Being the boss

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It’s strange to be the boss. In the states, I have always been an underling, never holding any real power, and never in charge of people’s livelihoods. Being a Gringo, we are looked at as being really wealthy, regardless of our household income. The truth is, that when you consider that most people here make about $2/hour, most Gringos are wealthy.
Yesterday this really hit home. We have two painters working on the house, and our cleaning lady was here working. Then our gardener showed up, and we had 4 employees working here asking for direction and approval.

The gardener started working when we bought the house, and originally was here 4 hours a week. This then changed to 8 and recently to 16 hours a week. Yesterday he came to me and explained that his other construction job was not working out and he wanted to work for us for a 3rd day each week. How could I say no? He’s honest and loyal, the most he’s ever taken from us is a plum and a bottle of water… So I told him that we would have to go shopping for more plants and he would really have to make the yard look like I was hoping to make it look. We decided that for the next 2 months he would work for us 3 days a week and then full time when we opened as a hotel. He was beaming at this news (of course we pay 30-50%!m(MISSING)ore than anyone else around) and this morning he and I went shopping at a local nursery. We brought back more than 100 plants to the house and by the time Rachel and I got back this afternoon he had made 3 more beds and couldn’t wait to show us all of the other places where he had planted more of the flowers and trees.

I guess we’ll have to get used to being in charge of things… I think we’ll do alright -


Matt


Orchid Lodge's Website - http://www.theorchidlodge.com
Click here to read our blog - http://blog.theorchidlodge.com

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