[white trash redneck]

What an incredible snapshot of dysfunctional Saudi society this gives! And the whining tone is priceless.

Apparently in SA one is not even free to choose the terms of one's employment. I doubt these maids had violated contracts, otherwise the article would have mentioned this, in addition to these unfortunate women's other "sins."

[Seruzawa]

Horrors! How dreadful! What must these poor abused Saudis put up with? A shortage of caviar? How sad.

[nuconvert]

"Cases of Asian maids running away and leaving their employers in desperate situations ..."

My first big laugh of the morning.
Thank you

[kittymyrib]

This Saudi crisis, of maids refusing to be used as slaves, is much more upsetting to their society and government than the fact that they are a breeding ground for murderous fanatics who are the scourge of the planet. If we can engineer our way out of our oil economy, we will not have to deal with these insane tribesmen in the future. I'd gladly pay an extra 25 cents a gallon for gas just for that pleasure.

[TomGuy]

While on holiday they met a potential housemaid who they employed for a month to see how she worked. Rashed and his family found the woman well behaved, hard working and displaying good manners but as soon as the family brought the woman to Riyadh she vanished into thin air.

Rashed was left heartbroken and upset. “She tricked us, she had it all planned,” he said.

Where's my tissue? That story literally brought tears to my eyes. Maybe she was just a 'fig'ment of their imaginations. I can't see the monitor; I can't stop laughing.

[TomGuy]

Many maids enter the Kingdom legally and then run away to work in lucrative illegal networks to be paid up to SR1,200 a month.

Hey Vincente Fox!!!

[DejaJude]

I'm curious as to why they want indentured servants from Asia. Are there no Saudi women that will work as maids? Why go to the time and expense of importing them?

[TomGuy]

The Ministry of Social Affairs and police deal with the responsibility of runaway maids at the Center for Maids Affairs.

Mattie 'the Maid' Albright should have set up such an office at the State Department.

[Unbelievable that a government would have an official Center for Maids Affairs. And they call us decadent and infidels.]

[Gay State Conservative]

According to Al-Watan newspaper, many Saudis complain that the Ministry of Labor is doing very little to protect their rights as more and more maids run away.

As in every other aspect of life,islam has the answer.Seize these ungrateful infidels and give them 50 lashes...for a first offense.

For a second offense...stoning in front of the village mosque.

[mtbopfuyn]

a working woman and mother of a three-year-old, complained of her housemaid who ran away a week after her brother’s maid disappeared leaving her in a desperate situation of having to juggle household chores with work and children

Oh, the horrors!

[VeritatisSplendor]

I wonder how much it does cost to bring a maid in - air fare, agency fees, gov't bond and permit. Of course all these get withheld from the maid's salary...but if she jumps ship early the poor employer is out some money! So hard to get good help...

Mrs VS

[SampleMan]

Substitute "slave" for "maid" and the article makes more sense from the Saudi perspective.

[Sender]

...leaving her in a desperate situation of having to juggle household chores with work and children.

A desperate situation of chores, work and children? Tell that to any American woman.

[elhombrelibre]

Saudis whining about the servant problem is rich with irony. Most of these loafers won't hit a lick of work but become desperate if the Filipinas hit the road. Shocking. The horor. The horor.

[mpoulin]

The Ministry of Social Affairs and police deal with the responsibility of runaway maids at the Center for Maids Affairs. The center employs receptionists to follow up complaints and a number of female workers supervise detained maids and ensure the women are given food and shelter.

As opposed to what? Being starved and beaten?

[6SJ7]

"Center for Maids Affairs". Sounds French.

[TheSpottedOwl]

If the pay was good, the living conditions tolerable, why would they run away? Maybe the "Master" left a couple of details out of the job description???

[daybreakcoming]

My imaginary maids keep running away too. Could it be that I spend too much time on FR?

[D1X1E]

just hilarious. oh how terrible they have to clean or care for their own house and children. lol omg

[Alouette]

FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry ping list.

Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.

[Cicero]

This reminds me of the old days, when some of my richer friends of an older generation used to complain endlessly about the "servant problem," something I'm happy to say I have never experienced.

But unlike the Saudis, American bluebloods generally refrained from beating their maids, raping them, locking them in closets, or neglecting to pay them.

Some of the more genteel parts of America used resemble P.G. Woodhouse; someone might lure your chef or butler away with an offer of higher pay. In Saudi Arabia, it's more like what you read about in the history of Islam, when Arabs had Christian slaves whose were expected to obey every whim of their masters or suffer the consequences.