musichal
poet emeritus
My Direct Care Provider (nurse aid) is a middle-aged Mexican woman named Norma. Her agency assigned me several different workers previous to her, who were mostly no-shows. A couple were new to the agency but quit within a few days due to finding jobs which paid more than $8/hr. One was too afraid of cats to enter my home, and also rude, completely lacking in communication skills.
The agency called and warned me that Norma's English wasn't very good, but that she is a good worker. Fine, send her on. That was a few months ago.
Well, she's worth her weight in gold. Not only does she assist me with personal care, she cooks, cleans, launders, dusts, vacuums and has even learned how to connect speakers and audio components under my supervision. She even does windows - inside &/or out. Best of all, she does all of these things (except the audio stuff) without prompting. It's rare to find someone like her, self-motivated and self-starting, in such a job; at least that was my experience as an RN.
She comes in twice a week for three hours (6 hrs/wk total). Tuesday she asked me how much the speakers cost we were hearing. They were a pair of the Paradigm Mini Monitor v3 and I knew they were beyond what she could afford, but she said she liked the way TV sounded at my house. I told her I'd see if I could put something more affordable together for her.
So today soon after she arrived I asked her to get some speakers out of my closet, a pair of Zenith Allegro 3000 speakers in good condition both cosmetically and functionally. Then I had her look for a box labeled "Lepai." After we wired it up, I connected my Zune and asked her how it sounded to her. She thought it sounded very good.
"Great," I replied, "It's yours," indicating the amp, speakers and cables.
"Uh... how much?" she asked.
"Well, I was thinking free," I answered, "I hope you don't want me to pay you to take them away. Free's my best offer."
She must have thanked me a dozen times, and she was smiling, too. No, thank you, Norma. Which was exactly my reply. I think the home-made tortillas have cooled enough for me to put them in the fridge on my stumbling way to bed for a nap.
The agency called and warned me that Norma's English wasn't very good, but that she is a good worker. Fine, send her on. That was a few months ago.
Well, she's worth her weight in gold. Not only does she assist me with personal care, she cooks, cleans, launders, dusts, vacuums and has even learned how to connect speakers and audio components under my supervision. She even does windows - inside &/or out. Best of all, she does all of these things (except the audio stuff) without prompting. It's rare to find someone like her, self-motivated and self-starting, in such a job; at least that was my experience as an RN.
She comes in twice a week for three hours (6 hrs/wk total). Tuesday she asked me how much the speakers cost we were hearing. They were a pair of the Paradigm Mini Monitor v3 and I knew they were beyond what she could afford, but she said she liked the way TV sounded at my house. I told her I'd see if I could put something more affordable together for her.
So today soon after she arrived I asked her to get some speakers out of my closet, a pair of Zenith Allegro 3000 speakers in good condition both cosmetically and functionally. Then I had her look for a box labeled "Lepai." After we wired it up, I connected my Zune and asked her how it sounded to her. She thought it sounded very good.
"Great," I replied, "It's yours," indicating the amp, speakers and cables.
"Uh... how much?" she asked.
"Well, I was thinking free," I answered, "I hope you don't want me to pay you to take them away. Free's my best offer."
She must have thanked me a dozen times, and she was smiling, too. No, thank you, Norma. Which was exactly my reply. I think the home-made tortillas have cooled enough for me to put them in the fridge on my stumbling way to bed for a nap.
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