This evening my friend and I went to a restaurant called Big Chill, which is an italian joint complete with actual thin crust pizza, the best pasta around, and floor to ceiling decorated with old movie posters from Phantom of the Opera and Spiderman. Its one of those places that the percentage of ex pats is slightly higher. We had fresh baked pita bread with the most delicious hummus, followed by four cheese thin crust pizza with fresh pineapple and apple juice, and bravely set aside the full six pages of desserts.
And yet something still perturbed us. Sitting immediately behind me was one woman, sitting alone, eating no food. She was the maid of a family eating nearby, brought along to take care of the children in case they misbehaved. But she did not sit with the family, nor did they order her any of the delicious and relatively inexpensive food that they were enjoying. My friend was the first to notice it, my back being to them, and she had the uncomfortable experience of eating our meal while watching the poor woman sitting alone with nothing even to drink in this, well, blatantly western environment. The complete rudeness of it all, above more grand sociological ideologies or cultural practices, was most striking of anything.
As live in maids are still something that is near foreign to me, this whole scenario really kind of blows my mind. This is not by any means the norm, I don't think, or I'd like not to think. My friend explained that in her experience, maids are really a part of the family. If you go out to look at Christmas lights, they come along in the car with you. If you go out, and want to bring them alone, they sit at the same table, share conversation, eat with you, etc. You know, normal human manners and decency.
Seeing something like that is awkward and sad, and overwhelmingly confusing to my mind.
And yet something still perturbed us. Sitting immediately behind me was one woman, sitting alone, eating no food. She was the maid of a family eating nearby, brought along to take care of the children in case they misbehaved. But she did not sit with the family, nor did they order her any of the delicious and relatively inexpensive food that they were enjoying. My friend was the first to notice it, my back being to them, and she had the uncomfortable experience of eating our meal while watching the poor woman sitting alone with nothing even to drink in this, well, blatantly western environment. The complete rudeness of it all, above more grand sociological ideologies or cultural practices, was most striking of anything.
As live in maids are still something that is near foreign to me, this whole scenario really kind of blows my mind. This is not by any means the norm, I don't think, or I'd like not to think. My friend explained that in her experience, maids are really a part of the family. If you go out to look at Christmas lights, they come along in the car with you. If you go out, and want to bring them alone, they sit at the same table, share conversation, eat with you, etc. You know, normal human manners and decency.
Seeing something like that is awkward and sad, and overwhelmingly confusing to my mind.
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