Opinion
Her Blindsiding Story and a Timeless Reminder of Why We All Should Have Go-to-Hell Money
A short story, the memory, and the lesson it triggered
Gaby and Mayra, two hard-working, kind souls, clean two homes a day, 6 days a week. I believe it was their love and devotion to abandoned stray dogs that brought them together, as they are now the caretakers of close to 30 dogs.
They formed a cleaning team in an effort to earn an honest living about two years ago. Yesterday they spent a couple of hours cleaning an area of my garage and storage unit.
When they were almost finished, I brought them their favorite drink of choice — a cold Coke. Gaby began to describe their new cleaning schedule and shared an anecdote of another nightmare home they recently cleaned. She typically shares one of these stories once a month with me.
“Nati — this couple has several dogs and placed artificial turf outside in their garage and patio area. It was covered in dog poo. Why would they even put that? So, while Mayra cleaned inside the house, I battled with cleaning up the patio which was pretty disgusting.”
I squirmed up a little. How do people ask others to clean up after their pets with such disrespect? — I thought to myself.
“Oh — and by the way, even inside the house is gross. When the dogs have an accident, they literally throw a piece of paper over it and just leave it there until we come.”
I raised my eyes in disbelief — I wanted to be measured with my responses and not give away the repugnance I felt.
Mayra chimes in, “Oh — and you can’t imagine the kitchen.”
I then learned about this young couple (in their early 30s) who live near one another. Mayra and Gaby take the whole day, once a week, to clean both the young lady’s house followed by her boyfriend’s.
Mayra explained, “We clean the dirty dishes that accumulate over the week! The grime on the plates is disgusting. There was a bowl that had so much bacteria and growth that when I placed it under the water — it puffed up a cloud of mold and particles right in my face! Agh — it was so gross!”
As much as I wanted to tell them to walk away from this job, I am aware financial needs will force many to work under deplorable and unsafe conditions.
I felt powerless and empty of adequate words to lighten the burden.
“Nat — look, it turns out that the client was pissed off that we were running late that day. So, she decided to let off some steam,” Gaby resumed the story. “She approached me as I was washing the dishes and told me she had a problem with us. She found some flatware and a cup which were not properly cleaned and reamed into me for poor workmanship.”
Gaby tried to stay composed — but even as she recounted the story, I felt the anger and indignation she felt. The nerve of this lady to live and create such filth and then to feel entitled to talk down to fellow human beings about how they didn’t properly clean her disgusting crap. I couldn’t believe my ears.
“So I had two options, Nat. On one hand, I needed this job to pay off a bill that was due that night. Or, I could turn around and tell her off — walking away without the money in hand to pay my bill, holding onto a debt.”
I leaned up on the wall — my hand was to my mouth, my eyes gently narrowed as I fixated on the dilemma staring back at her — feeling the weight of the decision that she battled with for those few seconds.
Gaby finished her story, “I turned around — stared at her, folded my arms and said, ‘ah— okay.’ I couldn’t say anything. I let her finish off her insulting rant and then turned around and kept cleaning. I had to clean up her shit and take it too.”
I had two options: take it and be paid or walk away and hold a debt
As I sought words of comfort and encouragement — I was at a loss. I’ll be honest — I wanted to tell that client off with quite a few choice words. I was fuming — disturbed. I applauded Gaby’s strength, I think — I was so upset, I walked away to go prepare them some sandwiches so that I wouldn’t say the wrong thing.
As I turned away — I remembered that phrase that has never left me, for some odd reason. It was a short anecdote my husband shared with me when he completed his MBA many years ago.
A classmate shared with him(myGuy), “Buddy, make sure, that no matter where you are in life — always have go-to-hell money!!!”
“What do you mean?” asked myGuy.
“Well, employers can be unpredictable. Suppose your employer doesn’t value you or your work, or you’re being disrespected — it is extremely important that you always have options. You do not want to be caught in a situation where you have to keep working for them because you need that paycheck. Protect your options — always have your savings set aside — everyone should have go-to-hell money!”
Everyone should have go-to-hell money!
My heart broke for Gaby and Mayra. Regrettably, they were never taught nor sought to learn money management. They could have managed their finances more wisely — especially since they took another stray dog off the streets 5 days ago.
It’s unfortunate. If she had savings, they would have had the luxury of exercising the option that protected her dignity and not her wallet.
She could have said, “Go to hell!”
