My second cleaning job
When I was in high school, I desperately needed money for college. My schedule was already quite structured, so I was looking for something I could do in a flexible manner. I saw a sign on the bulletin board at school that a woman was looking for someone to come clean her house. $4.00 an hour. I contacted the administrative office of the high school and gave them my information, that was how it was done.
I got this weird call a couple of days later from a voice that sounded like a robot. I did not know what to make of it. It was Mrs. E, calling about me cleaning her house. She had a cleaning lady for many years who had needed surgery and would need to recover for a long time ,so Mrs. E. needed a temporary substitute on Saturdays. I was a bit frightened about the electronic voice. I pictured a very old, decrepit lady in a wheelchair who would be communicating with a computer like Stephen Hawking.
I went to see her a week or two later. She was not decrepit at all, but she did have a tracheotomy. The device she used looked like a microphone and she held it to the hole in her throat and it made the words as she talked. It was not nearly so disconcerting to see her doing it in person. Later, when I got to know her better, she would use a kind of forced-air type of technique that sounded like burp talking, but always when she wanted to be perfectly clear she used the microphone.
Now, I had a cleaning job before Mrs. E, at a company my uncle worked for. My boyfriend and I at the time were messing around in the office building late at night, and we photocopied our private parts. We weren’t very careful and one of the photocopies got left out where everyone could see it when they came in the next morning. I was never accused of it directly, but I was given a big check and told not to come back.
Mrs. E, ran a small insurance business out of her home. As a result, she had a job application for me to fill out. I had to put my cleaning job on it, but I didn’t know what to write for reason why I left. I put “I was terminated”. Later Mrs. E, told me never to write that you were terminated, but to write “staff reduction.”
Mrs. E had a lot to say when I would come over, about the right way to raise kids, about when she was a teacher, about her leadership in the local business community. I can’t remember most of what she talked about but I remember being captivated by her effervescence and her ability to command attention even with the debilitating tracheotomy and burp talk. Needless to say, she was an ardent anti-smoking advocate, she had had cancer of the larynx and had to have it removed after many years of puffing away.
Eventually, Mrs. E’s regular cleaning lady got better, and my services were no longer needed. Mrs. E said I was a “gem” and that if I ever needed a recommendation, she would be happy to give it. For some reason, even though this woman was a role model and someone whose opinion was valued in my community, I never needed to use her name.
I got this weird call a couple of days later from a voice that sounded like a robot. I did not know what to make of it. It was Mrs. E, calling about me cleaning her house. She had a cleaning lady for many years who had needed surgery and would need to recover for a long time ,so Mrs. E. needed a temporary substitute on Saturdays. I was a bit frightened about the electronic voice. I pictured a very old, decrepit lady in a wheelchair who would be communicating with a computer like Stephen Hawking.
I went to see her a week or two later. She was not decrepit at all, but she did have a tracheotomy. The device she used looked like a microphone and she held it to the hole in her throat and it made the words as she talked. It was not nearly so disconcerting to see her doing it in person. Later, when I got to know her better, she would use a kind of forced-air type of technique that sounded like burp talking, but always when she wanted to be perfectly clear she used the microphone.
Now, I had a cleaning job before Mrs. E, at a company my uncle worked for. My boyfriend and I at the time were messing around in the office building late at night, and we photocopied our private parts. We weren’t very careful and one of the photocopies got left out where everyone could see it when they came in the next morning. I was never accused of it directly, but I was given a big check and told not to come back.
Mrs. E, ran a small insurance business out of her home. As a result, she had a job application for me to fill out. I had to put my cleaning job on it, but I didn’t know what to write for reason why I left. I put “I was terminated”. Later Mrs. E, told me never to write that you were terminated, but to write “staff reduction.”
Mrs. E had a lot to say when I would come over, about the right way to raise kids, about when she was a teacher, about her leadership in the local business community. I can’t remember most of what she talked about but I remember being captivated by her effervescence and her ability to command attention even with the debilitating tracheotomy and burp talk. Needless to say, she was an ardent anti-smoking advocate, she had had cancer of the larynx and had to have it removed after many years of puffing away.
Eventually, Mrs. E’s regular cleaning lady got better, and my services were no longer needed. Mrs. E said I was a “gem” and that if I ever needed a recommendation, she would be happy to give it. For some reason, even though this woman was a role model and someone whose opinion was valued in my community, I never needed to use her name.
posted by EMLB at 4:44 PM
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