the other America

Just got done reading Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich (thanks for the recommendation Conni!), a perspective-changing look at low-wage jobs in the U.S. The first-hand looks at working poverty were heartbreaking, and the futile efforts of a middle class, well-educated woman trying to live on a Wal-Mart worker's, diner waitress's, or Merry Maid's salary (or even combining the two, as she had to at times) were purely shocking. Even though I consider myself aware of the disparity between the poorest and richest lifestyles in the U.S., I was horrified. Not only were the jobs lower-paying, much of the work was literally backbreaking (most of her coworkers had repetitive stress, back, and leg problems from the motions of the jobs), while providing no insurance for such injuries. The work was also demeaning - at Merry Maids, she was forced to clean floors on her hands and knees. Though cleaning with a mop and hot soapy water would have been more effective (more shocking than the unpaid hours at the beginning and end of each day were the cleaning methods themselves, which gave only the image of clean, not the reality. They were not allowed to use more than a few inches of water at a time, which meant that nothing was ever actually sanitized.), she is forced to scrub in a posture that screams "servile" (in many ways that I won't go into, but she does, to hilarious effect). In the most moving passage, she describes a co-worker who cries against a kitchen counter - a shockingly thin 23-year-old woman who takes care of extended family at home has sprained her ankle. She doesn't want to call off work, because she is terrified of getting fired or even losing a precious day's pay. Ehrenreich imagines for a moment the person who will come home and slice gourmet breads on the counter, not knowing that the literal blood, sweat, and tears of another person have been spilled (and carefully cleaned up) in the same spot that day.