Not too long ago, I invited my children, Yulia Vasilievna and her brother, to my office to settle Yulia’s wage payment. As a responsible employer, I believe in fair compensation, but this encounter shed light on the struggles faced by those who depend on their wages. I asked Yulia Vasilievna to have a seat, and before handing over her wages
I decided to discuss some matters. “You might need the money, but why do you feel embarrassed about asking for your wages when you’ve worked for two months?” I inquired, reminding her that before her employment, we had agreed upon a monthly salary of thirty rubles.
Yulia Vasilievna hesitated for a moment, then replied, “Forty rubles.”
Surprised, I asked her to explain why she believed her wages should be forty rubles when we had clearly agreed upon thirty before her employment. She explained, “No, it’s thirty. You see, I have all the contract documents on which you’ve placed your thumbprint.”
The question of forty rubles didn’t even arise since I’ve consistently paid my domestic staff thirty rubles per month. “Alright, so you remember that, do you? Before we cut from your salary for Sundays, remember, you needed a day off on Sundays to take care of my daughter rather than teaching her to read or write. And then, you took three days off for personal errands. Remember?”
Yulia Vasilievna’s face turned pale. She wrapped her fingers around the edge of her shirt, but she didn’t utter a word.
“Not only that, you broke a cup and a plate. For this, I am deducting five rubles. Although the cup was more expensive, it came to a total of five rubles. Yet, you had no trouble taking it for yourself.”
“We subtracted Sundays because on those days, my daughter’s holiday, you didn’t help her read or write; you only spent time with her in the mornings and evenings,” she continued. “And then, for three days, your teeth hurt, so my wife allowed you to rest after lunch instead of studying. But here is how you’ve repaid us. I’ve calculated a ruble for each day of those holidays.”
“But, there were no nine Sundays or even four holidays,” Yulia Vasilievna protested weakly.
“No, no,” I corrected her. “There were. Look at your time card; everything is recorded there. Let’s see, after we subtract five rubles for the cup, we have eleven left…Oh, wait, there’s one more thing. On New Year’s Eve, you broke a cup and a plate. That’ll be ten rubles less. So, eleven minus ten is…”
Yulia Vasilievna’s left eye turned red, and her face muscles twitched. She didn’t say a word. Instead, she pressed her nose with her sweaty hand. But she didn’t utter a single word!
“From eleven,” I continued, “subtract the one ruble you didn’t earn because you broke the cup and plate. So, ten rubles are left. Are we clear?”
