"Scrubbing in Maine"-Getting the conversation started...
How can you use blogging to deepen your understanding of the story? 1. Post a comment about this section 2. Pose a question 3. Comment on one of your classmate's questions
“I chose Maine for its whiteness. A few months back, in the spring, I had been in the Portland area for a speaking engagement at a local college and was struck by what appeared to be an extreme case of demographic albinism. Not only were the professors and students white, which is of course not uncommon; so were the hotel housekeepers, the panhandlers, and the cab drivers, who, in addition to being white, also spoke English, or at least some r-less New England variant thereof. This might not make Maine an ideal setting in which to hunker down for the long haul, but it made it the perfect place for a blue-eyed, English speaking Caucasian to infiltrate the low wage workforce, no questions asked.” page 51 Do you think Barbara Ehrenreich is afraid to do her experiment in a risky area? Do you think she's playing it safe working in Maine? How different would the book be if she were to settle down in a ghetto, or an inner city area? Julianne M
In this section she refers to her whiteness. I don't understand why she does this. Does she think that being white makes you better than everyone else? I just don't get why she would include this when that could be offensive to many people. In today’s society I feel that people don’t worry about what color you are they only care about the type of worker you are. The United States has already gone through segregation and many other problems involving color so I believe that the color of your skin doesn't matter anymore.
Why does she refer to her whiteness? Does she think it is a good attribute to have that will help her get a job? Is she Racist?
This section was very interesting. I think the fact that Barbara went from working in an actual factory to becoming a maid and actually has to cook and clean. She works with other maids that are really poor, and it kind of shows her how life really is. These women don't even eat, and the money is so scarce and all they spend their money on is cigarettes and finding things that they actually need. Food is a 3rd option, because cigarettes relieve stress and since they are under so much, they need that one break to get them through the day.
Why is it that a cigarette is more important to them than food? Obviously it relieves stress, but you shouldn't giuve up eating for a cigarette that will just kill you in the long run.
Austin, I agree with what you said that you don't understand why she would bring up her skin color so much. In my opinion, it shouldn't matter if you're black, white, Asian, Mexican, or anything else-i think that everyone should have the same job opportunities. To answer your question, I do believe that she thinks that her being white will help her get a higher paying better job; but in reality, she's being ignorant, and even a little bit racist. Julianne M
Julianne, I do believe that she was afraid to do her experiment in a risky area because it seems like she doesn't want to associate herself with the poor. She feels that she is better than them at everything and that’s final. She doesn't want her reputation hurt by being around the poor and ghetto. If she settled down in a ghetto I don’t think she would be able to handle it. She would be completely surrounded by the poor and she couldn't escape to the comfort of her home. Austin C Period 6
Julianne, I definitely agree with you on asking if she's playing it safe in Maine. It would be different if she was in an inner city area, she wouldn't want to work with innter city people. She chose a simple job with less inner city people and I definitely think she was playing it safe by being a maid.
"Seems its marble walls have been "bleeding" onto the brass fixtures, and can I scrub the grouting extra hard? That's not your marble bleeding, I want to tell her, it's the worldwide working class - the people who quarried the marble, wove your Persian rugs until they went blind, harvested the apples in your lovely fall-themed dining room centerpiece, smelted the steel for the nails, drove the trucks, put up this building, and now bend and squat and sweat to clean it" (90).
Through this quote, Barbara forces the reader to think. Behind every object, piece of furniture, toy, etc. is someone who built it. This can further be addressed when speaking about the issue of sweatshops where people, including children, are forced to work in harsh conditions for little or no money at all. Consumers, though, benefit from the hard work done by impoverished people without thinking about it. It is mind - blowing that workers are treated this way.
Do you ever stop to think about the people who make your clothes or shoes and wonder if they are suffering?
While Barbara was working with the maid service, she met a young woman who would be shakey on the job from hunger. She wouldn't eat during their lunch breaks, along with some other women. Some of these women would choose to spend money on cigarettes instead of food. It bothered me that they would let themselves go hungry for a cigarette. Are they not getting paid enough to live on? Or are they just choosing not to eat and spending money on cigarettes instead?
I think that a cigarette is more important because it immediately satisfies the smoker. Even though cigarettes are expensive, $8 for however many cigarettes in a pack may seem more appealing than one meal to them. I found this shocking, too!
I do agree that she is playing it safe in Maine. The experiment probably would have been more valid if she had tried to go to an inner city or ghetto, where povertly is more common, but Barbara couldn't even do the experiment this way without cheating. There is no way she could have handled settling down in an inner city.
"Nothing is to be said about the possibility of transporting bacteria, by rag or by hand, from bathroom to kitchen or even from one house to the next." This quote come from the section when Barbara was explaining how the maids cleaned the houses.
I was absolutely disgusted when I read this quote and this part of the chapter. I literally cringed at how they cleaned the house. They don't use the proper cleaning materials and basically they don't clean, they rearrange things so they clean.
How would you feel if you paid someone to clean you house and they cleaned it like this? ~Jessica C P6
The quote you picked really bothered me when I read it. For one thing, the author herself is really well paid, and no one would blame her for buying herself nice things. If the wealthier people didn't buy these things, all of the people who make them would be out of work. Those rugs are worth so much because of the work put into them, and the person making them needs that work. I know that when I have my own home, I want to decorate it with nice things. Who doesn't? You can't blame people for that.
A Quote that I found intersesting was when Eherenreich stated, "It's an inexcusable outburst. First because it's insulting, especially to Holly and the brittle sense of professionalism that keeps her going through sickness and injury. For all i know the test was a challenge to her at the level of basic literacy. Everyone here can read, but Holly has sometimes asked me how to spell words like 'carry' and 'weighed' that she needs to report any 'incidets' that occur. Second ofcourse because it's against the rules to use 'bad words' in a company car. Where's my professionalism, anyway, the journalistic detatchment that was supposed to guide and sustain me every inch of the way?"(113). In Barbra's realization of her inexcusable outburst toward Holly, she's realized that her own professionalism is nonexistant. How do you think this affected her views of her experiment?
On page 59, the author talks about the computer surveys and tests that employers reguire as part of the interview process. "Do I work well with others? You bet, but never to the point where I would hesitate to inform on them for the slightest infraction. Am I capable of independant decision making? Oh yes, but I know better than to let this capacity interfere with a slavish obedience to orders." This quote reminds me so much of 1984. Like the "Party", corperations seem to expect complete loyalty and obedience.
Do you agree with Barbara's view, or do you think she's a little paranoid?
Taylor, I agree with you statement when when you say that it's ridiculous that someone would prefer smoking a cigarette than feeding themselves. In my own opinion, food will keep you alive. Cigarettes will kill you.
On page 117 Barbara once again writes one of those catchy paragraphs that cause most to stop, reread and connect it to real day life. This time she is taking a step back from her duties and realizing what is really going on in her current situation. Upon one of her fellow maids collapsing, Barb states that the, “…home owners aren’t going to thank us for a job well done, and God knows, people on the street aren’t going to hail us as heroines of proletarian labor. No one will know that the counter on which he slices the evening’s baguette only recently supported a fainting woman- and decide to reward her with a medal of bravery.” After I read through this passage, I literally stopped, read it again and really thought about how true the quote is. First, in this case, credit isn’t given where credit is needed. This quote represents the different views and levels of which people live their lives off of. Often rich/ wealthy over low life/ hard working poor. People do not realize or applaud hard work unless they did the work and often look down on people who don’t wear fancy clothes and live rich lives. Also, this quote could teach us to appreciate more, what we take for granted. Not to say richer people don’t work hard but their work is often more appreciated. Overall, this represents a man vs. man conflict of how humans compete for acceptance and respect.
Have you ever worked on something with all your energy; be proud of it, then not have it be appreciated by others? Since this book took place 10 years ago, do you think that appreciation for hard work would be higher in today’s society or more appreciated say, 60 years ago? -Ryan H. Per. 5
I also found that section very interesting.I think that these people are under so much stress, that cigarettes are the only thing that helps them cope with it. Once they are addicted, apparently cigarettes are more important than food, and they are the only things that help them through the day.
Alexis M, I could not agree more with your choice of quote and way of explaining and connecting it to the world today. Your question brought forth an issue that I had brought up in my blog post. People don’t appreciate hard work and take for granted the things they are offered every day. It is human nature to be selfish and to never think about the who, what, when, where and how their Coach Bag or Nike kicks were created. So to answer your question, I often don’t stop to think of how my clothes or belongings are made, but if a situation is presented, I would like to thank those who made my satisfaction possible and to allow them to know their work is appreciated.
