I am a dad. Posting on behalf of my wife but my point of view.
CEO = wife
Chairman = baby
Myself? Foreman only
A short history. The auntie we got from PEM is our 2nd during the confinement. We were not happy with the 1st one (Lee Swee Lin) due to some hygiene issues (did not clean baby's butt properly after pooping, did not clean the kitchen after cooking) and lack of variety in food. But she was very attentive to the baby. We did not expect the 2nd auntie to be worse.
Here is my long review. 2nd auntie's name is Ang Chu Ley.
Hygiene (Cooking)
Cleaned up after cooking. All that we asked for since we have moved to a new house and CEO did not even use the stove yet.
No complaints over food preparation hygiene.
Food
More variety over the previous one. I see 5 bean porridge, steamed fish, sesame oil chicken, pork and pork innards. Different types of soup also started appearing. No complaints.
Hygiene (Baby)
No complaints. Reasonably ok.
Attitude (Taking care of baby)
Not very attentive to baby. On an almost daily basis, in the evenings, Chairman would fuss and cry. She tried to carry him but always fail to make him sleep even after 15 mins. I pity my baby not pity her. There were a few times I took over, carried him and he slept in 5 mins.
Said she got spine problem so she cannot always carry baby. In my mind I thought: then you go n be a CL for what?
There are times my poor little baby was crying and she left him alone while she was doing other stuff.
I remember one morning waking up to Chairman crying. I heard her trying to coax baby. However, after awhile, I heard her coaxing baby and having sounds of food being cooked. I went out and saw that she was infront of the stove, coaxing baby verbally, left hand carrying ladle and right hand carrying baby. Talk about multitasking. Multi-tasking at its finest. Too dangerous!!!! Took over baby and coaxed him back to sleep in 5 minutes.
Attitude
Lousy.
Too busy over house moving. Forgot to give her start of work ang bao. She asked me about it everyday for 2 days in the morning before I went to work. My bad for forgetting to tell my wife during those mornings. Eventually we did give her same day she reminded me for the 2nd time. Best thing is, she mentioned $50 during one of her reminders.
Before she left, she told my wife $8 ang bao was too little. Is she a 3 years old kid celebrating CNY.
Treats this place like her own home and turns on the wireless router without asking. I know she would like to make calls home. I would appreciate if she had asked if she could turn it on herself. This is not Hotel Tenteram.
Demanded for a ride to the MRT. I still remember the exact order of the words she used:
Send me to the nearest train station since you are not going to work tomorrow. In my mind I was thinking My mom used to make the same request to me but at least she phrased it in form of question and added please. You are not even my mom and you give me this kind of attitude.
Of course I agreed on the spot. She is still taking care of my child and wife. She was holding my baby when she asked this question.
So yesterday, I purposely stayed up late, well past 3am. So that I can sleep in today. Told my wife to tell her that I was working so I slept in.
Today, she made comments like "Your husband still in bed. So late already. He should not have slept that late yesterday" I believed that was a veiled comment about sending her to the train station early.
She had requested to leave early. Or rather DEMANDED. Her reason? To escape causeway jam. Contract for last day was 12pm. Not 9am. She did not even ask if she could leave early.
My wife heard Chairman crying and did not hear the auntie's coaxing at about 9.30am. She went out to take a look. Lo and behold. Our empress was sitting in the living room, ready to leave while Chairman was alone in his cot crying.
Before she left, I had already woken up and laying on the bed listening to their conversation.
She said "Since your husband did not want to send me to train station, no choice la, never mind, I find my way there. Prev clients would give me money for taxi."
She commented that the start of work ang bao is only $8. Finds it too little and say previous clients would give her $20-$50. Well, thats what PEM told us to give either an empty angbao or $2. We gave 4x more than what her boss told us.
After receiving the end of work ang bao, she opened up in front of CEO and left. Not sure if she found it to be too little for her.
Before she left, she did not throw away her slippers. She told my wife to throw it away for her since the slippers were on the floor and someone was washing the floor.
Towards the tail end of her 2 weeks with us, whenever Chairman cry, she would question if he is fed enough. To a breastfeeding mother, that question is very damaging to morale.
Wanting to clarify matters, I called up PEM to ask them to contact me after the nanny has reached.
Credits to PEM. She did call us back with the HR manager.
When asked about the slipper, she denied telling my wife to clear it for her. At that point of time, there was a cleaner washing the floor, walking away from our unit towards the lift lobby. However, he was not a Chinese. She talked in Chinese. She claimed that she had told the cleaner to clear for her. We are not too sure if the cleaner knows she is talking to him as he has already walked away from our unit. And she is talking in Chinese to a non-Chinese. Not too sure if the cleaner understood her as well. She was looking at my wife when she said to throw for her.
The rubbish chute is by the lift lobby. Although the slippers were wet due to cleaning of the floor, not too sure why she cannot throw the slippers and come back into my house to wash her hands. We would not throw her luggage out despite the comments she made and she wanting to leave early.
Thereafter, we talked about money for marketing. She told us that we are very poor for not having money at home for her to do marketing, that we cannot even come out with $100, only $50.
Firstly would anyone in his sane mind put alot of cash at home? My wife was already at home for 2 weeks in this point in time. She had not gone out to draw money. As for me, I also had no cash at that point in time and told her I need to draw cash. No one would proclaim loudly that they have spare cash lying around in the house to a stranger. We had just moved in 2 weeks ago. Would anyone in the same situation put excessive cash at home?
Secondly, her remarks were uncalled for. Not having cash at home is not considered poor. Having her kind of attitude is considered poor.
Despite us telling her that the way she put across her request to give her a ride to the MRT to us was rude, she denied. She felt that at least she should be given a ride there. I would have gladly obliged if she had asked politely. At that point in time when she told (commanded) us to send her to train station, she was carrying our baby in her arms. I agreed to her request at that point in time. Not too sure what would happen if we rejected her.
We had contacted PEM regarding her start of work ang bao prior to her arrival as a replacement. (Note that there is a notification of voice recording for calls made over the phone) We were told to give either an empty angbao or $2 inside. Therefore, we decided to pack $8 inside. She said that we were stingy. She contacted her boss about it and her boss said that $8 was too little. Over the phone, she had claimed that my wife is a liar. Perhaps PEM can retrieve the voice recording to prove our point.
She had told us that a few agencies wanted to poach her. She felt PEM paid her very little. Therefore, I wonder if her lousy attitude towards us and her lack of interest in my baby would be due to a lack of financial incentive.
She had also claimed that we did not offer her any simple meal such as bread when she was with us. She did not tell us what she would like for a meal. Therefore, we did not know if she wanted anything or just ate what my wife had eaten. This particular comment struck a sour note with me.
My dad had celebrated his birthday during her stay with us. There was a slice of cake in the fridge. She told us that she had eaten the slice of cake so as to clear away space in the fridge. I had no objections and did not voice any displeasure. I had also told her to take any fruits from the fridge should she choose to do so.
I had bought a loaf of bread and left it on the dining table. She did not even touch that loaf of bread. I had thought being an adult, she would have asked my wife or me if she wanted it or just take the bread herself as it is just bread.
