I am a helper and I am living in a bombshelter it doesn’t matter as Long as they treat you with respect same as you work happily and any way they will give you conditioning items fan/aircon give you food and rest is ok can rest at the right time no more controversy it’s a matter of understanding only! we cannot demand much on our employers for sometimes we need to considered them we come here to help same as you also it’s just a give and take relationship and a matter of understanding..
Yes, learn to be appreciative and grateful. Always remember objective of coming here to work. Go compare to other countries. BEST go compare with Hong Kong. Those people to them, bomb shelter space is luxurious to them. They are living in cages so call cage people ! If can and wherever possible, employer also will try best provide the essentials. We the Singaporeans, are reasonable and kind at heart majority. :D
You are right, important is how employer treat you. Respect is important. Sufficient food n sleep are important for the well being of helper. Many who take care of sick elderly doesn’t have enough sleep.
If they treat u nice they should not provide bomb shelter as your room,it's not proper,and if they can't afford to give to u space or room they should not hire helper, sometimes we have to fight for our rights
My own kids don’t even have a space of their own and sleeps with me in the master bedroom. I don’t know why are people complaining about maids living in bomb shelter when they at least get their own space
Then you should not be able to have the WP approved by MOM if you cannot provide a decent living quarter for them. This is the failure of MOM and the maid agency. The maid agency knows such employers like you, cannot fulfil the min requirement to have the space to accomodate another person but yet CLOSED BOTH EYES and approve the WP of the maid.
@@kengleetan63 How then do you propose lower to middle wage working mums who live in small spaces (let’s say 2 or 3 room flat) get help for taking care of kids? Quit and be a SAHM? Also, why makes you think bomb shelter is inhabitable? Before i have my own hdb, i live in a small 3 room flat with my 3 siblings. My elder brother sleeps in the living room on the sofa until he got married and moved out. Should my parents be sued for providing such low standards of living for them?
@Swswimmop-7688 simple. If you cannot afford it,..knowing this country has such a HIGH COST of living. DON'T THINK ABOUT MARRIAGE ,LET ALONE HAVING KIDS! Or if you can get married, looking at YOUR SUITUATION, you CANNOT AFFORD to have kids, a BIG HOUSE AND A MAID! Then you would not have such a 'I DON'T EVEN HAVE ENOUGH SPACE FOR MY KIDS ,LET ALONE THE MAID! problem!😆
I sleep in a bomb shelter. It's doable on the conditions that a portable aircon is provided. A lock is installed (for when I am not in the house). Clothing and other bulky items are not stored inside the shelter. And of course some sort of entertainment. Do I want a larger space? Absolutely.
Alternatively we can do what people in other countries do. Helpers get their own accomodations and only come in in the morning for work like any other normal worker and leave in the evening. This way, the employer don't have to worry about where the worker can sleep.
1. Maid agency or employer will pay for their accommodation? If not you think helper will be willing to pay? 2. If don’t set fixed timing to release helper from work then this will only make helper more tired with the traveling to and fro. 3. If set fixed timing, then some helpers may do work slowly and have disputes with employer. Just a few issues that could surface from this.
How you treat others, especially in the service industry shows your character. Don't be ugly, no one is above anyone else regardless of station, class or role. We are all human and we are connected.
- If you can't provide a sensible living space for your helper, don't hire one. - If your house does not have an extra room, don't hire one. - if your kids are old enough to do their own chores, don't hire one. Take care of your own kids/elderly, send kids to student care, do your own chores, live a simple life, hire ad-hoc cleaning help if you need to. The majority of the world don't hire helpers and they are fine.
@@lilacfunk I never said noone should hire helpers. If you can't afford it, don't hire one. Don't dehumanize fellow humans and try to justify putting them in bomb shelters.
@@lilacfunk that does not make it ok for S'poreans to expect domestic workers to work and live in less than acceptable conditions. We need to stop dehumanizing our fellow humans.
@@lilacfunk There is absolutely nothing wrong with sending your parents to a retirement village where they can socialise with other retirees. Singaporeans need to start having the mindset shift that old people want to be cooped up in their children's home watching tv endlessly.
Then why can't the family make space in the living room to give to the helper instead? Throw away things that don't matter anymore, and put a blind around a corner in the living room to create that space. Then provide portable Aircon/ strong fan so that the helper doesn't suffer.
So many suggestions but many too do not know that most families do not have an extra room for additional person to have. 3 room flat with 3 people + a helper. Not every flat has a bomb shelter. HDB escalates home prices that families can’t afford to have bigger flats.
Bigger flats = bigger space. You do understand the amount of land we have in sg? Or are you hoping Santa pulls land out of thin air and shove it in your face? It's 2025, why are you still not using your brains?
1. There is an alternative: don’t hire helpers if you cannot house them properly, just like how a company shouldn’t hire employees if they cannot pay them fair amounts. 2. Don’t use “essential to have helper” as an excuse. 99% of the people on this planet have no helpers. What makes Singaporeans so special? Only Singaporeans have sick, elderly, children to take care of? 3. End of the day, ask yourself if you would be happy in the helper’s shoes.
Problem is on our gov for reducing space in HDB, make it so expensive as compared to 20-30 years back! Some minister even said you only need a small space to make babies... So even the employer doesn't even have enough living space...
I do not have a living space for a maid, so I suck it up and do my own chores and look after my own kid. Stop making your problem a justification for providing inhumane living condition
Stop trying to self praise through putting others down even before you know of their situation? I hope you will never find yourself in a situation where you cannot take care of yourself let alone your kids.
@@user-zk6no3no3g OP has a point. If a helper is a luxury and not a necessity, there really wasn't a justification to hire them in the first place. Sucking it up, doing own chores n looking after your own kid is not self-praise, its a basic thing which many S'poreans don't want to do and hire a helper to do it for them instead.
