Maids and handphones
Ok, nowadays the maids are all smart. They know that when they come to Spore, they have to surrender hp to maid agency. Hence, they come with 2 or more phones - the lousy one to surrender and a good one to keep. I have come to the conclusion that the filipinas, by their very nature of being extroverted and communicative, need to have the hp. More so, for the younger maids because they are also Gen Y y;know? They use the hp like MSN messenger, machiam email like that. My old maid was happy to write letters and send photos to her family in the first 6 months without hp but not my new maid. She "confessed" to holding on to a hp in the first hour she stepped into my house. Btw, the filipinos, according to a survey some years ago, is the country that sends most text messages in Asia Pacific...something like that..tells you something about their culture right?
Off days
OK, i believe everyone needs time off. Hence, after the first 6 days, I will ask them to go, get out of the house, out of my way and get their sanity back. It's good for you, it's good for them.
BX
The Froggies office is nothing much. They do their work by email and courier. Sheila will send you the biodata, if you are happy, you can call the maids to interview. After that, she will come over to get you sign the papers, and send the maid to you. It's good customer service. I never once had to make a trip to them (except that time when I returned that horrible indon maid). For other agencies, you need to go down, see the videos, look at hardcopy bios, decide then they give you the tel number to call and interview. After that, you gotta go down again to sign papers, and again to collect maid and then again to collect maid passport and WP card after everything done.
Isobellies,
Yup, not everyoen in Philippines use GSM network, some of them are on that older network which is unstable. Therefore very possible that the storm may have caused comms downtime. I also tried 3 days before to call one maid until I gave up.
I am quite ok with the present agency that I went to. If you gals need a contact, do let me know. This agency was recommended by my PD who heard my maid woes and told me to try her agent. She also got 2 maids (sisters) from the agent to look after her kids. Ideal situation as the two maids were able to curb homesickness with each other's company.
Tubao
Congrats!!! Charlie's Angels! Your hb like mine - also love girls
He said that his heart will break next time when they get married lor but meantime, they are his girls.
Did you ask your maid whether she got relative or cousin or sister who wanna work? Sometimes, it may work better than to have a complete stranger together.