To Mister Muhammad Ali Of 319 Fairview Rd;
You don’t know me but today when I arrived at your home, prompt and ready to work, you certainly made every inference that you knew exactly who I was and what I was all about. You likely didn’t notice that I was observing you and your family long before I made any indication of my irritation towards the distinct disdain displayed ever so smugly across your face, when I introduced myself to you for the first time.
You don’t know me so you never realized that the first thing I noticed about your family was that your wife has more general respect for people and is better mannered than you are (or is better at faking it, but I would be more inclined to believe the former.) The second thing I noticed was that your children while very polite are still unequivocally your children. I counted three when I first arrive one girl, likely a middle child and two boys one oldest one youngest. I introduced myself and asked for you by the name you gave me. That was followed by slight confusion for you wife who obviously knows you by some other name. Nevertheless you were summoned and led me to the task at hand, beginning to explain in the detail that apparently could only be afforded me via a face to face physical conversation. Your original contact being fairly barren on exact details of the project you were hiring a labourer for, save the one very important detail that you “were only offer $12.50 per hour which was more than min wage” you as so aptly pointed out.
You don’t know me and didn’t have the decency to give me a single benefit of the doubt that while I adamantly assured you as politely as I could muster for the ever growing frustration I was experiencing. You still refused to believe that I knew what I was talking about. You didn’t have the decency to lift your gaze from my heaving and sweat glistening chest to look me square in the eyes when I was speaking to you. The odd moments I managed to hold your gaze with my own, it made you severely uncomfortable (which I supposed is to be expected given your patriarchal position among your family.)
We already established that you were extremely lacking during our business encounter in a myriad of areas. However you also failed to notice or respond to my blatant and matter of fact details that I reiterated to you numerous amounts of times. In fact while you allowed all the children under ten to play after I arrived and they had presumably finished their Sunday morning chores, you failed to notice that I noticed their close attention to what I was doing. I assume that because you were impeded by a cane and hobbled about my “work site” with more disdain and disappointment at my allegedly and decidedly unskilled labour, that you no longer wanted to expend the energy watching me yourself so you left that detail to your children or your wife… or your adult son who thought it was appropriate upon arrival to your home close to the conclusion of my day to pull up a patio chair and watch me while he gorged himself on watermelon without so much as uttering a greeting to me. You however did feel it necessary to pop around the corner on what was expressed by me as extremely unwelcome and distracting, abundant times. Each time you popped in you would interrupt my work and tell me what I was doing wrong. You failed to effectively communicate with me from very first email contact the extent of the task at hand. A task I was happily doing for only $2 more than Saskatchewan minimum wage, at first. The more you failed at the less happily I attended to my task, and the less happy I was about the pure fact that I would be making less than $100 for an extremely hard and back breaking days work. A day that required of me a quarter of a tank of gas in an older model Ford truck with a V8 engine. Since every vehicle you and your family own was newer than the millennium I assume you did not consider the fact that a quarter tank of gas in your province is $25 value, a figure that was not factored into my pay or even dignified with a response upon my instigation. Finally you did manage to alienate me and shame me and disrespect me into negotiating DOWN my days wages. After 6 hours, one of which I had to leave and go feed myself at my own home and pick up my dog who was not welcome at your home. I climbed into my truck with $60 in my pocket and my own disdain in my heart, oh and a half drunken bottle of Coca Cola, because despite my polite refusal of any refreshments you DID offer me, you guilt riddenly appeared during one supervision with a 500ml bottle of a brand of cola I don’t even enjoy, and said “here have a caffeine boost.” A gesture I assume was meant to be a peace offering from your wife that turned into yet another way to disrespect me and degrade me, by insinuating that I required more energy than I was already expending.
Now let’s address the facts. Your ad on kijiji started out like this
“*** START IMMEDIATELY ***
WE ARE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE WHO HAS SOME YARDWORK EXPERIENCE OR STRONG ENOUGH TO DO YARD WORK. EASY JOB, WE CAN PAY $12.50/HOURS CASH FOR THIS JOB. THIS JOB IS IN UPLANDS, NORTH REGINA. “
So let analyze this shall we…. I am a heavy equipment operator and nude model. Currently unemployed which isn’t particularly relevant though I am sure you would disagree. You were looking for someone to do some yard work and expressed how easy it would be. And that for this easy job you were willing to pay $12.50 an hour CASH.
Next your ad stated “If you are interested, strong enough to do Yard work or have some experience, Please email me with your contact info and availability. We will pay cash $12.50 per hours which is more than the Min wage in Saskatchewan. Basically to rake front and back yards, install and lay interlocking bricks on the side entrance.”
I contacted you by email, gave you my name and expressed my interest, I do not believe I mentioned my experience in my first contact. You expressed your opinion of the wage offered as being better than most should expect for “easy” work. Which would include raking the front and back and laying some brick you had already acquired.
