I am a maid, or was a maid before I ended up in this beautiful village in Italy, taking in the incredible sun, enjoying delicious dishes and going dancing every night. I love to clean, and honestly I don’t know or understand why the word “maid “ comes with some stigma or why it gets such a bad rap.There’s just something about putting on gloves and scrubbing, washing dishes, organizing, doing laundry or cleaning out a fridge that is so rewarding to me,cleaning calms me down in various ways and of course the appreciation that comes from the person you work for which is very rare in this line of work. Did You know that you can find out so much about a person just by emptying their trash can, or cleaning their room?, you can find out what kind of food they like, what kind of books they read, even their mood that day, you can tell how a person feels by the way they leave their room or organize their stuff.Before I started a semi successful online cleaning business,finding work was hard especially in suburban areas which sucked because that’s where the big bucks were. I tried to get a job with the cleaning agencies but most of them weren’t hiring and one place rejected me because I didn’t “fit their profile “, their fancy way of saying that I was too black for them but they offered me a complimentary business card for some weird reason. My online ad generated a few jobs here and there but not enough to keep paying rent, to pay off my student loans or ever go to Europe like I wanted to.

Before I met my boss Connor, I wasn’t working full time for anyone, I just cleaned a couple of homes and my biggest customers were hoarders who suddenly decided to get rid of some of their stuff but most of them eventually relapsed back into their old ways, they weren’t very consistent but they paid well.
I was running low on cash so I made fliers and distributed them in hopes of landing a client. I waited for days, nothing was coming from online and from the fliers so I went door to door, I had the door slammed in my face twice till I got to Connor’s door,when I knocked he looked me up and down and waved me in, he was on the phone but quickly got off and said “ You must be from Lotus cleaning, you don’t look like their usual girl but i said no Asians or Mexicans and I did fire the last two girls so I guess I’m stuck with you. You will work full time but you can’t stay here, you have to commute, I will pay for your bus passes so you have no excuse to be late. I love my house spotless at all times and never ever leave my sink wet, it grosses me out, work begins at 6 and ends at 9 after my dinner, your uniform is in the other room you must wear it at all times,any questions??”

“No sir “ I answered

As I left for home I was excited about certain aspects of the job, like the pay and not so happy about wearing a uniform but at least I had a full time job now, I could start saving up. Connor was good enough to me for a while, he was polite most of the time, rarely made a mess and although he never asked my name and just addressed me as maid,working there was a breeze. I kept holding my breath hoping that he’d never ask about my credentials from the cleaning company I was supposedly from but he never did. One evening,I was in the kitchen washing dishes when he entered with the police, he had called them because he had misplaced his Rolex. He told them that he thought I had stolen it, luckily for me, one of the officers was a black lady and insisted that instead of just arresting me they should try looking for it. The other officer refused to help look but she helped me look for it and lo and behold we found the watch lying under one of the many throw pillows in Connor’s sofa, the police woman handed him the watch back and proceeded to leave

“ Thank you so much m’aam, I would have ended up in jail tonight if not for your help “ I said

“ You’re welcome, we need to stick together, stay safe sister “ she responded.


I knew I wasn’t going to get an apology from Connor but I expected it and I was gravely disappointed, he didn’t utter a word, he just went back and put the watch back in his safe. As I heard him enter the numbers into his safe I decided that I was going to rob him, heck call me a thief?, might as well prove it. After weeks of deciding whether or not I was a thief I decided to just do it. Here was the plan, I was going to drug him and then rob him blind, however my whole plan hinged on him not changing his safe combination so I had to move fast.“ I hope to God that he is not paranoid “ I thought to myself.


I went to the pharmacy and bought some tranquilizers and crushed them up, that night when I made dinner I mixed it in with the food and waited for them to kick in, I put some in his water too just in case anything went wrong. When he fell asleep, I walked into his study, said a little prayer and typed in the numbers I had heard a while ago and boom, the safe opened up. I expected some cash but not a lot but it was the opposite, there were stacks and stacks of cash, 4 different types of Rolex watches and some jewelry. I took all the cash, two diamond necklaces and two Rolex watches and closed the safe.

That night I packed my bags and went to the nearest pawn shop I could find and pawned off the jewelry and the watches, between the cash and the money from the jewelry I had a lot of money, I had never seen so much money in my life. I then booked a flight to Italy and headed to the airport to wait. My next move was to put a dent in my student loans which I was going to do once I had settled down in Italy and had access to internet, and then I could finally relax and see Europe, enjoy the little things, maybe even start my own cleaning company, the possibilities were endless.Poor Connor, he was never going to be able to find me, he didn’t know my name because he never cared to ask and because he cried wolf to the police earlier, hopefully no one would believe him.

The end