@@user-zk6no3no3gbut we should all agree that a storeroom isn't the right place to live in. Why can't the family make space in the living room to give to the helper instead? Throw away things that don't matter anymore, and put a blind around a corner in the living room to create that space. Then provide portable Aircon/ strong fan so that the helper doesn't suffer.
My work requires me to visit client houses and I am utterly disgusted at some owners for providing their maids with miserably tiny spaces despite living in a bungalow. Some people have the I do because I can sort of mindset.
It is a tricky thing. If it becomes compulsory for maids to be given room with window, then either only the rich can have maids because they can buy units w more room or they sleep w the kids meaning that they have zero personal space and bed. Do stay in domestic helper prefer that?
Agreed with the auntie in red tshirt. That guy with white shirt who said "needs to be pragmatic", let me tell you a pragmatic solution if you don't have space : do not hire a domestic helper. That's what it means to be pragmatic. If you don't have space for a grand piano in your house, will you buy one?
Agreed! If you can afford to hire a helper, you can afford to provide a simple & comfortable space for them. It is a basic necessity. Don't dehumanize them.
Using a piano to compare clearly shows a lack of understanding of the issue at hand. The key consideration here, if anything, is whether this is humane. You should be comparing this against African miners being subjected to poor safety practice when digging their hands into the soil for the materials and long exposure with detrimental effects to their health.. but hey, they knew what's in store for them and signed up for it.
Exactly. S'poreans saying hiring a helper is a necessity when in most cases, it is not. They just want easy life while dehumanizing and taking advantage of underpaid migrant domestic workers.
Why do we treat helpers this way?? INHUMANE ...Its a BOMB SHELTER NOT A ROOM. Why engage a helper if treat them not as human beings?? Yet they still give in... SHAMEFUL SG SOCIETY
I agree that they treat them with respect and give them a proper room, if possible, their own bathroom. This is what all my maid gets. Sleep by 9.30 wake up at 6 am. Strictly household works only. All so ungrateful, play dirty tricks behind my back. Brings man into my home, while we are overseas.
I wonder what have you back in your hometown. Our forth parents in old days lived in horrible conditions that we cannot imagine. If live is so comfortable in your hometown, why are you here then? Even our childhood of six members were spent in a rented house with just a small hall and no bedroom! Please be appreciative!
Before the MOM approve the WP, the agency is already aware of whether there is space sufficient to accomodate another person. With most flats and condos having only 3 bed rms, if there are already 4 or 5 or even more persons residing in the premise, then there is no way another person like a maid can be given a decent living quarter. So the failure here are both the MOM, in approving the WP and the maid agencies (which are profit driven). And the outcome is these helpers or maids are literally being treated this way, which these employers would not even think they can reside in such living quarters, in a bomb shelter themselves.😆
Have you seem the bomb shelter of some condo? The size is enough to put a single bed and installed aircon and well furnished. So if you cannot put a bed and no aircon, it should not be use it as a bed room.
Listen to the second sg interviewee (nerdy young man) in the beginning of the video. He’s so “understanding” of the Sg employers’ struggle of not having a proper room to give to the maid. That’s a classic example of apathetic Singaporeans normalising inhumanity against others from a disadvantaged country. If a family doesn’t even have a proper room for the maid, that means they are unfit to have a maid to begin with. Period.
Exactly! And yet many S'poreans argue that it is perfectly ok because hiring live-in help has been so normalized. I bet in many situations/families they never needed a helper to begin with!
All these people who commented that don't hire a maid if no room to house them are quite dumb! Many people hire a maid out of necessity and not a want. the bomb shelter offers some degree of comfort and privacy. i think most maid would prefer a private space then to sleep in the living room! bad ventilation? 😂 how can the ventilation be bad if you are supposed to lock yourself in there for daysin the event of a crisis!
Why can't the family make space in the living room to give to the helper instead? Throw away things that don't matter anymore, and put a blind around a corner in the living room to create that space. Then provide portable Aircon/ strong fan so that the helper doesn't suffer.
I think you will find 99% of the rest of the world survive without this 'necessity'. Now many helpers might be willing to sleep there and have no issue with it. However those suggesting greater treatment are not being dumb, it's called compassion, which you seem to lack. Clearly lashing out because it's hit a nerve...
Singapore progressed so much that nowadays maids need private room, aircon, even better life than our old folks working as cleaner staying in one room rental flat. Not happy in SG; then go back home and earn $100 a month
Oh so in order to earn the measly maid's pay here they should accept sleeping in a bomb shelter? The elderly that u mentioned living in rental flats deserve better too but don't dehumanize a group of people just because they happen to be born in a 3rd world country. That's so elitist.
The helpers do not have a choice where they are born. We are just lucky that we are born here in Singapore and have good education. Most helpers are born in extremely poor condition and their government are simply corrupted/ inefficient, hence explaining the poor economy there. If you wanna treat others badly, just be prepared to suffer karma your next lifetime. Be prepared to be born in their countries and be subjected to the kind of treatment that you give them now.
@@farasyahandmade7597measely your head lah. Their cost of living is so low. Go back home all buy landed freehold Liao. Might as well say Malaysian working here earning $1K+ is measly but go back is living in landed freehold Liao whilst most Singaporeans stay in tiny bird cage. 😂 third world countries means third world price. A meal costs 50 cents, a drink costs 10 cents. You earn more than them but after deducting expenses maybe you are poorer. Mountain tortoise
That why we should buy 4 rooms or more, one personal room for helper plus laptops for helpers to upgrade. MOM or NTUC can help. Maybe they can help their labour movement.
