Free When Dreams are Calling by Carol Vorvain

World Richest people to fall in love with you, just so in the
end you
can refuse him for his lack of manners?
    I did.
    “What better way for all this to happen than
working in a luxury hotel?”
I said to Robert.
    “Maybe just staying at one, eh?" he suggested.
    “That comes after, dear.”
    “As long as it comes, it’s fine with me. And
what job would you like
to have there? You have no experience in this industry.”
    “Like I had a lot of it in the
electronic business, or the plumbing
one, or all the rest. I’ll find a job there.”
    “As what? As a cleaning lady?”
    “You sound upset. Better to be a cleaning lady
at the Ritz than a
cleaning lady at some no-name mall around the corner, don’t you think?”
    “Better to be a lawyer in your own country than
a cleaner in someone
else’s.”
    “So, this is what’s bothering you. I’ll get
there. You know I will.”
    “You will, but only if you stop devaluing
yourself! If you stop
acting like something you’re not! You wanted to know why I’m pissed
off, now
you know,” Robert exclaimed, infuriated.
    I knew he was right. But, for now, I needed the
money.
    A few days later, I started to work as a
receptionist, the second
smiling or grumpy face, depending on my day, after the bellboy.
    The job wouldn’t have been so bad if, on my
second week, I wouldn’t have
been “promoted” to what I hated the most: night shifts. Even worse, the
policy
of the hotel was that everyone at the front desk had to work standing
up.
During the late hours of the night, when most of the guests were sound
asleep
in their hopefully comfortable beds and only one or two were passing
by,
standing like a soldier made no sense whatsoever. Nevertheless, it was
the
rule, and the consequences were quite predictable: my back was sore and
the
pain in my legs was excruciating. My body soon started to fail me, and
I became
a ghost, barely able to drag myself to work each night. In the wee
hours of the
morning, back home, all I wanted was to lie on the hard floor and cry.
This was
my glamorous hotel job.
    On Christmas Eve, when I saw the house full of
people partying,
while half-awake I was getting ready for another shift, I burst into
tears.
    Maybe aspiring to be more than a cleaning lady
was a mistake. After
all, the cleaners were the only ones who were never called for an
emergency.
They worked only day shifts and could sit down, lie down, and make
themselves a
cup of tea whenever they pleased.
    Or maybe Robert was right. This hunting for
jobs without having a
clear idea in my mind of what I would like to find, without giving
myself a
break to pause and to think, this continuous fight for survival, was
taking me
nowhere.
    “What do you think will happen to me, Robert?”
    “What do I think? It won’t happen what I think
or what your family
or even your foes want. It will happen only what you believe it will
happen.
Same as till now.”
    “How can you say that? I never wanted any of
these. I never wanted
this job. I just need this job. I need to support myself.”
    “Ever since you landed you needed the money.
This did not turn you
into a stripper, when you were offered to become one. Why should you
now turn
yourself into a ghost? Quit and move on, like you always did. The
future will
take care of itself. You just be careful with your thoughts.”
    Said and done. After six months of mental and
physical torture,
despite having no savings, I mustered all my courage and quit. The
first thing
I planned to do was to sleep all day and all night for as long as I
could.
----
    Dora’s
Journal Notes
Don’t envy anyone.
There will always be
parts of their lives, known or unknown, you could not put up with.
No job is worth
your health.
Any decision that
brings you relief is
good.
----

13
Friendship and its Perks
    Friendships
are in times of need,
    What
love is in times of breed.
    When
it’s long lasting and true,
    It’s
the best thing that can happen to you!

Robert, the man
I met a few hours