Advice on Myanmar Maid

marmum,
I keep hearing comment "don't apologize and say thank you" on Myanmar maid.
Will Philipine / Indonesia maid like that ?
Is it to do with Myanmar culture/teaching ?
I do find my maid very proud of herself. Self-esteem very high also.
 


SuperHappyMum,
I think is their culture cos I've talked to a few pple and even the maid agency agree on that.
Got to teach them. Like when I bought something for my maid, she just kept quiet. So I told her that when pple buy or give you things, you must say "thank you".

Not sure abot Philipine / Indonesia maid cos jus got my indonesia one on Fri. But so far she does say "thank you"
 
some updatez on my new maid...she is superb auto..very nice and hardworking. very auto know how to work without even us telling but sometimes too auto liao those clothing clean one but not hang up she tot is dirty clothing and will wash again..she even bring our slipper to wash without us telling her if she find them too dirty..my grandma also like her alot as she will auto massage my grandma every evening..she also treat my son very gd, will know how to play with him and she's also quite clean lah...so far so gd im so lucky to have her..
 
oh ya my myanmar maid will said thanks/sorry and we can really feel that she appreciate what we did for her..like buying her new clothings for new yr and bringing her to shopping..i feel that philipino maid have more self esteem and more proud of themselves since i have 2 philipino maid b4 getting the myanmar..
 
split,
I am glad to hear that you have found a good maid. That's really can help us ease a lot of daily house chore while we work.

May I know which part of Myanmar your maid is from ?
I hear those from Yangon is not so good. Don't know how true is that.
 
my experience with myanmmar maid was not a good one. i find that they r very stubborn n prideful. if your house has got elderly, better dun get myaanmmar maids. u know usually our mothers n mother in laws r fussy when they come to housework n they will nag at the maids. these myanmmar maids will not be happy.

mine when she is not happy, she will threaten us she wants to change employer, go back see agent or go hunger strike. she really mean business when she said she wants to go back agent cos she will changed n packed her luggage. in the end after 1 year, we couldnt stand her n decided to send her back.
but the pros abt them is they r honest people. they dun steal.
 
hi
My myanmar maid has been with me for 2 years plus and she is different from other maid.
at first, she cannot stand us scold her or tell her off, she will show you black face or even weep. she has bad manners, wont apologise and say thank you at all.she cannot live with my mom who is quite fussy.
She picked up our language very fast now she can speak mandarin n english not well but can understand.
overall she will carry out duties and that is why we are keeping her.
 
my ex-myanmar maid waiting to be transferred, really very idea. Said that she dun wan to look after kids or elderly. Now the agent dunno how to get employer for her.
 
hi, just to give you an update on my myanmar maid. it's been 4 months already and i'm very satisfied with her. she says thank you, and sorry when she has done something wrong, and hardly gives us a black face. i never scold her, but sometimes she can tell when i am unhappy over something that she has done. she looks after my baby at my parents house, and they also say she is quite gentle with him. when the baby is sleeping, she will tell my parents to watch him so that she can go and wash the clothes. and she takes instructions quite well. although i think i'm very lor-soh, i repeat a few times, and also write down for her. intially i gave her paper to write down herself, so sometimes now i still see her write down my instructions and put it somewhere in the kitchen where she can see the next day when she wakes up. my husband doesn't like that she is slow when she is cleaning the bathroom or bedrooms, but i don't mind as long as she does a thorough job and isn't skiving inside.

my recommendation is not to get maid from yangon. my first maid was from there and she was just horrible. this one is from the countryside. karen tribe quite good. although my agent said they can't speak english as well, i don't have a problem with my current maid. sometimes i just spell out the work or write it out in english and she can understand.

but i think no matter how good, still need to keep her on her toes, cannot let her think she is indispensable (although i rely on her a lot!.. ha ha).. so weekends i make it a point to look after my son myself.. and put him to sleep every night too.
 
My myanmar maid has been with me for almost 3 months now. One major problem we have now is that my 20 month old son does not like her. When she goes near him, he will scream (we will tell him he cannot scream at auntie whenever he screams). He was not like that towards her in the beginning. In the beginning, he would readily hug her and allowed her to play toys with him.

We are wondering if she has done anything to him behind our back which could explain the way he is behaving towards her.

If this behaviour persists, we are concerned that the maid may really start to dislike him in time to come. As such, we are thinking of changing the maid for both the maid and my son's sake.

