While working as a maid, my bosses family travelled for a week and out of curiosity, I attended a sales interview for selling loans to pass time. I had no plans of quiting my job until I had some good savings.
Before you ask questions, my former boss allowed me to have my offs whenever they were not around as long as I ensured I left the house clean and secure.
That morning, I dressed in a very nice black dress and flats and left for the interview. I applied for this job on Brighter Monday only to see if I can be shortlisted. I’m sure some of you think maids don’t know what CVs are. I had mine in both soft and hardcopy with three references.
I got to the office in Westlands at 830AM and I was number 4 in the queue. They got to me within twenty minutes and I entered the room with the required confidence and a no nonsense look.
They introduced themselves and requested me to tell them about myself and any experience in the sales and marketing field. I did an excellent introduction and concluded by telling them that I have zero experience.
“As stated in my CV, I have no experience in sales. Currently, I work as a live-in maid.”
My answer shocked them maybe because I didn’t lie, or I was over confident…I don’t know. They all looked at me confused and asked again if I was truly a maid.
They had all the reasons to ask because I was very smart. The dress was a gift from my boss worth 3500. The flats were 1K from Gikomba and they were extremely beautiful. I had a nice wig that I coughed 8K for. The expensive black handbag I carried was a gift from my boss and my nails had very nice polish. Let me not talk of how sweet I smelled. I’ve not even mentioned that I was carrying a very nice Samsung phone, a gift from my boss because she wasn’t using it. That boss loved me, though all my bosses love me.
As a side note, It’s only by the Grace of God that I’ve worked for six bosses and I’m yet to experience salary deduction, salary delay or mistreatment. By the way, six excluded couples. If I count as couples, then it should be 11 bosses.
One of the interviewers asked where I worked because they sensed that to look that good, then I must be well paid. I told them the neighborhood and both of bosses names and to my astonishment, one of the interviewers knew my male boss. He’s a big businessman.
I passed the interview and we went for training. Everyone was requested to introduce themselves and their careers. People had countless years of experience with good positions, and then there was me whose major achievement in her workplace was ensuring everyone ate by 730PM the house was clean and the children were okay. I’m an expert at this by the way…
I didn’t shy. I introduced myself audibly with a lot of ego, “My name is Irene Matete. I have no experience in this field and I currently work as a maid. I’m grateful for this opportunity.”
Everyone turned to look at me. Some whispered in low tones that I couldn’t be a maid because I was smart, eloquent and very confident. The team leader asked me to reintroduce myself of which I did. “My name is Irene Matete. I work as a maid and I have no experience in this field. If you’re judging me by my dress code, just know that my boss pays me well. And if it’s the confidence, then I move around with it because I know it will open doors for me. As stated before, I’m a maid. I’m grateful for this opportunity and I’ll do my best.”
I was the only one with a “bad” job.
During the training, discrimination followed. Fake slay queens and the top achievers didn’t associate with some of us. They thought that we couldn’t sell as much as they did. I wonder why someone employed at the same time with me could conclude that their sales would exceed mine because I was a maid. They forgot that my position makes me meet genuine clients without sweating when they visit my bosses or when I accompanied them somewhere.
I put too much effort. Not for the company or my benefit, but to disappoint my haters. All my spare time was used in distributing fliers and telling everyone of my new job, including my bosses friends and families. So you know, I didn’t quit my maid job because this was 95% field work. I only needed to ask for permission to attend meetings.
The first month was a shocker because no new slay queen beat me. I was number two in my team.
By the fourth month, I was number one. I was the best. The slay queens who thought they would forever beat me were trying to make friends with me. Later, I was promoted to a team leader. I did a good job until I left for greener pastures.