It all started this evening while I was deep cleaning. I am a house worker, of course expected to do everything beyond my wishes. I heard my boss and her daughter chatting. My boss was telling her daughter to go and pray (swali), but the daughter didn't want to. When the mother asked for her iPad, the girl said, "Okay, I'm going." Then I heard the mother saying, "You only want the iPad and not praying."
I kept on cleaning when the girl approached me. She was angry from the look of her face and was so harsh to me, demanding that I open the door. Since I was busy and didn't understand her attitude, I kept doing what I was doing. She came a second time, saying, "Open!" I asked, "What?" She kept saying, "Open." Since I didn't get a proper answer, I kept doing my work. She went and told something to her mother.
The mother came again and said, "Open," and pointed to the door. I asked, "You don't know how to open it?" as I went ahead and opened it. Then the mother called me, and I went—mind you, I was full of sweat, exhausted, and still working, processing this behavior from a child.
I went to the mother, and the only thing she asked was, "Haven't you been answering her? She has been talking to you; why not listen?" With my frustration, I repeated her exact words back to her the way I was treated by the girl. I had no words left. I left and kept doing my work.
The mother followed me and said, "Why don't you listen when the child is talking to you?"
I said, "The door, I already opened it."
She kept on saying, "These are children, do you want them to beg you..."
I said, "No, I don't need to be begged to do something. I just want them to ask politely like, 'Mary, open this for me,' not with anger, begging, or demanding."
Now it is a big problem. The girl is 9 years old—I know the age very well—acting out of disrespect. I didn't mean to make such a big fuss, so I left for the kitchen to keep doing my other chores.
When I finished, I came to my room. I was about to take a break to rest my head, which had been hurting me, and I hadn't eaten anything yet. We woke up, and after I used an hour and a half to rest my head, I went to the kitchen, where I found the sink full of dishes. I washed them.
Then my boss came again and started the same conversation: "Why didn't you want to listen to the girl?" Now the husband (baba) is in the living room, and now she is bringing up another kid, which I never even talked about. She was talking too much, and I had no words to reply, so I kept quiet. Then she said, "Now you don't listen to me. You don't like my kids."
I told her, "I didn't say that," because she was putting words in my mouth.
This whole story started with the door, which I solved earlier, but now it repeats itself, and I am being reminded, "We are like family." When the kids go to the supermarket, they say, "Mama, buy this for the house girl (shagala)," and they bring it to me—so why is all of this being put into one negative category? I am being questioned if she is good to me, and I said yes. Then she said, "If you want to leave this work, you can go."
Mind you, I was asked if the children are stressful to me, which I asked her back: "Stress?" In my brain, everything here is stressful—work, pressure, even necessary things I am expected to do. If I don't smile, I will be questioned, but when I try to take a break, I am being told I am doing nothing. Trust me, everything here is too much, and I can't help but regret my choice.
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
romaincrisis