For a couple with one son and one daughter ,where both children are adults, the couple will use the master bedroom, while the adult son will use one bedroom, while the adult daughter will use one bedroom, so that means 3 bedrooms are already used up, and since almost nobody in Singapore own 4 bedroom apartments or houses, except for the super rich billionaires and millionaires, so logically the best solution is for the maid to use the store room or bomb shelter , or a partitioned portion of living room for sleeping on bed placed there . Alternative solution is for the couple to sleep in living room sofa bed, while the maid sleep in master bedroom all by herself . But which couple in Singapore, would love the maid much more than they love themselves, and hence would give up the master bedroom for their maid ????????????? The above is the counter reply answer to the many nasty evil virtue signaling hypocrites, who mistakenly condemn employers for letting maid sleep in store room or bomb shelter , or sleep on bed in partitioned portion of living room
@@jefflim3559they are underpaid which is what the term modern slavery denotes. Sg is where it is today partly due to migrant workers and domestic workers. With our highrise buildings built by by them and live-in help allowing mothers to return to work. They deserve better.
IMO there's a choice for helpers. Helper should request for individual room before they agreed to work for any employer period. Usually landed property have more rooms to spare but not HDB flats. Some families need helpers to care for sick elderly & children.
You don't solve a problem by being sarcastic.. Since we all can agree that storeroom/bomb shelter isn't the way to go, why can't the family make space in the living room to give to the helper instead? Throw away things that don't matter anymore, and put a blind around a corner in the living room to create that space. Then provide portable Aircon/ strong fan so that the helper doesn't suffer.
I don’t think bomb shelters should be the helper’s room, however in Singapore, people actually rent out bomb shelters as a room, for other singaporeans. My uncle lives in one. A random person’s bomb shelter in Jurong. Sadly, that’s all he could afford with the income he has(he’s old but still working a simple job). A bomb shelter. I think the bigger problem is 1. Singapore houses generally no space/so small 2. It’s damn expensive (even for small houses. Big houses don’t even need to say la hor)
Then why can't the family make space in the living room to give to the helper instead? Throw away things that don't matter anymore, and put a blind around a corner in the living room to create that space. Then provide portable Aircon/ strong fan so that the helper doesn't suffer.
@ right? I don’t get it also. How can you rent out your BOMB SHELTER to an old man. You let him live in your bomb shelter nvm but you still taking money from him. lol.
For a couple with one son and one daughter ,where both children are adults, the couple will use the master bedroom, while the adult son will use one bedroom, while the adult daughter will use one bedroom, so that means 3 bedrooms are already used up, and since almost nobody in Singapore own 4 bedroom apartments or houses, except for the super rich billionaires and millionaires, so logically the best solution is for the maid to use the store room or bomb shelter , or a partitioned portion of living room for sleeping on bed placed there . Alternative solution is for the couple to sleep in living room sofa bed, while the maid sleep in master bedroom all by herself . But which couple in Singapore, would love the maid much more than they love themselves, and hence would give up the master bedroom for their maid ????????????? The above is the counter reply answer to the many nasty evil virtue signaling hypocrites, who mistakenly condemn employers for letting maid sleep in store room or bomb shelter , or sleep on bed in partitioned portion of living room
They forgot to add in the fact that many helpers value privacy among all else so they can TikTok or romance their boyfriends. I’ve offered two of my helpers to sleep in my study but both preferred the service yard.
A store room can convert into a maid’s room. Change the door with a ventilation fan. Add a wall fan inside. Have a well designed layout bedding with some shelves and lighting. It should be comfortable and pleasant to sleep in. A bomb shelter? It’s difficult with the massive bomb shelter steel door there that are not be allowed to dismantle.
@@SelfCareHaven445 if you were a foreign maid, would you prefer to have no room or no work? If u r worried about the latter, this would suffice as room (even without ventilation).
Almost everybody wants to feel good about themselves and be generous. Nobody sets out to be mean or stingy. Until scarcity hits. Not enough money, time, space etc. Its not as simple as not rich enough to have another room then dont hire. If you dont free up time by having help..so u can bring in income, the family will be worse off. The country also further loses its already small work force and will have to import even more foreign talents. I have a helper and she sleeps in air con room with my son. But i really wonder for those that make inhumane remarks.. are they at a stage they have dependents in today's world and conditions?
Lets be realistic with the high property price it is impossible to build a good size maid room. Unless Government is willing to absorb the cost of construction for building a bigger a good size maid's room. If not it is impossible in Singapore standard
Maid and helper jobs is DIFFICULT! If it's easy, why don't you do it by yourself. If you want a car, you should have a garage or a parking space for your car right? A good parking space that have cctv and gate. And that also for all of those helpers.
Bomb shelters are an inherently outdated idea; dead space and HDB should phase it out in favor of a small utility room instead with better ventilation.
I have been looking after my kids and my house without housemaid. My and my husband working full time. Somehow we working together to make it happen from baby to teenagers we live happily without housemaid
Until Kingsford discovered bombshelter can be built as staircase, all those condos built before have bombshelter in the yard meant as utlity room. Fortunately, now Condos dont have this in the last 8 10 years. HDB when will wake up to build bombshelter in the staircase, and allow us to partition the living room properly for the maid, it is damm too much. This bombshelter will be a mainstay nonetheless because of stupid HDB builders who dont question that bombshelter should not be in the house.
