xizzles

Obviously, each employer will have his or her own experiences with their foreign domestic helper (is that an oxymoron right there?), but suffice to say, after 3 strikes, the missus and I are well and truly out of the market for one - never again.

Beware the Filipina transfer maid. Especially the ones that explicitly state "prefer Expat families" because for some reason, they think expat families are more tolerant of substandard efforts and OK with them yakking away on their mobile phones for hours at end while pretending to keep an eye out for the toddler under their charge.

The first one we had was so lazy and dirty, we realised why she was a transfer maid barely a week into her service. We tolerated her sloppiness and slothful mess for another 3 months until she broke yet another microwave (how does one break these things anyway) and left the fridge door opened (we had to throw away a week's worth of perishables) again - on the same day! We transferred her out.

The second was a straight faced liar. She was more interested in chatting up the gardener and making friends with the other maids in the neighborhood than doing any actual work at all. Her long weekends would start every Friday and didn't end until hangover Monday. The last straw was when we caught her trying to sneak her boyfriend into the house. We didn't transfer her - we repatriated this one. Not sure how much good that would have done, because I'm sure she could just fudge a new name and passport and be back here to torture and torment another unsuspecting expat family again.

The final one was a thief. The less said about this one, the better. We made a police report and repatriated her as well, and that was the end of our Filipina adventure in Singapore.

Good luck with yours!

Mlee888

Sounds like you have had awful luck.

Not all Filipina domestic helpers are bad, we shouldn't judge them to be all from the same boat. It's like saying be careful of employers from a certain place because the helper has been abused for 3 years, doesn't mean all employers are going to do the same to their helper.

xizzles

Oh, absolutely! We're not in the business of tarring the whole lot with the same brush, heavens no! I reckon we've had a torrid run with helpers, such is the luck of the draw when it comes to these things, really.

What made it worse for our case was the fact that we fell into the same trap that ex reg mentioned: we thought that if we paid higher than market rates (to be honest, the minimum wage is a bit pathetic!), our good intentions would be appreciated and reciprocated. Sadly, the reality couldn't be more different, and we were left feeling frustrated and cheated by how things have turned out.

In all fairness, and for the record, I don't think it's a unique problem with Filipina helpers. And for the sake of completeness, I have to also state that I don't think my horrible experience is indicative or representative of the state of things with domestic helpers in general.

I'm sure - I know - there are hardworking, honest and appreciative domestic helpers out there, doing a great job for their employers and bringing well deserved credit to themselves. Alas, after 3 misses, we are certainly not brave enough to put ourselves through another round of Russian Roulette!