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This article aims at analyzing various dimensions of the relationship between self-narration and identity formation among female domestic workers in Rio de Janeiro, underscoring the importance of crossing data gathered through in-depth interviews and observations in different settings. Stories that domestic workers tell to others and tell to themselves telling them to others reveal just beneath the surface central characteristics of their experiences. It invites us to take seriously what ordinary people say of themselves and to analyze it independently of the plausibility of a narrative. First, we will present some lessons of a fieldwork carried out from a position of social legitimacy. Second, we will show the reassurance function of conversation among these women, and the importance given to morality. Finally, we will focus on the meaning of retorts they alleged having answered to their employers.