Each country has their own culture and constraints. . 90% of the residents in Singapore are staying in apartments, be it HDB or condo. The maids can work in Saudi, Malaysia to get their own rooms or HK so that they can stay out during weekends or at night. Or they can stay at their home country counting the stars every night. Do not continue working in SG if having your SINGLE FULL SIZE bedroom to yourself is a priority. Or u can slowly see if u are lucky to land up in homes of the remaining 10%. The lady in pink…..u think the maids sleeping with the babies and elderly are having a better time than those sleeping in bombshell shelter (aka own pte space well furnish)? U need to be kidding. Btw, if you can stand by your claim, expose these friends to MOM lol or nominate them for Good Employer Award. See if your friends are better off due to your words lol. Oops Friends of the lady-in-pink, time to unfriendly her. She is getting you in trouble. Also RICE is so misleading without setting context right.
Since almost nobody own apartments or houses with 4 bedrooms in Singapore , hence its almost impossible to let the maid have 1 bedroom all by herself, unless if the employer is a single person with no spouse, +no children and no parents , + no grandparents staying together , which is a very unlikely situation . The only solution if the maid really must have a bedroom by herself, is to have the employer and the wife sleep in the living room sofa bed , while maid sleep in the master bedroom . But , Which employer in Singapore , would love the maid more than they love themselves, and would be willing to sacrifice their own comforts and sleep in sofa bed in living room with their spouse, so as to allow the maid to have the master bedroom all for herself ????????????? Those many nasty horrible hypocrite virtue signalling people, who condemn employers for not allowing maid to have whole bedroom by herself, should sleep in bedroom with their spouse, if they are really so kind hearted to the maid
at this age, those of you people who hires a helper, still give them a bloody bomb shelter? you sir, are inhuman. you should not be allowed to live in luxury while your employee(helper) sleeps in a bomb shelter. So no, this is not okay.
For a couple with one son and one daughter ,where both children are adults, the couple will use the master bedroom, while the adult son will use one bedroom, while the adult daughter will use one bedroom, so that means 3 bedrooms are already used up, and since almost nobody in Singapore own 4 bedroom apartments or houses, except for the super rich billionaires and millionaires, so logically the best solution is for the maid to use the store room or bomb shelter , or a partitioned portion of living room for sleeping on bed placed there . Alternative solution is for the couple to sleep in living room sofa bed, while the maid sleep in master bedroom all by herself . But which couple in Singapore, would love the maid much more than they love themselves, and hence would give up the master bedroom for their maid ????????????? The above is the counter reply answer to the many nasty evil virtue signaling hypocrites, who mistakenly condemn employers for letting maid sleep in store room or bomb shelter , or sleep on bed in partitioned portion of living room
@roundstomache674 if that is the case, do not hire a helper. save some extra cash as well. find solutions within own family to settle children/aging parents issue. hire another human just to make their lives a living hell ngl that's total bs down there.
I am a helper and I am living in a bombshelter it doesn’t matter as Long as they treat you with respect same as you work happily and any way they will give you conditioning items fan/aircon give you food and rest is ok can rest at the right time no more controversy it’s a matter of understanding only! we cannot demand much on our employers for sometimes we need to considered them we come here to help same as you also it’s just a give and take relationship and a matter of understanding..
Yes, learn to be appreciative and grateful. Always remember objective of coming here to work. Go compare to other countries. BEST go compare with Hong Kong. Those people to them, bomb shelter space is luxurious to them. They are living in cages so call cage people ! If can and wherever possible, employer also will try best provide the essentials. We the Singaporeans, are reasonable and kind at heart majority. :D
You are right, important is how employer treat you. Respect is important. Sufficient food n sleep are important for the well being of helper. Many who take care of sick elderly doesn’t have enough sleep.
If they treat u nice they should not provide bomb shelter as your room,it's not proper,and if they can't afford to give to u space or room they should not hire helper, sometimes we have to fight for our rights
My own kids don’t even have a space of their own and sleeps with me in the master bedroom. I don’t know why are people complaining about maids living in bomb shelter when they at least get their own space
yeah but that means you can't and shouldn't have a maid. You want to have a maid then have the funds to do so. It is that simple.
@ my kids don’t have a space of their own and sleeps with me - does that mean i can’t and shouldn’t have kids too?
Then you should not be able to have the WP approved by MOM if you cannot provide a decent living quarter for them. This is the failure of MOM and the maid agency. The maid agency knows such employers like you, cannot fulfil the min requirement to have the space to accomodate another person but yet CLOSED BOTH EYES and approve the WP of the maid.
@@kengleetan63 How then do you propose lower to middle wage working mums who live in small spaces (let’s say 2 or 3 room flat) get help for taking care of kids? Quit and be a SAHM? Also, why makes you think bomb shelter is inhabitable? Before i have my own hdb, i live in a small 3 room flat with my 3 siblings. My elder brother sleeps in the living room on the sofa until he got married and moved out. Should my parents be sued for providing such low standards of living for them?
@Swswimmop-7688 simple. If you cannot afford it,..knowing this country has such a HIGH COST of living. DON'T THINK ABOUT MARRIAGE ,LET ALONE HAVING KIDS!
Or if you can get married, looking at YOUR SUITUATION, you CANNOT AFFORD to have kids, a BIG HOUSE AND A MAID!
Then you would not have such a 'I DON'T EVEN HAVE ENOUGH SPACE FOR MY KIDS ,LET ALONE THE MAID! problem!😆
I sleep in a bomb shelter. It's doable on the conditions that a portable aircon is provided. A lock is installed (for when I am not in the house). Clothing and other bulky items are not stored inside the shelter. And of course some sort of entertainment. Do I want a larger space? Absolutely.
Thank you for covering this, RICE
Alternatively we can do what people in other countries do. Helpers get their own accomodations and only come in in the morning for work like any other normal worker and leave in the evening. This way, the employer don't have to worry about where the worker can sleep.
1. Maid agency or employer will pay for their accommodation? If not you think helper will be willing to pay?
2. If don’t set fixed timing to release helper from work then this will only make helper more tired with the traveling to and fro.