The maid has also displayed other problems over the last few months:
a) not asking when she is in doubt
b) sometimes she tries to cut corners in the work she does
c) keeps quiet (not informing us) when she has done something wrong. On the 1st day of Chinese New Year, when she took the dog out for a morning walk, my dog bit an old lady on her arm. When the maid came home, she did not say anything. We only found out when the police came knocking on our door.

Should we change her?
 
Hi mambopolice,

If i'm you I will change the maid. Because of the behaviour changed for yr son toward the maid.
 
hi mambopolice,

have u tried to speak with her on her behavioural issues & maybe also 'ask' her whether she has any idea y ur son is behaving like this towards her. u may want to tell her the consequences (eg. report police) should u find out if she had done anythg behind ur back to hurt ur son. i did that to my maids whenever i had suspicion & usually they'll not dare to be funny.

but if the situation doesn't improve, I'd change the maid if i were u.

thank God, so far my myanmar maid (fr yangon), who has been with me for about a week, is very good. hopefully it persists.
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hi jj,

Actually we've never asked her if she has an answer to why my son behaves like that to her. We have spoken to her about her work before though.

One possible reason we can think of is that we have been reprimanding the maid because of the various issues I mentioned previously. My son could have seen how we were scolding her and treats her as someone who he could be rude (scream when she is near) towards.
 
hi mambopolice, actually my purpose of 'asking' the maid is more to sound her out & take the chance to warn her not to do anythg funny to hurt the kids.

like you mentioned, kids imitate us real fast. so normally when my hb & i reprimand the maid (which is usually after many repeated times of reminder & still no improvement), i'll do it in the night when the kids are all asleep so that they do not scold the maid like we adults do (cos thd kids may not understd d issue & don't want them to have prejudice against the maid too).

JMHO.
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I think most likely we will change.

Anyone knows under what conditions can we have 2 maids registered under the same employer? If I decide to send this maid back, I will have to do without a maid for probably a few weeks. I have been told that you cannot get a new maid until the previous one have found a new employer. We may not be able to wait for up to 1 month for another maid.

Thanks!
 
hi, you can get a new maid in & then bring the existing maid back to the agency for transfer out. the agcy will then look for another employer for the maid. this way, you won't be 'maid-less'.

but you'll need to bear the levy for the ex-maid for about 2-3wks (depending on ur agreement with agcy) b4 her name is being transferred out to the new employer. best to chk wif ur agent. hope this helps.
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Just sent the myanmar maid back to the agency today. Replacement indo maid will be coming in about 3 weeks time. Hopefully will have better luck this time round.
 
Sigh........I was so admired those people who has maid following them at the market / shopping center because they are "tai(1)tai(2)". However, after having maid, I realized that they are so much that an employer needs to suffer/endure towards a maid.
Are they thinking of coming to Singapore for enjoyment ? I think MOM should instruct all maid agency to let maids know the stress We are facing at work. Thus, we need a good helper.
(just want to throw my feeling toward maid here
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My indo maid came yesterday. Her work is okay so far (just like how it was in the beginning with first 2 myanmar maids).

But there is 1 major difference - this indo maid speaks very good english (surprise). So far we have no problems making ourselves understood. She also makes it a point to ask if she is unclear - this was strongly lacking with the previous 2 myanmar maids (could be due to language issue). This is her first time working as a maid and she used to work as a site surveyor (potential expectation problems?) back in indo.

Hopefully this is the right one for us.
 
Hi Mummies

I need your advise. Currently I have a maid who is going to finish her 2 years contract with me. My sis is interest to have her after her contract with me. Can I do a name transfer to her after my maid has finish her contract?
 
