Advise on Baby & Maid Exps


Hi sadwoman,
1) I would set up a joint account for her and deposit the excess money that she doesn't transfer back home. Firstly got interest to earn. Secondly, if she wants to run away, she can't get the money out without us. But think need minimum amt to set up account is ~$500. So may have to pay upfront for her first. I don't think setting up a joint account is illegal.
2) Its good that you ask her what she wants and buy it for her...agree with patsy also if you can take her with you to buy will be good so she gets to go out once in a while. If your maid don't have off day, very poor thing stay at home 24/7. I will go crazy too.
3) According to MOM guidelines, employers are supposed to pay for the maid's basic necessities like shampoo, food, etc. So we shouldn't deduct from her salary.
4) I think its better not to give cash, or not so much in any case. If she wants cash to buy tidbits and stuff, then give her maybe $20 but keep the rest in the joint account.
5) Handphone issue - I allow my maid to use her handphone (she already had it before she worked with me). From day 1, I told her she can use her phone but not when she's carrying or feeding the baby (my baby is 4mths old now). Some employers don't let their maids buy/use phone. But I personally don't mind...I think its impt for her to keep in touch with family and friends here otherwise they get really lonely. Its unreasonable to expect them to write letters at this age.
 
Hi mummies,

need some advise, as stated in my earlier posting that this is my first getting a maid..need to clear some doubts..

wld you usually check your maid's belongings before bringing her to your home on the first day?
some of friends said that they do check the belongings at the agency before bringing them home becos they say the maids might carry weird things (like black magic stuff e.g powders..or hair pieces)

i'm quite afraid of these magic black stuff so thought of doing the same but my hubby feels this might start us on the 'bad footing with the maid', she will feel like we don't trust her even before she starts work in our house we already do this to her

for me i rather be safe than sorry...to me i can't trust immediately till she stays with me for some time...how like that?

second thing...do you all buy towels and clothes to wear at home for your maid when she arrives?
 
Hi Patsy,
I read that Nation provides free 3-hour course on Basic Culinary course and healthy cooking everyday. Can check with them - Tel: 66658199.
 
hi chrysanne, the agent checked everything the maid had in her luggage and gave me a list, so i didn't have to do that anymore. when my maid came, i got her 2 towels/face towels because the previous maid took hers with her (to be fair they had her name embroidered on the towels as they were christmas gifts from my mum). I also got a few sets of clothing for her to wear at home because i didn't want any issue with her outfit and prefer that the maid is properly dressed at home, so to avoid any misunderstanding, i got her the clothes so she will have no excuse
 
Chrysanne
I din check my maid's stuff when she first came. As for towels and clothes, i bought for her within the first few days of her arrival. This is because the clothes which she brought over are not very suitable for working as domestic worker - either long pants, wreid tops, etc .. so i bought some cheap culottes (3 for $10) and t-shirts (4 for $10) for her .. Also bought a dozen of panties for her ($2 each). U must be wondering why i even bought panties for her?? Cos after she came, she complained that her crouch itchy and she scratch until bleed. I brought her to see doc. Doc says due to dampness and give her some cream to apply. I suspect she din change panties regularly, so buy one dozen for her so that she will not have excue not to change panties often.
 
Hi chrysanne,
For me, I would rather be safe than sorry too. When my maid came, I told her that I wanted her to show me everything that she has brought into my house. Of course I told her nicely and explained that I wanted to make sure she doesn't bring funny things into my house. My maid said "no problem ma'am!" and she happily took out everything to show me. My hubby was like your hubby - didn't want to check her things...but I insisted lor. Its our house and we need (and have the right) to ensure that she doesn't bring in weird things like you said - drugs, cigarettes, expensive jewellery, rotten foodstuff, etc. I also agree with you, trust needs to be earned. I can't blindly trust some stranger that I've just met.

Re towels and clothes, I did offer to buy for my maid..but she told me she brought her own so I didn't have to buy for her.
 
hi
need some advise here.. i got my maid from 'N..', actually was contamplating to send her away. but b4 i decided, she already 'zhao fan' yesterday nite and say dun wan to work with us immediately after cooking dinner, and refuse to do any work despite us asking her to do. today we call e agent to send her back, but agent claim boarding hs is close for CNY n no1 to look after e maids, n we've to keep her till 2wks later. i wonder if this is a valid reason?? i'm feeling quite paranoid with her presence now, as i'm a sahm with my son and her only most of e time.
any1 knows if i cld jus bring her down to the agent despite e reason given.
my hb wanna give her a 2nd chance to find another employer n not send her back to indo.
 
hi milkmilk, i also got some similar experience as you during last CNY. My agent also said the same thing, and we tahan her for abt a mth. But for whatever reasons, she still have to work. If she dont listen, really got to get the agent to talk to her. I ever got one maid who also refused to work, and I also tell her, like that i dont pay her and dont let her eat also! She's scared after that!
 
milkmilk,

Why bother to keep a maid that doesn't want to work!
Suggest you send her to her embassy and tell the embassy that you are not a half-way house for maids that don't want to work.