3. If set fixed timing, then some helpers may do work slowly and have disputes with employer.
Just a few issues that could surface from this.
@@chelsea9320: காசிவிசுவநாதன் சண்முகம் HIMSELF mentioned in New York City, NY that Singapore is “a city, not a country” anyway.
This is perhaps doable with a bit of policy planning.
In Malaysia it is like that. Pay for cleaning by the hour. Indon maids stay with agents.
This would be the best. But we only have dormitory for workers, don’t have such accommodation for helpers
How you treat others, especially in the service industry shows your character. Don't be ugly, no one is above anyone else regardless of station, class or role. We are all human and we are connected.
- If you can't provide a sensible living space for your helper, don't hire one.
- If your house does not have an extra room, don't hire one.
- if your kids are old enough to do their own chores, don't hire one.
Take care of your own kids/elderly, send kids to student care, do your own chores, live a simple life, hire ad-hoc cleaning help if you need to.
The majority of the world don't hire helpers and they are fine.
Majority of the world either abandon their parents or dump them in old age homes.
@@lilacfunk I never said noone should hire helpers. If you can't afford it, don't hire one.
Don't dehumanize fellow humans and try to justify putting them in bomb shelters.
@@lilacfunk that does not make it ok for S'poreans to expect domestic workers to work and live in less than acceptable conditions. We need to stop dehumanizing our fellow humans.
@@lilacfunk There is absolutely nothing wrong with sending your parents to a retirement village where they can socialise with other retirees. Singaporeans need to start having the mindset shift that old people want to be cooped up in their children's home watching tv endlessly.
Good coverage on this topic
Did not share how to penetrate the bomb shelter!
If not fit then shld they sleep master bedroom while employer sleep kitchen or sitting room? Hdb flat how many bedroom?
Then why can't the family make space in the living room to give to the helper instead? Throw away things that don't matter anymore, and put a blind around a corner in the living room to create that space. Then provide portable Aircon/ strong fan so that the helper doesn't suffer.
@lecherhao86 if you have done that pls share
So many suggestions but many too do not know that most families do not have an extra room for additional person to have. 3 room flat with 3 people + a helper. Not every flat has a bomb shelter. HDB escalates home prices that families can’t afford to have bigger flats.
Fully agree !
Bigger flats = bigger space. You do understand the amount of land we have in sg? Or are you hoping Santa pulls land out of thin air and shove it in your face?
It's 2025, why are you still not using your brains?
If one lives in a 3-room flat, wouldn't that already be an indicator that they shouldn't hire a helper in the first place?
@@farasyahandmade7597 agree!
Even we have to walk like crabs in our small bto
1. There is an alternative: don’t hire helpers if you cannot house them properly, just like how a company shouldn’t hire employees if they cannot pay them fair amounts.
2. Don’t use “essential to have helper” as an excuse. 99% of the people on this planet have no helpers. What makes Singaporeans so special? Only Singaporeans have sick, elderly, children to take care of?
3. End of the day, ask yourself if you would be happy in the helper’s shoes.
Spot on! S'poreans are really an entitled bunch.
Problem is on our gov for reducing space in HDB, make it so expensive as compared to 20-30 years back! Some minister even said you only need a small space to make babies... So even the employer doesn't even have enough living space...
Excellent video
I felt that part-time helpers make more sense. At least you don't have to deal with problems relating to their accommodation or morale level.
yes and you pay them hourly rate instead of monthly
@@merrier3723$25-30 per hour now…
I do not have a living space for a maid, so I suck it up and do my own chores and look after my own kid.
Stop making your problem a justification for providing inhumane living condition
Stop trying to self praise through putting others down even before you know of their situation?
I hope you will never find yourself in a situation where you cannot take care of yourself let alone your kids.
@@user-zk6no3no3g OP has a point. If a helper is a luxury and not a necessity, there really wasn't a justification to hire them in the first place. Sucking it up, doing own chores n looking after your own kid is not self-praise, its a basic thing which many S'poreans don't want to do and hire a helper to do it for them instead.
@@user-zk6no3no3gbut we should all agree that a storeroom isn't the right place to live in.
Why can't the family make space in the living room to give to the helper instead? Throw away things that don't matter anymore, and put a blind around a corner in the living room to create that space. Then provide portable Aircon/ strong fan so that the helper doesn't suffer.
@@lecherhao86I don't think creating a space within the living room is a good idea at all.
There is no privacy for instance.
My work requires me to visit client houses and I am utterly disgusted at some owners for providing their maids with miserably tiny spaces despite living in a bungalow. Some people have the I do because I can sort of mindset.
It is a tricky thing. If it becomes compulsory for maids to be given room with window, then either only the rich can have maids because they can buy units w more room or they sleep w the kids meaning that they have zero personal space and bed. Do stay in domestic helper prefer that?
@@melodymngsh8100 Correct! Domestic help is a luxury, not a necessity.
3:30 sometimes it's really not about the money, but needing extra help at home.
why its so difficult to treat your maid as part of your family ?? Why not Treat others just as you want to be treated?
family don't get paid. not to say we should take helper for granted but its a balance between what helper needs vs what employer can afford.
Agreed with the auntie in red tshirt. That guy with white shirt who said "needs to be pragmatic", let me tell you a pragmatic solution if you don't have space : do not hire a domestic helper. That's what it means to be pragmatic. If you don't have space for a grand piano in your house, will you buy one?
Some elderly need helpers for their daily needs.
The grand piano is not a fair comparison. Helpers are most often hired out of necessity rather than luxury.
Agreed! If you can afford to hire a helper, you can afford to provide a simple & comfortable space for them. It is a basic necessity. Don't dehumanize them.