Hi Mummies,
I need advise. Please help.
My maid is requesting to go home next week (during Myanmar New Year) and claimed that her brother had an accident and is in coma now. I suspect she is lying. So, is there any way to check if she really has left Singapore ? Can get this information from MOM web ?
 
headache..my maid was with us coming to 3mths le..as i mention previously everything was good at start but maybe we too good to her le..now she starting to ask for this and that..and the total medical and dental bill we spent on her is close to $250 in just less den mth. She's also alway telling us she need rest as she's sick..and we actually let her sleep whole day..but seem to be getting too often..my grandma was also tell me she's taking long hrs afternoon nap sometime, and she gotta wake her up to look after my son..
 
hi split, think u really shd hv a gd talk wif her & tell her ur expectations. myanmar maids r very smart. mine was wif me for abt 5 wks & her wk was relatively gd. but she ran away just recently & we suspected tat her sis must have taught her 'cos her sis also ran away at the same time. they're very well behaved in front of you, but behind ur backs it's a totally diff story. so i'll advice tat we should not be too nice to them. if they don't perform up to our expectations, then should be strict wif them else they'll climb over ur heads.
 
split and jj_mum,
Don't be too good to your maid. If they are not performing, change new maid. We pay for them to be here to work, not to enjoy life.
 
My myanmar maid of more than 2 yrs with me recently had a hp secretly. I discovered it one day.
I only allow her to use it to use at night cos during the day I dont want her to be distracted by it.
Anyone can advise how u monitor ur maid hp usage and rules?

She even dares to bargain with me that she can have no hp but she wants one off per month. She has no off in the contract and after 2 yrs, I have been kind to give her special off day like her birthday, christmas etc...now she is asking for more and I believe must be she learn from outside!

feel like sending her home!
 
Myanmar maids are not necessarily good, personally I have tried maids from Philippines and Myanmar. Myanmar maids generally are slower in pace. I seldom scold my maid because I find most maid can't take scolding (tried scolding before). In turn, they will give a sour or black face. Usually, I will try to talk in a firm manner. Myanmar maids are stubborn and prideful too as mentioned in one of the comments. Myanmar maids are not outspoken, so is very difficult to get them to speak out. With regards to honesty, I find they are very good liars too, same as other national. My ipod which my husband won from lucky draw, has suddenly disappeared from my home, I suspect my myanmar maid has stolen it.

My this myanmar maid is with me for 1/2 year, intially she was good in attitude, slow in work, but we gives her time to learn and pick up. 2 months later, she told the agent she suspected that she is pregnant because she missed her menstruation as she had a boyfriend in her home town. After urine and blood test, results are negatives, she still insisted that she is pregnant and made a fuss and demanded us to send her home. After sometimes, her menstruation has arrived, she asked for forgiveness and asked us to let her stay. Recently, she made a fuss again saying she misses her menstruation and have stomachache. She demanded us to send her back. After all the episodes, we realised she is a big liar, she pretended to be pregnant and said she has stomachache to make us send her home.
She never express her thoughts to us and is very difficult to know what she is up to, furthermore she is very fickle minded, one moment want to work, the other moment want to go home. On the first day of her arrival, she put on nail polish and dyed her hair, I thought kampoo girls will be more conservative but is shocked find out she wears g-string (translucent) while working because I saw it while she hanged up after washing!
 
Hi,

Going bk to work soon n will b employing a myanmar helper, keeping my finger crossed... this one is a trained nurse n im paying $400 per month w/o off day.
 
Hihi, I'm expecting no. 2 in end Dec 09 and was looking at hiring a Myanmar maid cos my PT cleaner is from Myanmar and she's quite good. Currently a SAHM but don't think I can handle two kids. After reading all the comments and posts, conclusion is it's all a matter of LUCK. Some get Myanmar maids and got good ones, some get maids from Kayin, good initially but bad after that. Some have Filipino maids and they pick and choose employers while some Filipino are a real asset and can even help to teach their kids, some Indo maids are good, while some are terrible with Bangladeshi BFs. Sigh sigh, now don't know what kind of maids to choose and which agency to go to anymore.
 
hihi,
will like to join this thread. I'm also have a mynanmar maid, been with me for 6 mths. Her duties is mainly to take care of my ger, now 10 mths old
I find tat she has a attitude problem. Whenever we ask her something, she tends to be get very defensive. My mum also dislikes her cos she find her very rude.
But 1 thing good is tat she doesnt steal.
 
Agree with Sept 03 Bride. Mine one also doesn't steal.

I am looking for Myanmar maid agency. Does any of your here can recommend? Please email me. Many Thanks!

