domestic labor

As a young kid growing up in Thailand, having a maids in homes has always been someone that I would see commonly. Many of the times, these maids that we have to cook and clean for us, has become family to us especially when our parents are busy working during the day. For instance, in my cousin's family, they have a maid that has been working there for over 30 years. She has already become part of the family, and my aunt and uncle has already planned for her to live with them when she retires because to them she is like their sister. Right now, at the age of late 50's she is the one that looks over the household. Although she might not be the one that brings the "bread" to the house, she is the one that keeps the house in order.

From looking at this perspective, although I find it very sad for maids to work hard to try to feed their family, the life of our maid has become much more than having a typical maid. She became the mother to the house, even the mother to my aunt and uncle. For my aunt and uncle to have the feeling of family towards her makes her very important to us. To express how important she is to my cousin's family, my aunt and uncle has given her some ownership shares to their company. This is definitely story that one hasn't heard of much. But I wanted to show an example of how having an employee that is so close to us, turn into the family.