Okay, picture it, 1984. You’re watching an anonymous 80s sitcom with an anonymous sassy maid. As it happens, it’s a rerun of the first episode, and the lead characters are interviewing aforementioned sassy maid. At some point during the interview, without fail, the maid will mention that she “doesn’t do windows.”
So, my questions are:
Is that really a common stipulation when hiring a maid?
If so, why? (Seems to me that washing windows is a pretty low-key task)
That depends on how many windows are up on the second or third floor and whether or not the maid would have to climb a ladder to reach them. That’s more of a handyman task, like cleaning out gutters.
If you expect your maid to clean only the insides of the windows, that’s like cleaning only one end of a telescope.
In the days of coal-fired furnaces and fireplaces, washing windows used to be a tedious, never-ending job, what with soot on the outside from industrial coal-fired pollution, and soot on the inside from the furnace or fireplace. After about the year 1900, when women started working at various white-collar and factory jobs much more, and didn’t need to work as housemaids, there was a small but significant labor shortage. The coffee klatsch ladies would sit around with their coffee and moan, “It’s so hard to get good help lately…” But what Missus meant by “good help” was a white woman, like “a good Irish girl”. Black, and then Hispanic, women took up the slack in the labor market, but still, the ne plus ultra for a “daily” was a white girl.
And so someone who was, basically, a WASP who was willing to work as a housemaid could specify, “I don’t do windows”.
Don’t windows open? I don’t think I ever have to go outside to clean a window, other than the bay window, which, doesn’t open enough to get all the panes, admittedly, but most windows to open and also I apologize for what has, apparently, turned out to be someone of what a lot of people tend to call sentances that run-on.
-hoovers the carpet
-washes the dishes
-does the laundry
-irons the laundry, including the towels
-polishes the gold bathroom and kitchen fixtures
-mops and waxes the marble tile
-wet mops the parquay floor
-makes the beds
-cuts flowers from the garden, and makes a beautiful arrangement for the front hall
-makes a wonderfull bean and burger casserole for warming up later
-washes the windows
-goes home with Mrs Gotbux undying thanks
later…
As the sun goes down, Mrs Gotbux stands at the patio window with G&T in hand, notices a small streak on the formerly cigarette smoke coated window.
Next Morning:
Mrs. Gotbux: Esmeralda, you are just not working out, the windows were streaky!
That Afternoon:
Esmerald at an interview with Mrs Havemoney:
