Inspired by dayworkers on the run who have scurried through my home and scattered all the dust and debris in their wild wake looking for pin money.

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Dedicated to all my busy working friends and associates who have hired temp dayworkers for their abodes.

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First of all, I must tell you that I purposely selected my furniture with a view to artistically impressing my friends.  I upholstered the custom cushions, doorcovering and drapes with matching fabric and turned my livingarea into a green summer room.  My broadloom carpet is terra cotta to give the comfort of cushioned floors while preserving the outdoor encaustic tile colour scheme.

My chippendale rattan furniture and my square English oak table elaborately carved in Italy set off by a portrait of a waterfall with pink flowers rising out of the subtropical verdure in a gilded frame.  In one corner a tall double trunk dracaenia marginata in a pink planter with its own water tray.

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Amidst this elegant oasis the following incidents have occurred some strange incidents until replaced by another dayworker...

There was once an old woman who sat bone-faced throughout the interview and time of learning what her duties were to be.  Her name was Pussey and she wished to be called Mrs. O'Maera.  Although her complexion was swarthy, she said her husband was Irish but she was English.  

She had recently arrived from the islands to be with her daughter "who had made good" and that I could leave her a message on her daughter's answering service if I wanted her to work for me.  

When I divulged my predicament, a bachelor professional at work let me know how she operated.  He had hired her, too, at one point in time.  First, she obtained a key to his place from him and said he could leave the money there pointing to the travertine plinthe and she would come on the agreed weekday instead of taking away from "his" Saturday.  Then she then let herself in and out to pick up the pay.

And Indeed, it was no voice mail-box but a genuine answering service with which she blocked out all her trusting employers after weeks of picking up her "pay" for work, I say, left undone including sick pay for days she felt a bit off which were most days.

Now, Mrs. O'Maera managed to do this for a few weeks to each of her victims.

In Eric's case, she carried on for about four months before he figured out what was going on with his money and housework.  He stopped leaving money for work not done until she waited for him to come home and let out a savage cry about cheating her.

 At this point, he told her the score and said he'd "Look after her." She left as he was quite a bit bigger and younger than she was.  Even then, she wouldn't give him back her key to his place.

In my case, Mrs. O'Maera went to neighbours and asked ten dollars for my key but not receiving any cash kept it.  She called me quite a few times asking what to do with my key but was foiled when she learned I had had the lock scrambled for other reasons.  Poor Pussey O'Maera...