How does your helper address you?

kahling

Registered User
Hi All
Wondering how your helpers address you (and your partner?) eg by first name, Mrs XXX, etc?

:thanks
 
I hate being called Ma'am so keep insisting that my helper calls me Barb. She can manage this but I?ve noticed she can?t cope with the idea of calling my husband by his first name so he gets Sir!
 
ma'am & sir. i live with my in-laws, so they'r called "mrs" & "mr" it's always been like this in this household. i think it's a chinese custom thing to have helpers call you ma'am & sir. chinese amah would call the father "Lo Yeh" sons "Dai Siu" even the driver calls me "Yee Siu Lai" (wife of the second son)
 
We asked our 1st helper to use our first names, and for some reason she felt uncomfortable doing so, so we were called 'Sorry' for 2 years.
The 2nd one started calling us ma'am & sir and we accepted that. When referring to the other one, we are ma'am + first name and sir + first name.
We call her 'Auntie' to our daughter.
 
calls me 'ah-teh' (sister in tagalog), or mum
my husband 'goo-ya' (brother in tagalog),
my mom 'por-por' (grandma in cantonese), and
my dad 'gung-gung' (grandpa in cantonese).

She recently promoted herself from domestic helper to 'yaya' status (apparently yaya/nanny is considered higher ranking then DH for filipina standard).

We call her by her name if we want something. We call her 'yaya' or 'tse-tse' (sister in cantonese) when we want something for our boy.

Yes, there are a lot of different names flying around in our family.
 
The first one I had tried to call me Madam, but after she saw me wince, she switched to ma'am.

I believe most Fillipino helpers are taught to call their employers Ma'am & Sir.
 

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