Home > Work > The Maid
61 " It’s not your station in life that matters. It’s how you conduct yourself that counts. "
― Nita Prose , The Maid
62 " She believed in the three E’s—Etiquette, Elocution, and Erudition. "
63 " Benz is short for benzodiazepine. It’s an anti-anxiety and depression med. Small white pills?” “A lovely shade of robin’s-egg blue, actually.” “Huh,” says Charlotte. “So it was a street drug, not a prescription. "
64 " If being a maid is what you’re set on, so be it,’ Gran "
65 " The world is a better place seen through a prism of colors rather than merely in black and white. In this new world, there is room for versions and variations, for shades of gray. "
66 " Monday, floors and chores. "
67 " Never ask what a gentleman did or didn’t do. If he’s a true gentleman, he did it with good cause. And if he’s a true gentleman, he’ll never tell. "
68 " Truth isn’t always the highest ideal; sometimes it must be sacrificed to stop the spread of pain to those you love. "
69 " The truth is, I often have trouble with social situations; it’s as though everyone is playing an elaborate game with complex rules they all know, but I’m always playing for the first time. I make etiquette mistakes with alarming regularity, offend when I mean to compliment, misread body language, say the wrong thing at the wrong time. "
70 " I didn’t tell the truth because the truth hurt. What happened at school was bad enough, but Gran knowing about my suffering meant she experienced my pain too. That’s the trouble with pain. It’s as contagious as a disease. It spreads from the person who first endured it to those who love them most. Truth isn’t always the highest ideal; sometimes it must be sacrificed to stop the spread of pain to those you love. Even children know this intuitively. "
71 " That's the trouble with pain. It's as contagious as a disease. It spreads from the person who first endured it to theose who love them most. Truth isn't always the highest ideal; sometimes it must be sacrificed to stop the spread of pain to those you love. Even children know this intuitively. "
72 " Now let me ask you a question,” I say. “Does it ever bother you?” “Does what ever bother me?” “Cleaning up after rich people. Taking care of their messes,” I say. "
73 " and suddenly the day crystalizes, turns from gas to solid in an instant. "
74 " Treat others as you wish to be treated, "
75 " How any woman could like a hairy man is beyond me. Not that I’m prejudiced. I’m just saying that if a man I fancied was hairy, I’d get the wax out, and I’d rip the strips off him until he was clean and bare. "
76 " As I cleaned, I fantasized about all the things I would do—spray bleach in her face, strangle her with a bathrobe tie, push her off the balcony—if ever I caught Cheryl red-handed, stealing tips from one of my rooms. "
77 " you’ll never see again, someone you miss dreadfully. "
78 " I knew she was in great pain, though she took great pains to deny it. "
79 " make etiquette mistakes with alarming regularity, offend when I mean to compliment, misread body language, say the wrong thing at the wrong time. "
80 " Cleanliness is next to godliness, my gran used to say, and I believe that’s a better tenet to live by than most. "