Anyone with Myanmar (Burmese) maid?

S

sunshine82

Member
Hello mommies,

I've given up on Indonesian maid and now I am looking for Myanmar maid, I really need your advise or can share your experience on employing Myanmar/Burmese maid.

1. Besides communication problem, what other problems we need to lookout?

2. Understand that they will not be able to travel without visa. What is the procedure in getting their visa? Is it difficult? How long before travelling we need to apply? As we do travel quite often to the neighbouring countries like Malaysia and Indonesia.

3. How do you feel when comparing them to Indonesian maid? or Filipino?

Please help
happy.gif


Thanks so much
 


i have also given up on indons and hired a burmese 6 months ago. it was an investment as i got my indon maid to stay back and train her. she is slow and is missing a brain, can sleep while working and walking, the stories that i have are just amazing. i changed her recently only to get a "black faced" replacement which i rejected. agency gave me a 3 day trial of another rejecetd maid who just decided yday that she does not want to work coz she is not sure if she can complete contract for 2 years. in short, myanmese are not as hardworking or mature as i had hoped them to be, again i only had a experience with 3 individuals...communication is a big big issue....good luck
 
Communication is a hugh barrier. I'm still struggling with my 2 months myanmar maid. And she dun like to ask so everytime even if she dun understand wat you say or ask her to do, she act as if she know. Quite forgetful also.
 
hi sunny, my experience with myanmar maids -
1. those bad in english very hard to train comunication breakdown. those good in english thinks they are too good to be maid.

2.abt visa, so far i oni bot dem to msia. need to apply visa tink its $30 for 1 yr (must apply multiple visit pass, dun apply per visit one) For visa to thailand. very troublesome. Got to pay $500 deposit to the thai emb dan must bring the return air ticket to verify by the emb. dan can apply for visa.

shmily, agreed with u. after my 3 myanmar maid i completely change my opinon of them.
 
Hi,
My burmese maid with me for 3.5 yrs and going back soon. My current one is very independent in looking after my son but super good in talking back. Since she can take care of him well, I have to close one eye. Communication is a problem at the beginning. We just need some patience.

It's really luck I think. I had a fren who changed 7 Filipino maids within a year. Lucky that was before the implementation of the new law whereby one have to go for counselling if change 4 in a year.
 
Hi

I have Myanmar maid to let go. No longer require her service as I am sending my kid to school.

Her current duties:
- Taking care of 2 toddlers
- Cooking (her cooking is ok)
- Household chores

Her English is not too bad. She is capable. Similar to all other maids, she needs to be reminded of her role. Otherwise, they can get overboard.

Anyone interested, feel free to contact me.
 
my brother got a myanmar maid to look after my niece (1+ YO). quite good in teaching her things, but superb good at toking back too... give all sort of excuse to support herself...

now i'm doing researching.. should i get a myanmar or indon maid? haiz..
 
Hai Muzicgal,

I feel you should go for Indo maid.
My sister got one Myanmar maid. Face a lot of problem. cannot speak English..thake hours to check dictionary...cannot cook..end up my sister have to cook every day, somemore maid fussy on food(firstly said cannot eat pork due to religion, after some time my sister saw her eating pork and then question her how come she can eat, her reply is yesterday night I had communicated with my god...my god had give me permission to eat liao...then how depend how the pork been cook..nice she eat not nice she cannot eat) My sister's firend also got one maid...worst...instruct the mdm to wash toilet herself..both now want to change to Indonesia maid liao.
 
I changed my myanmar maid for Indo maid. the myanmar one initially told me she don't take beef... then when she saw my mum cook very nice beef, she say she can eat.

After I sent her back to agent, she say she dun wanna take care of kids or elderly. So now after 1 mth, she finally found a new employer who requires her only to do housework. Wish both luck.
 
my cousin's myanmar maid also SUPER TEROK.

can't communicate. can't do household chores. can't look after her child ! Luckily my cousin is not working so no need her to care for her child ... besides her child now attends playgroup for 4 hours a day ... but i told my cousin keeping the maid is not a good idea cos she doesn't cook at all ... my cousin's mum (my aunty) goes over and cook for them 4 times per week -the rest of the week they eat out !! ! !