I was wondering those questions too. I feel like she chose Maine because it seemed "safe" to her. It seems like she didn't want to go to a city because she knew that in a city she'd find much more poverty and she'd see much more suffering. I think she'd get a better experience if she went to a place where there was a lot of poverty, such as a city. And the whole "whiteness" thing is pretty stupid, because she's justifying that by saying she wanted to fit in with the people. In the real world, you can't choose where you go, and for reasons like race. It totally comes off as her being racist, like she's afraid for dumb reasons.
I chose Maine for its whiteness. A few months back, in the spring, I had been in the Portland area for a speaking engagement at a local college and was struck by what appeared to be an extreme case of demographic albinism. Not only were the professors and students white, which is of course not uncommon; so were the hotel housekeepers, the panhandlers, and the cab drivers, who, in addition to being white, also spoke English, or at least some r-less New England variant thereof. This might not make Maine an ideal setting in which to hunker down for the long haul, but it made it the perfect place for a blue-eyed, English speaking Caucasian to infiltrate the low wage workforce, no questions asked.” page 51. This quote made me wonder why Barbara Ehrenreich was picking a place like Maine as opposed to a place more poverty stricken or more urban and inner city like. I feel like Maine was easier for her. She mentions "white" so much and how jobs that are stereotypically held by minorities are held by white, english speaking residents that i feel she let her personal fears get in the way of her being fully able to carry out her experiment.
What is your opinion as to why Barbara chose Maine?
I chose the same quote as you and I have to say that i think Barbara Ehrenreich was playing it safe. I also feel that she let her personal feelings and i guess fears of an urban setting get in the way of fully carrying out her experiment. I also think she is being ignorant and racist in the way that she appears to be looking down on minorities in that statement. I also think that she finds more urban places beneath her and doesn't want to be associated with the types of people who live there.
quote: "...you need to be taking in 2,100 calories in addition to the resting minimum of say, 900 or so. I get pushy with Rosalie, who in new like me and fresh from high school in a rural northern part of the state, about the meagerness of her lunches, which consist solely of Doritos- a half bag from the day before or a freshly purchased small-sized bag. She just didn't have anything in the house, she says, and she certainly doesn't have any money to buy lunch..." This quote comes from when Barb and her coworkers are taking their lunch break at a gas station. Barb is talking about the amount of calories they all burn for each specific job they do, and is especially concerned about this particular coworker because of her malnutrition. Connection: i think that this quote can be connected to not only malnutrition that goes on daily in America, but also obesity. This is because the lower class is forced to buy junk food that can fill them and their families up because it's cheaper than buying healthy food. Therefore, causing obesity. Question: if you noticed the food you were feeding yourself was making you fatter and unhealthier because its cheaper, would you try lessening your meals to afford healthy few meals rather than junk? stacy per6
The part of this section that I found interesting is actually just a side note; a very small part of the whole section but it really brought my attention to it. On page 99 it says “I buy myself a pack of cigarettes and sit out in the rain to puff (I haven’t inhaled for years but it helps anyway)” Now I know a lot of people read right over this but I really thought about it. First off it’s quite said that a person can be put through so much stress that they need to be forced to do a bad habit that they actually have not done in years just because they need to be relieved. I see it happening all the time today, especially at my home. My dad is a long time smoker and my mom was but she quit and I can tell that it helps them relieve stress. But can’t there be another way that is not so bad for you? Don’t you think that when you smoke your going to want to do it more creating more stress? Secondly, while thinking about this I noticed that without noticing she is contributing to everything she is against by buying those cigarettes. She is supporting a big corporation that controls small, low paid workers like her. I think there is a deeper meaning to her buying those cigarettes. What I am wondering to myself just about this subject is can an addictive substance like cigarettes really help you relieve stress or is just going to hurt you more? Jarrett L. period 5
hello Katrice, I was also interested in the whole cigarette issue. I did not think about the fact that cigarettes do cost money and where are they getting this money when they are having trouble eating? this is an extremely valid point that you brought up. i think that when they buy such things as cigarettes they are just hurting themselves. thank you fro bringing this extra info to my attention!! Jarrett L. period 5
"And this touches me, somehow, even more than the presumptive lie about his assets: that this place he has described so morbidly dysfunctional could amount to a real and compelling human community," (34).
Well what else would they be?! This quote bothers me because Barbara is suprised that her co-workers are "real people" and aren't as weird as she thought. I could be wrong, but this quote makes her seem conceited. Does she think that just because they have low wage jobs that they are weird people?
Question: Why does Barbara instantly judge her new co-workers?
Hey Tay, Just like you, I question why people choose cigarettes over food. But what I do know is that they can't help it! Even though I think smoking is disgusting, I understand that it is an addiction and it is easy to choose it over food. Once you start smoking, your body nags you to keep doing it. Putting aside the fact that it is their fault they got addicted, it's just one of those things you can't control, and it is much easier for us to say we'd choose food because we don't smoke. Good response/Question!
On page 90, Barbara says, "That's not your marble bleeding, I wanted to tell her, it's the worldwide working class-the people who quarried the marble, wove your Persian rugs until they went blind, harvested the apples in your lovely fall-themed dining room centerpiece, smelted the steel for the nails, drove the trucks, put up this building, and now bend and squat and sweat to clean it." I think that this quote is important because it shows how people above working class take things for granted. Since Barbara has been doing this experiment, I feel that she has realized how much easier her life was before from her normal perspective. I feel that she realized this once she started doing the type of work people used to do for her. Barbara now knows what it is like to make people above working class happy by working a lot harder than she ever thought she would have to. I feel like I can connect to this quote in the way that my life is pretty good and I don't always think about all of the hard work put into the items I buy and that many people fall into this class that Barbara is describing. Do you think it was hard for Barbara not to use previous money she had saved from her normal job that she had saved for emergencies; especially when she was running low on things like food and clothing for work?
In this section of the book Barbara gets a job as a maid. She talks about how they transport bacteria from "rag to rag" and how her job isn't really to clean the houses, but rather to make them LOOK clean. My question is why would you spend the same amount of time making something look clean instead of just using the proper chemicals to actually kill bacteria? As a maid you should thoroughly CLEAN bacteria from the house, not just pose as a cleaner.
Alexis, I do sometimes stop to think about where my clothing was manufactured and what children had to suffer in order for it to be made. It's truly very sad to think about these things because i know that i there are labor laws protecting me from child labor, while children in other countries aren't as greatful. Great question!
"Maybe, it occurs to me, I'm getting a tiny glimpse of what it would be like to be black," (100). -This quote surprised me. I think we can all agree that Barbara is maybe a little bit conceited and she definitely has strong opinions. But, I think maybe this quote is offensive to some people. Maybe her intentions were to single out the segregation that occurred in the past, 50 or so years ago, but it could also sound as if she was saying that blacks in the present world get treated poorly.
This quote relates to the world today. Although it's no secret that minor prejudices still happen today, this quote seemed a tad bit racist. There are many people out there who still view African Americans differently than whites. It's almost like Barbara is stereotyping blacks by saying that it's typical for them to work a minimum-wage job. Although it's completely wrong, it's the reality that some people still segregate colored people.
How would Barbara feel if the situation was in reverse? If an African American discriminated against her for being white?
Kelly L, I think because Barbara is self-centered in some ways, she is judging her co-workers as if she was comparing them to herself. Because this is just an experiment, it's obvious that her co-workers aren't going to have it as "well" as her. It's hard for people not to instantly judge someone, honestly, but Barbara judges them right away because she isn't used to working/associating with people like them. Good job Kel :)
I completely agree with the fact that they should be spending their money on food and not on cigarettes. To answer your question, I think the reason they may be spending their money on cigarettes rather than food is because they are far too stressed to think about eating so they spend money on something that is an addiction and tends to help ease the pain of the stress for them. Jess B. p.5
“…the perfect place for a blue-eyed, English-speaking caucasion to infiltrate the low-wage workforce no questions asked”(51). Why did Ehrenreich choose an area that was mainly made up of whites? Did she think it would be harder to land a job with so many minorities filling up the workforce or is there some racism behind this choice? Madison B Period 5
Allie, I absolutely agree with you! There’s no specific way for Ehrenreich to “feel black,” not everyone who is black holds a low wage job, we have a black president and I doubt she’s feeling like the President while cleaning houses. This definitely isn’t the only quote that shows evidence that Ehrenreich is racist.
"I get pushy with Rosalie...about the meagerness of her lunches, which consists solely of Doritos...She just didn't have anything in the house, she says... and ahe certainly doesnt have any money to buy lunch, as i find out when I offer to fetch her a soda from a Quik Mart and she has to admit that she doesnt have eighty-nine cents...how does she hold up for an eight- or even nine- hour work day?" (78).