Then let your agent deal with it.

Has she got a loan? If not, send her back.
 
eileen10, we are thinking if e agent will consider bringing her to her own hs lor. will try our luck tml. we also kind of threaten her if she dun do things n listen, then straight away send her back to Indo.

liana, my hb very soft hearter, wan to give her another chance to find another employer, i can't convince him, hv tried many times.

today e maid got new pattern, act sick n ask to bring her to c doc tml. she has been around 10mths, n always here pain there pain, n always ask for medicine to eat. say carry my son for too long, she will ache..
 
milkmilk,

Trust me, my hubby is also soft hearted but you will both know in your hearts whether this maid can work or not. If not, then to transfer will only make another family suffer.

I think it's fine to ask for transfer, but I do not think it's fine to just refuse to work. It's just not fair.

Just like those maids who do not want to work with you anymore...you think they care about your family....they want everything fast fast and refuse to wait until you find a suitable replacement. These days they just anyhow run away. How fair is that?

You better take care that this maid of yours doesn't run away to short-cut and get what she wants. Better you send her off to her embassy first then book her ticket back to Indo.

Assuming of course that you have treated her fairly....
 
milkmilk,
If she refuse to work then why should you house her for another week. Your agent should take her back and deal with the problem lor..that's why we pay the agency fee! Maybe you should call MOM and find out what you can do.
 
I would pay for the airticket, since I do not keep any of her salary.

If she ran away and I kept her salary then I would use it to buy her ticket.
 
Well it's up to you. Keep her in your house and let her watch you and your hubby do all the housework whilst paying for her food and levy OR cancel her permit, pay a couple of hundred dollars and send her back.

Personally, I would pay for my sanity. Get rid of her asap.
 
Hahahhaaaa! But if we return her to the agent and she manages to transfer to another employer, so we don't need to pay issit? We just incur the $12/day lodging fee isn't it?
 
Return her to agent still must pay Levy + lodging. What if no one takes her for a month? 30 days X $12 = $360 + Levy ($170) = $430.

For that amount, you might as well send her home Biz Class...haha!

But what's worse is that IF she has a bad attitude and is no good anyway, why would you want to pass her on to another unsuspecting and innocent family?

Better to send the bad ones home. Even if they come back, they will have to find the money to do so....which will give them some time to reflect on whether they should be doing a good job.
 
Having a maid is never about saving $$$...you always end up paying more than you thought you ever would! My 6 maids have cost me a fortune. None of them have really been worth the money and stress but what to do! I don't like housework!
 
Hahaa...ohh ya forgot abt levy!! Yeah I agree with you. Maids now think they very smart to pick employers. If they're not happy with us, will 'chut pattern' so that we send them back to agent, then they can get another employer. We should send them home and show them who's smarter!
 
Yesterday my friend just sms me and update me about her two year ex sin, one month hk.maid....with her for a day. She told me she speaks very good english and very happy with her....

I do hope her maid will continue to be good.....For me, not so lucky, maid with me or some of my friends, are usually good for first few weeks....first few days do non stop and after that, all sort of patterns come out...do you mummies share similar experience....
 
Milkmilk, I would send the maid back straight. Anyway, now jetstarasia flies to phil and indo also. And their fare is much cheaper. I sent my phil maid back recently on Jetstar and including taxes, it's only $153.

Liana, I share your views. For the past 2+ years, I've changed so many maids, waste so much money on incapable maids and lousy agency, and yet govt base on quota to restrict us.

I even have maid that I sent off within 3 days! Can you imagine a maid that stare out of the window everyday? The whole day do nothing just cleaning window? Sleep as and when she likes? Don't even understand what is bedsheet, what is clothings? And I had a record of consecutively transfer 2 exp maids out within 2 months, cause they requested to transfer out!!! All these are not my fault!!! But govt don't look into such things!!!

Joy, frankly, your friend might have a good maid, but hor, a day only leh, hard to see her true colour. kekekeke... not that I'm bad, but I've seen too many maids with too many patterns liao. :p
 
hahaha, JChew - we are almost in the same boat and I am sure many employers are like us. Unfortunately, within my closely knitted frens, none of them has any such problems - and sometimes I dont really like to tell them these - cos they sometimes think I AM the one with problems! My record of a maid that i sent off is within 1.5 day! Sometimes if they cant make it, why waste time, I thought.

