Advice on Myanmar Maid

Unless you want to be her maid, or unless your maid has a maid,,,

You need to be very very very FIRM.

ESPECIALLY at the beginning. Rules need to be clearly set. Code of conduct, behavior, attitude, job scope.

For each and every point you mentioned, you are absolutely right to be uncomfortable. You should be and you should not allow these.

Some lenient mommies may start calling me mean that I don't like my helper digging her nose while around my toddlers, but I'm sticking to my guns and my sore disdain at having her nasal poop included in our diet or living area. She can clean her nose as much as she wants in the bathroom or her quarters And I told her very firmly from day one that she has to wash her hands with soap thereafter,
 


Perhaps the same lenient employers will say," c'mon, your maid needs friends, no harm letting her drop whatever duties she was doing to charge up to any and every other maid to socialize!"

NO, not for me and my household. It will start to make sense to you when you realize that they are transacting your jewelry.

Does it mean my maid doesn't steal at all? Well, no, she does, but she refrains as we try to make the environment not too conducive to theft. And she knows that I will somehow always be so loving and go to the church toilet the same time she needs to go and that my kids and friends are trained to loudly report our helper when unauthorized "socializing" occurs.

Honestly, it's hard to rid 100% of flaws and such for majority of helpers now, so it's about choosing your battles and when and which to fight to win the war.

But, really, you need to be firm.
 
agree with nelle. my helper was not too bad the 1st 2 weeks with us. now everything very bad. but some things i have scolded her very loudly and fiercely a few times.despite my telling her nicely like no bringing my kid somewhere where i cant see him.just so u can socialise has stop certain behaviour. or sitting on other peoples bed in other people house. maids are like kids,let them do it once, theu do it always and think they are right.

my maid like yours too, she was hired for housework. housework done badly, i said never mind then you help with my younger kid. well she couldnt be bothered to make sure nothing happens.to him and she was kissing him frequently in.front of me.
recently i was so pissed.off with her i told her you bettee choose which you will do properly,look after kid.or do housework. sje choose kid now she does her childcare properly and thats only washing children's utensils, milk bottles and making sure my baby does not put things into.the mouth. these days, she does not kiss the baby anymore.
 
btw, my maid also space off when i inform her her in advance we are going out. and this starts from the moment i tell her or she hears me telling my child,like your maid, in holiday mood. set your rules early else u will regret like me.
 
thanks for the advice! i will come out with the schedule on her daily chores. when it comes to initiative, i think its still winds down to individual if she is willing to take initiative to do certain things and not wait for us to voice it out right?
their english is really bad and sometimes i just had problems instructing her and i have to end up doing it myself to show her.for this case,i dont know how i could tell her not to go around talking to other people maid etc. cos its like even u scold her,she probably dont even know. and if u write down, u cant show her the "seriousness" of the issue.

in a dilemma,i have friends telling me kids are good at identifying maids and ask me to change if she cant get along with my toddler girl.but im due soon, guess i will just stick to her first? is there any way to train the maid?strict schedule? communication is the main prob,like if theres sth wrong, i tell her.she will "okok" but whether she really understands or not i wont know until she do it again.
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Daily schedule, that's good. Micro manage till she earns your trust through performance.

Initiative, don't count on it. Praise when she shows initiative, tell her firmly when she doesn't deliver articulated expectations.
 
Their English is not that bad. My current maid pretended to understand and speak very little initially. Once, I totally had it with her, and I told her very quietly in her face that I've been very kind and tolerant and today is the day she will understand English and speak it, like it or not.

Suddenly, she wised up. Mmmmm......

But, generally, they can understand written instructions.
 
if she's not good, you would do better to change now. nowadays, maid takes a while to come in. if she's bad now, she will be worse when you have a new baby. if she can't be bothered with your toddler now, you think she will care when you have no hands free to look after 2. by that time, you won't have time to correct her or choose a new maid.

and i agree, their written english is not bad. verbal and listening could be a pretense. my current maid can tell agent english not.gd thats why don't understand and do wrongly. yet nowadatllys she can understand our chinese.see also can see wrongly.
 
I totally agree that if you are certain she can't or wont do what you need her to do, best to change her sooner than later.

When a helper realizes that she can't take her employer for a ride through her pretences and that she will be sent back to her country, loan or no loan, that is often when they will wake up and realize they are here for a reason. To help.

