Authority and hypocrisy
Mar. 6th, 2009 12:38 pmI am feeling very uncomfortable.
My brother recently came back to the UK, and hung out at the house of course. He just sent me an email to say he thinks our cleaner's no good. As it's his house and he's paying half towards her employ, I am paying attention. His ideas of cleanliness are based on national caricatures; 6 years on the continent he is Belgian in attitude (it must be spotless) and English in application (it must be someone else's job)
It must be conceded, her work's gone downhill. She turns up late, whips around the house smartish and then goes home long before her hours are up. She turned up yesterday, one eye swollen and puffy, convinced we had arranged for her to work that day. We hadn't. She arrived today, and I gave her her money straight away. I told her that she could use our landline if she needed to make an appointment. Her doctor said she could be seen pretty much immediately, so why she couldn't have made the appoimtment before I don't understand but never mind; I let her go to the doctors, and she has come back with antibiotics for the inflammation. She has asked me if she could come back and do some of the housework next week, I have said she can do the upstairs, the study and the conservatory some other timetm. She will do the downstairs and the bathrom now, and then go home.
Why have I paid her so much this morning before she even started a job she is currently doing badly?
Because we are probably going to stop using her services and I feel guilty as hell.
My brother recently came back to the UK, and hung out at the house of course. He just sent me an email to say he thinks our cleaner's no good. As it's his house and he's paying half towards her employ, I am paying attention. His ideas of cleanliness are based on national caricatures; 6 years on the continent he is Belgian in attitude (it must be spotless) and English in application (it must be someone else's job)
It must be conceded, her work's gone downhill. She turns up late, whips around the house smartish and then goes home long before her hours are up. She turned up yesterday, one eye swollen and puffy, convinced we had arranged for her to work that day. We hadn't. She arrived today, and I gave her her money straight away. I told her that she could use our landline if she needed to make an appointment. Her doctor said she could be seen pretty much immediately, so why she couldn't have made the appoimtment before I don't understand but never mind; I let her go to the doctors, and she has come back with antibiotics for the inflammation. She has asked me if she could come back and do some of the housework next week, I have said she can do the upstairs, the study and the conservatory some other timetm. She will do the downstairs and the bathrom now, and then go home.
Why have I paid her so much this morning before she even started a job she is currently doing badly?
Because we are probably going to stop using her services and I feel guilty as hell.