My cousin has tried to replace her twice but this maid has 1001 excuses to the agent, saying that most of the "conflicts" stems from miscommunication & that she is willing to try again but in actual fact she is just a block of wood...often sit in the hall waiting for instructions ! My cousin caved in each time the agent tells her to give the maid another chance and told my cousin good maid hard to find... now my cousin is seriously looking to replace her but too bad she just passed the 1-year mark so no free replacement liao - gotto pay... somehow i feel some agents also purposely play delay tactics .... sigh..
 
Can anyone advise if filipino maids are better, at least they can speak english and maybe more educated, so can learn faster? I hear alot of indo maids also very slow and language problem
 
dont think i'll take another myanmar maid.. sit around all day, ate like mountaineous of food, doesnt get work done. i've been having maids for like > 15years, this is definitely worst of the lot!
 
agree with you wltan, i use to take myanmar maids, change about 3 continuously until I gave up on maids. Currently I took one fresh indo.. she's so MUCH better than then myanmar maids.
 
indon maids are much cheaper than myanmar maids?

i hv one for 4 yrs. Her main duty is to take care of an elderly and clean the house, but she has help from another elderly at home to clean. Didnt need to cook.
i paid her 400 when she first came and now raised to 480. is it too much/little?!? And yes, she talks back as well, english not as good as well but claims she has a "degree".

Since she was good at taking care of my old folk, i just try to control my temper and repeat and repeat..argh!

Patience...
 
Guess I am super lucky here, I got a good maid from Myanmar to look after my baby boy since he was 2 and half months old..

she is quite good at cooking although she doesn't know how to cook meat, her english is not that bad and if i could not understand her, she will spell the word out, but most of the time she understands me very well...

she is quite good in doing her housework, but i never train her, let her do it her way lor, and only one thing is she is quite slow in doing her chores but as long as that does not affect anything, i just let her take her own sweet time..

guess it is also because i am working from home now so i cook dinner and cook porridge for baby also, but i tried to leave baby to her at home alone for a few times and so far she's able to cope very well.. good thing is she loves and dotes on my boy a lot..

I am bringing her along for a trip to Phuket in Aug..

May
any idea if i could apply for her visa now already? Do i just bring along her work permit, 500 deposit, return ticket(e-ticket), passport to embessy? Do I need to bring her there also? Can we get the visa immediately or do we need to make another trip to collect it or something?Thanks alot!
 
Hi,

I have a myanmar maid with us for about 10 mths. Think I'm one of the lucky one, she's good, learn things fast and not much communication problem. Send her to accompany my son to a 1-to-1 phonics class, and she can coach my son at home after class. Also know how to take initiative when we visit my mum or my sis at their place.

Of course, at times she do slack alittle and also show me black face. I just close one eye if she doesn't cause problem, or tell her off (she don't talk back). So, I think it depends on our luck. Previously, I got one indo maid, really cannot make it, like she's here for holiday, so I sent her back after 3 mths.

But few things I was advised to look out for were; their family background (farmers family), never take one whose youngest or only child in the family, moderately high qualification
 
i looking at biodata of 2 potential myanmar maid, current myanmar maid wants off day every month and has a hp which only recently she showed us.

From photos, there is this 34yrs old with university level, looks decently like a maid.

another one only 25 yrs old with high school level only. the hair looks messy.

