tawandamusarurwa
SOME jobs are just thankless.
No matter how much effort you put in and the quality of skill you apply, all you get is ridicule and a half-hearted thank you.
In fact, the harder you try to please the master by executing your duties at an exceptionally high level, the more you are accused of being too ambitious or seeking to take over the master’s seat.
I am writing here with housemaids in mind.
These women — who work hard daily to make our homes habitable and see to it that we live in fresh and clean environments — go through a lot in an average day’s work.
Maids wake up in the dead of the night to prepare children for school and adults for work by ensuring breakfast is prepared on time and clothes are neatly ironed so that the hosts go about their business unhindered.
Although most of their employers do not want to admit it, some housemaids are pretty good at what they do.
They are also very good cooks, with so much patience that they are able to deliver healthy and well-cooked food for their employers, yet all they get is ridicule, embarrassment and measly wages that make it difficult for them to send their own children and other relatives to school.
Rarely does one get a maid who is able to buy a loaf of bread for her children daily.
Worse, in some homes, maids are not allowed to consume the food they prepare for their employers and families.
“Ah, ah, vasikana, ini maid wangu must never eat from the same pot with me. Eating the same food gives them a false sense of equality, which, in the long run, will make her challenge some of the decisions I make,” I heard a female workmate saying to her colleagues recently.
“She must confine herself to her own space.
“We are different and that is a fact of life she has to contend with,” my female workmate shamelessly continued.
Derogatively referred to as “sisi”, “auntie”, “tete”, “mainini”, “kitchen technician”, “mop driver” or “spoon and turner”, housemaids are sitting on massive content that can make them produce top-selling movies centred on their personal work experiences.
It can be worse when visitors pop in, because the maids are treated as second-class citizens, who are immediately told to sleep in the garage to make way for the visitor.
Yours truly was recently told that some maids are made to sleep in passages, even when there are unoccupied bedrooms.
Did you know that in some households, it is illegal for housemaids to strike conversations with husbands of their employers?
Some of them suffer the ignominy of being bashed by their employers’ children and all they do is bottle up for fear of losing their jobs.
Unreasonable employers, their children, relatives and friends quench their sexual appetite on the maids, who largely keep quiet to ensure they remain employed.
Some lady employers neither wash their undergarments nor do they spread their beds; they often leave all this work for the maid.
Gentle reader, being a maid is a tough call.
When leaving for the holidays like Easter or Christmas, maids usually have their bags searched on suspicion they would have stolen something from the home.
While some maids, indeed, steal, it is not a one-size-fits-all affair.
However, some maids hit back by cleaning the toilets with their employer’s toothbrushes or abusing the phone, showing the relationship between them and their employers is not so rosy.
As we celebrate Women’s Month, let us spare a thought for the maid..
Inotambika mughetto.
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Online Reporter