A lesson taught, to the “boss”, by the “employee”, on human interactions, translated…
Linda had worked for three years at my house as a maid now, recently, I’d felt, that she’d become, somewhat, lethargic, the sweet smiles on her face vanished. I’d asked her if she was feeling well, she’d said she was. Was she homesick? Not very much. Then, what’s wrong? She’d fallen silent for a long time, then, she’d started, “Mrs. Am I really very stupid, and can’t handle anything well at all?”
Why would Linda feel like this? To tell the truth, she was helping to take care of my mother-in-law, prepared the three meals, and cleaned up the house, she was, my helpful assistant, I’d needed her so, but, why does she feel that she’s not measuring up?
After talking to her for awhile, I’d understood, turns out, that Linda is quite forgetful, and would often forget to do something that was asked of her, and I’d become like a mother who used a magnifying glass, to examine the misbehaviors of her own young, forgotten all the good qualities that her child has, and would always, nagged, endlessly on what needs to be better, and, after a while, Linda started feeling that she wasn’t, good enough anymore.
In order to help Linda regain her self-confidence, I’d started, going in reverse, when she’d not forgotten things, I’d given her praises; as Linda was praised, at first, she’d started looking shy, and then, pressed on, “Really? Am I, really, getting better at it?”, seeing me nod, her eyes lit up, and, she’d become, even more hardworking now.
Once, I’d found that Linda was taking notes, I’d asked her what she was jotting down, she’d told me, “Writing down what you tell me to do, that way, I won’t forget.”, this time, I’m the one, smiling, turns out, that giving encouragements IS the best way to make someone improve, it’d helped her find back the zest in her life, as well as helped her gained the self-confidence she’d needed.
So, from interacting with this hired help, this woman realized that she’d used blames instead of encouragements, making the woman she’d hired to look after her mother-in-law discouraged, and this just shows, that even IF you’d hired someone to clean up the house, that doesn’t mean, that you are, higher in status than they are, and, you SHOULD be thankful for the hired person’s presence in your life, because, without her, you couldn’t possibly handle everything on your own, and that, was the reason why you’d hired her in the first place, and, this still just shows, that even AS a manual laborer, the person needs and DESERVED to be treated like human beings, instead of someone who’d lower on the totem poles.