Anyone here has experience with older maids that are over 30 yrs old? are they really that stubborn, not easy to teach?
 
hi,

my maid is 25yr old but as stubborn - so age is not entirely a true factor to condemn them as stubborn where agent used to tell us. i think it's individual upbringing.

i first thout i found a right candidate by choosing to a myammar but my happiness and satisfaction with her doesn't last long. however, i'm still keeping her for the fact that i need someone to help me with bb care and multi-task in housework and cooking which she can still perform despite stubborn character. she also reads storybook to my gal. i'm afraid that i may not get a better english-spoken myammar maid if i premature terminate her..so better, stick with her lor till end of contract.

overall, we can't change their in-born characteristic, so we should look at if they can deliver to our minimal requirement.
 
yes, my stubborn myammar maid is the only daughter, has an elder brother. that may be the reason she's spoilt to have a own way..she watches dvd at home, despite from farmer's family. so, all of us thought myammar is ulu - but actually not as painted to be. smaller family though from farmer's background will still means they can afford some luxurious living.
 
hi, if $380 without off-day, then it's cheap..which agency is yours? i'm likely to use perfect home helper next year, after my current maid's contract with another agency finishes. the present agency charges $400 without off-day for fresh maids.
 
i have asked two agencies and myammar (fresh) maid is at $400 without off-day. $380 at Global..can pm me the tel no? can consider next time. thanks.
 
Post on behalf for a colleage :

I think I can even publish a book! My luck was down and kept changing maids for the past 7 months from Philippi no to Indonesian to Myanmar and the latest maid just settled at my home for barely a month.

Myanmar’s maid are much smarter than Indonesian thus they can be more difficult to handle as compare to Indonesian. Perhaps, better education than Indonesian. In term of communication, their English is equivalent lousy. They may look skinny but they are big eater. They do not like to take noodle and keep asking for rice like no rice cannot survive like that…… They don't like soup type and not even noodle. Instant noodle to them is insult!

And they are very lazy… Really feel that housework have to do but no need to do everyday type. Surface clean mean done but behind the housework, don't get surprise to find dust everywhere inside or underneath…
 
I used to have a 34 years old myanmer maid. Very honest looking. Lazy and attitude prob, goes to bed and snore at 8pm. I say good bye to her in less than 2 weeks.

Another myanmar university maid, english is also terrible despite the fact that she study english in university. Do things got head no tail. Didnt scold her but told her the rite way of doing things, she said she wants go back agent after 4 days.

3rd myanmer maid, 25 yrs old. 1 simple thing that u tell her, she everytime forget and need to repeat at least 20 times, still forget. Big eater too and always "bio-ing" what we have on the dinning table. The best part is, she can stained her pants with menses. Ask her if she put pad, she said she did. Then when reached home, continued to do work and didnt go change her pants. can wear her t-shirt inside out.... and many many many more stories. I am going to buy her an airticket and send her back to myanmer so that she dont stay here in let other employers vomit blood.
 
agree with mamayeo and cc2. mine sleeps like a log, can't rely on her to wake up intermittenly to check on my gal, who sleeps with her. i'm still doing the baby-care (to the minute task). housework also do on surface, - mountains of dust collect behind tv console, sofa and etc..

i just don know how come people has been saying myammar maid is humble, hardworking but i don't see much diff compared to the other two nationalities too. same-same leh.
 
Wotalit,

My myanmer maid everyday sleep outside the mattress. Clean 3 panels of windows for 3 hrs.

Ya lor, i also dunno why pple said myanmer maid are hardworking and humble too. I think they are worst than the other 2 nationalities leh
 
perhaps just luck.
My current maid not bad till now. I cant say for future.
although she 'miss certain parts' during daily cleaning, if I point it out to her during spot check, she will remember the next time.
both my current and previous maid didnt sleep like log, in fact light sleeper. a little sound my baby make, they woke up.
Yes they can ate heaps of rice, and also ok with noodles.
 
mine, sleeps until cough from choking on her saliva. you can imagine how log-sleep she is!!! i will sleep with her and my gal at times (when my gal falls sick), i'm so disturbed by her saliva-choke cough.

also, have to wake her up to close windows when rains, she can just sleep it off. shake her leg, also don't wake up type of person.

sigh!
 
i just had a myanmar maid for almost 2 weeks. she was a transfder maid. abit scary and i am feeling insecure with her around. few incidents happened in just 1.5weeks.

