Aleia Mills ’s Reviews > Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive > Status Update

Everything melded into mindless movements And I spent time worrying about other happenings in my life

On the porch I went through a slew of emotions: there was anger, over getting paid near minimum wage to hand scrub shit off toilets.

But it opened my eyes to my job in a new way, that beyond the professional front, we secretly acknowledged the disgusting nature of our job.

I wondered what their story was. I wondered about all of my coworkers. What had happened to bring them here to this place of cleaning toilets for so little money.

Recovering from the trauma was also vital, maybe the most critical, but not only could no one help me with that, I didn’t know yet that I needed it. The months of poverty, instability, and insecurity created a panic response that would take years to undo.
My brain stomach and nerves were on high alert. Feeling like I was standing on a rug that could be yanked out from under me at any moment.

Being poor, living in poverty, seemed a lot like probation, the crime being a lack of means to survive.