Domestic Worker

21 Jun 11
I now truly understand what it means to make one's blood boil. Three days after the arrival of my new maid, I have a splitting headache and I can't wait to get her out of my home.

It didn't start off well. Her bio-data claimed she worked two years with a Singaporean employer. When she arrived, we found out she had four previous employers, and the maximum tenor she worked for was only 15 months. According to her, this is her employment history:
- 1st employer: she requested for a transfer after a month because she could not handle taking care of babies
- 2nd employer: her employer terminated her after two months because an elderly lady under her care fell down
- 3rd employer: she requested for a transfer after 15 months because her employer often had people over to play mahjong and she could not sleep well as they would play mahjong in her room
- 4th employer: her employer forgot to renew her passport. She worked for the last employer for 10 months.

Very soon, she'll have one more to add to her list and if she is honest about it, her employer terminated her because she is extremely forgetful and incompetent.

From day 1, she never failed to leave some food residue or dish washing detergent on my baby's bottles or cutlery everyday. This is despite my repeated emphasis to her that baby's items must be washed and rinsed very thoroughly.

And whenever I emphasized a particular way of doing something, she always gets it wrong. From how I want my laundry to be hanged, differentiation of chopping boards for slicing raw meat & veg vs fruits, to ironing clothes - she always forgets, doesn't asks, and obviously gets it wrong.

I have given her a chance despite her blatant lie about her employment history - but she failed to prove herself. Her perpetual excuse is her poor memory. Even if I tolerated that, her tardiness in washing my baby's bottles is inexcusable. And did I mention that she even requested to rest earlier when I told her her bedtime was 11pm-7am.

I would not have hired her if I knew of her spotty employment history, and I don't think any other employer would either. Further, I am paying her $500 as an experienced maid when she behaves like a completely new one.

Something has to be done about falsification of records by domestic workers in order to get a job. While I sympathise with their plight, I cannot condone their dishonesty.