Cleaning A Designer Apartment

One of my clients is Mss. V. She has a modern flat in a high class district. It seems she is a wealthy middle aged woman, achieved most of her goals. She has a prestigious job, successful carrier and enough money to afford a very good standard of living.

Her place looks fascinating. Every room is designed by a different theme. The living room is inspired by Africa. There are ebony tables, handmade sofa and all kinds of souvenirs from the African countries Mss. V. has visited. There are 5 bedrooms in the house. The first one is inspired by China. The second one is in romantic Italian style. The third one is “Eco”. There are no synthetic materials in there and most of the things are recycled. The fourth bedroom is in vintage style: with antique dower-chest, a bed made of wrought iron and vintage curtains. The last bedroom is “blue”. Everything is coloured in different shades of blue.

It shows that the owner has a good taste, great deal of money to fulfil her ideas and a good designer to make everything perfect.

There is a kitchen too, but it is obvious that Mss. V. does not spend much time there. It is always perfectly ordered. All the devises, kitchen appliances, pots and pans are new and seem to be never used. I even wander why Mss. V. bought all these stoves, food processors and utensils at all… May be she intend to start cooking one day or she just wanted the kitchen to be complete…

Mss. V. is a manger in a big sales company. I guess her job is very intense and demanding, because she is always nervous. Sometimes when I clean the place, she is not there and I can do my job quietly. But other times Mss. V. is home, and to be honest, she tenses me too…

I always try to do my work the best way I can and I have never had problems with this. But Mss. V. keeps telling me: “Be careful with this vase! I bought it from Rwanda!” or “This is my mirror from Russia! Wipe it easy!”.

The other day was the first time I saw Mss. V. in a positive mood. She looked happy and even started a conversation with me, which was not about her precious souvenirs. Mss. V. told me with a smile that her sister has a baby! She had just received a picture of the newborn girl on her iPhone and even showed it to me. I congratulated her for her niece and started working.

While I was cleaning different taught crossed my mind. I already knew the reason for Mss. V.’s bad temper. She had nothing to make her happy except her beautiful things. She is a great professional, she goes to marvellous trips around the world, she is smart, successful and she is looking good, but there is no one home to wait for her. I hope she finds her happiness…

I taught about myself too. Where would I be after 15 years? Shall i look like her?