DUH GOT A LOT O’ THINGS I could tell you happening all ’bout in Barbados dat does really irk me, and one of dem is the hassle some people go through every day just tuh keep a job or even just tuh say dat duh working somewhere. Different people call dem by different names.
I come along and hear some people calling dem maids or servants but nowadays ya does hear a few people calling dem “my help” or “the girl who comes in tuh clean”, but recently I have been reading a lot about the domestics. Dat is the name duh calling dem now, soul, as if dat makes any kinda difference tuh the way some o’ dem domestics does get treated by some o’ the people they does work for.
Now some o’ these domestics have been working day in and day out, week in and week out, year in and year out in the same job and wid the same people, in the same house fuh years. Some o’ dem have worked wid a particular family from the time the couple only had two children who they had tuh look after from the time duh land in the house in the morning till duh leave sometime in the late evening.
Today, some o’ these children are all grown up. Some even married and have families of duh own and the family dat you, the domestic, start wid, duh children and now duh grandchildren still seeing you hobbling coming in tuh work, could hardly walk, doing the same thing evah single day like from the time dem was babies; and evahbody still calling you Martha or Germaine or Jones.
I know a good few domestics and I ain’t gine tell you nuh lie: I ain’t know how the France dem does do it. Some o’ the people they work for are so damn unreasonable and unconscionable, as my mother would say.
You would think dat when the weekend come these ne’er do well people who doan be home during the week nor do squat in duh very own home would want tuh spend some private quality time alone pon a weekend wid duh families but noooooooo! The maid got tuh come tuh work tuh cook fuh dem even pon a Sunday.
I know a woman who does work ’pon Sundays and bank holidays. Ya know how the buses does run ’pon dem days – and she does have tuh get two vans or buses tuh get tuh work.
The other day I had tuh ask she why she cahn tell the mistress, as she does call the woman, dat she want tuh have her Sundays off tuh at least spend wid her family. The woman look at me like she ain’t had nuh kinda say in the matter; like she in a hopeless place and she does be pon she two foot all day like a slave. You evah notice dat most o’ dem old maids does have problems wid duh feet?
My sister was telling me ’bout a friend o’ hers whose mother is a domestic. The woman say dat she see the mistress starting tuh act a li’l strange when she cook and eat some o’ the food; so my sister say dat the daughter went out and buy she mother a good big food flask so dat she could cook she food and carry it tuh work wid her when the days come. She say dat the girl told her mother dat if the mistress start tuh talk ’bout a cup o’ tea, she gine buy she another flask dat she could carry tuh work she tea too.
I ain’t know how I could be in at somebody place evah single day, cleaning duh house, looking after duh children and cooking duh food and doan even eat some o’ the very same food dat I just cook fuh dem. The Bible say, doan muzzle the ox dat treadeth the corn.
We had a friend from one o’ the islands who was a live-in maid right here in Barbados. Look, the girl use tuh do evah single thing in the house, including looking after the dogs, and dem people had dat girl so good dat when it was her off day because she didn’t know anybody she would stay in her room, reading or just relaxing.
And would you believe dat dem still would be calling she tuh do things in the house fuh the children?
We met her at our church and start tuh give her a ride as she live on our way home and we started tuh talk. Well, soon she was getting picked up on the off day so she get out o’ the house. The girl start tuh relax and enjoy the li’l time away from the lot o’ wuk.
Next thing ya know, the three-year contract was up and she tell dem dat she gine go home and come back. Well, she went back home fuh true, but duh ain’t see she back yet.
• Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.