No one takes me seriously. Everyone thinks I'm being funny all the time. The truth is, this is not everyone's problem, it's mine. I can never say no. Lately I've been thinking that it's a genetic thing, or maybe cultural, even though I know that culture and economic status are no less genetic than Down syndrome.

I inherited, was taught or simply developed an inability to be unequivocal with my no's. When I entered the Jewish world, meaning when I started to work for Jewish bosses, who were usually older than me, whenever there was something I was asked to do, but didn't want to, I said "Insh'Allah," which is the politest word I can use with someone who is older, to say "I don't want to." Jews treated "Insh'Allah" as though it means yes. But it doesn't. When an Arab says, "Insh'Allah, I will come at five o'clock to fix the faucet in the bathroom," he is actually telling you: Forget it, I don't have time, call another plumber. That's how I found myself, owing to a mistaken use of "Insh'Allah," undertaking to wash dishes in a restaurant that I happened to eat in, leaving the university and becoming the sex slave of the owner of a steak joint, who was on the far side of 60.

"So, you're meeting me in the storeroom later on?"