hi, if i had known about all these problems, i wouldn't have gone to an agency who only brings in myanmar maids... let me share my experience...
i chose a maid that came from yangon, high school, supposedly 2 years domestic experience in yangon, unmarried (but actually married with a 6 year old kid), 24 years old.
it was a REALLY bad experience.. keep in mind that all this happened within 7 days, before i couldn't take it anymore and asked the agent to come and get her as i was still in confinement.
she was told by the agent in front of me that she had to listen to the confinement lady, my parents (who will be 'overseeing' her look after my kid) and me.
the first day she came, when i was eating dinner in front of the tv, she came to me and asked me if she could watch tv. i was totally shocked. told her sorry, but no. the CL told me that she asked the CL if she could bring the baby for a walk on her own. when i told her to go to sleep in her own room, she told me she was scared and wanted to stay in the baby's room with the CL. it was her first day, so i thought i'd just let her.
within all those 7 days, she
1) took my magazines from the common toilet to read without asking me. she only came to ask me because i think the CL told her to.
2) she kept asking my CL for her phone whenever i went out of the house because she said she wanted to call her cousin working here.
3) when i went into my baby's room one morning, she was sleeping on the double bed with my CL. pushes my CL's legs away so that she has room to sit on the bed even tho there isn't enough space for her.
4) when my friend came to visit my baby, she stood there like she was part of the group, and actually interrupted my friend and i to ask if my friend was from myanmar, and wanted to continue the conversation if i hadn't stopped her
5) when i was eating dinner in the living room alone, she sat on the floor and stared at me even though i asked her to go and rest. told me that 'it's ok, i can sit here'
6)when i asked her to clean the windows, told me 'i did it yesterday'
7) throws away the ends of the loaf of bread, and tears away the crust with her hands. when asked why she did it, told me that she didn't like the ends/crust. when told not to do it, she threw them down the rubbish chute instead of the kitchen dustbin.
8) one evening, when i went out for a while at 7+pm, and my CL was in the room with my baby, she cooked her own rice and took food from the fridge to eat without asking CL or waiting for me to come home. (i have no issue with this if the maid has been with me for a while.. this is still the 1st week!)when i came home, she lied about what she took from the fridge, and said she wanted to eat because she was so hungry.
9) took one of my drying racks (i only have 3 small one from ikea) the first day, and hung out her clothes.. which included a pair of short shorts, blouses, jeans etc. and hung it out in the prime spot in the kitchen to dry. when there wasn't enough space to hung my laundry, i told her to keep her clothes and she told me 'but my clothes are not dry yet'.
10) cried and told me that she wanted to leave after 3 months when she had paid the singapore agent. i persuaded her to stay for the sake of her daughter. she agreed. the next day, she came up with a complicated scheme for me to lie to the agent that i had sent her home, and for me to pay her the 3 months fee that she owes the agent (not knowing that i had already paid the agent the 3 months fee). she actually crossed her leg while sitting on the bed and pushed my CL out of the way while she was telling me this, and i was feeding my son. i was soooo angry.
really bad experience for me. if i had the choice, i wouldn't choose a myanmar maid again, but my agent only has maids from there, and the agent fee was SGD980.
did some research (relatives with myanmar maids, friend who married a burmese etc) and realised that those girls who come from the city actually don't work and don't know how to do house work. they look very gentle, skinny and pretty in the photos.. don't hire those! these are the girls who just want to come and see what singapore is like. look for those from the countryside and look more 'rugged', eg from the karen state. although these girls don't know that much english, they work as maids to earn money for their families, rather than to play.
hope that helps anyone who is interested in getting one!