1) on her arrival day, i checked her bag and she has no money with her. the agent has surrendered all her personal jewelleries & some cash to me. a few days later, she told me she has $50 which is her ang bao $$ that she kept it from agent.
2) she wears very nice sexy tank top to bed. day time she will wear round neck t-shirt.
3) on her 8th day with me, she actually put on make up at home and then she went out shopping on her own w/o informing anyone
4) she wears her watch 24/7. i told her to remove but she didnt.
5) she loves to sing alot. but when talk to her she is in her daze.
6) weekend she eats only bread and coffee for lunch and dinner. she doesnt want to cook for herself or eat the left over food from the fridge.

somehow her heart is not with us. when teach her cooking, she writes down but if she really bothers. her food handling was very dirty too. I am so worried to leave my 2 kids age 9 & 11 with her. i feel that she is mentally unstable.
 
hi jennylim,
pls remove her immediately once you see something insecure. don't tahan, for you will regret and cause you much anguish/fear.

tips to note:
check, ransack and turn the whole bag, pockets of the maid in front of agent, at the day you pick her up. request to search her pocket too

(and if possible, ask to search her body together with a female agent in toilet)...we did that because we specifically told her we want to get in a maid without any skin problem..we explain and she consented with the agent as witness.. we didn't do that with our first maid and she came in with skin prob erupts immediately after..also, because when we ransacked our maid's bag, we saw a bottle of scabies lotion, which she told us a maid gave to her in the hostel..so, having learnt a bitter lesson before, we insisted to check her body for any spots of skin rashes problem..

we collect and get her pass-me-down tshirts, shorts, buy her some new bath towels, face towels, cheap bras and cheap undies and told her that she has to wear them at the start of employment. all the flimsy, see-me-through undies, bras, blouses are to be kept aside and this is the rule.

(one reason, they might be told by their counterparts back home to bring thin and flimsy clothings so that new employer will buy them new sets of clothings..my maid told me she actually brought along few bagfuls of clothings but her agent at yangon told her no need to bring them..could be part of their strategy)..

confiscate hp, jewellery to safe-keep for them.

you buy and keep hello card, only to help her dial home and you keep back the hello card after that.

myamman maid likes to write diary, if possible try not to cause them anguish to make them put in record..and don't get them exercise book.

my current maid writes alot in exercise books and read straits times after her daily tasks completed. avoid, giving them such freedom (we will refrain our next maid from doing so in future)..
some of my actions here may sound overboard but we have learnt our lessons well from previous maids lor..
 
mummy baby2008,
I got my latest maid from Global too. Terrible service. First selected maid didn't come after 6 weeks never informed me till I called them. Was then told maid not coming. Second selected maid came but they increased salary without telling me. Insisted they told me and amended the contract without my knowledge. Refused to let me check the initial biodata with salary written (as I forgot to bring my copy down). Were very aggressive like we owe them $$ and are at their mercy. Many episodes in between.

Lucky the maid that I have is not too bad as at now. I left her at home for 3 hours on her first day and when I came back, her room was tidied. She had actually cleared the mess that my previous Myanmar maid created. Good but the downside is, I don't know where she had packed all my stuff. One thing I can see, she is quite good in packing things which I am not. She took out everything in my kitchen cabinets, cleaned the base and put the stuff back. However, she doesn't really think. She placed the ironed and non-ironed clothes together. Didn't bring in clothes when it rained.

Now, can only hope with time, she can use her brain more often.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

jennylim,
Yes, pls remove her if you think she is mentally unsound. We did that to our first maid after we caught her keep hitting her head.

As for food, sorry to my maids. I eat all types of vegetables and meat, including bittergourd, binjal, all types of greens, as well as duck, chicken, beef, mutton, etc. So whatever I eat, my maid and DS will have to follow.
 
hi kqf,
how much is your current maid salary now, agent fees, no of loan repayment month? what's the marital status and her age? may go for other agency for a try next year..
 
