Years ago, I was mugged or robbed on Loja Street and in Parque la Carolina. Tonight, however, was the first time in Ecuador that anyone ever threatened me or my property while inside my condo complex.
The threat came from Melba*, a middle-aged woman who had been doing cleaning and other part-time projects for me over a period of about six weeks. She doesn't live in the complex, but is "administradora" for the owner of two connected apartments a couple of doors down from my Centro Histórico apartment.
After a couple of weeks, Melba started showing occasional odd behavior.
One day she knocked on my door early, waking me up, saying she was worried about my health.
She started talking about how good a friendship we supposedly had, and how she was my family in Ecuador. When I sent her to IESS to correct a billing error, she told the agency rep that she was my fiancée. She wanted me to take her to a restaurant to celebrate her birthday in a few weeks.
When I would come back from the bank or other 'tareas', lately I would find her waiting for me outside my condo unit -- we had no appointment. She would walk in behind me, uninvited, and start cleaning. Was she stalking me?
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Last night, after some cleaning, she interrupted me repeatedly during the telecast of the NBA Finals, ignoring my instructions not to disturb me from the other side of my bedroom door. Without permission, she again interrupted, opening the door to my bedroom where I was sitting on the bed .. entering the room without my permission. I told her for a third time not to disturb me. She backed off and left my place.
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Tonight, she showed up demanding immediate payment for the two hours of cleaning the night before .. plus money for painting supplies. She had used the supplies for a ridiculous 15 hours of cleaning and painting of my car's exterior, which had a few paint scratches on it. The charges she was asking for now were inflated; she wanted payment for three hours instead of the two she had worked .. and the paint-materials charges (in Colombian pesos for unknown reasons) were overcharges based on the xe.com exchange rate.
When I told her the billing needed to be adjusted via email before I wanted to pay, she threatened to contact the police, then threatened to break the window(s) of my condo unit's front door.
"I will break the window, you don't know me," she said.
I told Melba to go ahead and call the policía, that I would tell them about her threat to smash my windows.
At this point, she stopped talking about the police and again threatened to smash the windows.
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Eventually, I got her to agree to accept the correct payment, 132 USD, with the understanding that this would be a final payment and no more work would be authorized. When she agreed to those terms, I paid her in cash.
Her final words as I closed the front door: "I don't understand this treatment. You are in Ecuador."
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I followed up promptly with an email to my attorney, the Quito police and the condo administration about the Melba confrontation. I wanted to document the threat in case of trouble going forward, I wrote. I also wanted to alert those parties to the misbehavior of someone with access to the condo complex premises.
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I checked my car in the parking lot several hours later at midnight. There had been no new scratches or damage.
cccmedia in Quito
*Her name has been changed on this thread for legal reasons.
