Confinement Nanny SUE SOO CHUEN YEE: Abusive, Negligent, and Destructive, Leading to Traumatic Experience

**Traumatic Experience**

Nanny: SUE SOO CHUEN YEE

This was an extremely traumatic experience for me and my family.

Upon arrival, the nanny’s first request was for the Wi-Fi password, which we provided.

She mentioned she usually only works with Eurasians and dislikes working in Chinese households because she feels she is treated like a helper.

We assured her that there was no need for her to clean the house, her room, or even the kitchen—our helpers would handle those tasks. Her primary responsibilities were to attend to the baby and handle some cooking.

**A breakdown of what happened:**

- She had a habit of peeling skin and kept doing it to my baby’s skin even after we asked her to stop. She continued until my baby’s cheeks started to feel like sandpaper.

- She would wet tissue papers and wipe the baby’s face, insisting it was the proper way, even after we provided ample washcloths.

- She was extremely argumentative about her methods. If we suggested a different approach, she would slam doors or bang dishes (e.g., preferring washcloths over tissue papers).

- She enlisted one of my helpers to assist her and then criticized her as useless. She then moved on to another helper, eventually making her cry by telling her to go back to her country.

- We sat the nanny down and asked her not to assign tasks to the helpers, especially concerning the baby. She agreed, but the next day she continued to use them at her discretion.

- She was rarely asked to cook because her cooking was terrible—mostly fried rice, stir-fried veggies, or fried noodles—claiming she wasn’t good with Chinese confinement meals.

- She broke items and hid the incidents from me, claiming she forgot when questioned.

- When we requested an evening wipe-down before changing the baby into pajamas, she responded that nannies do not provide such services.

- She would disappear for hours into the kitchen to use her phone, leaving the baby unattended.

- When asked to prepare milk when the baby was crying, she would go to the bathroom and stay there, forcing us to manage the baby.

- On the day she left, she again retreated to the kitchen to use her phone, yelling at someone on the call. The agency confirmed they were not speaking with her at that time.

- After spending over an hour on the phone, she abruptly left with some items from the kitchen, stating she was going to rest. Suspicious, I checked her room and found her packing. When questioned, she shouted, “It’s my rest time, I can do what I want.” I told her that if she wanted to leave, she should just go.

- We informed her that we needed to check her bags according to her contract, but she refused, carrying her things downstairs and banging everything on the way out.

- We handed her the mandatory Ang Pao, which she threw on the floor. As it was Vesak Day, my toddler was home, and both my toddler and newborn started crying when she began yelling.

- We tried to contact her agency to understand the escalation, but they insisted they had not spoken to her. The agency later stated that she was told to return and let us check her bag, but she refused.

The agency could not respond until the next day, citing a public holiday. They mentioned her story differed, but thankfully we captured her behavior on video.

I share this experience so that no one else has to endure what my family and I went through.