Dashiki

My husband works in a small boutique hotel downtown. I accompanied him a couple years ago to his annual holiday party. The food was amazing, and the view, breathtaking. As we are sitting at our table, chatting with a couple of his coworkers I hear someone yell “BRATLEY”. From the corner of my eye I see a lady with a beautiful bright, colorful dress that goes down to her toes walking our way with a gift in tow. She says “my baby, I love this guy” and handed him a gift bag. I can tell from her strong accent and traditional clothing that she was from a different part of the world. She had just arrived from her vacation to Africa. From the gift bag, my husband pulled out a dashiki, "a loose, often colorfully patterned, pullover garment originating in Africa and worn chiefly by men" ("dashiki"). She followed by saying “this is very special, I had my father hand make it since you’re a big guy”. The dashiki was yellow, with brown and some gold. She later introduced herself and told me she works in the hotel for the housekeeping department as a room attendant and has been doing so for the last four years. “This guy right here helps me with everything, I call him every time I need help” she said. It was clear that her and my husband had a great relationship. This was no surprise to me, as he is very sociable and makes friends easily.

 

As the boys went to the bar, I stayed behind with the females. She was telling me how her father was royalty in Africa. Anytime she was in need of money he would sent her some to help. This was due to the common lay-offs that happen when hotel occupancy drops. She told me this was the only thing she disliked about working in the hotel when I asked her how she felt about her job. Working in a hotel gives you the opportunity to come across many different people from all over the world. I am lucky enough to benefit from it because I am married to an employee.

 

Work cited-

"dashiki." Dictionary.com.2014.Dictionary.com,LLC. Web. 06 Feb. 2014.