« NRI guilty in US-India arms deal :+: Great ideas that fail »

Brown in America

The Nanny Diaries

By: Runa :+: Under: Brown in America
On: ⋅ March 15, 2008 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment
Discuss in our off-topic forums

Looks like you are new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

So, sometime during the workday , I get this story emailed to me from a list that I subscribe to (link) .The facts of the story are as under:

A 69 -year-old woman Vilma Serralta is suing her ex-employers, a Bay Area couple who live in the pricey suburb of Atherton. Ms.Serralta claims that they violated labor laws by working her 14-hours a day, six days a week, without overtime pay or breaks. She was paid betyween $1000 and $ 1300 to scrub bathrooms, wash windows, vacuum, mop and dust the 9,000-square foot home, cook, serve meals, hand wash china and silver, launder and iron clothes, and bathe, dress and supervise the couple’s young daughter. Her employers are Sakhawat and Roomy Khan.

Now,I do not want to comment on the merits or demerits of the case. If the Khans violated labor laws and its proved in court, they should be punished. I do not even know if the Khans are desi. It was left to the ” enlightened” commenters on the San Francisco Chronicle article to educate me. Note that the Bay Area is supposed to be famous for its diversity and tolerance. All that I can say is that if this is tolerant America - I never , ever want to be near the intolerant parts!

At Uberdesi , we do not believe in making our readers wade through the dirt so to speak to get at the gems. So proactively for your reading interest - I present the “best of the best” for your reding pleasure

Commenter ontherightside coyly asks:

This seems to be a problem with some people from the sub continent and the middle east or is it just me?

Its you!

The incongruously named peaceful_waters states:

Rich people, especially rich foreigners,
think EVERYONE ELSE MUST BOW DOWN AND BE A SLAVE !
I am not surprised to read this very sad story …….. Funny, but this is NOT TH FIRST STORY I’VE READ about INDIAN PEOPLE ABUSING THEIR EMPLOYEES ! MUST COME FROM THE FAR-EAST INDIAN COMMUNITY– where the caste system SERIOUSLY EXISTS ! Well, not in California……and HOPEFULLY not in Joe Montana’s CHOSEN HOMETOWN !!! BURN THEM !!!

Err… we have no way of confirming that the Khans are “Far -east Indian “- whatever that means. Since Ms.Serralta is , in any case , not Indian and not Hindu the caste system has no relevance at all.

The charming captain_crunch chimes in:

Indian employers..I can understand her pain now. She is lucky to have made 1200 for 80 hour weeks so far, coz they’d have given her 2 slices of bread and an onion just like back home in India

An onion? Really? Why not a potato - more substantial and likely?

And this penetrating analysis by phillyg, that manages to insult both the plaintiff and the defendants:

The problem converges on the fact that you have immigrants who have no respect for the laws of this country, both the employer and the employee. The employer, who’s legal status in this country is probably questionable, took advantage of the employee’s illegal status to treat her as they would have treated domestic help in their own country, with disdain

Note that nowhere in the article does it say that the employers are immigrants or that the employee is an illegal immigrant. Even if they were immigrants, how is their status immediately suspect?
big_bruce displays xenophobia, ignorance and illiteracy :

White America is too Dumb, or Too Naive, to understand…….. These people from India are…………. PARASITES !! Here’s Why: They come to The United States as Students on an H1B-Visa, Get a Virtual Cost-Free Education & Job Training - then return back to India, Start an International Company, & gain all the Benefits of “Outsourcing” American Jobs to…………………………. India

Ignorant - the H1-B is a work visa. No one on an F1- Visa - which is the student Visa -gets a cost-free education. Illogical- if we were parasites we would remain , sucking out the lifeblood of American economy like macchars.
holdin_27 says

My mother was a personal assistant for an Indian couple for about a year and described essentially the same scenerio of doing for more work than what was in the job description and some very shady handling of finances. These people don’t get rich by following the same rules as the rest of us.

These people?

My fellow brown immigrants, wake up and smell the kaapi .You are not paranoid. They really, really hate us.

I truly do not know which disgusts me more: the thought of a 69 -year old being exploited by millionaire employers or the cowards who hide behind the veil of anonymity the web provides to spew hate speech.

« NRI guilty in US-India arms deal :+: Great ideas that fail »
Discuss in our off-topic forums