Identity, dignity, and cleaning houses for a living

Back again! I'm finally returning to a schedule in which I have enough down-time to blog!

Yesterday I hired a woman off of craigslist to doing some extra cleaning that my regular cleaning man misses.  She was definitely worth it.  The disorganization and dirty spots in our house were starting to really stress me out.

We talked for about 10 minutes, and she volunteered that she had been a professor at my U.  I was excited by the coincidence and asked some follow up questions.  I told her I also worked there and started complaining about the budget cuts (which I was assuming to be the reason she was not working there any longer). 

Turns out she had been doing some part-time administrative-level work at the university for a year, plus independent study (which my U doesn't pay for).  I felt a bit bad for pressing her on the details.  I had only wanted to have a conversation about our common employer.  But I'm afraid some of her dignity was wrapped up in calling herself a professor at the U, and I inadvertently took that away. 

She also said she has a law doctorate (which is a JD).  I don't know why she is trying to earn a living by cleaning homes and dog-sitting.  Having talked to her, she is clearly smart.  And this economy sucks.  I paid her more than the rate she asked for.

Also--no, I don't feel guilty about hiring people to clean my house.  We feel that buying ourselves more time by hiring people to clean and cut the grass is one of the best ways to spend our money.