[audio transcript]

“People in Abastumani think differently. They’re more open-minded — in the way they dress, in [what they think of] jobs. For them, the most important thing is to enjoy life and earn something for the family, it doesn’t matter what kind of job they have. Here, everyone scrutinizes what you wear, what you eat, and so on. They don’t let women work in restaurants. My husband is Georgian — he doesn’t mind that I work as a waitress. He trusts me and he knows where I work.”

Diana works in a hotel restaurant — the atmosphere is relaxed and it’s family friendly. In the evening, however, the customers are almost exclusively men, drinking alcohol, and the atmosphere changes.

“Yesterday one man came and pretended to be talking on the phone. Then took a piece of paper and wrote his number on it, called me over, and asked when it would be convenient for me to give him a call. I asked why I would call him, and he replied that he had to talk to me about something. I insisted he tell me things right there, he refused, claiming it was too crowded, so he couldn’t say that. Then I told him that I had a husband and I was not going to call him. So he disappeared. I’ve told everyone here that I have a husband and a child and I don’t lead a parallel life [as in becoming someone’s mistress or engaging in prostitution].”

Not that local women treat her better. One of her neighbours in her early 30s is keen on reminding her that “waitresses are like whores,” Diana says, adding that the woman is surprised that “my husband lets me do that.”

Siranush Virabyan moved from Armenia in 2016 to work as a waitress, following her sister’s suggestion as she had been employed in a restaurant for some time. When her husband, a veteran from the Nagorno-Karabakh war, died in 2004, Virabyan was left alone with no money and two daughters to raise. She started working as a waitress. 13 years on, she is sticking to the job. She makes more or less the same money she’d make in Yerevan, but in Javakheti, life is cheaper and she can save something to send to her daughter who married in Yerevan and for her other teenage daughter who followed her.