Lastly your ad states
“Please contact by email, specify if you have any experience, your contact info and availability. Let me know if you have a wheelbarrow, truck or seed / fertilizer spreader.
Thanks”
So ULTIMATELY based solely off of this content, you wanted someone with experience and for them to specify their experience. Though I failed to do so in email contact you failed at much more during the written portion of our transaction. You also state that it would be better if the acceptable applicant had a truck and several tools that you do not possess. The truck I had, the tools I did not and made you aware of as I am only visiting this province temporarily.
And lastly you express gratitude, something I wouldn’t learn until later was actually contempt and haughtiness.
Moving on to first responded contact. You got back to my original note early Saturday morning. The exchange went exactly like this
You: Hi There, Are you available today?
Me: good afternoon. Yes I am, sorry for the late response I just woke up. I would be up for working today, could potentially help until the sun goes down and come back tomorrow to finish. If I need my truck for anything I would have to organize the bed first, my clothes and things are in there lol. What area are you in?
You: I'm in Uplands (Broad St. North), Let me know if you would like to come by 2pm to start. If you can bring the brick that would be helpful as we might need some sand for the ground to put the bricks.
Let me know with your contact info?
Me: my cell phone is 780-265-**** how much brick is there to be picked up and from where? I could do 2pm. I’m just having some caffeine and then I’ll get dressed
You: Are you not in Regina, this phone number is not from Saskatchewan.
Brick are in the back yard, just few feet away from where they would be installed.
Me: Ah ok yes I am in Regina visiting my cousin. Edmonton number but I’m from BC lol I just have to take my cousin to the store if you want to text me an address I have gps. Do you mind if I tether my dog somewhere with water and food in the shade? He is very friendly and won’t get in the way. I pick up after him as well
You: Sorry no pets and no smoking on the property, if you are willing to come by 4pm, let me know. I'll provide the address.
Thanks.
Me: I'm sorry I don't have anywhere for him to go and he can't stay in the truck on a day like today. If my cousin is willing to watch him tomorrow I can come then. First thing in the morning and we can work all day or as long as you need
You: Sure, Let me know if he can take care of it tomorrow.
Me: She says it's fine to watch my dog. So I'll dig out my work boots and gloves and organize my truck first thing in the morning. You can text me when you get up or message me here
You: You can come around 10am, address is 319 Fairview Rd.
Me: I will be there, what was your name? I'm Keishia
You: Ali, Will see you tomorrow.
I don’t know what else to say beyond providing the simple fact that upon my arrival I learned not only of your prejudice over white girls with pink hair and tattoos, who drive old trucks and voluntarily do yard work for only $12.50/hour.
However my arrival also brought to light the fact that you were not completely honest with me about the details of the job. You specifically stated that this was a labour position, BUT I have investigated with personal and non-personal sources in the LANDSCAPING industry that has told me that the work you required of me would cost you well over $1500 to complete with a professional landscaping company.
When I arrive, your wife and kids were raking the front yard and continued to do more “spring cleanup” type chores for the first hour I was there working. YOU took ME immediately to the side entrance that was 20-25 feet in length and 89 inches wide. You told me you had bricks you picked up from UsedRegina.ca which were located only a few feet away… in actuality they were located 20-25 feet away and down a small set of stairs. There was only 400 bricks not all in useable condition and once I finished raking and leveling the pad they were to be installed on, with a down grade slope towards your shared fence as to keep run off from pooling near your foundation, I would be set to move the bricks by hand. I ASKED YOU MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE TASK, including your time frame and expected time of completion. You told me you would expect the bricks be flush with the concrete slab that hosts your patio and that you had removed three large trees from the fence side and the soil was softer there. You expected me to move all 400 brick with no wheelbarrow as you were not willing to rent one or any of the necessary tools for such a task to be completely properly, from Home Depot for $25+ per day. You expected that I level the hard packed gravel with hand tools only. You provided me with a shovel, a spade, two rakes, two brooms, a pitch fork, an ice pick and I asked to use an empty garbage can that was laying around. Upon breaking ground I realized the hard packed gravel was obviously a home builders attempt at asphalt that varied from being 1-2 inches thick. You told me I would need to dig out the pad with the shovel to a minimum of 3 inches to lay the brick to your specification. Being that I am a seasoned road construction worker with experience reading grades and engineer measurement sticks, I took it upon myself to google what an appropriate drainage slope gradient would be for what you were asking me. For the space required to fill the slope gradient was ¼” per foot of length meaning that if I dug 3’ deep next to the wall where I was to start I would need to dig 1.6” deeper 6 feet towards the fence in order to give you the proper slope drainage you were requesting. I was very forward about asking questions about why you were so particular about the drainage as it was extremely apparent that you were experiencing foundational problems due to moisture near the dwelling. The root systems left behind from the trees you had removed and the top soil that had compromised the sand and gravel of the existing pad. Your insistence that the new pad be flush to the existing concrete made my job even more difficult to complete and definitely not worth the amount of money you offered in wage. The amount of dirt alone that needed to be removed was nearly impossible to complete in a 12 hour day by hand being that I am only one tatted up white female. This is not even considering the FACT that I weight 190lbs and am more able bodied than most able bodied, hot blooded male counterparts. The hard packed gravel that you warned me of and suggested I use the pitch fork to break up, was actually asphalt that required me to dig it out from underneath with the spade and ice pick and remove from the area with only a garbage can. I removed more than 300lbs of asphalt and moved at least 400lbs of sand and dirt. Essentially I made a very good crack at the first day, only to have you regard my work as subpar to your requirements. You insulted me by having your children be my keeper and whenever I stopped for a moment to catch my breath or change my music, by breathing down my neck telling me I was doing it wrong and digging to deep. Even after multiple attempts on my part to explain the method to my madness you simply wrote me off as inadequate and continued to disrespect me while I continued to work with as much of a smile on my face as I could muster.
