SINGAPORE: A Singapore employer has stirred controversy online after she warned fellow citizens against employing younger foreign domestic workers, after her former helped decided to get married instead of renewing her employment contract.
Facebook user Gianna Kwan took to the Complaint Singapore page to register her unhappiness. She wrote: “Be more concern with ur maid. (My helper) suddenly doesn’t want to renew contract coz she said she wanted to get married.”
Revealing that her helper, who is in her 20s, declined her offer to “get married then come back work with us,” Gianna said, “she refused cause she’ll married ang moh which she met in Singapore.”
The employer added that she allowed her helper to be dressed however she pleased but didn’t know “she dressed nice cus she got angmoh boyfriend in sg.”
Instead of receiving support, Gianna was roundly criticised in the comments section of her post.
Several netizens urged her to “get a life,” asserting that she has no right to make such demands of her helper or cast aspersions on her character just because of who she is marrying.
Almost a hundred people liked Facebook user Yong Jun Lim’s comment, which said “You complain too much. Let people live their lives.”
Another commenter, Ramtei Chalthleng, questioned: “And what’s wrong with that? Can’t she get married without your permission? Let her live her life the way she wanted, you’ve no right to stop her. You also married why can’t she?”
One netizen, a domestic helper, shared her own experience of finding support from her kind employer when she fell in love with her boyfriend. Facebook user Gen Getigen Arancon wrote:
“I am proud maid here in Singapore, with a kind-heart Chinese employer, very considerate and generous human being, I’ve been working with them for 8yrs. I have an angmo Danish bf, my bosses allowed me to had a holiday with him everytime he visited me in Singapore.”
She added: “Why are you not happy if your maid decided to get married? Are you supposed to hostage her life just to work with you in a lifetime? C’mon. Be happy for her and support like my bosses did.”
Gianna decided to make a new post on the page to reiterate her views, instead of swallowing thr criticism.
In her second post, she recounted forgiving her helper for giving her boyfriend their address to send her flowers for Valentines Day this year. Asserting that her helper begged to keep her job, Gianna wrote:
“She begged us not to send her home then my husband told her not to have a bf and she agreed, even she said she’ll renew her contract. She said this 4months ago.”
Gianna added, “I was so happy cause finally I found suitable helper for my family, my baby also loves her so much.”
The helper invoked Gianna’s displeasure when she decided against renewing the contract and informed her employers of her decision this week.
Asserting that this is a “betrayal,” Gianna argued: “She should’ve told me 3/4months before so i can find another helper to get along with my girl before she left.”
Claiming that she doesn’t hate her helper, Gianna added: “Those who thinks that im jealous of her is totally wrong. Yes i agreed shes pretty and young if i were jealous i wouldn’t let her be whatever she is (dressed well, hair perm etc) also i let her come back at 10pm on her day off and let her go out during work hours as long as she take the kid with her.”
She ended her second post with a warning: “be careful with helper who is too smart, speak english very good and always dieting. Make sure don’t have high expectations like me.”
Gianna was, once again, slammed in the comments section. One Facebook user asserted: “Having a bf is her private life and basic right. You cannot interfere in that. She doesn’t like that and hence don’t want to renew the contract. The contract is only for employment and you are not buying her private life.”
The employer, however, asserted in a reply to this comment that her helper shouldn’t have given her “false hope.”
The commenter, like many others, told Gianna to just let this issue go.
Another netizen, a domestic helper, added: “You say you don’t hate her at all, but your actions show that what you say and what you do are two different things. If you were really nice to her and treated her well, I believe she wouldn’t have told you at the last moment that she’s not renewing her contract. Seeing your long list of complaints about her shows that you aren’t easy to get along with either.”
Urging Gianna fo move on, the helper said: “Since she decided not to renew her contract, let her go and you can go find a new helper. The next one might be better. However, even the best helper will leave if they encounter a sharp and harsh employer.”
TISG/