Hurdles

Nine months ago I moved into a shared housing unit.  I was told when I moved in that everyone (all 4 people) took turns once a week to clean the common areas... the kitchen, bathroom and tv room.  

It wasn’t long before I realized I was the only one doing all the cleaning.  At first I have to say I was a little perplexed over this but after thinking about it, I decided that I would do it in service.  All was going relatively well until last month.  

Because I had hurt my back, I asked one of the other roomies to help out with a particular chore.  To my surprise I got a huge attitude from him.  His words to me were... “Not my job.  I don’t get paid for doing that.”  It was probably the only thing he could have said to infuriate me so quickly.  NOT HIS JOB, HE DOESN’T GET PAID FOR THAT!    When did I start getting paid for cleaning up after three grown men?  NOT!

Jeff the owner of the house and our landlord works out west.  He works for twenty-eight days straight then has a week leave.   Jeff flies in to spend his time off here in the house and with his children.  Last month Jeff and I had a long talk about me being the live in maid and the attitude of the men that lived in the house.  I told Jeff that until the “not my job” incident I simply chose to take the attitude of service.  However, there is a fine line between helping out and being used and that line had been crossed.  As a result I refuse to do another thing in the house.  Jeff was understandably not happy.

It took me two weeks to get all the residence of the house together to tell them I was no longer the live in maid.  And, until everyone got on the same page I was not going to do a thing.  Of course, everyone started to tell me what they do in the house but I easily shut them down. 

Vacuuming your own room, washing your own dishes and cleaning the mess you made while cooking does not constitute sharing chores of the common areas of the house.

The youngest member of the household asked if there was a schedule to work from.  The oldest male member jumps in and states there was a schedule at one time ... a long time ago, he would print it out for everyone.  The meeting was over.

An hour later everyone had a copy of chores to be done and a schedule of their duty weeks.

Speaking up for yourself may not necessarily be a pleasant thing but if you don’t others will use you as their doormat.  Take control of your life, take your power back.  It feels good when balance is restored.