Can't help, off you go. Refuse to help, off you go.

Not to be flippant, but you don't want to pass on a bad helper to someone else.

This is of course with the understanding that you guys as employers have done effectively and efficiently all you guys can to communicate job scope and role required and even despite training, the employee refuses to perform.
 
I know it is a chore to change maid and let agency pocket more money from you.

But .... we need to let MOM know many employers living in miseries due to MOM's pro-maid, pro-embassy and pro-agencies policies.

your maid may still be in your house but had performed badly or causing you a nervous breakdown, feedback to MOM, let MOM have a record so in case something happens, you can say you've sent SOS but MOM didn't bother.

Tell MOM wake up, stop dreaming our lives were made wonderful and lovely with fdws invading our households! Most full-time women hiring fdws to free our hands so that we can concentrate on our jobs, spend quality time with kids!
 
Eversince i gave her the schedule yesterday,i feel that things r turning for the better.i feel my house is cleaner than before.but whats weird was my girl detests her so much.although she didnt like her from the very beginning,today she cried so hard and even chase the maid out of the house.i dono is it my girl could sense something wrong?but its been the 4th week,things didnt get any better,she just hates even more.
But my girl usually goes to childcare,and the maid doesnt take care of her. I dont know why it turns out like that...
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My agency doesnt have much choice of maid, if i change agency,will they refund me my placement fee?
 
I just came across this discussion thread and read the comments of the Burmese /mynmmar helpers.
Mine is a case of communication problems - she said she could understand but she don't. Even very simple words. Wrote her the receipes to follow also cannot. So there are listening, speaking, reading difficulties. Used pork ribs for 3 times at least a week for 3 mths still don't know what is it. Her favourite food is roast pork and still cant Differentiate roast pork and pork ribs. It's really challenging whenever needs to cook. Ask her if she understand she'll say yes and always don't do it correctly or didn't do what you say. But I must say she's a good housekeeper as she can clean the house very clean. Other than that, she cannot follow routines - even you write everything, explain everything slowly first day you see it then next week it's totally different.
 
Koko,agreed with u.communication is a huge issue.she always say ok but actually it wasnt ok.big eater too!give her schedule she cant really follow it.she doesnt take initiative at all.when she sees some fixture dropped,she just leave it.dont bother to inform anyone till i asked her.i told her to pour drinks whenever theres guests but she will jus do her stuff when theres guests until i asked her to pour then she will go.argh...communicating w them sometimes can really vomit blood.
 
I had the same problem, too. I told her to pour drinks for guests more than 3x even before guests arrived. I even took out the tea set and told her to wash. But when guests came, she used the cups without the saucer and never make tea in the pot!! I almost fainted. As there are guests around, I just leave it as it is and only told her after they left.
They eat alot of rice!!! LOL!! I told her my husband and me ate very little rice but she can cook the amount she wants to eat. She didn't understand so for few weeks, she ate very little. I asked her why she said enough. She lost a lot of weight and I asked her why she eat so little but she kept saying its enough don't need alot. But the truth is she can really eat and also quite picky in the choice of food. At my place she doesn't eat pork ribs but at my mom's plc she ate all the pork ribs in the soup! My mom's jaw almost drop!!

I was getting an uneasy feeling about her just wanting to have a "good" life here as she doesn't seemed to change even after repeatedly telling her what to do and how to do things. Even the toys that my son plays are not placed back and are just left around the house. Since she doesn't understand alot of words, its hard to ask her do marketing, too. I find that I'm keeping her just to do housecleaning and its not feasible for her to stay anymore. I'm still doing all the chores in the house even with maid, that's quite ridiculous.

I'm feeling bad for her but have to send her back. I don't think I can tolerate this kind communication problems anymore. I could feel my blood pressure going up.

I'm not sure about checking her bags upon her departure. how do you tell her??
 
Housewife..I emphatise with you. I can understand your frustration. Its faster when we do it ourselves rather than tell her what to do. Its tough and you have another bb arriving so not much of an option. For me, my son does get along well with the helper, she also loves him much. But love does not mean can take care well. Hiazzz...
 
Actually, I think their love for our children might not be real. Coz now that I informed my helper that she better take care of the kid well, her attitude towards him is slightly different. So now she does makes an effort to take care of him. Previously, despite my telling her various times not to let him take hold of items like battery and candles as he will put them in his mouth, she will do nothing even if he ends up holding them.

My current helper is picky about food too. I told her, I think you are richer than me because you pick food. The food we eat, sometimes we have leftovers and we eat them too, she's not willing to eat. she even once told my mil to eat leftovers, not sure if it was miscommunication. Now she's less picky.

Communication wise, I think they understand but not willing to follow instructions. Why do I say that? Coz simply, when my husband tells me in Chinese to get the shoes washed and purposely lined it out for her without saying a word to her, the shoes get washed whereas after i do pointing and telling her,
It doesn't get washed because she doesn't understand. Oh, and when I speak to her fiercely and question her over her excuses for so many things, she has no choice but to keep quiet.

I supervised people in my office and I have seen all kinds . I can only conclude this, if the person is not interested in doing her job well, she will never listen and remember not to mention do things your way. My maid, she is still bad at her chores and baby minding but I need her. For things like when it rains and I do not want my children to get wet, she will get off the car and wait with the kids for me. Also, how the work gets done really depends on the personality of the worker.

And yes, she is sneaky abtw certain things and not as sweet and naive as she portrays herself to be. If you have a maid, watch for eavesdropping on your actions. E.g., my maid wants to know how to switch on the tv, I refuse to teach her as we hardly watch tv so she watches from the side of her eyes when I told her to rock baby. She watches from the side of her eyes while my mil was taking money out from the wardrobe. These are sneaky behavior.

Oh she also cut corners on housework if she thinks I am not checking. Since she promised to do her baby minding (make sure he doesn't fall or eat things he shouldn't), I have decided to let her lousy housekeeping go. My maid hardly does cooking and grocery shopping are all done by me.

Occasionally, I will remind her to do her work well indirectly. Honestly, some people cannot work without knowing that someone is checking on their work. And some people will think that they are good at their work if no comment is made which is what happened with my current maid. And i say this after doing various experiences while giving her the benefit of the doubt.
Today, we went to a restaurant and had lousy food. Totally not worth it. She asked me why I did not finish my food after i told her we are not going again unless she finds her food good.. I told her it was horrible, I could cook much better than that so why should I want to go there again to pay so much money. This was to remind her that the same thing could happen to her.

Previously, when I asked her if bread was expensive in her home, she told me same price as Singapore so not expensive. I thought, in Myanmar, a graduate earns only about 500 sing dollar. So I do not know if she was trying to tell me her pay is low. Now, after I indicate that I'm willing to send her home, she tells me that the bread is expensive. They do not have money to buy grain / potatoes for farming so stuck with rice farming.
Nowadays, after the experiences with maids, I take whatever they say and do, with a pinch of salt.

As for checking the bags, just inform her, do not want a case whereby if anything goes missing after she leaves, you suspect her then blacklist her so she cannot come back to work . Better yet, inform her that if you find anything which doesn't belongs to her in her belongings, you will report her to police then she will be jailed and cannot come back to Singapore to work again. I do that in the beginning with all my maids. Make them think twice before breaking the law.
 
And I would not feel bad about sending a bad maid back. I give a salary and had to put up with her nonsense.what is the worldcworld coming to? If I perform badly in the office, I'm sire the boss will either sack me, deduct my salary if he feels he don't need me. Put it simply, I am not the maids mother nor are my bosses my mother.

If you have bought her a dictionary and write down her chores, how can she not know what to do. That translates to bad work attitude to me. Test her, ask her about family and live back in her home and sees if she understands. If she does, the miscommunication is just an act. Btw, if they can pass the MOM test, their English can't be too bad. I had a maid who fail the new test and had to be sent back to her home. That is whatI really call bad.
 
Koko,same lo.actually i regretted getting from this agency.they dont bother to find me any replacement and i have to keep her at least 2mths.if i send her back,i have to pay for her daily meals of $15 and levy until she is being transferred,then i might as well send her back.altho i heard alot of bad reviews on SLF,but they seems to have alot of supplies of maids.

I was pissed with her,she used 2 hrs to wash the toilet but when i inspect,it makes no diff with normal half an hr cleaning.she jus use a cloth to wipe the wall and that doesnt remove any dirt or stains esp in between the gaps.i have to show her to use a scrub and she can still laugh.zzz.
Today,i gave her a good 3 hrs to give the kitchen a thorough cleaning.but guess what,i realised she ionly cleaned 1 drawer and 2 cabinets.then i ask her why she nv wipe the exterior of the cabinets esp those above the stove.she said she did w a cloth.i was like...zzzz..i show her using jiff to wipe and the stains were gone in an instant.i don know why she can just clean something n knowing it wasnt cleaned at all?no sense of cleanliness?

I also have the uncomfortable feeling that she isnt able to help much and i always have to monitor and scold.make me feel like a mean preggy lady.lol.she cant help much i also dont really like o bring her out with us.so we still have to care for our own kids when we r out.we brought her to ntuc,but i feel like i have to look after her as she is always blocking my way or other ppl way.then when she sees other maid,she will purposely go near them n smile at them.
 
Tinklestar,i dont know he act blur or what.i write down to her and go through w her.she always day okokok.but do otherwise.she has a dictionary lo.hais,give her schedule but she doesnt really follow.and i realised they v rigid.they do one thing,they cannot stop to do other things.like im cooking she is ironing.n basin is full of crockeries to be washed but she wont stop her ironing to wash and make way for me.zzz.i feel that she purposely do things slowly to drag time lo.usually she takes 1 hr to iron my clothes.today she used 3 hrs! How to monitor?
Like yest i asked her why she nv say when the fixture drop.she try to defend herself by keep telling me it dropped when she is cleaning the toilet.hen i told her she should tell me and dont leave the things there.if dono how to fix it back, ASKED!then she simply laugh it ff..i dono wad it meant.zzz
 
Housewife, she is not treating you seriously. My current maid once move her butt slowly up from the chair to close the windoe when it rained while she was having lunch. She watch us scrambling to close the windows. When I chided her for not getting up to close the windows, she grinned at me. I can imagine this in her mind: mama closing ma, so I can slowly finish my lunch. Oh yea, she only rushed to close the windows after I told her once, if the floor gets wet, you mop the whole place again

She is simply not taking you seriously. And she knows nothinges will happen to her. I end up doing the housework for my maid but I made it very clear to her, I have to do so because you fail and your job will be lost anytime unless you make yourself useful to me. And she knows it so nowadays, she will try to tell me to leave the chores to her. Then I will tell her, I have no time to wait for u. And I have found, with this maid,before I stated it so loudly and clearly, she will just do slower and slower so I end up doing more. My precious maids, they pass me heavier and heavier stuff when we go grocery shopping while I was pregnant or carrying a young child just because I felt that it was right to share the load.
 
So can anyone here give me some positive advice n feedback on myanmar maids vs indo n filippina maids?

All d threada only hear abt complaints.

I think wif d opening up of myanmar less gals will wana come here. Very little choices left.

Anyone here tried maids fm laos?
 
Mynmmar maids have a nice disposition, they are gentle and soft spoken. They can be loyal too. But the main problem is communication.
 
If you want only positive information, then just choose any maid. It doesn't matter which country. It just depends on whether you are fortunate to get a good maid that fits you. What do you want? There is always a trade off.

Indonesia and filipino maids are gentle and soft spoken too. I had Indonesia, Myanmar and Filipino. Til date, all I can say is all were slow, had to push. All were soft spoken and seemingly gentle but they broke my stuff. My wood furniture had injuries. but once they were with you long enough or you make the mistake of being too considerate and nice to them, there goes. Not only that, all kinds of things started coming out.

And surprisingly, my best maid was the least gentle. loyalty wise, my lousiest current maid is the one who refuses to leave..the least gentle maid broke less stuff than all the other maids
 
In general, seems like the quality of maids we are getting are lousy, but we have to bear with them for obvious reasons.

I know that smaller agencies which specialises in certain countries are better bets.

I noticed some very small unheard of agencies which specialises in Myanmar maids are pretty good, though have not specifically try them before. Anyone care to intro?
 
I do concur with what Tinklestar had taken time to share.

A suitable fit is akin to the luck of the draw, and the rest of it is management. The maid has to be willing to manage herself and remember she is here to help,not to be a princess or new baby. The employer has to manage the maid, in work and be firm when it calls for. I dont think we have an issue with dishing out kindness or generosities, probably we are too kind and nice...
 
I think it takes both parties to work together in order to have a good employer-employee relationships. So whether its from Indon, Philippines, Mynmmar or Sri Lanka, we all have to do our part as employers and the rest the employee has to do their part.

We want to develop a reciprocal relationship. That's my thinking.
 
Just to share, my helper is still keen to come back to SG to work, ie, if anyone can tolerate her english language and does not require her to cook. She is able to clean the house quite well if you can tolerate her taking the whole day to do cleaning, laundry, etc. I have a 3 yr old son and my son gets along very well with her as she loves and plays with him.

I do find her honest and hardworking.

In fact, tomorrow is her last day and we helped her packed her luggage just now (i asked if its okay for us to see her luggage because she was worried about excess baggage). She did not hesitate and just opened her luggage so we helped her sort the stuff and taught her how to do it.

PM me if you want to know more.
 
Doral, I hope your maid continues to be good . My current maid from your agency was like how you describe your current helper. Months down the road, still bad, want to send her back but scared get a worse maid and she refuses to leave.. even the agency was apologetic when I told them to counsel her and she says English bad couldn't understand me but can understand difficult English word I never used before. When I asked about insurance refund from the same agency who gave me a worse than current maid flipino maid, the person asked me is it for refund for the Filipino or the current maid.

I am not saying all the maids from there are bad, but only that in dealings with maid, I realise that their good behaviour work attitude might only be for a period because the agency has emphasize to them so. So it's good to monitor before trusting the maid. And I realise, maybe Singaporeans are more open and obvious in their feelings, many do not realise that their maids could be pretending to someone they are not.

Like my current, she behaves gently demure honestly and blur. Yet, I have seen the opposite when she accidentally show it out thinking I did not know. However, since she is really making an effort now to watch my child, I will let it go since I am now waiting to be maidless.
 
Personally I thinks if she minds and need you to help her even after a period of time, then something is wrong.

But I understand coz for me, I can't be without a maid simply because I need someone to watch the kids at the void deck while I park the car when it rains.makes me wonder if I shouldn't move house. Then again waiting also for day when kids are older and I can leave the elder to watch the younger while I park the car. What with the kidnapping thing this year, I dare not leave kids alone. At least no Joe will try to kidnap maid along with kids
 
My new myanmar maid just came for coming 2 weeks but now i was informed that x-ray shows that she had mild cardiomegaly aka slightly enlarged heart. MOM now wants me to provide a letter of confirmation that I am aware of this condition and will still wants to continue employing her. really don't know what to do now.
 
According to the agent, she cleared the medical test in her own country. But the x-ray result in singapore shows that she has that condition but certified fit to work..

I read that this condition needs further assessment and if not treated, may damage the heart or cause cardiac arrest or heart attack..

I spoke with a MOM officer, the officer advise that while doctor certify fit, I will have to decide whether i want to take the risk. If the condition develops into something serious, I will have to take the responsibility. I told the MOM officer that she is already scaring me by saying that...
 
I wouldn't continue employing her. Firstly, you do not know how serious her condition might become. Second she might have other problems, once a organ has problem it inevitably affects rest of body and did she have the necessary treatment with the condition.

R u prepared to paid for her medical expenses. It will not be cheap. Secondly, what if she decides she has this condition and couldn't work in your hse doing housework and tells you her heart is painful everyday.

If I am hiring a admin staff I will continue to employ her. But she is hired to do manual work and with a physical condition. Even if she just look after kids, r u not afraid she might faint and your child will be left alone or outside.
 
Hi all, I have hired maids for 10 over years. I have tried most nationalities except Sri Lanka maids.

Personally, myanmmar maids are the worst. They absolutely do not have the experience nor the mindset to work as a maid. If you do get a good myanmar maid, then you MUST be very lucky!
 
The first maid I hired was from Myanmar that was in 2007, when I just had my first baby.

She came just one week before my confinement lady left. This young girl speaks very little English, and I was terrified that she will have a hard time settling in and taking care of bb.

But what a surprise. Right after my confinement lady left, she took care of my newborn. After 7am every morning, she took over baby. Fed him, bathe him, make him like a happy little bunny. When I woke up late till to night feeds, and saw my little newborn all fresh, and powdered and fed, and smiling like an angel. I was at a lost of words.

The gal was efficient, right after baby sleep. She cleaned the house, do the laundry, and prepare lunch for me. She was with me for the full two-year. But things changed grdually when I allowed her to go out. But it was still ok, bearable. I was pregnant with my second BB when my first one was about 5 months old.

I did not have a confinement lady for the second bb, whilst she took care of my two young children, my husband prepare confinement food for me. This gal don't rest, once both bbs are settled for naps, she proceed with ther household chores.

When I returned to work after 3-month ML, this young gal took care of my two very young children, single-handedly with no help. No inlaws, not even my own mum. She can still cook for kids and prepare dinner for me. Rare Gem!

My second and current maids are all from Myanmar. So-so, no complaints, can do household chore and cook pretty well.

All of them spoken lousy English, but surprisingly they can understand what I am saying.

I personally feel that it is important to get maids from reliable agencies, and of course with loads of luck.

My second and current maids are all transfer maids. Main reason for being "sacked", they cannot speak English. I pick them up, cause I do not need to speak to them very much. I just demonstrate, they pick up they do. And if you allow them to watch English dramas/shows, read magazine, newspaper. They pick up the language very fast.

My first and second maids, both can speak Chinese, after I "force-fed" them with the language. They sat with me to watch mandarin dramas every nite.

The current one is .... slacking. But still bearable. I am now looking out for reliable agencies which specialises in Myanmar maids.

Anyone here can intro?
 
I agreed with the agent that I will send her for an assessment. If the cardiologist confirms that she does not have an underlying condition, i will continue with her...
 
Hi Taitai,

You can look for Angel from TM Global @9729 9026. She specialist in Myanmar maids. I wanted to take from her, but my mother in law prefer Indonesian ones.
 
The quality of Myanmar maid is getting from bad to worse.

My first Myanmar maid employed five years ago was fantastic. She took care of my 2 babies, single-handedly, and even prepare dinner for us, with no help at all.

My second was ok. Cheerful and problem-free, can work, but a bit lazy. Good with kids.

The third one .... sent home after less than a year service. "Chu pattern" to make me unhappy, so that she can request to go home. Sure I sent her home, and made her pay her own air-ticket. Tell lies, full of s***, lazy, listless ... etc etc etc.

Some agents told me that my third maid is a shopper, after repaying their loan, work for another few months collect pocket-money, then "chu pattern" so that employer will send them home. Cuz its very difficult and expensive to get a passport from the local authorities, unles an employment agency do it for you.

Sigh ... come 1 Jan 2013, more social problems. All maids have one day off each week? You think Singapore is not crowded enough? More maids in Orchard, Peninsular Plaza, all the town area. Good luck!

I really wish I can live without a maid.
 
Hi can I find out if anyone has myanmar maids who doesn't mind no off day? Do they feel unhappy after a while?
My myanmar maid has been with us for 5 months...she is very young and never work before. So far she does her chores to my expectation and good attitude. Now, I heard many nightmarish accounts of how maids behaviour changed after being given off day hence I am thinking not to give her off day. Her contract allows her to opt for off day after 6 months , which is next month I have to decide.
Although personally I feel it is fair to let them have day off and some freedom but because I work and really rely on her to pick n send my kids on school bus , there are times when she will be alone with my kids. Just imagining the things that can happen if she meet the wrong people , my kids well being will be compromised. I am in a dilemma.
 
If your maid is young, it is likely she will want off day. You can do it 2 ways, speak to her in advance or wait until she asks.

Personally, if she asks, and she has done her job well and has given me no cause to worry about her character, I will let her go for an off day, provided that she already has friends who knows how to travel around in Singapore.I would not want to waste time looking for a lost maid.

If you are not keen, tell her you have to talk to your husband. They are generally better behaved when it comes to the guys. Like my maid, everything including baby's things are not done properly (she is very fond of my baby), but my husband's things are done very well. The dirty white shoes are cleansed so well they looked almost new.
 
Sadly yes. They turn rotten once the hv d opportunity to go out and mix around. Its a classic amongst all maids, regardless of race, language or religion.

But not allowing them to hv freedom for off days. I find it very cruel. That's why i m still contemplating whether to get a new maid.

I heard tt some myanmar maids deliberately apply to work overseas as a maid in order to obtain a passport. It is not easy n very expensive to get a passport locally , so d fastest way us to apply to work as a maid overseas.

Most of these shopper, term used on these type of maids, will slack or deliberately make the employer unhappy after loan period so tt they could b sent home. Their pp expire in three years time. so they r free to go anywhere they like.
 
