Joining the Middle Class

The women who take care of Jip generally are long on experience and common sense, but short on savings. They’re always from the countryside, usually supporting family back home.

If they end up working for us a while, the wages we pay allow them to put aside a little bit, enough to front the costs of a small business. The longer people stay, the greater the odds that one day they’ll show up toting Avon-style cosmetics catalogs. Two weeks ago we celebrated one woman’s first anniversary. She’s the third to have continued that long, and all three eventually discovered the makeup sideline.

They also make some cosmetic changes of their own. This week the newest caregiver (eight months and counting) giggled as she described to the others how she’d paid $100 to get permanent lip color, for the Angelina Jolie look.

Jip doesn’t care for such conversations, or for entrepreneurship involving fashion. But I think it’s fun to watch what people do when they find themselves in charge of some disposable income. Who am I to judge what they do with it?