Slavery Is Back

I might just be able to have a houseboygirl in the States when we finally move back, after all! On a serious note, this is NOT acceptable. Not at all.

It is going to be one heck of a wake up call, though, for me, when we are again living in the States and I don't have someone coming every day to vacuum, dust, clean bathrooms, wash floors... When we first moved here, DH said "We don't need a houseboy." We didn't have one for the first three months that we were here. A young man who got our name and telephone number from a friend kept calling and asking if we needed his services. I said yes. And, although I have had a difficult time keeping houseboys - because I am far too particular and fussy - it is a part of the lifestyle that I know I am going to miss after we leave.

HB1613, Inam, has been back with us for two months now. He is doing a fabulous job. He is slow. Very slow. But he does do a really good job with the tasks that I assign him. I was sure that by paying him a monthly salary versus hourly he would pick his pace up to get his work done in a more timely manner. I was wrong. It is taking him even longer. His choice. I have decided that if he continues doing the work like he has been doing it that I will give him a raise after six months. He will never want to leave!

On the bright side, for him, I pay him at the end of the month - on time. I don't raise my voice or yell at him. I don't beat him with a mop or broom. And, he is not "locked up" in our garage without food or water or any light. I think that, even though the job of being a "houseboy" is certainly not one that anyone would aspire to be whilst growing up, it is a desired position in the "big picture" for many men on this side of the world. It certainly beats being outside laboring and toiling in the heat and sun of the long summer months, here.