Often when I speak, my friends will proudly point out that many English words are rooted in the Greek language. Well, I know this because I’m not only a wordsmith by profession, but I had this wonderful Level I Greek teacher that, in an attempt to wipe those panicked looks off our faces on the first day of class, convinced us that we already know a lot of Greek — athletic, democracy, biology, somatics, philosophy. It didn’t really help us a lot when she took us to the biggest laiki in Pangrati and left us there…but I digress.

A year and a half ago when I met my then boyfriend, his boss was calling and sending sms at 3 a.m. to change his schedule for the same morning, not paying his salary for weeks or bonuses for months, berating him in public for being 5 minutes late one time even though he arrives 30 minutes early each morning without pay, stays past his shift to cover for people coming late every day and often works the whole 150-seat cafe alone without a server, thus preventing any opportunity during 8 hours to eat or visit the WC for basic human needs.

On top of this, his boss is telling him to fix his attitude because he isn’t smiley enough on occasion. And he said he was disappointed that my boyfriend wasn’t as close to him as he’d like because the family needs to stick together. Oh yeah, did I mention his boss is his cousin?

I kept my mouth shut for a year and a half — a really long time for someone like me to keep quiet, I assure you — because I felt it wasn’t my business and wanted to keep the peace. In the meantime, I’ve put up with interrupted sleep, changing my work schedule and canceling plans to accommodate constant rescheduling, covering my boyfriend’s bills until he finally gets his money and abandoning nights out when he comes home tired or not in the mood to socialize.

So what put me over the edge? Two things: 1) His cousin/boss opened a new restaurant despite the fact he owes 3200 euros in back pay and bonuses to my now fiancè, 3000 to his brother and 2400 to a server who lives with her parents. And how did we find out about this restaurant? From a non-family bartender and his wife who wrote the loan at her bank, 2) His cousin/boss played the “family” loyalty card again.

Please! I let him have it, calmly giving him a list of grievances and ending with the statement that I didn’t care how he runs his business(es), as long as it doesn’t affect me. But while it’s affecting me, don’t talk to me about how family is supposed to be there for him until he’s ready to be there for us.

How did it end? I learned that people don’t take pride in the fact that hypocrite is derived from Greek, and of course nothing changed…except that I’m not “allowed” to speak to his cousin anymore.

Story continues with “Logic is a Greek word“