Infidelity earns windfall for maid

By Kipruto Lang’at

A housemaid in Nairobi's Umoja estate has added a creative dimension to the concept of pay increase negotiations.

The house help, who had been petitioning for a pay hike for six months, was finally handed an opportunity by her boss’s indiscretion.

The woman of the house had gone to her rural home for the weekend leaving the house girl, her husband and two children in the city.

After her departure, the husband claimed he was taking the car to the garage and disappeared for the whole weekend.

Juma turned up early on Monday morning. Stashing his dirty clothes in a corner of the bedroom, he drove off to work.

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It was later in the day as the girl was washing clothes that she noticed condom wrappers and unused condoms in his pocket.

In a shirt pocket she found the photo of a woman who frequented a local pub, a well-known prostitute who plies her trade with the wealthy men of the estate.

The maid hatched a plan. Come evening when both the man and his wife were in the house, she demanded that her pay be increased from Sh2,000 to Sh3,500.

Evil ways

She gave an ultimatum: Increase my pay from today or I will quit tomorrow morning. The two were stunned by her forwardness.

The wife looked at her husband for a reply. There was total silence. Sensing that she had to go farther she threatened the man: "If you don’t increase my salary, your evil ways will be revealed right now in the presence of your wife and children."

Enraged that a housemaid could dare threaten him in his own house, Juma thundered, "I’m your boss and whatever you are threatening to reveal, do so now."

Without another word, Mary went to the bedroom where he had left the dirty trousers and shirt. She returned with them to the sitting room, removed the picture and assorted condoms from the pockets and showed them to the wife.

Juma almost collapsed but found some strength to apologise to both women. He promised to be faithful to his wife from that day as well as increase Mary’s salary. A crowd soon gathered outside the house attracted by screams from Juma’s wife, who could not imagine that her husband had been consorting with prostitutes.

"Wuuuii, dunia inakwisha," she cried. (The world is coming to an end)