SINGAPORE: An employer felt that her new helper was taking advantage of her and took to social media asking if her expectations were too high.
In an anonymous post to a Facebook support group for helpers and employers alike, the woman said that while her helper had been “nice and sweet … the problem is I feel like she is taking us for granted”. She wrote that the helper’s main role was cleaning and occasionally caring for her toddler. The helper did not have to cook or buy groceries at the market.
“One Saturday she asked if she can go out at night to see a friend. I let her as I said as long as she will get back on time she said shell be back. Initially she said she don’t know what time she’ll back so I said , be back by 12 midnight and she went back on time”, the employer wrote. The Sunday after, which was the maid’s day off, her employer added she just walked by the family and out of the house around 11 am.
While she did have a curfew of 9 pm, the woman said that her maid “messaged me saying she might be back home at 10pm without saying the reason why. By the way, on her day off she doesn’t need to do anything before and after she left home. Her off is totally off. She’s already been on her off day technically since Saturday as we are all out and at Saturday she have nothing to do”.
“Her offday is every Sunday and all public holiday. She’s only been a month with us and she’s already out on all public holidays this month. Please advise what should I do. Am i just expecting too much? I felt that she’s just been taking us for granted”, the employer wrote.
Here’s what netizens who commented on the post said:
In an update to her post, the employer said she spoke to her maid and explained the situation. She added that her helper was open to listening and understood what the issue was.
Earlier this week, an employer was unhappy that her helper would only return after 10 pm on her days off, but other maids felt that this was unreasonable and said, “Remember it’s not time off, It’s day off”.
In an anonymous post to a Facebook group for domestic helpers and employers alike, the woman wrote: “In general, does a helper normally went out on their rest days (Sunday) and return late 10pm onwards or more later”.
She added that her maid would not even inform her that she would be back late. “we’ve a baby we’re already worrying and this helper adds up to that”, the employer wrote.
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