A woman describes how she felt when her husband incited her to work as a waitress in Canada, while in Greece she had been employed as a clerk in a company.
ΑΝ.: And I had my papers that I would be able to work at the American Express but he had different plans in his mind
for me, something he had never told me.
It was, he turned and he told me “Your French is not very strong” which wasn’t true and “You can’t work at the American Express”.
And I tell him “Then where will I work?” and he says a cousin of mine, a cousin of his, his wife was employed as a waitress at a hote…,
at a restaurant and he said that “You’ll work there”.
I was suffering ever since I was pregnant with my daughter, I was suffering because I was very thin and I put on much weight
I suffered a slipped disc and I tell him “But how am I supposed to lift the trays with heavy foods in, since
I have a slipped disc?” and he responds “Oh, don’t you worry, we’ll go get you a special girdle and you’ll be wearing it”.
And he took me to a doctor and I wore a girdle which was full of irons to be able to lift the trays
and when the first time I went to serve I burst into tears because I thought to myself “I was being served in Greece. What am I doing here, serving others?”.
But then I thought and I say “Why, why because in my mind work is never something to be ashamed of, so long as the money’s clean”.
It’s not that I was ashamed. What hurt me was the fact that he made me leave Greece so that he wouldn’t be demoted and we came here and he demoted me.
From working at the American Express and having a very decent position, to becoming a waitress and not seeing my child, because I was working 11 to 8, or 12 to 9.