My latest advice to Myanmar maid employer:
Don't let your maid go on Home leave although she is going to extend her contract with you. What had happened is my maid told me her brother had an accident and in coma. Need brain surgery thus need to go back. Since her contract is end in July as she promises to extend. We agree to let her go in April and pay back her air ticket in July to her. Agent has already suspect what she says as the period she went back is Myanmer New Year. We still let her go back though we also know that was an excuse only coz she is going back in July anyway. We don't lose anything.
However, we also play smart. Don't give her advance salary, don't pay air ticket now. Ask her pay all her Myanmar tax before go back (else hard to leave Myanmar)......she is back.....but work quality changed......apply maid/other job now......saying she will not extend contract.

Don't you angry. I wasted 5 days annual leave because of trusting her (not listen to my friends advice). Thus, warning all of you here. Don't let maid go home. Once go home, end contract.
 
Hi mummies,

Mine is oso a Myanmar Maid. From what i read from here and among my friends who oso have Myanmar maids, the conclusion is they are very good "at first" and in later part, they cant hide their "tails" !!!

I agree they dun steal, But 1 thing for sure is they are quite rude at times. They will never say sorry when they are wrong. Jus like their mouth got gold and will drop out if the say sorry :S. Once their communication are better, they will argue back when u scold them.

Sometimes people who dun understand will think that why we keep scolding them etc. But when they really see what's happening, then they understand.

My maid, from yagon too, she is good in the 1st few months. Her communication is a big problem at 1st but few months later, she is better. This is my 1st maid and I heard from my friend that Myanmar maid are very good and honest. She got hers for almost a year and hers is very hard working etc. So I ask her to recommend the maid agency to me. The agency fee though was expensive, $788 and maid salary is $320 w/o offday.

I need a maid as I got 2 children and thought that that will ease my workload. I didnt let her take care of my new born baby in the 1st place as I cant trust her cos she very "chor lor". But once, I let her take care of my baby when she is abt 3mth+ at that time bcos i was having fever and bad flu. My baby need to drink milk in the middle of the night and she cries but my maid didnt hear her cryg and end up I got to wake up and make milk for her. Once, I oso caught her sleep till her legs over my baby till she doesnt noe!!! I also have to wake her up cos her alarm rang till she no "hue".... Haiz....

I have been closing 1 of my eyes for almost 2 years. Keep wanting to send her back but she keep plead me to let her stay and want to work here and dun wan go back to agent. I see her quite "kelian" so keep giving her chance. Few more months to go to end her contact.

My conclusion, I will never employ a Myanmar maid in future!!! I heard from agencies, nwdays, many complaints abt Mymr maids too. I think is because they attitude and communication problem.
 
Hi JJs, I totally agreed with you, they never like to say sorry and like to defend themselves once they can communicate better. Now my this is maid is with me for 7 months already, she is starting to talk back when I corrected her mistake (I didn't scold her, only asked her to change). My previous myanmar maid was with me for 4 months only was worst, she is an ex-Malaysian, she worked in Malaysia as a waitress for 4 years. She can speak English, Mandarin and Cantonese. Due to her good communication skill, she always talk back and even throw her tantrum to show us her unhappiness. My hubby and myself really cannot tahan her and had decided to send her back to my agent after working with us for 2 months plus.
 
hi faith1,

Yah lor... super sian, dun noe y so unlucky to choose her... haiz... I find that they like to "act clever" too. Like cant say them or scold them, say liao not happy dun wan to eat their meal after that.
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sian my mymr maid also got problem..starting come everything gd..till she start to meet up with who she claim to be her "sisters" working here..start to fall sick, tell us she cant work...and keep using phone to make calls to her sisters...den that day tell my inlaw that her sisters work very gd dun have to cook, and can sleep during afternoon...

she's with me for abt 3 mths only..just finish paying off all her loan and ytd tell me she wanna go back mymr dun wanna work anymore..if i wanna send her back agent den must find one family dun have to cook and can have afternoon nap one..faint...i told the agency what she told me den agency ask us to send her back to her country..
 
Hi Mummies, I got a feeling that Myanmar maids are not as poor, they tend to miss home and want to go home after or even before finishing their loan. I suspect some are here to "look see look see only", when not happy working or not used to the working environment, they will demand to go home. I have not tried Indonesian maid before, probably Indonesia is poorer, I heard some Indonesian are very scared if you tell them you are going to send them home, don't know whether there are any Indonesian maid employers can verify?