This quote really made me feel grateful for the comparatively high standard of living I have. Instead of not having enough food to eat at all, I have the luxury to over-eat. I usually don't even blink when paying a dollar for a soda and its really unimaginable for me to not be able to afford it.
In what ways did this section make you feel grateful about your lifestyle?
if you noticed the food you were feeding yourself was making you fatter and unhealthier because its cheaper, would you try lessening your meals to afford healthy few meals rather than junk?
Stacy! (: I agree that those who can't afford to make healthy choices when it comes to food are in a lose-lose situation. If they pick healthier options, not only would more money be spent, but it also wouldn't be that filling. However, if they pick cheap, high calorie foods, they would be sacrificing necessary nutrition for energy and the feeling of full. In this situation, i would try to balance my nutrtion and calorie needs by eating high calorie foods for energy, but also taking daily vitamins, so i could get somewhat of a balance between the two.
"I used to stop on my way home from work, but I couldn't take the stares, which are easily translatable into: What are you doing here? And, No wonder she's poor, she's got a beer in her shopping cart! True, I don't look so good by the end of the day and probably smell like eau de toilet and sweat, but it's the brilliant green-and-yellow uniform that gives me away, like prison clothes on a fugitive. Maybe, it occurs to me, I'm getting a tiny glimpse of what it would be like to be black."
At first when I read this passage from the book I didn't think much of it. To me it seemed like the author was just trying to show people how they make others feel uncomfortable. However, as the question of the author being a little racist came up, I started looking at it from a different perspective. Now it's more of like an "Oh no you didn't!' kind of thinking. Being a black teenager, I haven't really experienced that much prejudice in my life, on the other hand, my parents have, so I know how that kind of discrimination feels. The way Ehrenreich put this, can be a little bit offensive to some people of African descent. Not every black person works at places that will make them "smell like eau de toilet and sweat" and wear a degrading uniform. It's definitely true that black people, or any other minority for that matter, get noticed easily in a place that is populated by white people, but the way she stated this seems slightly stereotypical to me.
Is stereotyping part of human nature? Will there ever be a time when we can truly look beyond race?
“I get pushy with Rosalie… about the meagerness of her lunches, which consists solely of Doritos- a half bag from the day before or a freshly purchased small-sized bag. She just didn’t have anything in the house, she says (though she lives with her boyfriend and his mother), and she certainly doesn’t have any money to buy lunch…” (78) I think is very unfortunate for Rosalie. She is beating herself up by not eating healthy which makes her tired and less proficient at work. She also can’t survive on minimum wage which forces her to be cheap at lunch time. I find it interesting that her boyfriend isn’t helping her out. The book may have said this but maybe she is just living there because she has nowhere else to go. My question was how do people earning minimum wage support themselves over a long period of time? I know that they need to think about their daily life before their future.
Jarrett, I was very intrigued by your quote. Like you I don’t fully understand why people smoke cigarettes to relieve stress. It may have been an old habit, but if you smoke you are hurting your future. These people shouldn’t be wasting their money on them because they need food. A lot of the poor are malnourished which inflicts a huge toll on their health and cigarettes only hurt their health even more.
I know more then half of the people who posted are curious about the workers picking a cigarette over food. I was thinking the same exact thing. As odd and surprising at it may sound to people that Barbara's co workers choose to pick their nicotine addiction over their hunger I feel as if them eating won't fully satisfy them as would a cigarette. I can't say I know from experience, but an addiction like smoking seems to overpower the mind much more then hunger does. By choosing smoking , their health is put at a higher risk from starvation to cancer. I can't say I fully agree with these workers but on the other hand I can because they are deciding on their own what truly makes them happy without the impact of others.
Are these low wage co workers truly angry about the circumstances in which they find themselves?
You're question was really great! It got me thinking about how Barbara Ehrenreichs truly thought things over. As much as I hate to think she is a racist in a way I believe it. Through out the book I got a very negative vibe from her, as if she thought she was better then any one she stumbled upon. Not only minorities but anyone. I feel as if she needed to have an opener(is that even a word?) mind about people in general in order to really get to know them without immediately putting judgment upon them. Which is why the quote you picked and the question that went along with it could go either way.
I found this section to be very insightful about Ehrenreich's outlook on life. On page 91 she expresses her feelings towards having a housekeeper and says "But mostly I rejected the idea, even after all my upper-middle-class friends had, guiltily and as covertly as possible, hired help for themselves, because this is just not the kind of relationship I want to have with another human being." Personally, I admire Barbara for this statement. To an extent, I agree with her. I do not believe in making other people feel "below" someone else because of their profession, or anything else for that matter. In my life, everyone in my family pitches in and helps clean the house; the thought of a housekeeper is ridiculous to us! However, in some circumstances I think a cleaning person is useful. For example, my grandmother is handicapped and has trouble walking, so she has a cleaning lady come to the house once a week. What are your thoughts on housekeepers? Do you agree or disagree with Ehrenreich?
Kelly L, I totally agree with you in that Barbara was wrong in thinking that "weird people" had low-wage jobs. To answer your question, although it is disgraceful, I feel like sometimes it's human nature to judge others before fully meeting them, especially since Barbara is in a completely new place having to do completely new things. Additionally, I think she was very honest in this book, and may have expressed things that people generally wouldn't say aloud to others. However, I agree with you that she was in the wrong! -Amanda M
"But the point at The Maids, apparently, is not to clean so much as to create the appearance of having been cleaned, not to sanitize but to create a kind of stage setting for family life. And the stage setting Americans seem to prefer is sterile only in the metaphorical sense, like a motel room or the fake interiors in which soap operas and sitcoms take place."(pg 76)
I disagree. I think that we assume maid services are actually cleaning because the house looks clean. If we knew they only made it look clean without actually cleaning, we would probably be horrified. Unfortunately, many people are too ignorant or too trusting to find out exactly whats going on.
My question is: Why do people assume that "you cant judge a book by its cover" only applies to books and people, and not everything else too?
Katrice, I dont think they are getting paid enough to live on; isnt that the whole point of the book? I also wonder though, why they would buy a pack of cigarettes rather than food. Maybe its like a crutch. They smoke because it is one of the few things in their lives that they can really control, even if they know it will kill them eventually.
I was surprised at the way maids were treated, compared to others in the low-wage workforce. They were treated as inferiors not only by the rich people whose houses they cleaned, but also by people who saw them on the street in their maid uniforms. Ehrenreich said that when she went out in public wearing her maid uniform, people often were rude to her or ignored her completely. However, when she wore her waitressing uniform in public, people would treat her normally, and sometimes even talk to her about the restaurant she served at.
Why do you think that people who work as maids are treated as inferiors in society, but not those who work as waitresses, when their wages are the same?
Kelly, I agree with you that Barbara seems to judge her coworkers and think of them as below her. I didn’t notice that quote when I read the book, but now that you mention it, it makes me angry that she would say something like that. She seems to be saying that low wage people aren’t as human, and don’t form communities.
"At that time, I dismissed this as a scare story. But I have since come across ads for concealable video cameras, like the tech-7... 'designed to.. watch employess to prevent theft." (93) I can't understand why employers feel the need to watch employees. Most people working as a maid are desperate for the money, and they wouldn't waste their opportunity for their source of income on something like stealing from one of the houses. If employees do steal, it's probably because of a low morale throughout the workplace, and that problem could easily be fixed. Fixing the problem of low morale would also decrease the amount of theft. This relates to GOW because the californians had bad opinions of the migrants and thought they would steal. It's unfair for the californians and the employers to presume the worst of the migrants or employees and making it seem lik it's all their fault.
My question is why do these presumptions take place in the first place? Is it just a way of shifting the blame?
"The itching gets so bad at night that I have mini-tantrums, waving my feet to keep from scratching and bawling. So I fall back on the support network of my real-life social class, call the dermatologist I know in Key West, and bludgeon him into prescribing something sight unseen"(80). I came across this quote when I was reading the section "Scrubbing in Maine" and it really stood out to me because i feel that is shows how Barbra is not going through fully with this experiment. I respect the fact that she wanted to get some sort of help and medication for her rash, but at the same time not everyone who is living in the conditions that she is "living" in can just call up some random doctor let alone dermatologist when they have issues. This connects to the present day issue of health care. Health care is becoming an issue because a lot of people are have trouble affording it, or getting a job that covers it for you. I bet most of the people that Barbra worked with did not have health care, and would not be able to help their rash in this situation.