Using a piano to compare clearly shows a lack of understanding of the issue at hand. The key consideration here, if anything, is whether this is humane. You should be comparing this against African miners being subjected to poor safety practice when digging their hands into the soil for the materials and long exposure with detrimental effects to their health.. but hey, they knew what's in store for them and signed up for it.
Such a weird comparison with the grand piano 😂
First world problem and topic. Remember that 99% of the rest of the world survived without having a "helper".
RUBBISH comment! You are definitely childless. Hadn’t you heard of the expression that It takes a VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD?! 🤦🏼
Exactly. S'poreans saying hiring a helper is a necessity when in most cases, it is not. They just want easy life while dehumanizing and taking advantage of underpaid migrant domestic workers.
not true at all, developing nations hire help as well .
@@farasyahandmade7597
Do you even have Children and a full time job at all? 😂
@@kevinfung223
Baseless assumptions that “99% of the rest of the world survive without helpers.” 🤦🏼🤣
Why do we treat helpers this way?? INHUMANE ...Its a BOMB SHELTER NOT A ROOM. Why engage a helper if treat them not as human beings?? Yet they still give in... SHAMEFUL SG SOCIETY
Bomb shelters are not like ANY Normal room. What is common does not make it right.
I agree that they treat them with respect and give them a proper room, if possible, their own bathroom. This is what all my maid gets. Sleep by 9.30 wake up at 6 am. Strictly household works only. All so ungrateful, play dirty tricks behind my back. Brings man into my home, while we are overseas.
How about install aircon n air purifier for them
The new HDB design should cater for a maid’s room. Hopefully its not that expensive.
U come to singapore to make money,
Not here for vocation,
Got a proper bed and pravicy is good enough
So, we go to sleep at bomb shelter ? Or our parents or our kid or parents in law ?
I wonder what have you back in your hometown. Our forth parents in old days lived in horrible conditions that we cannot imagine. If live is so comfortable in your hometown, why are you here then? Even our childhood of six members were spent in a rented house with just a small hall and no bedroom! Please be appreciative!
Before the MOM approve the WP, the agency is already aware of whether there is space sufficient to accomodate another person. With most flats and condos having only 3 bed rms, if there are already 4 or 5 or even more persons residing in the premise, then there is no way another person like a maid can be given a decent living quarter. So the failure here are both the MOM, in approving the WP and the maid agencies (which are profit driven). And the outcome is these helpers or maids are literally being treated this way, which these employers would not even think they can reside in such living quarters, in a bomb shelter themselves.😆
Have you seem the bomb shelter of some condo? The size is enough to put a single bed and installed aircon and well furnished. So if you cannot put a bed and no aircon, it should not be use it as a bed room.
Space is a luxury in sinkieland, not a necessity, just ask our ministers. Got privacy and space to rest good enough
Got aircon ?
Many Dogs in sg live a better life. Some in aircon room, whole sleeping room for human dedicated to a dog with aircon provided
Not much land left and the house is built smaller and smaller, what more can one do to squeeze family and maid together?
@@jtan4213 then don't hire a maid?
hahahahaha...
Listen to the second sg interviewee (nerdy young man) in the beginning of the video. He’s so “understanding” of the Sg employers’ struggle of not having a proper room to give to the maid. That’s a classic example of apathetic Singaporeans normalising inhumanity against others from a disadvantaged country.
If a family doesn’t even have a proper room for the maid, that means they are unfit to have a maid to begin with. Period.
Exactly! And yet many S'poreans argue that it is perfectly ok because hiring live-in help has been so normalized. I bet in many situations/families they never needed a helper to begin with!
Army and Navy chaps sleep in cramp spaces and work odd hours. Look at troop messes on ship. If sons of Singapore can do it, why can't maids?
Well said
Great people
Just install a ventilation fan reverse, suck in air, small room is liveable well ventilated. Khind brand have a quiet motor.
All these people who commented that don't hire a maid if no room to house them are quite dumb! Many people hire a maid out of necessity and not a want. the bomb shelter offers some degree of comfort and privacy. i think most maid would prefer a private space then to sleep in the living room! bad ventilation? 😂 how can the ventilation be bad if you are supposed to lock yourself in there for daysin the event of a crisis!
Why can't the family make space in the living room to give to the helper instead? Throw away things that don't matter anymore, and put a blind around a corner in the living room to create that space. Then provide portable Aircon/ strong fan so that the helper doesn't suffer.
I think you will find 99% of the rest of the world survive without this 'necessity'.
Now many helpers might be willing to sleep there and have no issue with it.
However those suggesting greater treatment are not being dumb, it's called compassion, which you seem to lack. Clearly lashing out because it's hit a nerve...
It’s better to have privacy in the bomb shelter than be forced to rest in the living room when your boss is
If I am the maid, I will not open the door for the owner and family if there is a bomb 😂
you stupid ? bomb shelter door cannot lock from inside.
Make sure you remove the bomb before asking your helper to sleep in bomb shelter.
Singapore progressed so much that nowadays maids need private room, aircon, even better life than our old folks working as cleaner staying in one room rental flat. Not happy in SG; then go back home and earn $100 a month
Oh so in order to earn the measly maid's pay here they should accept sleeping in a bomb shelter? The elderly that u mentioned living in rental flats deserve better too but don't dehumanize a group of people just because they happen to be born in a 3rd world country. That's so elitist.
2 things can be wrong at the same time, it's not mutually exclusive
The helpers do not have a choice where they are born.
We are just lucky that we are born here in Singapore and have good education.
Most helpers are born in extremely poor condition and their government are simply corrupted/ inefficient, hence explaining the poor economy there.
