Familiarity Breeds Contempt

Does familiarity breed contempt?
We think so.

"Where is the remaining change from shopping?" my wife asked the maid.

The maid reached into her own purse and pulled out 3 dirhams. "It got mixed up with my money," she replied.

Our maid has worked for us for 10 years. That's a long time, maybe too long.

When we first moved here, we didn't know much about running a house with local resources. So, L asked our maid, M, many questions and accepted a lot of advice about shopping, cooking, and running a house local style. The relationship, though technically an employer-employee relationship, was more fuzzy and grey. We got invited to her brother's wedding. She would tell us about other weddings. After all, in the West, work relations can be friendly and even get personal.

But, little by little, the familiarity has started getting less respectful and downright rude.

The other day, L asked M to bake bread.
"Oh, I'm tired." she replied.

The other problem is that L is too nice and merciful.

We've noticed a pattern of declining work quality, forgetfulness, and backtalk. I told my wife L, "This is not good. I will not tolerate this."