I don't mean to make this such a biblical convorsation, but this part in the book was the only part that really struck me. This is the only part when Barb speaks up and says something against the way everything is run. She says that "Jesus makes his appearance here only as a corpse; the living man, the wine-guzzling vagrant and precocious socialist, is never once mentioned, nor anything he ever had to say. Christ crucified rules, and it may be that the true business of modern Christianity is to crucify him again and again so that he can never get a word out of his mouth." I find it interesting that she'd give Jesus a political party (and I'm not even going to get into that controversal convorsation). But she notes that this huge religion is focusing on the death of a man, and they're completely ingoring his morals, his love, his preaching and teaching. They're warping it into their own vision, which makes everyone an individual. And when you force all these individuals into the workforce, you get problems.
My question doesn't really pertain to the reading and low-wage jobs, but if anyone's still up and would like to maybe touch upon it, I'd like to hear something. Barb says "Is the "soul" that lives forever the one we possess as the moment of death ... or is it our personally best soul, say the one that indwells in us at the height of our cognitive powers?" So does it matter if we feed old diabetics cupcakes?
I feel that you brought up a really good point in your post! Your question is very true, I feel that throughout the whole story Barbra is judging and critiquing the way that her co-worker act. She in a way refers to them in a way where she doesn't even realized that they are normal people just like us, but with a completely different lifestyle. Overall I feel that Barbra should try and connect and understand the way her co-workers live and feel instead of judging them! Great point Kelly
Treasure, I really liked your question, it's acutally one i've thought of a lot. What I think is, it acutally is human nature to stereotype based on ridiculous things like: skin-color, clothes, accents, even the things one buys. I don't think these judgments will ever stop being made, but it's just as good when no one acts upon these judgments and stereotypes. Shama K. P 6
Dear anyone who talked about cigarettes/unhealtyness,
I'd like to ask you: have you ever been addicted to anything? well neither have I. But these people are. They start for whatever reason. And then they get addicted. Its REALLY hard to stop when you have nothing in your life to look forward to besides a cigarette high. They know its bad, they want to stop. Food doesn't give them the same satisfaction. I watched a "Vanguard" documentary on someone who was addicted to oxycodon and cigaretts. Okay, different drug, I know. But there was a man who said "You start at a normal before you've done anything. Then you get at high first, and then after a period of time, you sink LOW beneath the normal. And then you constantly need the drug to get you to normal. After awhile, you don't get high anymore. You just get normal." I've heard from many a cigarrette smoker that they get a high from it. I'm not saying its good, but I think that's why they can't stop.
"At that time, I dismissed this as a scare story. But I have since come across ads for concealable video cameras, like the tech-7... 'designed to.. watch employess to prevent theft." (93) I can't understand why employers feel the need to watch employees. Most people working as a maid are desperate for the money, and they wouldn't waste their opportunity for their source of income on something like stealing from one of the houses. If employees do steal, it's probably because of a low morale throughout the workplace, and that problem could easily be fixed. Fixing the problem of low morale would also decrease the amount of theft. This relates to GOW because the californians had bad opinions of the migrants and thought they would steal. It's unfair for the californians and the employers to presume the worst of the migrants or employees and making it seem lik it's all their fault.
My question is why do these presumptions take place in the first place? Is it just a way of shifting the blame?
In this section Barbara goes from working as a waitress in Flroida to working as a maid in Maine, and she mentions in this section that she chose Maine because of its large white population which suggests to me that she is somewhat racist, but at the same time everyone has thier prejiduces and we shouldn't be so quick to judge and criticize Barabra for the way she feels towards other people. Although she may be rather rude, snooty, and egotistical and humor may not be so pleasant to read she is still entitled to think what she wishes, and that is what this book is, an account of her thoughts and experiences as a low class worker. I think that it is wrong to judge based on color and I feel as though she may not have chosen Maine for job security but myabe more for comfortbality.
Is Barabara sinply moving to Maine, where according to her there are more white people, because she wants job security or is it simply because she wants to feel more at home?
I think that your question is a very thought provoking one and I think that it can be viewed from many different perspectives. I think that for one thing they are viewed as inferior because the work that maids do is probabaly somewhere at the very bottom of the enjoyment scale and that most people view them as dirty, gross, and inferior because they do the work that everyone else is to high and mighty to do. I think that maids should be viewed highly because the work that they do makes our world livable and they are the ones willing to clean up the messes that we make.
I think that your question is a very thought provoking one and I think that it can be viewed from many different perspectives. I think that for one thing they are viewed as inferior because the work that maids do is probabaly somewhere at the very bottom of the enjoyment scale and that most people view them as dirty, gross, and inferior because they do the work that everyone else is to high and mighty to do. I think that maids should be viewed highly because the work that they do makes our world livable and they are the ones willing to clean up the messes that we make.
“There are no secret economies that nourish the poor; on the contrary, there are a host of special costs. If you can’t put up the two months’ rent … you end up paying through the nose for a room by the week… you can’t save by cooking up huge lentil stews… you eat fast food or the hot dogs and Styrofoam cups of soup that can be microwaved… if you have no money for health insurance you go without routine care or prescription drugs and end up paying the price.” Pg 27 I thought this quote was interesting because the poor doesn’t receive help when they need it the most. Only the people with money are able to afford health insurance but people like Gail need more medical attention. Also, they can’t afford healthy food because they need to save up money to pay for their rent. Poor people’s incomes are low because their money goes toward things that the wealthy are aided with and so it’s hard for them to save up money. Question: Are poor people getting enough financial aid? Jess, I felt the same way about the quote. When I read it I said to myself that I’d rather clean it myself then pay someone else to make it dirtier. But I felt bad for the maids because they are doing what they are told to do make their money. Ash Y 6
In this section Barbara talks a lot about how the upper class has no idea what kind of torturous work goes into making their homes look nice. She says, “...an acquaintance of the real Barbara Bush takes me into the master bathroom to explain the difficulties she's been having with the shower stall. Seems its marble walls have been “bleeding” onto the brass fixtures, and can I scrub the grouting extra hard? That's not your marble bleeding, I want to tell her, it's the worldwide working class- the people who quarried the marble, wove your Persian rugs until they went blind, harvested the apples in your lovely fall-themed dining room centerpiece, smelted the steel for the nails, drove the trucks, put up this building, and now bend and squat and sweat to clean it.” The wealthy woman is not aware of the suffering that goes on in order to make her life more cushy. She is unaware of what others go through because money has blinded her.
Why does money seem to cause people to lose compassion for others? - Alexis A. Period 6
Hey Ash, I thought your quote was interesting too. People who aren't making much money get stuck in a hole that they can't get out of. How can they save money when they have to spend each paycheck just to live? They get cheated out of saving money because they don't have that option. I think it's really sad because it doesn't give anyone in that situation much hope. Their health can be in danger and they're paying more then they should for rent but they can't help themselves. I believe people who can help, who have the money to help, should be helping these people. I though you chose a really good quote that really gives everyone something to think about.
"Nothing is said about the possibility of transporting bacteria, by rag or by hand, from bathroom to kitchen or even from one house to the next. It is the "cosmetic touches" that the videos emphasize..." (75) The cleaning service that Barbara works for clearly cares more about the appearance of their work over the quality. I think that they do this in order to achieve the maximum amount of money from people. Also, if the customers see that The Maids did a good job cleaning, they will call back and use their service again. Ultimately, all the company cares about is making money, rather than doing a good job cleaning. Do you think that all businesses are like this? Do all companies choose money over good qualities?
Grace, I really agree with your comment on this quote. I think that Barbara went into this experiment knowing that she would have hardships and obstacles, but took the easy way out in calling her dermatalogist. Although this is a medical condition, if somebody working for minimum wage as a maid had this problem, I'm sure she would not be able to just call up her doctor and get a perscription. Really good point.
“Not only were the professors and students, […] so were the hotel housekeepers, the panhandlers, and the cab drivers...(pg 51)
This was significant to me because it's very rare to see white people do labor work like the ones mentioned above. By the way it was described, the area seemed predominantly white, which is something to think about when it comes to low waged workers. Most of the people mentioned during this either white, Hispanic or African American. Barbara Ehrenreich helps the stereotypes of all low waged workers to be one of the races that are mentioned.
Comment: In the section "Scrubbing in Maine", the main focus is on the The Maids. This is where Barbara comes to know or rather mystified by the feeling of the actual poor about their poverty. Barbara is certainly one complainer when it comes to working as a maid or any other low-paying jobs. Her fellow employees seem not to care the way Teed mistreats them. Barbara wonders why that don't revolt. Well, it's obviously because they are afraid they'd lose their job if they rebel against their employer. The Poor's only purpose is to survive; their main goal of the day is not to be treated fairly, but to get by it. But coming from a higher background, Barbara expects to be treated with dignity.
Question: Why do you think the employees weren't shocked/surprised when Barbara told them that she was only experimenting on low-wage jobs to write a book? What had she expected?
