It was a normal morning when the incident occurred. I was half-awake half asleep in bed, trying to summon the will to get up out of the coziness and make some decisions about how to spend my day. Padua had seemed a good idea the night before except now it seemed to be a grey day, constantly drizzling and a bit chilly.
Just when I came to the conclusion breakfast was a postive first step in the decision making process I heard two female voices suddenly begin arguing upstairs in the kitchen.
I kind of froze on my bed, trying not to hear but also, because at heart everyone is a snoop, strained my hardest to hear what was happening. It seemed to me that my hostess and her house maid were having one hell of an argument. At first I couldn't believe it was them fighting, because the house maid has always seemed docile and my own hostess is about as intimidating as a butterfly. I have never heard her raise her voice ever. Except for maybe when the oldest will not do his maths homework.
Just when I thought it could not get worse, they became louder and more aggressive. Finally it ended. I decided to avoid the kitchen area (because the post-fall-out-awkward-silence would be murderous to sit crunching museli to), took a shower and headed out about 20 minutes later. I called my hostess to let her know that I would be back by 3pm but didn't reach her. Two seconds later she calls me back, chirpy and cheerful as ever (she is the kind of person who can have a laugh at anything at anytime, she is just a very positive humorous person) and after telling me my plans were absolutely fine ('Please! Yes! Go explore! Do what you want!') she apologised profusely as I must have heard her row with the house maid.
Yes...I did, I confessed, and I asked if everything is ok, if she was ok? It wasn't, my hostess confided in me, because in fact since my arrival the house maid has been misbehaving very badly...my hostess explained the trouble began almost two weeks ago when the maid had called my hostess up on her mobile to tell her that there was a huge mess left behind in the children's attic playroom. What the maid really meant was that I, the au pair, did not do my duty and clean up after playing with the children. My hostess corrected the maid, informing her she had been there with us, playing too (that day we were both building railway tracks for the little one) and on her instruction we had left things as they were to go have dinner. I remember this day, and yes this is what happended.
Furthermore the maid just a few days ago called again. My hostess being busy asked her to call back a bit later, but the maid insisted it was incredibly important and she had to meet with my hostess in person to discuss it. They met and the terribly important information she needed to get off her chest was that I had left a mug in the sink. But worst of all, I had left it in the sink without its matching saucer....riiiight. I remember this as well, the only reason I did not wash the mug and put it away or put it in the dishwasher was because the maid was peeling carrots over the sink, and standing in front of the dishwasher, which is below. I did not want to interrupt her for peeling carrots seemed important to her at the time, so I left it, thinking she would have no problem tossing it in the dishwasher with the other dirty plates left there when she had finished. Wrong. Apparently.
I have mentioned already how meticulous I am when it comes to keeping this house I am staying in clean. If I eat something, I put it away, wash everything used, dry it and put it back in its place without fail. The other night I spent almost 20 minutes packing away the monsters, dinosaurs, puzzles, the Disney Monopoly, tennis balls and lego left behind when I was playing with the two little ones. The day before that I spent 40 minutes cleaning my own bathroom. 4 nights out of 5 I set the table after dinner ready for breakfast the next day, complete with wiping down the table and clearing it beforehand.
No one can say that I don't pull my weight when it comes to helping out my hosts and their family with keeping the house neat and tidy. Thankfully my hostess is such a wonderful person and I have her absolute confidence in this matter. She is more than aware of my contribution to the housekeeping, just tonight she told me 'Miranda, no please, do not clean the pans, go rest! Thank you for your help today!'
Back to the phone conversation, I asked my hostess what was going on? Why was the Maid acting out? She told me not to worry, she said knows what it is: the maid is simply jealous of me. I couldn't believe it.
My hostess continued, informing me that the fight I overheard escalated because apparently I had left a mess in the kitchen (lies. I did no such thing) and the maid had once again tried to turn my hostess against me. My hostess told the maid she was crazy and behaving like a child. The maid responded with a number of terrible hurtful things in response, not directed at me but sadly at my hostess including that by employing me, my hostess had insulted her. The maids insults only ended once my hostess accused her outright of being jealous of me. The maid apparently then fell silent.
So yes, this news came as quite a surpise because the maid strangely enough is actually quite decent to me in person. When she makes orange juice for the children, she will make me one too (that said I am kind of scared she has been spitting in it now or something, eww), she also says Ciao to me when she leaves and will happily cook me lunch should I be home during the day. Once when she was running late I took over peeling and cooking the carrots; we have worked as a team and she even thanked me numerous times. We do not speak much, this is true, but I always put it down to the fact that we cannot understand each other. She does not speak english and I do not speak Spanish. We more often than not communicate with each other through the children who can translate and this is only if we have to.
The girl comes from Ecuador, and it surprised me greatly when I found out that she was just 19. I confess I have been quite impressed with her ability to multi-task and her strong sense of independence because I didn't have it at that age. She also has a good rapport with the kids, strengthened I think by the fact she can speak Italian. But she also has a worldliness about her that has made me more than happy to place my trust in her abilities in the kitchen and with the ironing board. She is good at what she does.
So to find out that someone with whom you thought you got along well with actually is plotting against you is a little....weird.
Long story short, my hostess told the girl she can follow her rules or resign. My hostess is such a darling she doesn't want to fire anyone even a maid who has the audacity to tell her employer that her family is bad and that they don't respect her (they absolutely do, they treat her like a daughter). And I am comforted knowing that my hostess has not believed a single false word said against me, and has been defending me all along. I am so thankful for her kindness and trust.
In one sense I can understand why maybe the maid feels this way. Maybe she sees this family as her project, more importantly as her own. She sees herself as being necessary to their functioning, and now I am here the lines have been confused regarding the limitations and expectations of The Help's duties. We both take care of the children, we both clean, we both pick up the kids from school, we both feel attached to the family, we both want the hostess and her children to love us. Maybe she is worried that in the hours she spends peeling carrots I am becoming besties with the children over lego and readings of 'The Adventures of Richard Scarry.' That said though I do think she is still in a way more intimate with the children than I am, she shouldn't be feeling any jealousy when she still baths, feeds and dresses them more often than I do and can speak to them all the while in Italian.
Then again jealousy is not a rational thing, it tears apart even the most stable of marriages, happiest of friendships and strongest of teams..While I don't know really why she is jealous, the ferosity of her feelings are alarming to both my hostess and myself. What is more sinister is actually the calm with which she deals with me. She does not ignore me, she does not mistreat me, she is just there a presence that I know is silently seething with rage directed at me...*shudder*
My hostess actually ended up calling the agency she found the Maid through and explained the situation to the manager. He burst into laughter and told her that this is a common problem, maid's are more often than not jealous of the Au Pair of the house. He hears it all the time. He said giver her an ultimatum or find another maid and try again.
Common or not this problem, I just hope she hasn't been slowly poisoning me, or that she has some friends in the mafia.
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