Doing Business God's Way

I recently worked for two women who call themselves Christians. I was quite honest when I began working for them: I am a Buddhist, but fully respect the beliefs of others. I do not speak of or attempt to impose my beliefs on others. At first, I did the work that was agreed upon and was paid an amount that was fair. Slowly, more was expected of me and claims were made that I was being paid more than I was. These women were constantly telling me they loved me and using the term "God Bless"...although they never quite got around to adding my name or the pronoun "you" after the word "Bless." Soon I was making half of the money I'd been making at the start of the job and doing housework and pet sitting for them. I have a form of autism. They played on my tendency to trust too easily and my need to form friendships with others. I receive EBT and needed cash money for cat food, paper towels, toilet paper, household cleaners. At first, considering that I was working an average of 50 hours per month and doing hard labor out of doors, paying me $30 US for such items and helping me with an additional $100 I thought was fair. These women had money. Then one day, a bit of "bait and switch" occurred under my nose. I had not agreed to this -- it is illegal! But I didn't know until I was at the register and all groceries were run that I was paying for EVERYONE'S food, while one of the women wrote a check for about $30. Thus, it appeared I'd paid nothing and she'd been paying me.

Working in their home, I learned something other than the obvious problems were occurring. These women were always sick. As I spent time indoors, I began to feel sick, too. What was strange was that if I spent time away from the house without doing anything special to treat my "illness", I'd recover. Gradually, however, I became so ill I contacted a Pulmonary Doctor because I recognized that I was being exposed to large amounts of toxins dispensed in vapor form.

I did a lot of research and presented the data to the younger of the two women. Rather than express gratitude, she adopted an attitude of hostility toward me. I am concerned for her mother, who is ALWAYS seeing a Doctor and being treated for infections from which she never fully recovers. The daughter claims she loves her mother and is very afraid her mother will die. Meanwhile, I see no evidence the presence of this toxin has been reported to the mother's Doctor. After last month, the daughter attempted to pay me $20 when I'd worked for more than 3o hours. She'd promised to pay me a pitiful $50 -- which is outrageous -- but kept lying to me about "how poor" she is, while she shopped and spent hundreds on items she did not need, that were not gifts for anyone...just greed, selfishness, while I slaved for her.

I TOLD her precisely the reason she must follow through with paying me $50. And this woman behaved so badly with me, I began to believe that, as one Pastor expressed to me, such people are truly devils. I know good Christian people. I feel fear for the life of the mother, as she is trapped and dependent on the daughter for transportation.

The daughter is controlling and may feel that I am seeing through her guise of "good caregiver", as she is often giving the mother tranquilizers to "calm her down and help her sleep" so the mother is now quite addicted. I feel that if there is no formal intervention, the mother will die. What happened to me was nasty and petty enough. But I will not condone a woman suffering a horrible, painful death. THe next time someone says the words "God Bless" to me, I am counting me fingers and asking: "God Bless WHO, for what purpose?"