Response: Jenny, I think that the maids are viewed as inferiors to waitresses because maids make off their living by cleaning the filthy houses of others. The owners naturally give them dirty looks because they feel the “low class” people like maids don't deserve any respect. Waitresses are employed to work in a restaurant. They serve foods and drink to people who can be either friendly or rude depending on their mood.
"Maybe, I reasoned, when you give white people a whole state to themselves, they treat one another real nice." p.52 I think that it is evident from this quote that there is a least some racist sentiment in Barbara. Whites aren't the only people who live in Maine, and they're not the only people who can be nice to each other. There are many mean whites, including the author of this book, who thinks whites are different and better than blacks. Why do some people think that having an all-white state would make it a perfect place? Caitlyn - I think she chose Maine there because she thought it was all white, and a nice place to live, where people would cut her a break because of her race.
"I get pushy with Rosalie...about the meagerness of her lunches, which consist soley of Doritos-a half bag from the day before or a freshly purchased small-sized bag...So how does she hold up for an eight- or even nine hour day? 'Well,' she concedes, 'I get dizzy sometimes." page 78
Why doesn't this girl get food stamps or visit a soup kitchen? Why isn't she trying to get all the food she can get? I just don't understand why she isn't spending more of her pay check on food!
I believe that Barbara has a small case of racism. I think that really influenced her choice of Maine. Also, as a middle-aged caucasion female, I think she felt more comfortable with people of her color and mostly around her age. I'm sure the book would have been a lot more interesting if it had not been in such a dull area.
"Do I work well with others? You bet, but never to the point where I would hesitate to inform on them for the slightest infraction. Am I capable of independant decision making? Oh yes, but I know better than to let this capacity interfere with a slavish obedience to orders..."
I personally like this quote because of my experience with with applying for jobs. Last summer, I applied to several restaurants and business, most of which had what I started to call a "common app", and those asked the basics. But several large "faceless" corporations did not have such a simple application, but a survey to go along with it. "Answer honestly" they said, but really they meant "Answer honestly, to not get applied here."
I think that if a company has an application online, it should back it up with a personal interview. Does anyone else agree?
Katrice the situation of the smokers in this unit was very difficult. One must understand that an addiction is an addiction, and without any help it is very hard to cut something you "need" out of your life. However, I am on your side, so to speak, because they all seem to be at a point where they need the basics to survive, but can't decide between something that calms them down, and something that keeps them alive.
1. At one point, Barbara had to go to a store while still in the maid uniform. She commented that she felt a little of what it was like to be black when the people stared at her. Now while it is true that some (racist) people assume a black person to be poor and uneducated, Barbara is in a different situation here. Unlike black people, she can take off her uniform and continue being a white lady, assumed to be educated and middle class. 2. Is Barbara experiences valid if she quits her jobs whenever they get too difficult? 3. Alexis, I think it's because that the people who have money start to view people who don't as lazy or uneducated. They might think, "If I can get to where I am, why can't they? I'm probably just better than them." Luke S. Period 6
“I chose Maine for its whiteness. A few months back, in the spring, I had been in the Portland area for a speaking engagement at a local college and was struck by what appeared to be an extreme case of demographic albinism. Not only were the professors and students white, which is of course not uncommon; so were the hotel housekeepers, the panhandlers, and the cab drivers, who, in addition to being white, also spoke English, or at least some r-less New England variant thereof. This might not make Maine an ideal setting in which to hunker down for the long haul, but it made it the perfect place for a blue-eyed, English speaking Caucasian to infiltrate the low wage workforce, no questions asked.” page 51
ReplyDeleteDo you think Barbara Ehrenreich is afraid to do her experiment in a risky area? Do you think she's playing it safe working in Maine? How different would the book be if she were to settle down in a ghetto, or an inner city area?
Julianne M
In this section she refers to her whiteness. I don't understand why she does this. Does she think that being white makes you better than everyone else? I just don't get why she would include this when that could be offensive to many people. In today’s society I feel that people don’t worry about what color you are they only care about the type of worker you are. The United States has already gone through segregation and many other problems involving color so I believe that the color of your skin doesn't matter anymore.
ReplyDeleteWhy does she refer to her whiteness? Does she think it is a good attribute to have that will help her get a job? Is she Racist?
Austin C. Period 6
This section was very interesting. I think the fact that Barbara went from working in an actual factory to becoming a maid and actually has to cook and clean. She works with other maids that are really poor, and it kind of shows her how life really is. These women don't even eat, and the money is so scarce and all they spend their money on is cigarettes and finding things that they actually need. Food is a 3rd option, because cigarettes relieve stress and since they are under so much, they need that one break to get them through the day.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that a cigarette is more important to them than food? Obviously it relieves stress, but you shouldn't giuve up eating for a cigarette that will just kill you in the long run.
Taylor S.
Period 5H
Baker
Austin,
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said that you don't understand why she would bring up her skin color so much. In my opinion, it shouldn't matter if you're black, white, Asian, Mexican, or anything else-i think that everyone should have the same job opportunities. To answer your question, I do believe that she thinks that her being white will help her get a higher paying better job; but in reality, she's being ignorant, and even a little bit racist.
Julianne M
Julianne,
ReplyDeleteI do believe that she was afraid to do her experiment in a risky area because it seems like she doesn't want to associate herself with the poor. She feels that she is better than them at everything and that’s final. She doesn't want her reputation hurt by being around the poor and ghetto. If she settled down in a ghetto I don’t think she would be able to handle it. She would be completely surrounded by the poor and she couldn't escape to the comfort of her home.
Austin C Period 6
Julianne, I definitely agree with you on asking if she's playing it safe in Maine. It would be different if she was in an inner city area, she wouldn't want to work with innter city people. She chose a simple job with less inner city people and I definitely think she was playing it safe by being a maid.
ReplyDeleteTaylor S.
Poop
ReplyDeletePoop
ReplyDelete"Seems its marble walls have been "bleeding" onto the brass fixtures, and can I scrub the grouting extra hard? That's not your marble bleeding, I want to tell her, it's the worldwide working class - the people who quarried the marble, wove your Persian rugs until they went blind, harvested the apples in your lovely fall-themed dining room centerpiece, smelted the steel for the nails, drove the trucks, put up this building, and now bend and squat and sweat to clean it" (90).
ReplyDeleteThrough this quote, Barbara forces the reader to think. Behind every object, piece of furniture, toy, etc. is someone who built it. This can further be addressed when speaking about the issue of sweatshops where people, including children, are forced to work in harsh conditions for little or no money at all. Consumers, though, benefit from the hard work done by impoverished people without thinking about it. It is mind - blowing that workers are treated this way.
Do you ever stop to think about the people who make your clothes or shoes and wonder if they are suffering?
Alexis M, P5
While Barbara was working with the maid service, she met a young woman who would be shakey on the job from hunger. She wouldn't eat during their lunch breaks, along with some other women. Some of these women would choose to spend money on cigarettes instead of food. It bothered me that they would let themselves go hungry for a cigarette. Are they not getting paid enough to live on? Or are they just choosing not to eat and spending money on cigarettes instead?
ReplyDeleteKatrice K, period 5
Taylor,
ReplyDeleteI think that a cigarette is more important because it immediately satisfies the smoker. Even though cigarettes are expensive, $8 for however many cigarettes in a pack may seem more appealing than one meal to them. I found this shocking, too!
Alexis M
Julianne,
ReplyDeleteI do agree that she is playing it safe in Maine. The experiment probably would have been more valid if she had tried to go to an inner city or ghetto, where povertly is more common, but Barbara couldn't even do the experiment this way without cheating. There is no way she could have handled settling down in an inner city.
Katrice K, period 5
"Nothing is to be said about the possibility of transporting bacteria, by rag or by hand, from bathroom to kitchen or even from one house to the next." This quote come from the section when Barbara was explaining how the maids cleaned the houses.
ReplyDeleteI was absolutely disgusted when I read this quote and this part of the chapter. I literally cringed at how they cleaned the house. They don't use the proper cleaning materials and basically they don't clean, they rearrange things so they clean.
How would you feel if you paid someone to clean you house and they cleaned it like this?
~Jessica C P6
Alexis,
ReplyDeleteThe quote you picked really bothered me when I read it. For one thing, the author herself is really well paid, and no one would blame her for buying herself nice things. If the wealthier people didn't buy these things, all of the people who make them would be out of work. Those rugs are worth so much because of the work put into them, and the person making them needs that work. I know that when I have my own home, I want to decorate it with nice things. Who doesn't? You can't blame people for that.