I feel it's not a good idea to hire myanmar maids.

I spoke to my maid yesterday. It seems like food there is cheap. Meat is cheap, peach is cheap. Only grapes expensive because have to buy from supermarket. Therefore, they will definitely be picky about food because their food is fresh. My maid doesn't eat the top and bottom of the bread loaf when she just came.

I told my maid, since everything is cheap, why come Singapore and need to work hard. Singaporeans work really long hours generally to be able to afford fruits like peaches etc. I mean comparatively, a peach can be as expensive as half a meal in Singapore.

Then she said, school is expensive and if want to travel around also expensive (This I agree because the other myanmese maid I had had to send money home for her sister's studies). Not just that, she told me she wants to get a christmas cd. Even though I feel she's really very bad as a maid, I thought that since it's the festive season, I will buy it for her as a gift. So I questioned her, do you want dvd or cd? DVD needs tv and player. Do you have in your house. At first she said yes, just like the one in my house (plasma). I told her, actually you are very rich, can afford a tv like that (most indonesians or philippines can't). Then she said, it's in her friend's house. Knowing her,what she 1st said is likely the truth. Her family can even afford to buy a christmas tree every year and decorate it.

I could only conclude that if hers is a typical myanmese family, then they generally are not really here to earn a living back for the family but here to tour around. The other myanmese maid I had, also seems to be of rather good background.
 
There are maids from different parts of Myanmar.

Those who stay in villages near Bangladesh are the very poor ones, if they come to Singapore they will "pia" for the first two years to send money home. But their behaviour and habits are a little uncouth, need a lot of local conditioning.

So, it is important to check the background of the maids before they come. Mine, is the "shopper cum traveller" come here see see look look, after loan period, chu pattern, so that employer can send them home. With a passport on hand, she is now free to go anywhere she likes.

One tell-tale sign whether maid is pretty well-off will be their dressing, whether they carry a handbag, whether they own a proper luggage.

My first two Myanmar maids arrived in Singapore with 2 sets of clothing, a "garang guni" bag ... a pair of flip-flops. They asked to have used clothing from me, and let me check their belongings. My third maid, who I sent back two weeks ago, arrived in "style". Got handbag, proper shoes, and a luggage full of clothes. So you see ...
 
Those that live in the city are the ones most likely to be the shpper maids. Mine come well-dressed, pedicured, luggage full of clothes, etc.
But she was sent home because of language barrier.
 
Hi just to update further to my post earlier abt my myanmar maid....I already sounded her out and she told me she does not want day off! I confirmed by asking her again (in case she didnt understand me the first time) and she answered me " mam I dont want off I stay at home" what a relief!
Agree you need to check on which part of Myanmar your maid is from. Mine is from a village and her parents are farmers (rice) , she is the oldest child with younger siblings. Her siblings are quite a few years younger than her ranging from 8 to 13 years old. I chose her considering all this background ... I thought she might be better to care for smalls kids since she has younger siblings of her own . So far she is good and seems like she is here to work seriously
 
To the mummy who asked me abt my maids chores...sorry I deleted so cant remember who you are. If you are reading this thread my maid does all the house work, keeping house very clean and she cooks daily. She works from 6am till abt 9 to 10pm and I don't need to do anything at home except grocery shopping. There are days I dont even step into the kitchen. I have all my time to spend with my kids.
 
My maid is from the village too. But she's vain, her eyebrows are frequently plucked nicely but she has a pretty face.

She's also the eldest. But her way of looking after my baby is allowing him to hold batteries in his hands despite my reminder not to do so since he's at stage of putting everything into mouth. And that's because I happen to see when I Went tp check on the baby. I cannot imagine if baby is left in her care the whole day. When she knows I am watching her, her way of watching baby is different

Her family is not rich too. But she likes to eat expensive stuff. Like recently, she finished up a whole tin of butter cookies in a week after i gave her permission. She does intend to finish her contract but she doesn't intend to do her job well despite thing her nicely 5 times or more. And she has a lot of excuses. She did the job but never done well and they are pretty obvious since I don't actually check her work on purpose.