If you wanna treat others badly, just be prepared to suffer karma your next lifetime. Be prepared to be born in their countries and be subjected to the kind of treatment that you give them now.
@@farasyahandmade7597 not happy can resign, many maids resign after working for 2 weeks. why never mention that in the video ??
@@farasyahandmade7597measely your head lah. Their cost of living is so low. Go back home all buy landed freehold Liao. Might as well say Malaysian working here earning $1K+ is measly but go back is living in landed freehold Liao whilst most Singaporeans stay in tiny bird cage. 😂 third world countries means third world price. A meal costs 50 cents, a drink costs 10 cents. You earn more than them but after deducting expenses maybe you are poorer.
Mountain tortoise
That why we should buy 4 rooms or more, one personal room for helper plus laptops for helpers to upgrade. MOM or NTUC can help. Maybe they can help their labour movement.
For a couple with one son and one daughter ,where both children are adults,
the couple will use the master bedroom,
while the adult son will use one bedroom,
while the adult daughter will use one bedroom,
so that means 3 bedrooms are already used up,
and since almost nobody in Singapore own 4 bedroom apartments or houses,
except for the super rich billionaires and millionaires,
so logically the best solution is for the maid to use the store room or bomb shelter ,
or a partitioned portion of living room for sleeping on bed placed there .
Alternative solution is for the couple to sleep in living room sofa bed,
while the maid sleep in master bedroom all by herself .
But which couple in Singapore,
would love the maid much more than they love themselves,
and hence would give up the master bedroom for their maid ?????????????
The above is the counter reply answer to the many nasty evil virtue signaling hypocrites,
who mistakenly condemn employers for letting maid sleep in store room or bomb shelter ,
or sleep on bed in partitioned portion of living room
Yes and the money for everyone to buy this comes from NTUC/MOM? 😂
Modern slavery
Wrong choice of word, you don't own ur maid, she is not ur property.
@@jefflim3559they are underpaid which is what the term modern slavery denotes. Sg is where it is today partly due to migrant workers and domestic workers. With our highrise buildings built by by them and live-in help allowing mothers to return to work. They deserve better.
Better still! Buy the maid a bungalow house for her to stay cause you all seems so very kind! See problem solved!
😂
🤣😂😜🤑🤑🤑
IMO there's a choice for helpers. Helper should request for individual room before they agreed to work for any employer period. Usually landed property have more rooms to spare but not HDB flats. Some families need helpers to care for sick elderly & children.
@aliceho4112 all talk no action!
You don't solve a problem by being sarcastic..
Since we all can agree that storeroom/bomb shelter isn't the way to go, why can't the family make space in the living room to give to the helper instead? Throw away things that don't matter anymore, and put a blind around a corner in the living room to create that space. Then provide portable Aircon/ strong fan so that the helper doesn't suffer.
Nothing wrong, you have not seen a big beautiful bomb shelter. With a bed, side drawer, with storage and aircon for her and a light weight door
I don’t think bomb shelters should be the helper’s room, however in Singapore, people actually rent out bomb shelters as a room, for other singaporeans. My uncle lives in one. A random person’s bomb shelter in Jurong. Sadly, that’s all he could afford with the income he has(he’s old but still working a simple job). A bomb shelter. I think the bigger problem is 1. Singapore houses generally no space/so small 2. It’s damn expensive (even for small houses. Big houses don’t even need to say la hor)
Then why can't the family make space in the living room to give to the helper instead? Throw away things that don't matter anymore, and put a blind around a corner in the living room to create that space. Then provide portable Aircon/ strong fan so that the helper doesn't suffer.
@ right? I don’t get it also. How can you rent out your BOMB SHELTER to an old man. You let him live in your bomb shelter nvm but you still taking money from him. lol.
Not a big room, but a room furnished enough to have privacy, a warm bed, ventilation, a home for a human.
For a couple with one son and one daughter ,where both children are adults,
the couple will use the master bedroom,
while the adult son will use one bedroom,
while the adult daughter will use one bedroom,
so that means 3 bedrooms are already used up,
and since almost nobody in Singapore own 4 bedroom apartments or houses,
except for the super rich billionaires and millionaires,
so logically the best solution is for the maid to use the store room or bomb shelter ,
or a partitioned portion of living room for sleeping on bed placed there .
Alternative solution is for the couple to sleep in living room sofa bed,
while the maid sleep in master bedroom all by herself .
But which couple in Singapore,
would love the maid much more than they love themselves,
and hence would give up the master bedroom for their maid ?????????????
The above is the counter reply answer to the many nasty evil virtue signaling hypocrites,
who mistakenly condemn employers for letting maid sleep in store room or bomb shelter ,
or sleep on bed in partitioned portion of living room
How?
They forgot to add in the fact that many helpers value privacy among all else so they can TikTok or romance their boyfriends. I’ve offered two of my helpers to sleep in my study but both preferred the service yard.
If 2 room house how to give a room? Tiny place like sg is hard. If 3 room or 4 room then maid deserve a room..at least share with the family children
A store room can convert into a maid’s room.
Change the door with a ventilation fan. Add a wall fan inside. Have a well designed layout bedding with some shelves and lighting.
It should be comfortable and pleasant to sleep in.
A bomb shelter? It’s difficult with the massive bomb shelter steel door there that are not be allowed to dismantle.
What’s so inhumane about it?
No ventilation
Can put portable aircon
@@SelfCareHaven445 if you were a foreign maid, would you prefer to have no room or no work? If u r worried about the latter, this would suffice as room (even without ventilation).
Is ok made 4 them a a good ventilation proper equi ,
Should install heavy air conditioning and atmospheric processor plus chemical protection s!
in HK maids sleep on the living room or kitchen floor, so its a matter of circumstances and availability
Almost everybody wants to feel good about themselves and be generous.
