[jane01]

joannek - I always enjoy your posts (don't always agree with them). You give me insight into the rich and famous in Hong Kong !

Our next door neighbours are local Hong Kong Chinese. They are a family of three - father in China most of the week, mum doesn't work, daughter (10) is at school. She makes them breakfast and dinner, cleans the house/washes/irons/etc. She does work 6 days but I don't think the work is overly taxing. She has her own room with bathroom/air con/tv etc. I think she has it better than my poor helper who has to look after my young children whilst I'm at work.

[ELT]

Originally Posted by joannek

oh, and that's why DH prefers to work for expats!

um... I understand that some DH prefers to work for expats with the hope that the family will take her with them when they go back to their country. I also know there are other DHs who don't like working for expats because they usually have larger homes, more kids and pets to take care of. There are DHs who like working for local families and there are some who don't. I guess it boils down to the DH's own preference, her objective as well as experience?

[ELT]

A lot of local families hire DH because both parents need to work to make ends meet, not because they have extra buck to hire a cleaner/baby sitter. The parents usually work long hours, some work 6 days a week, some work shifts, so naturally the DH who work for these families work long hours too. I don't mean to say employers should make their DH work unreasonable hours, but I just want to point out that there are families who aren't as fortunate as many of us in this forum.

[joannek]

probably true too, ELT.

i think if the DH comes directly from the filipines to HK, it's just pure luck what kind of family & job nature they land on. of course, then there is the mentally disturbed who thru corrosive liquids in the DH's face (it was in the news yesterday)! & the wealthy lady who burn her maids arm with a iron several years ago & got away with it!

[ELT]

These crazy nuts deserve time behind bars! Unfortunately, the news only report negative stuff. There are some 300,000 foreign domestic helpers in HK, I'm sure majority of them work for sane employers in stable mental conditions.

[Seb's Dad]

(written from my husband's account)

my helper gets up around 7.00am and helps supervise dressing and the clearing up of it.

she has a proper sit down breakfast (albeit a short one) after the kids are out the door and i expect a one hour lunch when the kids are napping/still at school, and her work day ends at 7.30pm.

there are mornings where the kids suddenly decide to get up at 6.15am and our helper hears the commotion and gets up as well.

we are expats, and our helper is moving to canada in september (without us, as a nanny). she didn't take the job hoping we would move and take her with us (although that may be some helpers modus operandi), i think she took the job because the fit was good. i don't think it had to do with us being "western", it was because she was who she was, and we were who we are, if that makes sense.

[aussiegal]

We just hired to replace our current helper and we had two apply who categorically stated they only wanted to work for western employers so there are some out there like that.

[jane01]

I don't think our helper works with us because we will take her back to our home country. Australia doesn't allow it. If I had the opportunity I'd love to bring her back with us, but I doubt she'd go. She is 43, so when we leave HK she'll be over 50. I believe she wants to retire to the Philippines with her family when we leave.

Interesting discussion !