Katrice K, period 5
A Quote that I found intersesting was when Eherenreich stated, "It's an inexcusable outburst. First because it's insulting, especially to Holly and the brittle sense of professionalism that keeps her going through sickness and injury. For all i know the test was a challenge to her at the level of basic literacy. Everyone here can read, but Holly has sometimes asked me how to spell words like 'carry' and 'weighed' that she needs to report any 'incidets' that occur. Second ofcourse because it's against the rules to use 'bad words' in a company car. Where's my professionalism, anyway, the journalistic detatchment that was supposed to guide and sustain me every inch of the way?"(113).
ReplyDeleteIn Barbra's realization of her inexcusable outburst toward Holly, she's realized that her own professionalism is nonexistant. How do you think this affected her views of her experiment?
Sam B. Per. 5
On page 59, the author talks about the computer surveys and tests that employers reguire as part of the interview process. "Do I work well with others? You bet, but never to the point where I would hesitate to inform on them for the slightest infraction. Am I capable of independant decision making? Oh yes, but I know better than to let this capacity interfere with a slavish obedience to orders." This quote reminds me so much of 1984. Like the "Party", corperations seem to expect complete loyalty and obedience.
ReplyDeleteDo you agree with Barbara's view, or do you think she's a little paranoid?
Molly H 5
Taylor, I agree with you statement when when you say that it's ridiculous that someone would prefer smoking a cigarette than feeding themselves. In my own opinion, food will keep you alive. Cigarettes will kill you.
ReplyDeleteSam B. Per. 5
On page 117 Barbara once again writes one of those catchy paragraphs that cause most to stop, reread and connect it to real day life. This time she is taking a step back from her duties and realizing what is really going on in her current situation. Upon one of her fellow maids collapsing, Barb states that the, “…home owners aren’t going to thank us for a job well done, and God knows, people on the street aren’t going to hail us as heroines of proletarian labor. No one will know that the counter on which he slices the evening’s baguette only recently supported a fainting woman- and decide to reward her with a medal of bravery.” After I read through this passage, I literally stopped, read it again and really thought about how true the quote is. First, in this case, credit isn’t given where credit is needed. This quote represents the different views and levels of which people live their lives off of. Often rich/ wealthy over low life/ hard working poor. People do not realize or applaud hard work unless they did the work and often look down on people who don’t wear fancy clothes and live rich lives. Also, this quote could teach us to appreciate more, what we take for granted. Not to say richer people don’t work hard but their work is often more appreciated. Overall, this represents a man vs. man conflict of how humans compete for acceptance and respect.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever worked on something with all your energy; be proud of it, then not have it be appreciated by others? Since this book took place 10 years ago, do you think that appreciation for hard work would be higher in today’s society or more appreciated say, 60 years ago?
-Ryan H. Per. 5
Hey Taylor,
ReplyDeleteI also found that section very interesting.I think that these people are under so much stress, that cigarettes are the only thing that helps them cope with it. Once they are addicted, apparently cigarettes are more important than food, and they are the only things that help them through the day.
~Jessica C P6
Alexis M,
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more with your choice of quote and way of explaining and connecting it to the world today. Your question brought forth an issue that I had brought up in my blog post. People don’t appreciate hard work and take for granted the things they are offered every day. It is human nature to be selfish and to never think about the who, what, when, where and how their Coach Bag or Nike kicks were created. So to answer your question, I often don’t stop to think of how my clothes or belongings are made, but if a situation is presented, I would like to thank those who made my satisfaction possible and to allow them to know their work is appreciated.
-Ryan H. Per.5
JMUNS,
ReplyDeleteI was wondering those questions too. I feel like she chose Maine because it seemed "safe" to her. It seems like she didn't want to go to a city because she knew that in a city she'd find much more poverty and she'd see much more suffering. I think she'd get a better experience if she went to a place where there was a lot of poverty, such as a city. And the whole "whiteness" thing is pretty stupid, because she's justifying that by saying she wanted to fit in with the people. In the real world, you can't choose where you go, and for reasons like race. It totally comes off as her being racist, like she's afraid for dumb reasons.
-ONAR.
Olivia N 6.
I chose Maine for its whiteness. A few months back, in the spring, I had been in the Portland area for a speaking engagement at a local college and was struck by what appeared to be an extreme case of demographic albinism. Not only were the professors and students white, which is of course not uncommon; so were the hotel housekeepers, the panhandlers, and the cab drivers, who, in addition to being white, also spoke English, or at least some r-less New England variant thereof. This might not make Maine an ideal setting in which to hunker down for the long haul, but it made it the perfect place for a blue-eyed, English speaking Caucasian to infiltrate the low wage workforce, no questions asked.” page 51.
ReplyDeleteThis quote made me wonder why Barbara Ehrenreich was picking a place like Maine as opposed to a place more poverty stricken or more urban and inner city like. I feel like Maine was easier for her. She mentions "white" so much and how jobs that are stereotypically held by minorities are held by white, english speaking residents that i feel she let her personal fears get in the way of her being fully able to carry out her experiment.
What is your opinion as to why Barbara chose Maine?
Caitlyn L Period 5
Julianne,
ReplyDeleteI chose the same quote as you and I have to say that i think Barbara Ehrenreich was playing it safe. I also feel that she let her personal feelings and i guess fears of an urban setting get in the way of fully carrying out her experiment. I also think she is being ignorant and racist in the way that she appears to be looking down on minorities in that statement. I also think that she finds more urban places beneath her and doesn't want to be associated with the types of people who live there.
Caitlyn L Period 5
quote: "...you need to be taking in 2,100 calories in addition to the resting minimum of say, 900 or so. I get pushy with Rosalie, who in new like me and fresh from high school in a rural northern part of the state, about the meagerness of her lunches, which consist solely of Doritos- a half bag from the day before or a freshly purchased small-sized bag. She just didn't have anything in the house, she says, and she certainly doesn't have any money to buy lunch..."
ReplyDeleteThis quote comes from when Barb and her coworkers are taking their lunch break at a gas station. Barb is talking about the amount of calories they all burn for each specific job they do, and is especially concerned about this particular coworker because of her malnutrition.
Connection: i think that this quote can be connected to not only malnutrition that goes on daily in America, but also obesity. This is because the lower class is forced to buy junk food that can fill them and their families up because it's cheaper than buying healthy food. Therefore, causing obesity.
Question: if you noticed the food you were feeding yourself was making you fatter and unhealthier because its cheaper, would you try lessening your meals to afford healthy few meals rather than junk?
stacy per6
The part of this section that I found interesting is actually just a side note; a very small part of the whole section but it really brought my attention to it. On page 99 it says “I buy myself a pack of cigarettes and sit out in the rain to puff (I haven’t inhaled for years but it helps anyway)” Now I know a lot of people read right over this but I really thought about it. First off it’s quite said that a person can be put through so much stress that they need to be forced to do a bad habit that they actually have not done in years just because they need to be relieved. I see it happening all the time today, especially at my home. My dad is a long time smoker and my mom was but she quit and I can tell that it helps them relieve stress. But can’t there be another way that is not so bad for you? Don’t you think that when you smoke your going to want to do it more creating more stress? Secondly, while thinking about this I noticed that without noticing she is contributing to everything she is against by buying those cigarettes. She is supporting a big corporation that controls small, low paid workers like her. I think there is a deeper meaning to her buying those cigarettes. What I am wondering to myself just about this subject is can an addictive substance like cigarettes really help you relieve stress or is just going to hurt you more?
ReplyDeleteJarrett L. period 5
hello Katrice,
ReplyDeleteI was also interested in the whole cigarette issue. I did not think about the fact that cigarettes do cost money and where are they getting this money when they are having trouble eating? this is an extremely valid point that you brought up. i think that when they buy such things as cigarettes they are just hurting themselves. thank you fro bringing this extra info to my attention!!
Jarrett L. period 5
"And this touches me, somehow, even more than the presumptive lie about his assets: that this place he has described so morbidly dysfunctional could amount to a real and compelling human community," (34).
ReplyDeleteWell what else would they be?! This quote bothers me because Barbara is suprised that her co-workers are "real people" and aren't as weird as she thought. I could be wrong, but this quote makes her seem conceited. Does she think that just because they have low wage jobs that they are weird people?
Question: Why does Barbara instantly judge her new co-workers?
Kelly L, P5
Reply to Taylor SJ:
ReplyDeleteHey Tay,
Just like you, I question why people choose cigarettes over food. But what I do know is that they can't help it! Even though I think smoking is disgusting, I understand that it is an addiction and it is easy to choose it over food. Once you start smoking, your body nags you to keep doing it. Putting aside the fact that it is their fault they got addicted, it's just one of those things you can't control, and it is much easier for us to say we'd choose food because we don't smoke.