Honestly, I am so tired of changing maid (this is my 3rd maid within 1 year 1 mth) thus now I also allow my myanmar maid to take naps (she doesn't need to cook too, my mum in law cooks because everyday I will send my 2 daughters and maid to my mum-in-law's home) hoping she can stay with me longer. So ironic, instead of maid scares of employer, seems like I am more scare of her. So sian, when my two daughters get older, I intend to send both of them to childcare.
 
motherof2..no use my maid also take afternoon nap together with my son from the first day she's here but sometime my son dont sleep so she gotta take care den she not happy...i find that mymar maid more demanding and they sometime abit rude..whe talk on phone not happy can just hang ur phone. And they very not paiseh one..everyweek sure got 1 day sick and sleep whole day dont need work dont even wash the plate after eating.. menses come also said cannot work....i think im bad luck kana this type of maid
 
yes i totally agree!Myanmar maids are super defensive and super like to talk back. Somemore like to raise her voice.. super angry. Going to send her back to agency
 
I am super sian. Select 1 new Myanmar maid but she doesn't want to come. Want to get another new maid from agency also no one can meet my requirement. Its been 2 weeks liao. Still waiting for chance before can send my current one back to Myanmar. She is getting lazier and lazier now.
I think the maids are not satisfied with the better life that they have in Singapore and the amount of $$ that they can earn in Singapore. Like Chinese says "bu(4) ji(1) ju(2)". If they work properly, they can really earn a big sum of $$ and go home enjoy their life at home.
My maid family is building pagoda (8 of them for everyone in the family). She says it is S$500 each. This is almost used up all her 2 years salary. Don't know how they think. Offering is good but need to balance up with the incoming ma.
 
I also have enough with my myanmar maid, extend her contract since Oct last yr and close one eye most of the time.
Now her patterns all surfaced..
Will post more here later when I am free....
 
Haiz... No wonder nowadays miad agencies dun recommend myanmar maid too... Mine no need to cook too... Very big eater, last time used to eat everything but nw, very choosy. Nice food, eat alot, simple dish, eat very little. She loves to eat biscuits and sweets, chocolates the best but always dun drink enuf water end up sick easily
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The most "buay ta han" is she only eat the vege leaves!!! We even let her eat 1st if we are busy wor...

I heard that myanmar maid who are christians are better? Is that true?
 
I am stupid to give her off day (special ones) not monthly after two yrs and she came back asking for more off days and a handphone which i discovered.
She is not here to work for money seriously and from the beginning till now keep telling me her family is in business and her house is big etc, full of craps!

Anyone has any good agent for indon maid? I think I wont dare to take myanmar maid anymore
 
Hi babypooh,

yah yah me too!!! NO MORE MYANMAR MAID FOR ME TOO!!! I thinkg to get indo or fili maid... Still can't decide... haiz.. headache...
 
Hi JJs, not true that christian myanmar maid is better, my both myanmar maids are christian because my family is christian too. My former myanmar maid(with us for 4 mths) pray very night and when has free time will read bible. Initially, we were so happy to have her as she can communicate well but who knows.......she is very good at eating snake too... a few times when my family woke up at about 9am on sat, she is still mopping the floor!
Both of them are 'Chin' from countryside too...
I have two friends who have good christian myanmar maids, it all depends on luck. Some employers have the mindset that myanmar maids are more hardworking, honest, humble and willing to work. Guess the mindset has to be changed, they are just like any other maids from other countries.
 
jj not true my maid was christians too..she also eat alot love to eat biscuit/chocolate and drink little water so keep falling sick loh, heaty and also got urine infection..she too will pick all the gd food and those not nice wan ask my grandma eat..very bad...

starting come we treat her so gd what she want buy for her bu she becoming demanding even those unopen biscuit that we bot as gift she also open up and eat without asking for permission..and when finish or spoil anything she alway keep quiet till we find out ourselves she said she dunnu...last time very hardworking but now become lazy alway take short cut..clothes can hang outside for days till i questioned her how many days it need to take to be dry...i think im gonna change back tp filipino maid...at least they are more polite
 


true myanmar maids are super rude, no manner. My maid till now of more than 2 yrs hardly say sorry or thank you. I can count less than 5 times or even lesser.
Mine is also christian.
I believe they are here to see see and look look, not really to work for $. If not, they dare to bargain for this and that and can say a lot of reason now when you ask her why things not done that way.
Yes, hardworking but attitude big problem. Think the qc level drop for them, previously used to have good myanmar maids but as too many of them enter here, the quality sure drop.
 

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