Milkmilk - since yr maid is with u 10 mths, she should finish her loan. Usually they will have abt few hundred bucks safeguard with u. If yes, use that money to send her home (and in fact thats the purpose of it) - in the event that they claim no money or whatsover - cos some agenies also dont really bother when the loan is fully repaid.
 
Hi Eileen, hahaha... let's cheers for ourselves. :p Sigh... actually quite torturous to have maid leh. And I agree with you, I have friends who employ maids. They might change the maid once or twice but never like us! Hitting 5 times within 12 months. And I don't like to talk to those 'normal' friends who don't understand my situation cause they think that I'm the fussy one. Always ask me is it the maid too much work, is it the maid got to clean 2 house, etc. I'm so tired of explaining.

Last night, I receive letter from MOM saying that from their records, I have change a no. of maids and this implies that I might have problem managing the maid and will affect my future application, etc. I so mad lah. Cause before x'mas, I applied for my new maid, then 1 week before I'm suppose to pick her up, I received letter from MOM saying that my application has been revoked cause we never follow up her WP within 3 weeks. I called the agent and question them and to found out they over look the matter. Then they re-apply for me and then I got this stupid letter from MOM. This is so ridiculous! Sigh...
 
milkmilk,
sounds like your maid had the same antics as my ex-maid. Only that my maid is stupid enuff to do all this even before her loan is fully repaid...never seen anyone so stupid before.

if, as eileen says, your maid had paid up all her loan, just send her home. if she can just 'zao fan' and 'ba gong' like this, she is not worth to be transfered anywhere but back to the plc where she came from. cos if she can do it to you, it means she can do it to anyone else!

As for your agent, that is very bad attitude and service. yes it may be CNY, but a situation is a situation! in fact, the fact that the maid is on strike is serious, CNY or christmas or hari raya! i hope you had managed to sort that out with the agent.

but my opinion in this situation is that the best solution is to send her straight home.
 
eileen, JChew,
just wondering..how MOM keeps the quota? is it 5 maids per 12 mths? or by calendar year?

JChew,
i agree that your situation with MOM is infuriating. The agent is very careless! MOM only goes by the book. The pple there are like robots. they dun care and dun bother to really look into the details of the cases. Just hit the button only..
 
i think by calendar year - counting the number of maids u have for the past 12 mths. So when you hv a new maid, it will count backwards how many maids you have for the past 12 mths.

But for my case, cos i got 2 kids, i can apply for 2nd maid and then, i got double the quota. So, i nvr kena the letter.

JChew - yr agent, Status right? Just wondering if u mention to Angeline abt me? She yahoo messaged me that day, just wanting to say hi - but our conversation had to end cos the other lady - whom I cant stand returned.
 
While you guys are complaining abt your maids...I can't help but feel relieved that my this maid is very good. She's been with me for 3 months. She cooks, cleans and takes care of my baby very well.

But I have a problem...I'm going back to work soon so these few weeks I started letting my maid handle my baby more during the day and putting her to sleep at night (and she sleeps in the baby's room too). And now she's the only one that can make my baby fall asleep leh. When its time for baby's nap or bed time, I carry and pat her to sleep like I used to but she cries and cries, then the minute I hand her over to my maid, baby stops crying and falls asleep. I'm so sad that I kenna 'rejected' by my own baby
sad.gif
 
Nellu, exactly. Govt body just sucks.

Eileen, no, din mention to Angeline about you. She's quite a nice lady.

I also have 2 kids, that's why I so far never kena any letter from MOM. But because my application for the new maid got revoke, and I've already cancelled my ex-maid work permit, when Angeline re-apply for me, it's under replacement maid. I suspect this is how I kena the MOM letter lah. Sigh...

Angel, happy for you. Don't worry about baby. They are young, they got use to the way maid handle them. They may find the maid when in need, but a mother is a mother, they will know that you love her the most. In fact, my sis also let the maid handle her baby. Younger days, she also worry like you, but now, her child sticks to her like glue.
 
Angel
I've the same problem as you. My maid is very good at handling my 10mth old boy. Now she's the only one who can make/coo him drink milk! .. when me or hubby tried to feed him milk, he will struggle and only drink very little. .once handed over to her, she can make him finished the whole bottle of milk!

Also, whenever i carry him and maid walk pass him, he will cry for her ..
 
May I ask how much your maid is getting per month? My Phil maid gets $370 ($300 which I pay my agent for 7 months and another $70 which my maid gets as pocket money.)

I feel that my agent is overcharging me. This is already on top of the agent fee and the repatriation of the previous maid.

The basic which I used to pay my previous maids was $320. Now that the maid levy has gone down by $30, I think my agent gives the $30 to the maid, plus another $20 for no-off days. She was an ex-HK of only about 6 months before and has not worked in other countries.

