want to continue anyway ) so that I will agree to buy an air ticket ( more expensive ) to an airport nearer to her home, instead of what is stated in contract. She seemed fine and was quite happy cos i had bought a gift for her that day. However, the next day, she was so ill that she had to lie in bed. Brought her to doc, blood pressure was ok, no fever, no ear inflammation, she complained of giddiness. Doc said could be middle ear imbalance, could occur after a bout of flu...but she did not have flu previously. Anyway, decided to give her benefit of doubt, cos there is no physical sign for this ailment. She lay/ slept in room most of day, for 4 days!!! Seemed well enough to do minor chores that needed to be done urgently, and during those times, she would seem ok, and then at other times, she would just lie down. On the 5th day, she decided to rearrange the cleaning schedule...she only vacuum floor and did not mop, hang laundry from washing machine.... took her bath about 9am ( supposed to be around 7am ) which is around the same time as my DS2 bath, and went to bed thereafter at around 10am. This effectively meant that she had no intention of helping with preparing DS2 for school or with heating up his lunch! On the previous day, she also took a late bath but at least she helped with heating of food for lunch and rested after we had left for school. I was so mad that just before I left to send DS2 to school, I told that if she was so ill, I would need to send her to hospital. However, since I had no time, Sir would do it or Agent will send her, then I stormed out of the house. Miraculously, when i returned, my maid was up, offered to help carry groceries, prepared food for dinner and was ok for the rest of the afternoon and night ( though she did not keep the laundry ). I learnt that sometimes I need to lose my temper at the maid...normally I will try to keep cool and discuss things over with my maids. I now think no need to be nice, otherwise maid will makan employer. Just hope that it's the end of her giddy spells and lying down to rest... Don't think I can tahan for 2 more weeks ( already bought her air ticket and to her destination of choice! ) Hubby thinks that I should send her home immediately, but DS1 in midst of exams so an extra pair of hands would be helpful and I don't want to waste the air ticket ..however, if she decides to be \"unhelpful\" again, then it will be so stressful again. Any advice?

It's true that you need not be so nice to them at times. If not, they will really climb over your head. This is what my friend realised recently with her maid. She found out recently that her maid has 10 \"boyfriends\" outside. Being busy with her work she din realises it till now. When confronted, she denied it. Only when my friend threatened to bring her to the police station where she finally begged her not to do so. Sometimes fear can be a useful tool if need to be exercised upon

[st2]

I’ve not paid much attention to the time of death of these maids. Maybe it’s worth looking into the time. Come to think of it, besides trying to run away, could they be sneaking out of the house to meet someone/BF?


This happened years ago. My friend would make the maid pay for things that she has damaged. My friend’s indo maid was very naughty, she would sit on the window ledge rocking about, one leg inside and one leg outside just to taunt my friend, saying that if she falls off then she won’t have to have her salary cut for the things that she ruins and my friend would feel guilty for her fall. My friend transfered this maid out 2 months later.

[autumnbronze]

st2:

My friend's indo maid was very naughty, she would sit on the window ledge rocking about, one leg inside and one leg outside just to taunt my friend, saying that if she falls off then she won't have to have her salary cut for the things that she ruins and my friend would feel guilty for her fall. My friend transfered this maid out 2 months later.

:yikes:

:nailbite:

Really speechless!!!