Previously I offer to give my maid half a day off spoke she can refresh herself and hopefully do her work better but with friends she know. She refuse. yet, shes constantly looking for people to talk to when she thinks we are not looking.Recently, she requested full day off, at my expense, without having a single person she knows in Singapore to bring her ard. I told her how can u trust anyone u meet on the street and she say she will know. I don't trust he r my atm card went missing just before that. So far she seems honest but I don't check her belongings.

I give up. I will send her home next year when I do not need a maid anymore. So other employers do not need to suffer. And I will not want to hire a maid anymore as long as I can help. The possibility of getting a bad or extremely demanding maid seems to have gone higher and higher with each passing year.
 
Tinklestar, I think we can control only to a certain extent, if your maid is not serious to work her mind will wander and she wont feel commited to your household after a while...in that case trust issues emerge you dont feel you can trust her n it will be like a time-bomb dont know when will explode. So better you send her back. Good for you that you plan to be maidless. I dont know how i can manage with 2 young kids no help n full time working mum! just hope my maid continue to work seriously. We try to treat her well on our part make her feel she is trusted. I dont know if it helps at all but I guess it all depends if she is really here to work she will appreciate your kindness if not then better she show her true colors n damage is kept to minimum
 
Hi babypink,

Thanks for the advice. Personally, I don't really control or check her work constantly. But I do expect a minimum standard. My standard has dropped so slow I told her pls do children stuff well. everyhing else i can close both eyes. Our bowls and plates not clean never mind. Children must be clean. Yet I find mould on the water bottle.

I would say that being nice to her does not make a difference. I I am willing to give off day, but not at my expense and with the work standard she provided. I bought her personal stuff, quite a bit and had to put up with her claims she had no new clothes or not sufficient. It was only need 1 day then I realised I bought her at least 4 sets of shirt and pants, celebrated her birthday. Everyday had to put up with her nonsense and constant excuses for work badly done. And her reasoning is that I have wash, e.g. the water bottle, properly only using water only to rinse and that's why the mould could cover the whole cover. I cannot believe wrth daily washing, so much mould could grow. And she will say she doesnt know how to clean, a constant sentence I heard from her and things like I don't know, when they are not in hard to reach places. Using the same tools, i could clean..

About trust, I could only say I had try to trust her by not constantly checking her work. Yet it seems the only time she does her work well is when I checked and shes more cautious the next time round. I have enough of her. Her liking my kids does not mean proper care of them when I need her to.
Yet her personality etc and behaviour from start to finish is something that tells me that this is a person whereby she now has no way to do anything wrong but given the chance, may just do so.

Now I want to send her home. Initially I was still feeling sorry for her and considering to send her home. Now I'm quite sure she should be sent home. I found a whole cover of food stains on my child's fruit box. My oonly dilemma is that she's young and I feel Its inappropriate to send her to Yangon to travel alone to her hometown without any guidance.
 


Should I give her advance notice? Yet I'm worried she may be up to no good during this period. Afterall I have heard of maids poisoning children with perfectly nice employers.

Then again, even if I give her notice, there's no one for her to turn to. I ask before if she has friends she can call in Singapore, as I had intended to let her go out once her loan finish and before my atm card went missing. I couldn't possible wait for her to write home and wait for a return letter (will take 6 weeks), previously I paid for her to call home every 2 weeks but her neighbours have now refuse to let her mum use the phone.

So I am stuck. I do not feel good letting her travel alone to her hometown without knowledge of getting home. Yet, I will feel equally bad transfering her to another employer ( likely 1 worthywith young kids since I'm sure the agents will push her as with experience with kids) and I can imagine her watching the a baby worth candles, batteries and what not in their hands. I can say for sure my baby has eaten candles when under her care and these are for short periods when she looks after. Fortunately, baby has a strong stomach.This is only one of the point I am concerned with with regards to kids care.

So what should I do? In your opinion, would you ladies want to hire her? For 11 months, I have constantly wondered if her standard of work is acceptable in another household and if by transferring her out, would it beneficial to her, another household and myself.

I must say, her plus points are shes pretty (some people must have a pleasant face to look at), she seems demure and gentle (but she broke lots of my stuff and she wasn't so gentle with baby -could be don't know how to hold him when he's walking), her spoken english has improve to point she can use sentence to talk to my oldest, written English is not a problem for her, so far did not steal but I never check her belongings so I can't say), seems to love children, seems hardworking coz constantly doing work but my sis who visited says only 20%of time is spent doing work.
 

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