I know many non experienced helpers are getting a basic of only $320 for Filipinas and $300 for Indonesians. Even my uncle's maid who was 6 years ex-SIN is only getting $330 with 1 off day a month.
 
Hi cjx, maids salary has gone up relatively the last few months. My ex-sin 2 yrs Indo maid already getting $350 a month. 1 yr ago, my ex Indo maid with 5 yrs exp. gets only $300! Now even maids who only have home country exp. will get about $350 for phil maid. Indo maid about $330.
 
Hi,

I remember seeing someone created a website to list out all the 'bad' maids. Can i have the link to it?

My brother (in malaysia) just got a new maid, previously working in sg. She can speak english, and hokkien, and understand cantonense somemore cause the sg employer was a hongkonger. Just find it strange why she want to work in msia (where the maid's pay is half of what she can get here) if her 'qualification' is that good. They asked her and she claim its to gain experience?! Somehow i find it very fishy. Am wondering if she has a record in sg. Is there any way to find out?
 
JC CHEW

I agreed with what you say...maybe its a norm that maid usually in a high gear mode when they first arrived....

So sorry to hear about your experience with MOM.

I always feel that MOM very pro maids....
 
hi cjx, i am paying $320 for my myanmar maid with zero experience. she has with me for 10mths now. No off days so I pay her an extra 1mth when she goes home.

Chrysanne, i checked my maid's belongings when she first came here. This is so that I know exactly what she brings and there wont be any disputes later on. Better this way. When she returns home, I will check her belongings too. My brother's nice ex-Indo maid - stole most of their gold jewelry when she returned home. The jewelry boxes are still there - but no gold inside!! Approx $5000 worth of gold jewelry was lost. My sis-in-law trusted her so much and thot that it was an invasion of privacy to check her belongings..but look what happened!

I have another fren - her hermes scarves and expensive clothes/costume jewelry went missing after the maid left...

Better be safe than sorry.
 
My friend told me her mum's maid ill treat her baby just 2 months old plus. She kicked him in the yao lan etc. Really bian tai. She has arrested the maid.
 
hi ladies, thanks for e suggestion. tried to convince hb tis morning but still, he insisted shd give e maid another chance. thou i debated that since we know she not so good, y let other suffer. haiz, men are like that n he's e employer. actually tis maid also did a good job her 1st 3mths, but slowly e tail shows. in fact after the 'zhaofan' the next day we get e agent to talk to her, if she still wan to stay in SG to work, she must listen, now she works double hard, cos she knows if we unhappy this 2 wks, she has to go back to indo liao.
 
Strawberry, this is the blog.

http://singaporemaid.blogspot.com/2007/07/how-to-manage-maid.html

Joy, I'm kind of negative cause I really gone thru alot alot of maids. So if you really want to know how good is your maid, at least 3-6 months down the road then you'll know.

Maureen!!! how can the maid do that to a 2 mo baby?! Aiyo, baby is innocent leh. That's why I can never trust a maid even though my child is not 5 and 2yo. And this is the reason that my mil never scold maid cause she scared the maid not happy, will do something to our kids.

Milkmilk, even now she works extra hard, don't ever have the thinking to take her back.
 
Maureen,
Oh gawd...I hope the baby is alright and don't suffer any internal injuries. I also don't scold my maid because I know I will be at the losing end if she decides to take revenge.

JChew,
Thanks for your words of comfort. I do hope that my baby will know I'm her mother lor...seems like she's preferring her to me now
sad.gif
I don't like being in this situation where my maid knows she is indispensible and she has the upper hand!

Pinktweet,
Are you working? My girl hasn't come to that extent yet..she still let me carry and play with her. But I'm sure when I go back to work that will happen!

Milkmilk,
Glad to hear that she's working again after the agent talked to her. Think she wake up liao abit. But yeah...don't let her continue to work for you if she decides she wants to. Better to find another one.

Hi cjx,
When I was searching the various agencies for a maid 4 months ago...the going rate for new filipino maids with experience working outside of spore was $340-$370. New with no experience was $320-$350. Very likely it has gone up...EVERYTHING else has gone up
sad.gif
 
Maureen Lim,

What happened to make your friend's maid ill treat a 2 month old baby???? WTF! So the police arrested her?

I hope justice will be done.
 
Maureen

GOSH!! kick the bb......

ask yr friend to BLACKLIST the maid by writing to MOM wif her pics, attach the police report and medical report of the lil bb!
 


Patsy,
Can you help me translate this pls?

"Salamat sa lhat ng gnawa mong mabuti sa akin, sorry na lng kng my pnagkukulang na gnawa ko syo ingat palagi"
 
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