Dear Maria
Dear Maria, You come to clean our apartment every other Tuesday and you've been coming for years. I wonder if the way I feel about your coming here is some vague liberal guilt or something else, some sense that we should all be cleaning our own houses shouldn't we? When I try to rationalize when I tell myself that I am not a good cleaner no one can know how to do everything you need the work we are fair employers when I try to add up all that is good and not so good about hiring someone to clean our house even though I'm not a good cleaner I'm still not sure maybe it would be better if I figured out a way for you to get a different job I've asked many times what you would like to do you who live in Queens with your husband and kids and 12 siblings all in the same building you who came from Ecuador to make some money to send to your mother to help your kids you who took the path that all our relatives took mine too they came here and wanted us to have a good education you do too your daughter says she'll be a doctor even so it's hard not to want to have a conversation does everything have to be a conversation with you hard to overcome the employee employer thing i don't want to be an employer never did maybe I don't want to be an employee either so where does that leave us? Where?