Nobody sets out to be mean or stingy.
Until scarcity hits. Not enough money, time, space etc.
Its not as simple as not rich enough to have another room then dont hire.
If you dont free up time by having help..so u can bring in income, the family will be worse off.
The country also further loses its already small work force and will have to import even more foreign talents.
I have a helper and she sleeps in air con room with my son.
But i really wonder for those that make inhumane remarks.. are they at a stage they have dependents in today's world and conditions?
Salute to their employers for putting their helpers in bomb shelters! They show how much care and concern they have for their wellbeing!
Helper need to rest in 40 star hotel suite thats my opinion
Lets be realistic with the high property price it is impossible to build a good size maid room. Unless Government is willing to absorb the cost of construction for building a bigger a good size maid's room. If not it is impossible in Singapore standard
Maid and helper jobs is DIFFICULT!
If it's easy, why don't you do it by yourself. If you want a car, you should have a garage or a parking space for your car right? A good parking space that have cctv and gate.
And that also for all of those helpers.
Bomb shelters are an inherently outdated idea; dead space and HDB should phase it out in favor of a small utility room instead with better ventilation.
I know one helper sleep in the same room with employers.. siao…
Jai Hind. No window No problem. Some cheap hotel rooms even don't have window. But must give a portable aircon to improve the ventilation.
I have been looking after my kids and my house without housemaid. My and my husband working full time. Somehow we working together to make it happen from baby to teenagers we live happily without housemaid
Until Kingsford discovered bombshelter can be built as staircase, all those condos built before have bombshelter in the yard meant as utlity room. Fortunately, now Condos dont have this in the last 8 10 years. HDB when will wake up to build bombshelter in the staircase, and allow us to partition the living room properly for the maid, it is damm too much. This bombshelter will be a mainstay nonetheless because of stupid HDB builders who dont question that bombshelter should not be in the house.
Lack of space
Each country has their own culture and constraints. . 90% of the residents in Singapore are staying in apartments, be it HDB or condo. The maids can work in Saudi, Malaysia to get their own rooms or HK so that they can stay out during weekends or at night. Or they can stay at their home country counting the stars every night. Do not continue working in SG if having your SINGLE FULL SIZE bedroom to yourself is a priority. Or u can slowly see if u are lucky to land up in homes of the remaining 10%.
The lady in pink…..u think the maids sleeping with the babies and elderly are having a better time than those sleeping in bombshell shelter (aka own pte space well furnish)? U need to be kidding. Btw, if you can stand by your claim, expose these friends to MOM lol or nominate them for Good Employer Award. See if your friends are better off due to your words lol. Oops Friends of the lady-in-pink, time to unfriendly her. She is getting you in trouble.
Also RICE is so misleading without setting context right.
Got air con one leh y inhuman
To be fair then the house owner must hv fan and exhaust fan to be install .Anyway there is no option , better then sleeping in the hall .
use double decker bed ... so simple. or let the maid sleep in the floor with mattress in the common room .so simple
those foldable mattress. so day time can fold
Why don't you sleep on a mattress on the floor too then. Stop dehumanizing fellow humans.
Many helpers actually prefer to have the privacy and their own space and choose the store room
Since almost nobody own apartments or houses with 4 bedrooms in Singapore ,
hence its almost impossible to let the maid have 1 bedroom all by herself,
unless if the employer is a single person with no spouse,
+no children and no parents ,
+ no grandparents staying together ,
which is a very unlikely situation .
The only solution if the maid really must have a bedroom by herself,
is to have the employer and the wife sleep in the living room sofa bed ,
while maid sleep in the master bedroom .
But , Which employer in Singapore ,
would love the maid more than they love themselves,
and would be willing to sacrifice their own comforts and sleep in sofa bed in living room with their spouse,
so as to allow the maid to have the master bedroom all for herself ?????????????
Those many nasty horrible hypocrite virtue signalling people,
who condemn employers for not allowing maid to have whole bedroom by herself,
should sleep in bedroom with their spouse,
if they are really so kind hearted to the maid
Buy a small space from your neighbor and attach to your house la 😂
Any maid comes here is Not as worst condition back home.
If u think can sleep in there try yourself, not possible please
No extra room then dont take maid. Bomb shelter, laundry room ok? You go sleep there la, then give the room to the maid.
at this age, those of you people who hires a helper, still give them a bloody bomb shelter? you sir, are inhuman. you should not be allowed to live in luxury while your employee(helper) sleeps in a bomb shelter.
So no, this is not okay.
For a couple with one son and one daughter ,where both children are adults,
the couple will use the master bedroom,
while the adult son will use one bedroom,
while the adult daughter will use one bedroom,
so that means 3 bedrooms are already used up,
and since almost nobody in Singapore own 4 bedroom apartments or houses,
except for the super rich billionaires and millionaires,
so logically the best solution is for the maid to use the store room or bomb shelter ,
or a partitioned portion of living room for sleeping on bed placed there .
Alternative solution is for the couple to sleep in living room sofa bed,
while the maid sleep in master bedroom all by herself .
But which couple in Singapore,
would love the maid much more than they love themselves,
and hence would give up the master bedroom for their maid ?????????????
The above is the counter reply answer to the many nasty evil virtue signaling hypocrites,
who mistakenly condemn employers for letting maid sleep in store room or bomb shelter ,
or sleep on bed in partitioned portion of living room
@roundstomache674 if that is the case, do not hire a helper. save some extra cash as well. find solutions within own family to settle children/aging parents issue.
hire another human just to make their lives a living hell ngl that's total bs down there.
Most disgusting thing to do
Helper need comfortable place to rest not luxury that for my opinion