By the end of the day I was frustrated to the point of tears and mean comments muttered under my breath. Your treatment of me was nothing short of the treatment of slaves of old and of new. You may not be a Canadian BORN citizen but I assume you have been here long enough to assimilate. Today you hired a female slave and treated her as such. I went out of my way to complete at least the bare minimum what I had promised you for the first days work and explain as politely as possible why your current set wage was unfair. I continued to reiterate that I would accept $12.50 for todays work but that if you required my services to finish the job over the next few days that I would require a raise in hourly pay as most labourers in this position would have required a minimum of $20-25 an hour for the sheer fact that the labour was expected to be done with hand tools. Your next door neighbor had a bob cat parked outside on the street and I know due to my professional experience that the work I completed in 5 hours would have been completed in 15 minutes in that loader bob cat.
Ultimately I am writing this to vent and make sure the general public knows just how ignorant of a person you are. I have tried extremely hard to keep race and colour of skin out of this letter but I can’t keep that part out any longer, today you treated me like a slave.
You don’t know me but I am a Canadian (and not very proud of that fact these days due to interactions with people like you) I have born national heritage from 11 different races including but not limited to Cree, Cherokee, Iroquois, French, Irish, Russian, German, AND AFRICAN. You were very obviously part of a Muslim family, whether you emigrated to Canada and then had your children here I do not know or assume to know but the way you treated me today was that of the way an ignorant immigrant treats a white person because they have some chip on their shoulder about emigrating to my beautiful country, the land of the free. Doesn’t seem so bad? When you can make a person of another race feel like the scum of the earth regardless of the unknown facts ei: I make 100 grand annually operating heavy equipment. You didn’t know my circumstances but you judged me harshly and tried to take advantage of whatever assumed situation you thought had me answering your ad. You paid me $10 AN HOUR FOR 6 HOURS OF BACK BREAKING WORK that I don’t know a professional in the industry who wouldn’t have told you to go fly a kite immediately. I did my work throughout the day with a smile on my face singing Disney music while your over privileged children snuck around and spied on me. Work that I was more than capable and willing to complete for you for 12.50 an hour. I would have done the most professional job you could have received in exchange for that rate, your house would have been protected from water damage and the bricks would have been laid with extreme precision of a woman raised by a mother with major OCD’s and a father who was a home renovation guru. You assumed that because of my tattoos and wild hair that I was an unemployed delinquent looking to screw you over when in actuality I would have given you the most bang for your buck (figuratively speaking of course, as I have seen the ad’s you have posted to kijiji inquiring after a female massage therapist for home visits?) I have a multitude of skills I have honed working since I was 14 years old with amazing work ethic and today you brought the worst out of me when you sent me home with less than the agreed upon wage. MY devastation continued as I calculated the math to realize you had paid me exactly $10/hour to kill myself physically while your family watched like I was some circus freak performing for peanuts. I am not racist but I cannot help but blame your ability to perpetuate known stereotypes against the Muslim peoples in your interactions with me today.
You don’t know me but after our encounter I phoned my mother and had a major anxiety attack resulting in hyperventilation due to your treatment of me. Treatment I did not deserve and could not afford in the long run. You were a waste of my time and energy and good will towards all people. I am not racist but I am admittedly STUPIDIST. I will speak out against any person who exhibits ignorance and a severe lack of intelligence towards other races and people in general. Stupid people come in all shapes and colours and today you proved that you are among the list. As you could not put aside your prejudice and unequal views of women in a work related fields. It is my sincerest hope that your new ad posted 5 hours ago yields you the type of drug addicted employee your pay rate allots for.
Good day to you and your family and all the best in the future.
Sincerely
Keishia N Kolorz
