Singapore Expats

The maid came home from her day off, saying that she'd tripped on stairs... Usually, she leaves early in the am, comes home 9 to 10-ish pm. Her face is badly bruised (around the chin), arm scraped, she said her shoulder was sore too.

She said that she'd fallen less than 10 minutes walk from our house on the MRT steps, but not come back because she didn't want to wake us, she said it was first thing in the morning. She then stayed out all day, till late. She said she went to a free maid clinic in Lucky Plaza.

She also wanted money early, i.e half her pay at half-way point in the month. I'm really concerned that she's in some kind of trouble, and she could bring it to my house. Something just doesn't seem right... Not sure if I'm being paranoid. Any thoughts/comments welcome! Feel free to tell me that I am being paranoid too!

Just say that you want to help and explain to her you will approach the MRT station manager for compensation and make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else. Tell her she needs to give the time and exact location of the accident so CCTV footage can be checked. If she did genuinely fall then she should be happy to give the info, if she is BSing then her story will quickly unravel.

not gonna say how or where, but .. a small minority do tend to get into fights .. again I said "SMALL MINORITY"

Could be simple BGR issues .. or nothing at all ..





when I used to work in some places, on Sundays, it was common for the cops to be around every other sunday to sort out Girl-Girl fights ..

QRM wrote:Just say that you want to help and explain to her you will approach the MRT station manager for compensation and make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else. Tell her she needs to give the time and exact location of the accident so CCTV footage can be checked. If she did genuinely fall then she should be happy to give the info, if she is BSing then her story will quickly unravel.

MRT for compensation ?? you are kidding right ????

From anecdotes, "falling down the stairs" is code for 'got beaten up.' It's such a common excuse that it's a trope already. There's of course a chance that she's telling the truth but I think it's worth looking into it. Then again, asking for money in advance raises some flags as well.

nakatago wrote:There's of course a chance that she's telling the truth but I think it's worth looking into it. Then again, asking for money in advance raises some flags as well.

Compensation money ??

And I am a bit lost about the free clinic in Lucky Plaza ..

ecureilx wrote:And I am a bit lost about the free clinic in Lucky Plaza ..

something Filipino/maid related you don't know about?

sundaymorningstaple wrote:

ecureilx wrote:And I am a bit lost about the free clinic in Lucky Plaza ..

something Filipino/maid related you don't know about?

I shall say nothing that could implicate me

Nah, my time spent in counselling .. and such .. does come in useful ..

and you forgot that I am ..... to ....

ecureilx wrote:

QRM wrote:Just say that you want to help and explain to her you will approach the MRT station manager for compensation and make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else. Tell her she needs to give the time and exact location of the accident so CCTV footage can be checked. If she did genuinely fall then she should be happy to give the info, if she is BSing then her story will quickly unravel.

MRT for compensation ?? you are kidding right ????

Are you the very maid?

x9200 wrote:Are you the very maid?

nah .. I meant, when did MRT pay compensation for somebody falling down the stairs ???

You don't actually go to the MRT! It is just a bit of poker facing BS to see if you can squeeze out the truth.

If you're instincts are telling something is off then it probably is. She's likely got herself into some trouble.

Ask her to put it all in writing too for the manager at the MRT station and that should do it.

Are you sure there's a free clinic at lucky plaza? Don't think so...nothing's free in this town, especially for maids.

QRM: that's called thinking out of the box yeah .. smart ..

movingtospore: there are 'discounted' clinics for maids, but, yes not free clinics ... (if you exclude the general hat collections that happen for helping the fellow brethren ... )

If she's asking for her money early could it be someone threatening her for her cash? Could be another maid, could be a boyfriend..........but having bruises and then asking for money early, both being something new in your experience of her and both happening in the same week. You're right to be suspicious.

I'd go with QRM's MRT concern - it sounds like the best way to squeeze the truth out of her.

Seem to be back on an even keel. She now has a curfew, which wasn't in place before... my mistake. I was treating her as an adult, as she's 36 with 3 kids. Also found out that although she's 'married' she's kind of 'separated'.