Hi Wotalit & KQE

Yes, i am thinking of removing her but my husband told me to be more patience with her. I am a working mum, so honestly i dont have the time and patience to entertain her nonsense esp if she is not keen to learn. I dare not eat her cooking as her food handling is very dirty which turns me off. I have reminded her almost everyday to be very clean but i guess she doesnt care or her old habit.

What shocked me was that she was so daring to put on make-up and ran out to shop after her first week. Amazing! Obviously this maid is not serious about working here.
 
jennylim,
The agency that I went to need a maid to work for at least 2 months before one can change. But if you think there is a safety issue, you should change.

Can you keep her sexy top, watch, etc and get her some old t-shirts and an alarm clock? All my maids came to my place without watches and I had to give them one but they only use it when they go out. At home, either the alarm clock or some other clocks within the house. She will carry the alarm clock into the kitchen in the morning and back to her room at night.
 
wotalit,
Frankly speaking, I don't encourage you to go to my agent. Bad attitude and think we have to listen to their nonsense. It's like I am the staff and they are the employer. You just pick up a mistake of theirs and they will blow their top.

Maid's salary was supposed to be $360. When I signed up in Feb, it was $350. In Mar after first selected maid did not turn up, I selected the second one at $360. In May, they up to $380 but never informed me.

Agent fees is now $488 (1 replacement with no insurance) or $888 (with insurance and 4 replacements). When I sign up, it was something like $288 and $688. I took the $688 package.

Loan repayment is over 8.5 months and they kept telling me that MOM is going to pass the responsibility of loan repayment to the employer, i.e. maid will pay only 2 months and employer bear the rest. Thus agent fees will be in thousands.

Maid is only 23 and most Myanmar maids are unmarried.
 
Hi KQE,

Yes, i gave her an alarm clock too.

I dare not take away her clothes cos i worry she will freak out. Then may show attitude and harm my kids or the things in the house. Plus right now my husband outstation, so i try not to create any problem with her.

Nexr week i am travelling for june school holiday. therefore i intend to put my maid back to the agent for a week. gotta pay $12 per day for her food and lodging there. At the same time, i am going to tell agent to put her up for transfer if anyone is keen.

Agent did told me i have to keep her minimum 1mth. I paid for $700+ just for the agent fee, very expensive. my maid's salary is $400, no off day and no handphone as agreed. She still have 6mths loan to clear. I feel the agency not keen to entertain me after all the money i have paid them.

I am the 3rd employer. this maid has 2 past employers over 6mths too.
 
hi jenny, from past experience now i no longer give chance once i detect something that may harm me or i felt threatened (like yours)..so, please press your hubby to remove her..it's no point to suffer under a third party's hand that will affect the family or spousal relationship..

we were once affected by our previous indon maid very badly that my current myammar maid though sleeps like a log, forgetful and can't handle bb 100% - yet we can still bear with her till contract expires. i felt relieved when i finally managed to use strategy to join-force with my elderly to push the indon maid out..but have to suffered some health set-backs during that period..
 
hi KQE,
thanks for advice on your agency's staff. looks like best to remain with my current agent which are not pushy, although we have to be very patience to chase them for biodatas..
 
These 2 days she behave well. No funny thing happen. Very weird. No more singing, no more wearing watch, no more sexy clothes. Tonite I cook dinner for the kids, she wil try to help out automatically. Unbelievable. Do things much faster too.

I think she is afraid of going back to agent and decided to work properly.
 
hi,
observe maid behaviour but not too long till your emotion goes upheaval. maid are "dingdong" from my personal experience. each time you think and likely to remove her, she will buck up and work..when you relax and thot of giving another chance, she will agitate you again..they seems to sense and observant of employer's tell-tale signs..myammar very good at picking up language and dialect, so try not to speak so much in front of them..indon maid on the other hand, very suspicious and frightening (that's why they dare to do harmful things)
 
dear all,

i am back from my holiday. left my myanmar maid with the agent for 5 days. on the day of our departure before drop off her to agent, i checked her belongings she brought to agency. again, i found additional money she has and really freak me out. she told me left $14, but when i checked her purse, she has another additional of $40!!!! again she said her angbao $$$. i was so mad and told her i am not giving her any more chance cos i cannot trust her and she keeps telling lies.

