omgmum:

Noob in employing maids, so need some help here. Is the following schedule reasonable?


wake up at 6am and free time by 9pm, sleep by 10pm. Main tasks everyday are cleaning the furniture and hand-mopping 3 rooms, and 2 toilets, handwashing clothes, ironing and cooking? My place is only about 1000 square feet or so.

Just had my maid, and she was already crying on the second day, and she woke up late and only cleaned like the living room, study, and washed clothes.

She took 2 hours to wash about 10 pieces of clothes, too long? 5 pieces of clothes took her like 1 hour.

Today, she woke up on time, but she's behind schedule by like 2 hours. I want to really micromanage and supervise but my toddler is v sticky, and gets upset when I talk too long to the maid.

I think I really have no choice but to really scrutinise her.

Did you observe how she do 1 piece of handwashing? Is she doing it the way you want her to do? Frankly, I would keep handwashing of clothes to a minimum 'cos I find that maids usually take a long time to handwash clothes. It is really a waste of time and water and it may not be exactly cleaner 'cos they dun rinse properly. They just spend the time to fill up big tubs of water, swirl the clothes inside a bit and then pour away water and fill up tubs again. Repeat for 3-4 times. My mil termed this as playing with water . And they use a lot of soap powder!

The amount of work you mentioned is not a lot if maid is at home the whole day and she is just focussed on housework and cooking. But I think you may want to re-think whether it is necessary to do some of the work a specific way.....like do you really need her to handwash all the clothes, and handmop the rooms? Do you need to wash toilets everyday? We only get the maid to rinse the toilet bowl every night, and only do thorough clean once a week. As for ironing, do you really have so many pieces of clothes to iron everyday? My maid will only iron once a week. I used to have a part-time cleaner and she used to take abt an hour to iron 10-12 pieces of clothes. So, I use this as a benchmark for my maid.
New maids need to give them time to get up to speed. So, have to be more patient with them and guide/adjust when they didn't do up to expectation. As long as she has the right attitude, you tell her wrong and she will change to do it your way without giving you black-face or talk back, you can give her a chance. Also, you may wan to tell your maid that she has to finish all her work before she can retire for the day.

alng:

I am having what I term as double disappointments. I volunteered in Nanhua and Rulang but I am > 2 km for both schools. I do not even have a chance to ballot at both schools. This is really 人算不如天算!


I have secured a place at Jurong PS at phase 2A2. Should I consider Frontier PS at phase 2C? The things I like about Frontier, beside it being a new school, are the school hours, having the same FT for 2 years and nearer my home.

alng,
I think you are staying around my area. I'm surprised that Rulang even take you as their PV when they should hv known that you are staying >2km away. When we called up previously to enquire abt PV at Rulang, we were already informed not to apply as we are >2km away.
Anyway, this is the risk we parents take if we insist that we want to PV for a popular school >2km away.
For your case, JPS is also a good sch with many years of history. If I were you, I will just stick to JPS. As for Frontier, it is a new school and everything is still not iron out. If you want your kid to be their guinea pig, then just risk it. But do bear in mind that a lot of the spillovers fr Phase 2B in the Jurong area will most likely be targetting this school in Phase 2C. Plus, you will be fighting for a space with more ppl in Phase 2C. So, think properly before you place your bet.
All the best to you.

Take vit C. It does help .

nms1:

I think if she has family here who have days off she is likely to become unhappy about not being allowed out after a while.


My suggestion would be to take her if you like her and have a good feeling ( I think that means more than what the bio says) but maybe offer her one day off a month to give her the chance for some interaction.

It's hard to keep them from talking to other maids but if she doesn't have any reason to go out then it shouldn't be too difficult. A quick hello & 2 minute chat is OK. My maid will say hello to the maids either side of us but is sensible enough to keep it at that. One of them asked to borrow her hp the other day as she is not allowed one but she sensibly refused.

Off day issue...just stick to contract. If she agreed with no off days in the 1st place, then just remind her abt the agreement in the contract. If maid is sensible n mature, she will back off (but that doesn't mean she is going to be happy.) If maid sees the off day to be so important n she is so unhappy that she cannot get the off day, then there is a likelihood that she will break the contract. So, just let the maid go and change to another one who is willing to stick to the terms in the contract.

Impt thing is to think properly whether you can afford to give your maid off days before you hire and get the agreement into the contract. Dun hire liao, then half way change gear...no off days become hv off days or vice versa and worse is sometimes can give off days but sometimes cannot, must negotiate...like that, very difficult to manage the maid and you are definitely on the path of having maid problems on off day issues.

SMH FOREST:

Hi hi...


Am in a dilemma now...

