two maids

[hardship ?]

It was still very much a 'hardship' posting. 

you're joking aren't you ?

you obviously haven't been around much.

[No it's true]

Singapore was considered a hardship posting by most US & UK companies up until 1996 I believe.  It's all based on numbers of books in the libraries, the presence of diseases like malaria and TB, infant mortality rates, etc...

PP:  HR departments assign different levels of hardship (and corresponding compensation) to all the far flung places they send employees.  Singapore while a hardship, was not rated the same as Cote d'Ivoire or Pakistan.

[hardship ?]

Singapore was considered a hardship posting by most US & UK companies up until 1996 I believe.  It's all based on numbers of books in the libraries, the presence of diseases like malaria and TB, infant mortality rates, etc...

PP:  HR departments assign different levels of hardship (and corresponding compensation) to all the far flung places they send employees.  Singapore while a hardship, was not rated the same as Cote d'Ivoire or Pakistan.

Just HR waffle. Speaking realistically, I was also in singapore in the 1980's and it was miles better than some of the places I've worked in SE Asia in the 2000's. and even where I am now in 2010. (central Sumatra)

[always worse places]

so what?  doesn't mean problems don't exist here.  You sound like you work for the gahmen  

[hardship]

Try moving to the UK, which we had to for a few months last year...then you'll get a taste of "hardship posting"!

[reality check]

i wrote the reply a few pages back 'reality check'.
my issue is not having 2 maids.  that is fine i don't have a problem with that.  what i do have a problem with is not being able to look after your children for 1 day a week without help!!!!  that is my issue!!!

[what you see]

.... is not what you get.

i find some areas of the West more of a 'hardship posting' than that in Singapore. at least it's sanitary-clean in SG. sorry, no offence intended ... but just check out some of the public state schools that have not been upgraded since they were built, the old houses and buildings.

lovely to look at from the outside (heritage et al)... but go in and it's seriously OMG.

inside: asbestos, horrifying plumbing and (ad hoc handyman-installed) electrical systems, rusty faucets from the 40s-50s (and kids drink out of these!),  dirt floors in basements, dingy naked light bulbs (which student renters actually live with).... just to name but a few.

outside: gum-splattered streets that no one bothers cleaning ... gutter rats darting through festering dumpsters and urine-splattered walls + streets ...

seriously .... why do first-world people actually live with such conditions and actually tolerate it??

[$Pripps]

.... is not what you get.

i find some areas of the West more of a 'hardship posting' than that in Singapore. at least it's sanitary-clean in SG. sorry, no offence intended ... but just check out some of the public state schools that have not been upgraded since they were built, the old houses and buildings.

lovely to look at from the outside (heritage et al)... but go in and it's seriously OMG.

inside: asbestos, horrifying plumbing and (ad hoc handyman-installed) electrical systems, rusty faucets from the 40s-50s (and kids drink out of these!),  dirt floors in basements, dingy naked light bulbs (which student renters actually live with).... just to name but a few.

outside: gum-splattered streets that no one bothers cleaning ... gutter rats darting through festering dumpsters and urine-splattered walls + streets ...

seriously .... why do first-world people actually live with such conditions and actually tolerate it??

So that is what you get when you are posted as an expat? </sarcasm>

I agree thought that public toilets in the west are a mess in some countries bu then those countries/cities have double the population of Singapore. I wonder how the public facilities here will look like when the pop reaches 6.5 mil. and minimum wages kick in..