Stubborn Stains
The result is The Housekeeper’s Diary, a self-published collection of biting, ironic poems about “one working-class girl’s experiences” cleaning up after the rich. “I didn’t take the job to write a book of poems–I took it ’cause I needed the money,” says Alvarado. “But the things I experienced went too deep for me to ignore.”
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She answered the ad and found herself talking to a headhunter who, as Alvarado puts it, “does nothing but place domestic staff in the homes of wealthy people.” After an interview with the headhunter, she was called downtown to meet the clients. “It was a husband and wife–he was an investor, she had her own career,” says Alvarado, who pledges never to reveal the identity of her employers. “They asked me a lot of questions about honesty and punctuality. They wanted to know if I could care for nice art. How would I dust an oil painting? How would I polish lacquered furniture? I told them because I’m a perfectionist I would derive a certain amount of satisfaction from doing anything to the best of my ability. It’s sort of a working-class zen thing–be in the moment of doing dishes. Afterwards the headhunter told me that I had done well but their first choice was a gay man. I guess if you have a certain amount of money and you want to be hip and chic you can bring a gay sensibility into your home.”
“On my first day I met with the woman at their apartment. It was enormous, about 4,000 square feet. I tried not to gawk but I’d never seen anything like it. There were two dens–a big one and a little one–and a formal living room and a European-style kitchen with a state-of-the-art stove and refrigerator and a master bedroom with huge walk-in closets–he had his, she had hers.
In time she learned their politics (“liberal–they like Clinton”), passions (“art–their walls were lined with original 20th-century modern paintings”), and reading pleasures (“anything recommended by Oprah”). They had two children–a grown daughter who lived elsewhere and a college-age son.
There’s a poem about the son called, “Sons of the Very Rich.”
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Cynthia Howe.
