Maid says, ‘My employer locks up everything in the kitchen because she’s afraid I’ll steal her bread, coffee, toilet paper… even dishwashing sponge’

SINGAPORE: A domestic helper in Singapore has just spilt a strong cup of tea—but it’s not the one her employer locked away.

In a post shared in the “Direct Hire Transfer Singapore Maid/Domestic Helper” Facebook group, the frustrated maid revealed how her employer has taken paranoia to a whole new level. “My employer locks up everything in the kitchen because she’s afraid I’ll steal her bread, coffee, toilet paper… even dishwashing sponge!” she wrote.

And the employer’s paranoia doesn’t stop there. The employer reportedly also installed CCTV cameras “everywhere in their house to monitor what I’m doing,” the helper said. In what can only be described as a horror movie meets surveillance state, the maid added, “I think that when they die, they will also become ghosts and still watch what I’m up to for sure.”

That comment alone got group members both laughing and shaking their heads.

“Tell them to hire a security guard also to watch you if the CCTV is still not enough…”

As always, commenters in the group fired off replies. One suggested: “Tell them to hire a security guard also to watch you if the CCTV is still not enough.”

Another shared her own spine-tingling experience: “My previous employer also had CCTV in the dining room and living room when I was new with them. Sometimes it frightens me when, all of a sudden, the CCTV camera talks.”

Adding a touch of sarcasm and despair, she said, “There’s CCTV, but they still ask what I’m doing for the whole day. I said I slept only. Then she (the employer) got so upset with me. I asked her, ‘What’s the point of installing CCTV to watch me when you’re still asking me what I’m doing?’ Better just remove the CCTV then.”

She eventually worked with the same family for six and a half years, claiming the CCTV mysteriously “wasn’t connected to the plug anymore,” adding, “I’ve no idea when they removed the CCTV, but I don’t care.”

“Don’t hire a helper if you’re an employer who doesn’t know how to trust your maid…”

This isn’t the first time a maid has come forward about feeling like she’s living under a microscope. In a previously reported story, another helper shared:

“My sir is a paranoid boss; he has set up CCTV cameras in every corner of the house, but he’s still not satisfied. He has to watch me work until I go to sleep. Even if the work is done, he doesn’t want to see me resting.”

Her message to employers was plainspoken but powerful: “Don’t hire a helper if you’re an employer who doesn’t know how to trust your maid.”

She added that without trust, there’s no dignity left in the job, saying, “I cannot stay in Singapore for 10 years if I’m not trusted in this way.”

A fine line between being cautious and being controlling

While employers have the right to install surveillance for safety in their homes, there’s a fine line between being cautious and being controlling—and when a maid thinks her boss will even become a ghost to haunt her sponge usage from the afterlife, they’ve crossed that line a little too far.

Read related: Maid says, ‘My sir has set up CCTV cameras in every corner of the house to watch me work until I go to sleep’