2002-11-07 - 7:39 p.m.
FIGHTING OVER MONEY
I must like to fight. This fight, however, is just strange. I’ve never been in one like it before. The fight is about money. I’m trying to pay more and my cleaning lady is afraid that if she takes the extra money I’ll expect more. I couldn’t possibly insult her by telling her that I pay her mainly for the discipline it imposes on us to straighten and for my absolute trust in her having a key to my house.
The fight started a month or so ago when she came to me and sheepishly requested a small raise. I thought about what I paid her. I thought about what I’d been paying her for years. I thought about what it would cost me to get someone else in—and I balked. She was right that I owed her a raise. What she was wrong about was how much of a raise I owed her. I realized that, without thinking about it, I had been taking advantage.
After much dickering, I believed we had it resolved. We had split the difference between what she wanted and what I thought I should pay. Two times she came to clean since then and two times Mr. Philately has left her the check on the table. I assumed we were all happy. I assumed wrong.
The last time I came home to a clean house, I also came home to a post-it note on my kitchen table. She feels guilty. She feels we are paying her too much. She wants to go to the figure she requested. I feel guilty paying her that but I’ve concluded that I should not be making her uncomfortable both for moral and practical reasons. Heck, I need her more than she knows.
So Mr. Philately and I got together and talked. It seemed so clear. We should pay her what she is worth to us. Now that she’s so upset, though, we’re not sure that forcing the money on her is good. The more we think about it, the more it seems wrong. So we’ve come up with a plan. We’re going to pay her what she wants.
But I think the poor woman is going to faint when she sees her Christmas bonus.
LAST YEAR: The Real Problem of Boredom
LAST FIVE ENTRIES:
Terribly Sad Just the Same
The Man I Married
The Blister
Bullying
Just What the World Needs
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Copyright 2006 by Ellen |
