Posted by
napkin
15 yrs ago
Dear all,
As we prepared to go back to spend summer in our home country, I also planned to send my helper home for 2 months to visit her family, who has been with us for half a year. She asked me to book pal or cx flights but I found out that cebu is much cheaper. After reading some posts here, I told her the price difference among three of them, ask her which one she would choose. She didn't pick cebu. I asked her why. She said that she wanted to bring more good stuff from hk to her family. When i asked if they are really worth that much more money to bring with her, she said that yes, she always flys on cx and never tried cebu. Then I told her to think more which aireline to take if she is using her own money for this and we even have to tight our belt when choosing our flights and this is only a gift....
She doesn't seem to appreciate to what we give her here. To her, it is "standard" practice for western families that she gets short hours, less working days, more paid days, and more months-long vocations. I guess I am just a bit upset that she doesn't understand that we aren't rich and our money doesn't come easily, either.
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I think you should sit her down and tell her exactly what you said in the second paragraph. You need to manage her expectations. If there continues to be a disconnect you will both be unhappy.
Also, when it comes to bringing stuff home, you can buy her one of those "send a big box to the Philippines" things. It's 500-700. That way she can fly Cebu and still get her stuff home.
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I had the exact same problem a few years ago. Again we were giving the flight home at christmas as a gift it wasn't a compulsory return ticket. She actually told me quite bluntly that I had to pay more money so she could go on another airline, not Cebu. She said it was safety issue.
You should try what we did. Tell her you will pay the cost of the Cebu flight and if she wants to fly another airline she can pay the difference herself. Ours suddenly had a change of heart, flew Cebu and survived.
I really don't think it is your responsibility to pay for the transportation of her gifts to family. She should not be so demanding.
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"She said it was safety issue."
For the record, there isn't any evidence that Cebu is less safe than any other random airline. And in any case even the least safe airline in the world is much safer than traveling by car.
"I really don't think it is your responsibility to pay for the transportation of her gifts to family. She should not be so demanding."
Both should be seen as a perk. That is, a reward (or incentive) for good performance.
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Thanks for your replies. Can anyone give more details on this big box to Philipines deal?
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well there are different sizes with different price options.
my two cents - i assume this is some sort of gift to her so you should have put down your foot down. state you are going to send her home with no option of which airline she could fly.
give an inch, and they want the whole arm and leg
"standard practice for westerners" - sit her down and tell her there is no standard for westerners and chinese employers, and that she shouldn't expect and use her past employment experiences and perks as a yardstick
if this is going to be an issue for her ie you not being able to meet her standards, then its time to look for someone else
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I've been flying to Philippines and back via Cebu Pacific and I I don't find it not safe at all. It's probably because of the Cebu airline crashes back then, but those were domestic flights.
I take Cebu especially when I'm tight with my budget and I had to stay a little longer. PAL has ECONOLIGHT tickets that you can purchase via online but it's only max of 10 days. They're as cheap as Cebu and sometimes, cheaper. I purchase this econolight tickets when I'm only travelling for 4 - 5 days to Philippines. Very cheap, only $650 for round trip ticket, tax included.
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I am aghast to read your post, napkin. you are paying her flight as a gift to her, a show of courtesy but she is demanding what her gift should be, and now you are considering to assist her of her wish to "wanted to bring more good stuff from hk to her family", oh my!!!, what a world we are living in!!! can't stand people taking advances like this..I am thinking like, what if I demand the same thing to my boss here in Central, I think I'll be send out the door right the next minute..
Treat our helper with respect, not spoil them is what I would do..
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Napkin - but didn't u ask her to choose from the beginning?
If you are just giving her a gift - why did you ask her to choose. Just give her whatever you want to give her. Or have no holiday back home.
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btw by giving in to her demands... you are setting her so called "western standards" of pay and perks
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Thanks to you all. After asking her if she want to pay the extra to fly with other airelines, I bought her ticket through Cebu at $893, everything included. And she said thanks to me.
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Wiz Bang has a point about setting "Western standards".
For the record, we are very happy to pay extra tickets, shipping boxes to the Philippines and so forth. But our helper has NEVER asked for any of it. Nor would she. Both our helper and we understand that it is a PERK.
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So asking the helper to pay the difference is very effective ...
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i would too... beggars cannot be choosers
and to think that she has only been with you for HALF a year!
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cd
15 yrs ago
My past helpers have always sent the big boxes back to the Phillippines, none have ever asked us to contribute to the cost. They obviously realise that they choose and want to send the stuff back so its a cost that they choose to pay.
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its just surprising to hear someone ask an employer to pay for box to send back home.....isn't that much??? I can give a present for my helper if she have a birthday/ christmas...but will never pay something like that.
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I have never heard of a helper asking for a "box" either. But as I said we have paid for one. We offered. It's a perk to show our appreciation of her hard work and dedication.
If it is "too much" or not depends on you. We didn't feel it was but others probably do.
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We just booked ticket for our helper to go back this summer with Cebu Pacific. She asked me about the bagage allowance from Cebu compared to Cathay or PAL, I checked and also checked the price for same tickets with those 2 companies and simply told her they were too expensive for me to consider, and it would be more economical for her to send a box. I am giving her most of my baby items for her sister who just had a baby, and would have been really shocked if she had asked me to pay for the box, but she didn't. However it is a good idea to 'offer' a box as Xmas gift, I'll keep that in mind !
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mind you - there are several box sizes with varying prices, and price also depends where the box goes to
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As you can get such great deals with both the cebu flights and boxes, we tend to send our helper home once or twice a year (if she wants to go, or we fly someone in her family here) and send one box per year. from the start we offerred her the chance to fly cx but would only cover the cost of cebu (as we would fly with them ourselves). we aren't on expat deals but do go on holidays when we can ourselves. she is fabulous, fits in well with our family, never asks for anything additional over her salary and shows her gratitude in many lovely ways. And as for the flight/box cost of $600, well we do pay that for a meal at a restaurant for our family so i think it is well worth the value. And lastly, we aren't a family who chooses to keep a strict line between the employer/employee relationship, our helper is part of our family. it wasn't so with our last helper, but it works beautifully for us this time around.
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This is an interesting link. hahah. Did the helper specify which class she want to travel?
I think offering her a ticket to Phil and a vacation of 1-2 months is good enough. The most I would do in addition is to give her a bit of cash, say a few hundred, so she can spend it on a box, upgrade herself to another airline, it's up to her.
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