Lorena's Epiphany

Mouwathafeen 1

October 27, 2009 at 5:18 pm Leave a comment

I’ve been back in the workforce for about a week now, and each day exposes me to very unique characters. Today, for example, the lady that cleans the bathrooms was in our office. Since the majority of our office is Muslim, I was the only one she could give a cross bracelet to. She’s a little Armenian lady, probably in her mid-50s.

The day I started working, the bathrooms were a mess. Toilet paper everywhere, dirt around the sink and water on the floors. Not to mention the lingering stench. That was the only day she’d taken off in forever, and only because her brother had passed away. She apparently cleans all the bathrooms of the 6 floored building alone. People tend to exaggerate and nag a lot here, so I’m not sure if that’s completely true, but certainly believable.

We first started chatting about smoking. She was waiting in our office until people left so she could light up. She’d quit for 4 years, but when she started working here, started again due to stress. Her job wasn’t initially to clean bathrooms, but things changed with no reason. The highlight of her day is the side business she runs.

Today I noticed a box of rings in the bathroom and was puzzled as to why someone would leave it there. It was part of her own little “boutique”. And to my surprise, several of the employees regularly buy from her. Two girls were trying on the rings as I left the bathroom earlier. She also sells jackets, underwear, jewelry and bags. “Anything, Anything you want (el biddik’yeh!).. I get you”, she told me with a smile (and in Armenian Arabic). Living in Bourj Hammoud, she’s right at the source of all the wholesalers and discount stores.

Talking to her, I sensed a deep sadness in her eyes. I’ll certainly check out her “boutique”, if for nothing more than support her. Such a sweet lady.

Entry filed under: Floating. Tags: bathroom cleaner, cigarettes, employees, office, shopping, stories.