My husband and I are still pretty young: he’s 26 and I’m 24. And we had big plans for the future. But last year my idyllic life was interrupted – I was laid off, and I am temporarily unemployed. Fortunately, Robert and his brother and sister work for a construction company, so we have an income.
When we got married, Robert’s parents asked me to live with them in the house.
Diane argued that it would be a blow for Robert to move now. It was his childhood home, besides, it had been repaired for a long time by the whole family, and now it was as good as new. Their house was really big, beautiful, and spacious, and since I had no family of my own and little money, I couldn’t refuse. As time went on, I began to realize that I was becoming the object of harassment.
At first just in passing, and then it blatantly turned into humiliation. My father-in-law started teasing that I was eating at their expense, that I was poor. My sister-in-law makes fun of my hair, my skin, my eyes, my body, making up crap about my pimples and dandruff, or my clothes being soiled. And my brother-in-law doesn’t say hello to me at all.
One day I couldn’t stand it, went up to Diane, my mother-in-law, and bluntly told her that I was very uncomfortable with my current situation and that maybe it was time for Robert and I to think about moving out.
My mother-in-law, leaning on the balcony railing, looked at me and said:
– “Well, first of all, if you leave here, Robert will be fired from the company. And you haven’t worked for a year now. Without income you won’t even be able to pay the rent.
After a second pause, she added:
– Wouldn’t you like to work for us?
– You? – I asked inexplicably.
– Well, yes, we could use a housekeeper. I did not want to offer you without a reason, and what else you think, but since you have such Napoleonic plans are outlined … We are willing to pay you three thousand a week if you will clean the house. And temporarily forget about moving out.
So my husband’s family wants me to be their maid?
On the one hand, why not, an extra $12,000 a month. But… The house is huge, and it would be hard to keep it in order, and I already clean it because I live here. But now they want me to take three thousand a week from them.
And with the kind of attitude I’m getting from my relatives now, I’m afraid they might start bullying me and pushing me around like an errand girl. Maybe it’s a trap!
I don’t want that kind of salary, because that money would bring me humiliation. I thanked my mother-in-law and told her I preferred the free cleaning as a form of gratitude for giving me a place to live and feeding me. But now they are saying that I have a big ego, and I already regret that I made the decision so quickly, because I still have to live with them.
Is the girl right in this situation?