Good response/Question!
Kelly L, P5
On page 90, Barbara says, "That's not your marble bleeding, I wanted to tell her, it's the worldwide working class-the people who quarried the marble, wove your Persian rugs until they went blind, harvested the apples in your lovely fall-themed dining room centerpiece, smelted the steel for the nails, drove the trucks, put up this building, and now bend and squat and sweat to clean it."
ReplyDeleteI think that this quote is important because it shows how people above working class take things for granted. Since Barbara has been doing this experiment, I feel that she has realized how much easier her life was before from her normal perspective. I feel that she realized this once she started doing the type of work people used to do for her. Barbara now knows what it is like to make people above working class happy by working a lot harder than she ever thought she would have to. I feel like I can connect to this quote in the way that my life is pretty good and I don't always think about all of the hard work put into the items I buy and that many people fall into this class that Barbara is describing.
Do you think it was hard for Barbara not to use previous money she had saved from her normal job that she had saved for emergencies; especially when she was running low on things like food and clothing for work?
Jess B. p.5
In this section of the book Barbara gets a job as a maid. She talks about how they transport bacteria from "rag to rag" and how her job isn't really to clean the houses, but rather to make them LOOK clean. My question is why would you spend the same amount of time making something look clean instead of just using the proper chemicals to actually kill bacteria? As a maid you should thoroughly CLEAN bacteria from the house, not just pose as a cleaner.
ReplyDeleteAlexis,
I do sometimes stop to think about where my clothing was manufactured and what children had to suffer in order for it to be made. It's truly very sad to think about these things because i know that i there are labor laws protecting me from child labor, while children in other countries aren't as greatful. Great question!
Leah S. Period 5
"Maybe, it occurs to me, I'm getting a tiny glimpse of what it would be like to be black," (100).
ReplyDelete-This quote surprised me. I think we can all agree that Barbara is maybe a little bit conceited and she definitely has strong opinions. But, I think maybe this quote is offensive to some people. Maybe her intentions were to single out the segregation that occurred in the past, 50 or so years ago, but it could also sound as if she was saying that blacks in the present world get treated poorly.
This quote relates to the world today. Although it's no secret that minor prejudices still happen today, this quote seemed a tad bit racist. There are many people out there who still view African Americans differently than whites. It's almost like Barbara is stereotyping blacks by saying that it's typical for them to work a minimum-wage job. Although it's completely wrong, it's the reality that some people still segregate colored people.
How would Barbara feel if the situation was in reverse? If an African American discriminated against her for being white?
Kelly L,
I think because Barbara is self-centered in some ways, she is judging her co-workers as if she was comparing them to herself. Because this is just an experiment, it's obvious that her co-workers aren't going to have it as "well" as her. It's hard for people not to instantly judge someone, honestly, but Barbara judges them right away because she isn't used to working/associating with people like them. Good job Kel :)
Allie B Period 6
Katrice,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the fact that they should be spending their money on food and not on cigarettes. To answer your question, I think the reason they may be spending their money on cigarettes rather than food is because they are far too stressed to think about eating so they spend money on something that is an addiction and tends to help ease the pain of the stress for them.
Jess B. p.5
“…the perfect place for a blue-eyed, English-speaking caucasion to infiltrate the low-wage workforce no questions asked”(51). Why did Ehrenreich choose an area that was mainly made up of whites? Did she think it would be harder to land a job with so many minorities filling up the workforce or is there some racism behind this choice?
ReplyDeleteMadison B Period 5
Allie,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with you! There’s no specific way for Ehrenreich to “feel black,” not everyone who is black holds a low wage job, we have a black president and I doubt she’s feeling like the President while cleaning houses. This definitely isn’t the only quote that shows evidence that Ehrenreich is racist.
Madison (:
"I get pushy with Rosalie...about the meagerness of her lunches, which consists solely of Doritos...She just didn't have anything in the house, she says... and ahe certainly doesnt have any money to buy lunch, as i find out when I offer to fetch her a soda from a Quik Mart and she has to admit that she doesnt have eighty-nine cents...how does she hold up for an eight- or even nine- hour work day?" (78).
ReplyDeleteThis quote really made me feel grateful for the comparatively high standard of living I have. Instead of not having enough food to eat at all, I have the luxury to over-eat. I usually don't even blink when paying a dollar for a soda and its really unimaginable for me to not be able to afford it.
In what ways did this section make you feel grateful about your lifestyle?
Sreedevi D p 6
if you noticed the food you were feeding yourself was making you fatter and unhealthier because its cheaper, would you try lessening your meals to afford healthy few meals rather than junk?
ReplyDeleteStacy! (: I agree that those who can't afford to make healthy choices when it comes to food are in a lose-lose situation. If they pick healthier options, not only would more money be spent, but it also wouldn't be that filling. However, if they pick cheap, high calorie foods, they would be sacrificing necessary nutrition for energy and the feeling of full. In this situation, i would try to balance my nutrtion and calorie needs by eating high calorie foods for energy, but also taking daily vitamins, so i could get somewhat of a balance between the two.
~Sreedevi
"I used to stop on my way home from work, but I couldn't take the stares, which are easily translatable into: What are you doing here? And, No wonder she's poor, she's got a beer in her shopping cart! True, I don't look so good by the end of the day and probably smell like eau de toilet and sweat, but it's the brilliant green-and-yellow uniform that gives me away, like prison clothes on a fugitive. Maybe, it occurs to me, I'm getting a tiny glimpse of what it would be like to be black."
ReplyDeleteAt first when I read this passage from the book I didn't think much of it. To me it seemed like the author was just trying to show people how they make others feel uncomfortable. However, as the question of the author being a little racist came up, I started looking at it from a different perspective. Now it's more of like an "Oh no you didn't!' kind of thinking. Being a black teenager, I haven't really experienced that much prejudice in my life, on the other hand, my parents have, so I know how that kind of discrimination feels. The way Ehrenreich put this, can be a little bit offensive to some people of African descent. Not every black person works at places that will make them "smell like eau de toilet and sweat" and wear a degrading uniform. It's definitely true that black people, or any other minority for that matter, get noticed easily in a place that is populated by white people, but the way she stated this seems slightly stereotypical to me.
Is stereotyping part of human nature? Will there ever be a time when we can truly look beyond race?
Treasure p6
“I get pushy with Rosalie… about the meagerness of her lunches, which consists solely of Doritos- a half bag from the day before or a freshly purchased small-sized bag. She just didn’t have anything in the house, she says (though she lives with her boyfriend and his mother), and she certainly doesn’t have any money to buy lunch…” (78)
ReplyDeleteI think is very unfortunate for Rosalie. She is beating herself up by not eating healthy which makes her tired and less proficient at work. She also can’t survive on minimum wage which forces her to be cheap at lunch time. I find it interesting that her boyfriend isn’t helping her out. The book may have said this but maybe she is just living there because she has nowhere else to go. My question was how do people earning minimum wage support themselves over a long period of time? I know that they need to think about their daily life before their future.
Jarrett,
I was very intrigued by your quote. Like you I don’t fully understand why people smoke cigarettes to relieve stress. It may have been an old habit, but if you smoke you are hurting your future. These people shouldn’t be wasting their money on them because they need food. A lot of the poor are malnourished which inflicts a huge toll on their health and cigarettes only hurt their health even more.
-Bob T 6
I know more then half of the people who posted are curious about the workers picking a cigarette over food. I was thinking the same exact thing. As odd and surprising at it may sound to people that Barbara's co workers choose to pick their nicotine addiction over their hunger I feel as if them eating won't fully satisfy them as would a cigarette. I can't say I know from experience, but an addiction like smoking seems to overpower the mind much more then hunger does. By choosing smoking , their health is put at a higher risk from starvation to cancer. I can't say I fully agree with these workers but on the other hand I can because they are deciding on their own what truly makes them happy without the impact of others.
ReplyDeleteAre these low wage co workers truly angry about the circumstances in which they find themselves?
Jenna L. P5
MADISON!
ReplyDeleteYou're question was really great! It got me thinking about how Barbara Ehrenreichs truly thought things over. As much as I hate to think she is a racist in a way I believe it. Through out the book I got a very negative vibe from her, as if she thought she was better then any one she stumbled upon. Not only minorities but anyone. I feel as if she needed to have an opener(is that even a word?) mind about people in general in order to really get to know them without immediately putting judgment upon them. Which is why the quote you picked and the question that went along with it could go either way.
