Spinning off from the other thread a bit, Mrs EO has been having a few sleepless nights over the 'Culture wars' at work.
Now the missus is very PC, she doesnt have a racist thought in her pretty head, and when she hears me go on, her eyes roll so much that one day they will roll right out of her head.
But...whats happeneing at work is making her very angry.
She is a nurse in charge of teams of carers who look after kids with serious medical needs who live at home. One of the families is Asian and they will only have asian carers, and only carers from a specific group. I think they or their families all originated from the same village 'back home'.
The problem is that they have very strong unwritten rules. So one of the carers who has been doing the job for two years, is ten years older than mum, so she has a matriarchal position. She is automatically 'in charge'. just by turning up at the house, mum has to defer, and is at this carers bidding. Mrs EO can not tell the carer what to do, or check meds etc if mum is in the room. If she wants to do an appraisal, it becomes a nightmare organising things.
A few months ago, they hired a new carer. She is slightly older in age to mum, so she moved straight into the slot of 'respected sister', and her friend, who is not a carer(but comes along for the ride), is the same age as mum and automatically becomes the 'sister confidante'. This girl, who has only been in the house five minutes, has the automatic right to ask the most personal questions of mum, based on her age and where she comes from.
They all started arguing about their roles in 'the family' lots of jealousy, lying, conniving, stitching each other up, tears and cat-fights
Now dad is getting involved, laying down the law, trying to organise the shift pattern, telling the missus to hire more people (but no blacks please)
He has taken to ringing at all hours, with increasingly outrageous demands. Its only a matter of time before I take the phone and tell him to fck off back where he came from
It's a right mess. an alien culture
Now the missus is very PC, she doesnt have a racist thought in her pretty head, and when she hears me go on, her eyes roll so much that one day they will roll right out of her head.
But...whats happeneing at work is making her very angry.
She is a nurse in charge of teams of carers who look after kids with serious medical needs who live at home. One of the families is Asian and they will only have asian carers, and only carers from a specific group. I think they or their families all originated from the same village 'back home'.
The problem is that they have very strong unwritten rules. So one of the carers who has been doing the job for two years, is ten years older than mum, so she has a matriarchal position. She is automatically 'in charge'. just by turning up at the house, mum has to defer, and is at this carers bidding. Mrs EO can not tell the carer what to do, or check meds etc if mum is in the room. If she wants to do an appraisal, it becomes a nightmare organising things.
A few months ago, they hired a new carer. She is slightly older in age to mum, so she moved straight into the slot of 'respected sister', and her friend, who is not a carer(but comes along for the ride), is the same age as mum and automatically becomes the 'sister confidante'. This girl, who has only been in the house five minutes, has the automatic right to ask the most personal questions of mum, based on her age and where she comes from.
They all started arguing about their roles in 'the family' lots of jealousy, lying, conniving, stitching each other up, tears and cat-fights
Now dad is getting involved, laying down the law, trying to organise the shift pattern, telling the missus to hire more people (but no blacks please)
He has taken to ringing at all hours, with increasingly outrageous demands. Its only a matter of time before I take the phone and tell him to fck off back where he came from
It's a right mess. an alien culture
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