It's a scam!
My confinement lady had just left (one day early) to catch her bus to Malacca for Chinese New Year...
I'm for engaging a confinement lady. She has been a great help taking care of baby n my meals. In fact, this confinement lady was a much better n faster cook than the previous. However, there are some things I'm displeased and disappointed about:
1. Punctuality
She was very late on her first day and arrived after 3pm! A few days before, the lady smsed that she'll let me know the time n that was what I last heard from her! I was very worried that there will be a no-show and texted her the night n the whole morning but there were no reply!
2. Afternoon Nap
She did not even inform me and went straight to take her naps in the afternoon. I did not raise my displeasure on this to her but feel that she should communicate this requirement to me.
3. Phone Calls
I should have requested for her to turn on the phone only at night. She seems to be always on her handphone! It rang a number of times when she was feeding the baby but luckily, she chose not to pick up the calls until feeding is over.
4. Bad example for my maid
She interacted a lot to my maid and they shared the load for the housework. While I like that she taught my maid to hang the clothes out to dry and train her in cooking, I dislike her asking for time off for shopping and bringing my maid along with her and giving nail polish to my maid to apply on her toes! She even requested to go back to celebrate CNY claiming that she couldn't get any coach tickets back home...
5. Honesty
I was totally shocked when she told me that she was not 花姐, the confinement lady that I'd engaged! What? Then who is she? I later found out that she was called 秀梅 and was asked to work from a friend. It turned out that this 花姐 asked around for people to replace her and earned a commission of 10% from this! What a conspiracy! I hated the fact that this 花姐 was irresponsible and didn't even had the integrity to inform me about the replacement. I think she does not deserve the commission at all! She was MIA and refused to reply my message when I texted her! I also dislike that auntie 秀梅 lied about her identity. I called her 花姐 the first day she came to work and she only revealed her real identity a week after! Why couldn't she call me to inform me that she was the one coming to my place to work?
Lesson learnt: Do not rely on referral from other confinement lady, there may be commission involved! 花姐 was referred to me by another confinement lady and I was desperate to find someone who could work during the CNY. In future, if I had another baby, I might consider agency or through word of mouth of people I trust! Definitely not through other confinement ladies!
