Singapore Expats

I live alongside a local family. Very often i heard the lady shouting at her Indonesian maid. The family had changed maids 3 times since we move here a year ago. Im not being busybody but from our window we can see the next door neighbors kitchen with a little balcony at the side where the family often use to read papers and had their breakfast. It is often there that the lady openly scold her maid. The maid appears to be young in her early 20s, tamed and quite. In one occasion i saw her sitting by the kitchen floor with a bowl in her hands and eating, that must be her lunch at 2 pm.I was thinking if she is not allowed to sit in the dining table to eat.
This girl came here to earn money to support her family back home only to be treated badly with inhuman employer.

Both common and disgusting. Oh wait! Was I not supposed to judge? Was I being too self-righteous? Let me rephrase: Both common and disgusting.

If you suspect abuse I urge you to call one of the organizations here to help these poor girls. HOME is an excellent one.

http://www.home.org.sg/

re: sitting on the floor to eat from a bowl (by hand).

This is very common. Even my SGn-Malay in-laws regularly choose it over sitting at a dining table!

Our maid (lovely and excellent) prefers to sit on the floor to watch TV - for hours on end.. just an observation.. and maybe an explanation. But does not excuse the verbal abuse -

Rat

she should consider herself lucky she gets something to eat, in a bowl even !! i mean, expecting 3 meals a day? Unheard off in this first world country!

Sadly you see and hear about things like that quite often. It's the same in restaurants when families take their maids out and make them sit at separate tables. They don't / aren't allowed to order or eat anything, and are expected to watch the kids while the couple enjoy themselves.

I couldn't give two sh*ts what the 'culture' and 'what the done thing is' towards maids here - the very least they deserve is to be treated with some level of humanity and at least choose a maid that you can share a conversation with and actually like.

i see the same thing in restaurants where there are some people who dont order food for the maid but can only eat what is left of the kid's plate... i heard the same complaint from an old lady who i talked to that before her current employer, her previous employer would make her attend to the baby first while the couple would eat.She is allowed to eat after they are done but how can she do it if they leave after eating..

Mary Hatch Bailey wrote:Both common and disgusting. Oh wait! Was I not supposed to judge? Was I being too self-righteous? Let me rephrase: Both common and disgusting.

/

LOL, you crack me up! It is OK lah. With me, you can express your opinion. In fact, I love to hear what you have to say. You support your points with facts, none of that airy fairy stuff. I say, a woman of substance.

Sometimes people just need to be called out on what they're doing. I had neighbours who would scream at their maid and lock her out in the yard like a dog. The maid would cry quietly, but I could hear her through my kitchen window.

One day, I went out into my yard and screamed back at them. I guess the sight of a furious woman waving a fist at them over the back fence and threatening to call the authorities was scary enough to get the message through, as they stopped. They didn't ever say a word to me about it, but made snide remarks at MY maid when she was hanging laundry or leaving to go out etc. Till she let them have it with both barrels too. Would've paid good money to see that...

The poor girl ran away in the end and I always suspected my maid had helped.

Mary Hatch Bailey wrote:Both common and disgusting.

But none of what the OP qualifies as abuse at all according to MoM's standards. Said domestic helper, like virtually every other fdw in Singapore, is happy and well-taken care of, as their statistics and surveys bear out.

teck21 wrote:

Mary Hatch Bailey wrote:Both common and disgusting.

But none of what the OP qualifies as abuse at all according to MoM's standards. Said domestic helper, like virtually every other fdw in Singapore, is happy and well-taken care of, as their statistics and surveys bear out.

How can you possibly know? Do you think it's possible there are things that go on that ex-pat did not see? Virtually every other FDW? Are you kidding? Abuse of maids is all too common in Singapore, even according to MOM.

I sit on ground for hours while watching TV. It is beneficial as it is said to be good for knees and leg joints.

But if they are screeming for no reason and abusing the maid it is really shows from what gutter they have come from.

teck21 wrote:

Mary Hatch Bailey wrote:Both common and disgusting.

But none of what the OP qualifies as abuse at all according to MoM's standards. Said domestic helper, like virtually every other fdw in Singapore, is happy and well-taken care of, as their statistics and surveys bear out.

Please oh please oh please let that be sarcasm...

patsy_sg wrote:she should consider herself lucky she gets something to eat, in a bowl even !! i mean, expecting 3 meals a day? Unheard off in this first world country!

Your comment disgusted me!!!!!

Obviously ex-pat has never heard of sarcasm.

Especially as it came from someone who has championed FDW's since she joined this forum. In fact, that was the reason patsy_sg joined the forum in the first place.