Yday I interviewed a fili... same age as me... has a 8yo son.. and have experience as housemaid for 2yrs in fili... i am quite happy with the way she answered my interview qns... the vibe is positive.. but i do have my concerns like:

a. she has her aunty and cousins working here in sg.. and they have off days... we are asking her to forego off days for 2 yrs with compensation... and she agrees.. n i even highlight to her that she wont be going out like her aunty or cousins and she says its fine

b. i also highlighted that the neighbourhood has alot of fili maids.. and as she will be home alone during the day... there are cameras at home.. and she is expected to ensure that she dun go out everyday to chit chat with the neighbours.. she told me she will focus on her job and wont go out..

c. i asked if she is keen to work longer than 2 yrs, and she says she is happy to

d. her main reason to come sg is to help support her family

anyone has any thoughts on this fili maid? i'm kinda paranoid with the many fili horror stories... but the fact that there wont be anymore communication problems is a huge plus - especially with this current indo i have... there's barely any new indo bios available now (most likely due to the upcoming hari raya hols)... and i am really wondering if i should go ahead with a fili... i used to have a fili for 3 mths (she was my part-time helper bef i brought her in from fili myself)... after 3 mths, she complained tt she is too old, n just wanna go back home.. she then acted crazily and instead of waiting for a new maid, we just sent her home... since then, i dare not take fili maids anymore...

haizz.. but current indo maids quality really makes me wonder if i shd go ahead w fili after all...

anyone has any experiences to share... or any thoughts for me to ponder on?? :?

Just take whatever the maid said with a big pinch of salt and lay down specific rules abt what you expect of her on interactions with other maids and her relatives. Then observe from that point onwards. Give warning on the 1st observation of breaking the rules to register your unhappiness n to show maid that your rules abt interaction shld not be taken lightly. If maid is serious abt her ricebowl and mature enough, she will minimise contact on her own. It really depends on the personality of the maid. Some are social butterflies, see people only must smile at them to invite interactions. Even when other people are not keen to interact, they will keep looking at that person, wanting to talk. Some will just keep to themselves, making only little polite talk when the other party approach and walk away quickly.
Actually, it is v hard to stop maids from interacting with other maids, even more so when you are not with them every minute. They just need to know that they shld not be neglecting their work and let whatever other maids say affect their attitude towards their work n the family that they work for. Also, they shld know not to treat you like transparent, continuing to yak away with their newfound 'friends' while in your presence.
JM2Cs.

Hi giggler1,


I’m also interested to know the P/VP’s response.
And can you also PM me who is the teacher.
I need to be on a lookout for my kid for next year if we are successful in getting a place this July.

thanks.

Appropriate? You’ve already delivered your punishment to her, I see no point asking if it is appropriate after it has been done.


Punishment shld not be delivered in anger. Plse understand the reason behind her cheating and address the root cause.

JM2C.

Littlefly:

Thanks mummies for your suggestions! I observed that she only eats very slowly whenever we bring her outside for meals as she is too distracted (her eyes are too busy scanning the environment). Looks like we will have to ask her to feed my boy first so she will learn to eat her normal speed (which is quite fast at home and certainly not sipping one strand of noodle at a time).

We do tell our maid to eat faster if we find that she dunno how to \"auto\". This always happen in restaurants where the food dun come all at one go. We will eat first while she feeds/entertains the kids, then when we are done, we take over and she can eat her share. But usually, she will eat daintily like a princess, taking small sips and bites, until the next dish come and still dunno how to finish up quickly and take over the kids :stupid: Then one of us will just tell her to finish up in 5 mins and take over the kids.
Unpleasant it may be, but no choice lor since maid dunno how to auto.

micollh:

but, now, u all think should i deduct her money for my lost dress? she is going back in august le. finish contract.

Just take the money since she is ok with it. Need to exercise your threat since you've already said it, like with kids, so that she will learn her lesson. U can return her the money when she is leaving in Aug, if u feel that she deserves to hv her money back as she has done good in her last few months with u.
But frankly speaking, based on what you've written, I think your maid is not afraid to lose money through her carelessness with your things, as she can even suggest that u deduct her salary. So this method of teaching her a lesson may not work for her.

Gate duties are v impt 'cos the school compound is small. There are cars and big school buses moving into the school compound. And there are a lot of kids trying to cross over to the school building. Kids, being kids, they will dash across roads without checking.

Also when it rains, kids need to be ferried to the main school building if they don't carry umbrellas and there will be even more kids trying to dash across . In fact, when it rains, the VPs will actually come out of their offices with umbrellas to help ferry the kids or direct traffic .
The school has 3 gates, so will need parents to be stationed at each gate to ensure safety of all kids getting into the school. They have security guards but guess the school thinks that they need extra pairs of eyes 'cos the kids come from everywhere.
Performing gate duties dun need a lot of time....current practice is only half a hour once a week for the entire 1 yr PV period.