My new boss had told me he would give me money on my arrival
at work so I could get whatever I needed around the apartment. That didn’t
happen, I couldn’t even get hold of him on the phone when I got there. He had
previously told me that he was on vacation in another State. He had also
promised to pay me monthly. I’d have preferred getting paid weekly like
everybody else in the United States of America, but ok. The first month was
also T’s birth month. I was excited to be working so I could get her something
nice for her birthday. I owed her a lot for all her help and friendship. Boss
changed his mind and promised to pay me every other week. That was better for
me! I didn’t get paid the first two
weeks . And the next. I couldn’t get
hold of my boss. There I was having just gone through a gruelling month at
work, more like a boot camp and I didn’t even get paid for it! I could’ve quit
but where would I go?
I stuck it out, with the hope that at some point, when my
boss was back from his ever so long vacation, he would pay me. I did inform
Avon, just so somebody knew about it. Her friend offered to pay me and have
Boss reimburse her. I couldn’t let her do that. What if Boss had no intentions
of paying me! God forbid. The other Private Aides (my job) were getting paid
weekly, they were shopping up a storm, eating out, having parcels delivered for
them, Nothing for Brook.
The other Aides were very nice people, Effie, from Nigeria,
another lady from Jamaica, one from Cameroon, who was cool too but she quit
soon after I started there and another one from Ghana, that one was a bit of a
character but whatever, variety is a spice of life. Effie and I became closer
and closer with time. She was my best friend there. I noticed my friendship
with T dwindling from the moment I
arrived in New Jersey. The calls became fewer, more of my calls were not
picked, whenever I got a call back, someone would coincidentally call and I
would have to hang up and promised a call back which never happened. Also, the
content of our calls was more of, “So what are you going to do with your money,
when you get paid cos it’s gonna be a lot! He might even give you a bonus
because he will be paying you late!” I told her I wanted a car, It was vital to
that field of work. “Why would you want to buy a car now, you should buy
clothes! Winter clothes are going to be on sale. I will take you to the stores,
You can buy tracksuits, this, that and the other.” Uhm or I can buy a car!
“Brook, have you decided what you are going to do with your
money? I‘ve been thinking; You should buy a new phone! Buy the latest
Blackberry. You really need a phone!” Uhm, Well, I need a car, so I think
that’s what I’m gonna buy! You don’t listen, blah blah blah! End of the month
came and I didn’t get paid. I was sad because I wanted to surprise T and get
her something nice for her Birthday. When she and I went to New York one
weekend, we drove past Sunglass Hut. I took a picture and told her I would tag my nephew on Facebook. He had
worked at their Sandton branch and loved it there. She became interested in
Sunglass Hut and asked her boyfriend to buy her sunglasses from there.
Apparently he had told her they are unnecessarily expensive, and he wasn’t
going to do that. I thought I would surprise her by getting her the sunglasses
for her birthday.
I had left some clothes at the apartment in Connecticut, T’s
idea. I needed some of the clothes and because I could see the friendship was
going south, I thought it best to have all my stuff with me. I asked her to
ship me the stuff as promised. “I never promised to ship you those clothes,
Brook!” Interesting! I remember very
well having that conversation with her. The other idea I had was to go to
Connecticut. Brad and I had been talking for two months. I thought I would take
a weekend off work and spend it with her. I would also spend some time with Brad AND on the way back, get my stuff
from the apartment.
I called T, ever so excited to tell her about the plans. She
cut me off,
T: Why do
you want to come here when you have an apartment?
Me: I do?
Where?
T: In New
Haven! That’s our apartment!
Me: It is?
T: Of course, your stuff has been there
for an entire month, who do you think is going to pay your share of rent? Here
in America, it doesn’t matter what you have in someone’s apartment, you have to
pay rent. I TOLD YOU TO TELL N WHEN YOU WERE LEAVING, YOU DIDN’T LISTEN TO ME.
ADMIT IT, YOU WEREN’T LISTENING WHEN I TOLD YOU THAT!
Me: You told me to leave the stuff there, you
would ship it to me as soon as possible and then tell me how much it cost you
so I could reimburse you!
T: I NEVER SAID THAT.
After back and forth of he said, she said, I had to go, I told her I had to go and hung
up. She called me back.
T: BROOK,
YOU’RE WORKING NOW, YOU’RE HANGING UP ON ME?
Me: I told you I
had to go. (who’s not listening now)
That was a super awkward moment. I sent her a text a few days later asking her
to ship my clothes. She never responded. I GOT PAID! After working Five weeks
with no pay, but I was happy to finally get paid. Because I had made a
commitment, albeit to myself, I was still follow through. I ordered a gift
voucher of $100 (R900) from Sunglass Hut. They had a Sale. Sunglasses were $80
and the ones T liked were $89. I had the voucher shipped to her work address,
where she lived and texted her to the fact. I send her friend (a South
African), who played a big role in getting me the job a $100 money order and
mailed it to her address. She lived in New Jersey, so she would have received it either the same day or the next. I
never heard from her as to whether or not she got it. I sent it as a
surprise. I sent another lady, also from
South Africa, a $100 gift voucher from Macy’s as a thank you. She sent me a
very heartfelt text thanking me.
No word from T and her friend from NJ with regards to
whether or not they got my surprises. I called them both, no answer. I sent her
a text asking if she got it. She replied that she hadn’t. The friend told me
she got it but forgot to let me know. WOW! I bet you she didn’t forget to tell
T about it!
Brad, on the other hand, after telling him my plans of going
to Connecticut, told me what he wanted to do to me, in fact, more like what he
wanted me to do to him; “I want you to suck my this, lick my that, go down on
me, lick MY TOES, let me f*ck you in the *ss and then c*m all over your face. You can also swallow
my c*m if you like.”