Man Uploads Picture To Shame Family For ‘Ill-Treating’ Maid; Apologises After Truth Comes Out

Singaporeans are nice. In fact, when we see injustice done right in front of us, we have that urge to step forward and do something about it.

Most times, we stopped ourselves because we don’t want to get into trouble.

But with the internet, things have changed.

We no longer have to stop ourselves.

Not when we can easily make someone regret their actions easily: by online-shaming them.

But here’s the thing.

You can’t just spread stuff that isn’t true.

Or what happened to this man might just happen to you.

Man Enraged At Family’s Treatment Of Their Maid

We’ve seen this once or twice before.

A family with a maid eating out at a nearby coffee shop. But everybody’s eating except the maid, who looks at the happy family longingly.

Most times, we simply whisper to our eating kakis and judge them.

But not this man.

He decided to take a photo of them and upload it online.

With the caption:

“I absolute HATE people who does(sic) this. You bring your helper out to a restaurant and you don’t give her food. She sits there watching you eat. Where is your heart? Just because she is a maid, she can’t eat at the same time.

I hope y’all get food poisoning.”

The post went viral with over 12,000 retweets.

That’s Not The Full Story

Coming upon a post like this, you can be sure that netizens would be condemning the family.

That’s why it’s called online-shaming, yeah?

But some netizens pointed out that the image might be taken out of context.

Even Xiaxue, Singapore’s very own famous blogger, gave her two cents worth.

She pointed out that there could be other reasons for the domestic helper not eating. And asked how someone could condemn and shame a person without verifying first.

Kudos.

The Alleged True Story

It was then that Twitter user, Meera Semanther (@ponnumbalam) appeared.

She claimed to be a personal friend of one of the women in the photo Vivek uploaded.

Here’s what allegedly happened. Melissa is the domestic helper.

She explained that Lin and her domestic helper have already eaten, and she refused food when they asked.

She also asked for @v_vivekkk to remove his post and offer some kind of public retraction and apology to the family involved.

A Public Apology

So, just like any other decent human being out there, @v_vivekkk had to apologise.

And he did.

He deleted his original tweet and posted this instead.

He clarified that he was angry at the scene and wanted to do something about it. The reason why he decided not to confront the employer directly was that he’s afraid the employer might take it out on the domestic helper.

He emphasised that his post wasn’t racially motivated, but to call out what he thought was a wrong behaviour.

Fascinating.

So moral of the story? Don’t post and attempt to judge someone without knowing what’s going on.