‘On a working holiday’: Employer blasts domestic helper for ‘princess behavior’ and early exit | The Standard
“Princess behaviour” and it’s literally normal people stuff. Do employers expect to own the bodies and every bit of time their helper has?
I’m genuinely so frustrated and appalled at the kind of mindset and attitude most Hong Kong employers have towards their hired FDH. Any complaints against them end up with comments such as “They should be grateful for the opportunity.” “But we pay for their flights and meals.” “There was this one helper who forgot to pack lunch for my kid.” And then the rest of the list about their dos and don’t are genuinely so messed up— anyone who tried to change their way of thinking is labelled as too privileged to understand or too foreign or just unrealistic.
They genuinely see their employees as subhuman and have the most blatant tells of classism I have ever seen. Not to say there aren’t instances where helpers are in the wrong but which worker has never been? Is it too difficult to ask for a bit of empathy? Most folks who need a helper are likely homes where both adults have to work: YOU are a worker too and enjoy protections of labor laws. Many care workers also make mistakes, they also are overworked and underpaid. FDHs are the most extreme version of this.
A lot of the magnitude of complaints from helpers and employers are so disportioncate. I understand that sometimes work ethic can be poor (disregarding the fact that it seems to be common to have unrealistic expectations of helpers), or there might be contract violations etc. In rare cases, helpers may have intentionally caused harm. But in the most common complaints among helpers, you find blatant disregard for their humanity: privacy, meals, leisure, movement, freedom, etc. Helpers have to fear for themselves while most employers have to fear for a job not well done. You get the proportionality here, right?
I don’t know how to communicate that people who need childcare and help for housework are most likely a working class family as well. Perhaps the problem is not helpers asking for better wages and more protections, perhaps there should be a better solution to childcare in a city that is getting more expensive to live and raise children in. Perhaps the minimum wage should be raised for you and the FDHs. It’s not you vs them; can we genuinely get some class consciousness?? And yes you can most likely find someone in a position where they are more vulnerable, are not able to advocate for themselves or come from poorer conditions so therefore they are more amicable; they need the job more; they are willing to accept less pay. We can ultimately find someone as much down the ladder as we wish but it is ultimately a chain of exploitation. Yes, other places have it worse. Hong Kong people can ask for and do better.
I’m so sick of the dehumanisation of people who are here to work. I’m so sick of people genuinely not being able to see past their prejudice. I have no fucking clue how to even talk to or tackle that kind of discrimination that is so embedded in our society. I could make an endless list of rebuttals to the things people say about South East Asian workers but we can never get people that they might be in the wrong and perhaps it’s not ok to treat someone they way they do.