lanarkwitch

It makes you 2 things:

1. Extremely lucky
2. A saint

kittycat1

this may well be complete rubbish but I heard that when a baby is born out of wedlock here the baby is immediately taken from the mother and put into an orphanage whilst the mother goes off to prison? Is that right?

Brains1983

It's a difficult topic. 1. You treat your maid like shit, so she gets preggers and when you find out you ship her to the police station. No problem for you. 2). You have a great relationship with your maid and she tells you at 15 weeks she is preggers, you ship her back home to either stay or get rid.

3) You stand by her and get ****ed at the same time?

None are preferable options, but we are all here to make ourselves financially better off. Unless there is an option 4., we are morally bound to 2 or 3 and 1 isn't such a terrible choice since the rules here are pretty clear on this..

lanarkwitch

The maid was deported with baby and lifetime ban from re entering the UAE, but maybe she was lucky as my friends worked a lot with the embassy and paid a lot of cash out

Alexa

Why is it "inhuman" if an employer gets upset if and when a maid breaks the law? As stupid as that law may be.

And why is it "inhuman" if an employer gets upset if and when he/she is footed with the bill as the result of the maid's breaking the law ( yes, the law is still stupid)

And why do people assume an employer is shite if and when the maid messes around ?

Sorry, I know loads of people who treated the maid really well...paid 2500 QR per month, she had a good size room (not the maids room, an actual bedroom in the family home), tv, internet , food paid, toiletries etc. Trip home every year, and bonus. And YES , I do know quite a few families who do this.
And you know what? at least 3 out of 5 families who treat their maid right get cheated..."Madaaame, my family sick, I need to pay hospital bill...turns out she bought a new mobile.....Madame, my son sick, I need to go home...she gets money for the trip home, turns out she is seen working for another family here.....etc, etc, etc.

Mind you, there are just as many maids who are honest, I am sure.

seven seas

Of course all of the above presupposes a knowledge of the law, a knowledge of safe sex ( not something really taught in indonesia for example) practises and that the maid will willingly forgoe the most basic of all human instincts.
All perfectly reasonable if you live in cloud cuckoo land
+1

what would I do? Fly her home because it saves me a lot of hassle and because it saves her from prison.

MY moral code supercedes any country's laws. Otherwise I'd be beating my four wives whenever they declined my husbandly nocturnal visits.

Alexa

I DO live in cloud cuckoo land...I reside in Qatar.

And of course I'd fly the stoopid bint home. And cancel her visa.

seven seas

Not everyone even knows that you can get pregnant after just one time, even if you do it standing up, etc etc.

Alexa

Ya, but everybody knows you can get preggers from kissing...

UKCityGent

Having been in this poistion 8 weeks agao (literally!) - except its the houseboy who got the other maid pregnant

She went to hospital - volunteered that she didnt have a husband (dozy mare!!) and ended up in police custody

Houseboy gets a quick trip to Sri Lanka and amazingly comes back with a valid marraige certificate that they have been married since 2005 !!

scrubbedexpat141

I don't understand the desperate need for live in maids?

Most families out here have a working Dad, Mum does nothing, kids go to school.

When that family moves back to the UK or somewhere where slave labour isn't readily available, what's the Mum going to do? Talk to her kids again? Look after them herself? I'm sure that makes most of them shudder.

I was brought up by my Mum. She paid for a babysitter after primary school, until she was home from work. My older sister got to go home after school herself. She worked full time and our house was always clean and tidy, we always did nice things at weekends...why can't parents out here do that?

Millsyisland

Completely agree with this bit - you're often not seen as an employer but as a surrogate parent with endless money to bail them out of their 'problems'.

Yes, we probably have more money than them, but that doesn't mean they're entitled to handouts all the time? Some will see this as harsh, but they're employed to do a job and if this starts to crossover into them becoming one of the family, often (not always I'm sure) advantage starts being taken.

Patsy Stoned

Darling, NOT everybody is married or have children or even somebody else to earn the money! I live and work on my own..I have a large villa and pets...I start work at 6am and finish at 7.30pm..I have a live in maid because I need 1 I am not going to spend my weekend cleaning/picking up dog poo from the terrace/washing/cooking etc......

scrubbedexpat141

sorry, I don't mean people in your situation...I mean about the families with kids, mum and dad; where only one works. Is it just because it's a low cost option to take hassle off your hands or what?

Ethos83

Some people don't like to clean?

We all make choices in life. Why buy a more expensive car when a cheaper model does the job just as well? Same with clothes, or jewelry or watches. You're right in that most people don't need maids as a matter of life or death, but it can make life easier for many people not to have to worry about cleaning or the ironing or child minding so why criticise people's choices to have a maid?

Also look at it this way: if everyone in the Middle East ditched their maids, a large source of income for the Philippines would be cut off.