Flexibility is a Good Thing

They're the boss, commanding and strict. They like things done a certain way and they want someone else to do them. They won't get their hands dirty for anything except make-up and clothes and their hair. They are the white women of 1962 Jackson, Mississippi. Hilly Holbrook and Celia Foot two characters from the novel” The Help,” written by Kathryn Stockett , are these women.

Hilly Holbrook, a very well know white woman in the community for her care and concern for Jackson, is also know for being the strictest white lady there is. She is known by all maids. She is the kind of women who needs things to be done on a certain day by a certain time. It could almost be said she is a perfectionist. She wants her maid to be efficient, good with children and silent. She does not take well to back talk, nor does she like when she is corrected or told that she is wrong. She has a very large ego and needs it to stay that way. She knows exactly how the maid service works and she expects that level of professionalism and respect, no more, and certainly no less. Even though Hilly is a harsh and strict boss, another character from this novel, Miss Celia Foot has a different take on the relationship between a maid and her employer.

Celia Foot another white women in the community of Jackson, if very unlike the usual white women. Being the new person in town she doesn't have many friends and doesn't know how the maid service really works. In need of a maid to help her around her house she calls the people she does know to get some names. She comes across a maid who has the most prestigious record and hires hers. The maid she hire's name is Minny, she knows all their is to know about the relationship between the white women you work for and the maid. And the way miss Celia was treating her was not it. Not that the way Miss Celia was treating her was bad, just out of her comfort zone, a little too nice. She would invite Minny to sit and have tea with her, have breakfast with her and even take breaks if she was tired. Minny got to pick the days and hours that she worked, and thought Miss Celia how to cook and made a bonus. This was all new to Minny, for she was used to the Jackson Maid Relationship. Strict and firm and always and arms length away. Never getting to close or to attached.

Both of these white women are meant to be the boss, while their husband is out but, only one is really acting like it. If not going a little over board. Being the boss does mean you have to have control and confidence in your employee, but it doesn't mean you have to act like a parent and treat them like a child. You can have a working relationship with your employee with a little flexibility.