Chapter 10 - I Had Let My Family Belittle My Work Because Part of Me Enjoyed Being Underestimated
This was mine.
Not the shove.
Not Brielle’s cruelty.
Not Ethan’s contempt.
Mine.
For years, my family called Morrow:
“Maya’s catering thing.”
I stopped correcting:
them.
At first because explanation was:
tiring.
Later because something less flattering happened.
I began enjoying:
underestimation.
Someone would assume I was:
staff.
Then discover I signed:
the contracts.
Assume I was:
a caterer.
Then learn I owned:
the company.
There was satisfaction in:
the reveal.
That satisfaction allowed me to avoid the harder work of setting:
boundaries early.
Brielle said:
“You can handle it, you do this all the time.”
I said:
yes.
She asked for:
free planning.
Yes.
Vendor calls at:
midnight.
Yes.
Sunday walkthrough.
Yes.
Then she insulted staff.
I warned:
her
but did not impose professional consequences because:
family.
Martin asked permission to treat her as a normal client.
I said:
I’ll handle it.
Meaning:
I’ll absorb it.
My staff did too.
That was wrong.
The chef whose work Brielle called:
“basic.”
The banquet captain she reduced to:
tears.
The junior coordinator who asked me:
“Does she talk to you like this at home?”
I laughed.
I was protecting:
the wedding,
my sister,
family peace.
Not:
the people who worked for me.
That was my accountability.
I had been so determined to show Brielle love by giving her extraordinary service that I allowed her to believe extraordinary access meant:
unlimited authority.
I did not create:
her entitlement.
But I subsidized:
it.
After the shove, I finally stopped.
Late.
May you like
Still necessary.
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