...self proclaimed hermano, familia, tio to my daughter turned out to be nothing more than a thief and a liar.
When we first got here, and moved into the Campo, we rented a place that already had a few workers. One of them was the handyman. He lived just up the road from us, worked to support his family of 4. Nice guy, intelligent, easy to speak to for a Spanish learner, and one hell of a worker. He knew a little about everything. Plumbing, electrical, pools, car and moto repair, could drive, and makes one hell of a Mojito. When we first met him, he was making RD$5000 per month working part time with little to no fringe benefits.
When we moved out of the Campo, he came with us. We paid his taxi from the Campo, and he stayed with us for the days he worked, only three a week. He ate with us, he drank with us, went out to restaurants, we always paid on time, borrowed him money if he needed.
During this whole time, we had our suspicions about him. We thought that he may be stealing small, and sometimes larger amounts or money, but had no way of proving it. And, to be honest, he has been so integral in our living here that we didn't really care. We've taken his entire family on vacations with us, out to expensive dinners, gave him a small fortune to 'fix his house' last December, and then got him a job doing maintenance for a friend. We still let him stay with us, eat our eat, drink our rum, and he worked 3 half days a week for us. Now he was working full time, with all his expenses paid. Making somewhere near RD$15000 per month. The most he has made in years if not decades.
The point, he was our friend. My daughter loved him, he was my first friend here, and taught my wife Spanish. He was always there when we needed him, he saved my family when my daughter broke her leg, and now I realize it was all a lie. I don't know how he got so integrated into our lives.
I haven't been working, and have been home for 2 1/2 months, and you'd be amazed at how smoothly things are running. Not because I have been fixing things, but because he doesn't dupe my wife into getting things fixed while I am not here. Looking back, it has been countless repairs, hundreds of dollars, and I have no idea what is legit. How much money has gone through his hands a couple hundred pesos at a time? Or that hundred dollar bill when my wife purse got knocked over one night, the thousand pesos the maid supposedly stole, moto repairs, house repairs, fake receipts etc. I have no idea where it starts and ends.
One day, I set out RD$250 in a basket with sunglasses, the same basket we often put small amounts of money in, the same basket I suspect he has taken from for a year. We all left the house, he was the only one here, when we got back he and money were gone. When he came back the next day, I confronted him. And, without missing a beat said "Forgive me, forgive me, I needed it for a taxi and you weren't here. I just forgot to tell you", and I saw the wheels turning. For the first time, I saw the snake in the grass. I had trusted this man with my home, my family, my kids, my money. And, because of this, I treated him very well. But, now I see, in his eyes, it was all a big lie. I told the neighbor, and she fired him also. When we got to talking, his tangled web unravelled. He was lying to both of us, getting extra money wherever he could. He'd say she didn't pay him, and borrow money from us and vise versa. He of course came back to her after I had left, and told her I was a liar and a drunk, just like I warned her he would do. He always had a lie, and angle, he was always "working" the Gringos.
So, now this fool lost the highest paying job with the most benefits he most likely has ever had. And, I had plans for him and I. He was good at working with bamboo. Just a week ago we went looking for shop we could work at, maybe start selling some things. All backed financially by me, because I believed in him, and wanted to help him and his family get out of poverty. He threw it all away, because he got greedy.
I'm not a sentimental man, and I don't let many people into my life or my home. Him, I did. He was family. He is the reason we survived here our first two years. I'm still not as mad as I should be, still trying to justify his behavior, and also looking at all the money he may or may not have duped me out of.
Hopefully the shame in his eyes when I called him a ****ing ladron was real, but I doubt it.
When we first got here, and moved into the Campo, we rented a place that already had a few workers. One of them was the handyman. He lived just up the road from us, worked to support his family of 4. Nice guy, intelligent, easy to speak to for a Spanish learner, and one hell of a worker. He knew a little about everything. Plumbing, electrical, pools, car and moto repair, could drive, and makes one hell of a Mojito. When we first met him, he was making RD$5000 per month working part time with little to no fringe benefits.
When we moved out of the Campo, he came with us. We paid his taxi from the Campo, and he stayed with us for the days he worked, only three a week. He ate with us, he drank with us, went out to restaurants, we always paid on time, borrowed him money if he needed.
During this whole time, we had our suspicions about him. We thought that he may be stealing small, and sometimes larger amounts or money, but had no way of proving it. And, to be honest, he has been so integral in our living here that we didn't really care. We've taken his entire family on vacations with us, out to expensive dinners, gave him a small fortune to 'fix his house' last December, and then got him a job doing maintenance for a friend. We still let him stay with us, eat our eat, drink our rum, and he worked 3 half days a week for us. Now he was working full time, with all his expenses paid. Making somewhere near RD$15000 per month. The most he has made in years if not decades.
The point, he was our friend. My daughter loved him, he was my first friend here, and taught my wife Spanish. He was always there when we needed him, he saved my family when my daughter broke her leg, and now I realize it was all a lie. I don't know how he got so integrated into our lives.
I haven't been working, and have been home for 2 1/2 months, and you'd be amazed at how smoothly things are running. Not because I have been fixing things, but because he doesn't dupe my wife into getting things fixed while I am not here. Looking back, it has been countless repairs, hundreds of dollars, and I have no idea what is legit. How much money has gone through his hands a couple hundred pesos at a time? Or that hundred dollar bill when my wife purse got knocked over one night, the thousand pesos the maid supposedly stole, moto repairs, house repairs, fake receipts etc. I have no idea where it starts and ends.
One day, I set out RD$250 in a basket with sunglasses, the same basket we often put small amounts of money in, the same basket I suspect he has taken from for a year. We all left the house, he was the only one here, when we got back he and money were gone. When he came back the next day, I confronted him. And, without missing a beat said "Forgive me, forgive me, I needed it for a taxi and you weren't here. I just forgot to tell you", and I saw the wheels turning. For the first time, I saw the snake in the grass. I had trusted this man with my home, my family, my kids, my money. And, because of this, I treated him very well. But, now I see, in his eyes, it was all a big lie. I told the neighbor, and she fired him also. When we got to talking, his tangled web unravelled. He was lying to both of us, getting extra money wherever he could. He'd say she didn't pay him, and borrow money from us and vise versa. He of course came back to her after I had left, and told her I was a liar and a drunk, just like I warned her he would do. He always had a lie, and angle, he was always "working" the Gringos.
So, now this fool lost the highest paying job with the most benefits he most likely has ever had. And, I had plans for him and I. He was good at working with bamboo. Just a week ago we went looking for shop we could work at, maybe start selling some things. All backed financially by me, because I believed in him, and wanted to help him and his family get out of poverty. He threw it all away, because he got greedy.
I'm not a sentimental man, and I don't let many people into my life or my home. Him, I did. He was family. He is the reason we survived here our first two years. I'm still not as mad as I should be, still trying to justify his behavior, and also looking at all the money he may or may not have duped me out of.
Hopefully the shame in his eyes when I called him a ****ing ladron was real, but I doubt it.