As i need to rush to airport, i told my husband to quickly send her back to agent and will sort out when we get back. today we picked her up, obviously the agent didnt do much or even scold her. she came back wearing a dangling earrings! sigh...

as usual, my husband told me to give her one more chance. i am really keeping my fingers crossed hope no more nonsense from her. honestly i told her i cannot trust someone who is so daring to lie so many times in 2 weeks. plus i warned her on her first day with me that no lying.

anyway since my husband wants to keep the maid, i demanded him to install cameras in the house. he trys to avoid changing maid or lazy to hunt for another new maid and start all over again i guess.
 
what i do to all my maid is cashless system... if any money found in her drawer or body will be mine. Maybe good for no off day maid..

- open a bank account for her
- deposit salary in the bank account
- make purchases using ATM card

then every month they receive the bank statement, they feel very happy the money is growing in the bank.
happy.gif
 
My first and only Myanmar maid quite terok. University-educated 25 year old, so english is good, but totally untrained and unsuitable to be a maid. There was something wrong with the agency as well - I don't know why they didn't train her nor set her expectations straight as her luggage when she arrived was full of fancy clothing and accessories - she had no working clothes at all. I think she came to Singapore thinking that it is glamorous to work overseas...duh.

She cannot tahan the work - wash baby nappies and complained about blisters, then complained about having to stand too long (to wash vege, wash dishes etc). Two weeks after she came, she had toothache and we took her for $75 tooth extraction. Very good in talking back and defending herself and complaining to me about my mother but lousy at work, and had physical ailments all the time. I feel like on top of our month-old baby we have to take care of yet another child - not just physically but also her emotions, which she was very open with. I don't know why we put up with her nonsense for 8 months - probably because she was our first maid and we didn't know better. Worst she developed "feelings" for my husband, and to date still calls him on his mobile once a year.

Still prefer Indonesians - at least they come with basic training, those who can pass the English entry exam are usually ok with language, and culturally they are more stoic. But maybe that's because I haven't met any "unstable" Indon maids yet.
 
my myanmar maid was Horrid...her work was substandard
- bargain with me about cleaning the toilets once a week
- wakes up past 8am in the mornings, after everyone is awake and sleeps past 1am with rock music on
- on the handphone/facebook all the time
- speaks perfect english and seduced my papa to the extend that I couldn't even reprimand her.
- takes own sweet time to get housework done
- most days I don't even have hot water in the flask..cos she didn't boil.
anyway the list is endless...just be careful of them...suckers.
 


i had a myanmar maid for 7 weeks and it was horrible!! total nightmare! I stay in a HDB and she wash my master bed room toilet for 3 hours and not clean!

Complain that there were too many bottles to wash.. I have 2 boys each time wash abt 6-8 bottles!! Gosh...

And damm good at currying MIL and SIL favor.. cunning...

I will nvr engage myanmar maids again, they are a total nightmare.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Urgent Help needed with (1) Direct Hire of maid, and (ii) looking for Transfer Maid
Replies
1
Views
7K
SGEA
S
H
Confinement Nanny to Avoid - WONG Sxxx Hxx
Replies
1
Views
1K
chuao
chuao
K
Highly recommend confinement nanny - Aunty Janet
Replies
0
Views
2K
Katie lau
K
A
What IVF patients should know about importing frozen donor eggs into Singapore
Replies
1
Views
6K
Angelica Cheng
A
A
Polygenic testing for IVF embryo selection in Singapore: Proceed with caution
Replies
0
Views
3K
Angelica Cheng
A

Back
Top