An acquaintance recently spoke about how she was frustrated that her maid was not completing all her given tasks. This was on top of the child caring, cooking etc that she needed to do. It struck me how much we are asking from the domestic help we recruit to care for our homes. There has been many occasions too when I had seen domestic helpers made to carry all the groceries and carry the child while the parents walk empty handed at the malls... and I wonder... do these people think that they have gotten a robot or worse yet do they think that the amount of money they pay these ladies' salarys have given them full authority to use every single inch of the maid's energy? Or whatever they can squeeze out of it... Even when I carry my baby, I try to carry some grocery bags... how do these people have the heart to watch the maid struggling and not feel anything.. to think that many of these maids are so small in size.

I think that the experience I had dealing with not so good maids and the time I had to manage the household myself made me more appreciative of my current help. To care for 3 kids, you got to bathe them, cook for them, feed them, play, clean chase after them, bring them to the toilet multiple times in a day, change diapers etc... I could not even think of cleaning the house, washing dishes is as far as I can go... not to even think that most times I did not even have time for myself, to bathe or even have a breather... so why is it that when we employ domestic help that the expectation is there for them to do all this? Or get angry when they are unable to fulfill it? I suspect that all those ladies who complain somehow have never held the short end of the stick before... I even try to tell my maid that she does not need to do some chores so often and the thing is she is not even caring for my kids full-time only helping my mum to do so.

My current helper spoke abt how when she was at her previous employer, she was allowed only one meal a day - a pack of maggi without any additions like veggie or meat. I was baffled and wondered why people would do that.. to expect the maid to work and yet not give them food? I have also read of people who begrudge or complain about the maid taking that extra scoop of peanut butter..

This people do not deserve a helper, they deserve to be treated the same way they treat their helper..