Love,
Jenna
I found this section to be very insightful about Ehrenreich's outlook on life. On page 91 she expresses her feelings towards having a housekeeper and says "But mostly I rejected the idea, even after all my upper-middle-class friends had, guiltily and as covertly as possible, hired help for themselves, because this is just not the kind of relationship I want to have with another human being." Personally, I admire Barbara for this statement. To an extent, I agree with her. I do not believe in making other people feel "below" someone else because of their profession, or anything else for that matter. In my life, everyone in my family pitches in and helps clean the house; the thought of a housekeeper is ridiculous to us! However, in some circumstances I think a cleaning person is useful. For example, my grandmother is handicapped and has trouble walking, so she has a cleaning lady come to the house once a week. What are your thoughts on housekeepers? Do you agree or disagree with Ehrenreich?
ReplyDeleteAmanda M period 5
Kelly L, I totally agree with you in that Barbara was wrong in thinking that "weird people" had low-wage jobs. To answer your question, although it is disgraceful, I feel like sometimes it's human nature to judge others before fully meeting them, especially since Barbara is in a completely new place having to do completely new things. Additionally, I think she was very honest in this book, and may have expressed things that people generally wouldn't say aloud to others. However, I agree with you that she was in the wrong! -Amanda M
ReplyDelete"But the point at The Maids, apparently, is not to clean so much as to create the appearance of having been cleaned, not to sanitize but to create a kind of stage setting for family life. And the stage setting Americans seem to prefer is sterile only in the metaphorical sense, like a motel room or the fake interiors in which soap operas and sitcoms take place."(pg 76)
ReplyDeleteI disagree. I think that we assume maid services are actually cleaning because the house looks clean. If we knew they only made it look clean without actually cleaning, we would probably be horrified. Unfortunately, many people are too ignorant or too trusting to find out exactly whats going on.
My question is:
Why do people assume that "you cant judge a book by its cover" only applies to books and people, and not everything else too?
Gretchen G
period 5
Katrice,
ReplyDeleteI dont think they are getting paid enough to live on; isnt that the whole point of the book? I also wonder though, why they would buy a pack of cigarettes rather than food. Maybe its like a crutch. They smoke because it is one of the few things in their lives that they can really control, even if they know it will kill them eventually.
Gretchen
I was surprised at the way maids were treated, compared to others in the low-wage workforce. They were treated as inferiors not only by the rich people whose houses they cleaned, but also by people who saw them on the street in their maid uniforms. Ehrenreich said that when she went out in public wearing her maid uniform, people often were rude to her or ignored her completely. However, when she wore her waitressing uniform in public, people would treat her normally, and sometimes even talk to her about the restaurant she served at.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think that people who work as maids are treated as inferiors in society, but not those who work as waitresses, when their wages are the same?
Kelly,
I agree with you that Barbara seems to judge her coworkers and think of them as below her. I didn’t notice that quote when I read the book, but now that you mention it, it makes me angry that she would say something like that. She seems to be saying that low wage people aren’t as human, and don’t form communities.
Jenny L. 6
"At that time, I dismissed this as a scare story. But I have since come across ads for concealable video cameras, like the tech-7... 'designed to.. watch employess to prevent theft." (93)
ReplyDeleteI can't understand why employers feel the need to watch employees. Most people working as a maid are desperate for the money, and they wouldn't waste their opportunity for their source of income on something like stealing from one of the houses. If employees do steal, it's probably because of a low morale throughout the workplace, and that problem could easily be fixed. Fixing the problem of low morale would also decrease the amount of theft. This relates to GOW because the californians had bad opinions of the migrants and thought they would steal. It's unfair for the californians and the employers to presume the worst of the migrants or employees and making it seem lik it's all their fault.
My question is why do these presumptions take place in the first place? Is it just a way of shifting the blame?
"The itching gets so bad at night that I have mini-tantrums, waving my feet to keep from scratching and bawling. So I fall back on the support network of my real-life social class, call the dermatologist I know in Key West, and bludgeon him into prescribing something sight unseen"(80).
ReplyDeleteI came across this quote when I was reading the section "Scrubbing in Maine" and it really stood out to me because i feel that is shows how Barbra is not going through fully with this experiment. I respect the fact that she wanted to get some sort of help and medication for her rash, but at the same time not everyone who is living in the conditions that she is "living" in can just call up some random doctor let alone dermatologist when they have issues. This connects to the present day issue of health care. Health care is becoming an issue because a lot of people are have trouble affording it, or getting a job that covers it for you. I bet most of the people that Barbra worked with did not have health care, and would not be able to help their rash in this situation.
Grace N.
Period 5
I don't mean to make this such a biblical convorsation, but this part in the book was the only part that really struck me. This is the only part when Barb speaks up and says something against the way everything is run. She says that "Jesus makes his appearance here only as a corpse; the living man, the wine-guzzling vagrant and precocious socialist, is never once mentioned, nor anything he ever had to say. Christ crucified rules, and it may be that the true business of modern Christianity is to crucify him again and again so that he can never get a word out of his mouth." I find it interesting that she'd give Jesus a political party (and I'm not even going to get into that controversal convorsation). But she notes that this huge religion is focusing on the death of a man, and they're completely ingoring his morals, his love, his preaching and teaching. They're warping it into their own vision, which makes everyone an individual. And when you force all these individuals into the workforce, you get problems.
ReplyDeleteMy question doesn't really pertain to the reading and low-wage jobs, but if anyone's still up and would like to maybe touch upon it, I'd like to hear something. Barb says "Is the "soul" that lives forever the one we possess as the moment of death ... or is it our personally best soul, say the one that indwells in us at the height of our cognitive powers?" So does it matter if we feed old diabetics cupcakes?
- Therese per 5
Hey Kelly!
ReplyDeleteI feel that you brought up a really good point in your post! Your question is very true, I feel that throughout the whole story Barbra is judging and critiquing the way that her co-worker act. She in a way refers to them in a way where she doesn't even realized that they are normal people just like us, but with a completely different lifestyle. Overall I feel that Barbra should try and connect and understand the way her co-workers live and feel instead of judging them! Great point Kelly
Love, Grace!
Treasure,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your question, it's acutally one i've thought of a lot. What I think is, it acutally is human nature to stereotype based on ridiculous things like: skin-color, clothes, accents, even the things one buys. I don't think these judgments will ever stop being made, but it's just as good when no one acts upon these judgments and stereotypes.
Shama K. P 6
Dear anyone who talked about cigarettes/unhealtyness,
ReplyDeleteI'd like to ask you: have you ever been addicted to anything?
well neither have I.
But these people are. They start for whatever reason. And then they get addicted. Its REALLY hard to stop when you have nothing in your life to look forward to besides a cigarette high. They know its bad, they want to stop. Food doesn't give them the same satisfaction.
I watched a "Vanguard" documentary on someone who was addicted to oxycodon and cigaretts. Okay, different drug, I know. But there was a man who said "You start at a normal before you've done anything. Then you get at high first, and then after a period of time, you sink LOW beneath the normal. And then you constantly need the drug to get you to normal. After awhile, you don't get high anymore. You just get normal."
I've heard from many a cigarrette smoker that they get a high from it.
I'm not saying its good, but I think that's why they can't stop.
With Love,
Therese (per. 5)
"At that time, I dismissed this as a scare story. But I have since come across ads for concealable video cameras, like the tech-7... 'designed to.. watch employess to prevent theft." (93)
ReplyDeleteI can't understand why employers feel the need to watch employees. Most people working as a maid are desperate for the money, and they wouldn't waste their opportunity for their source of income on something like stealing from one of the houses. If employees do steal, it's probably because of a low morale throughout the workplace, and that problem could easily be fixed. Fixing the problem of low morale would also decrease the amount of theft. This relates to GOW because the californians had bad opinions of the migrants and thought they would steal. It's unfair for the californians and the employers to presume the worst of the migrants or employees and making it seem lik it's all their fault.
My question is why do these presumptions take place in the first place? Is it just a way of shifting the blame?
Shama K p6
In this section Barbara goes from working as a waitress in Flroida to working as a maid in Maine, and she mentions in this section that she chose Maine because of its large white population which suggests to me that she is somewhat racist, but at the same time everyone has thier prejiduces and we shouldn't be so quick to judge and criticize Barabra for the way she feels towards other people. Although she may be rather rude, snooty, and egotistical and humor may not be so pleasant to read she is still entitled to think what she wishes, and that is what this book is, an account of her thoughts and experiences as a low class worker. I think that it is wrong to judge based on color and I feel as though she may not have chosen Maine for job security but myabe more for comfortbality.
ReplyDeleteIs Barabara sinply moving to Maine, where according to her there are more white people, because she wants job security or is it simply because she wants to feel more at home?
Jake
Jenny,
ReplyDeleteI think that your question is a very thought provoking one and I think that it can be viewed from many different perspectives. I think that for one thing they are viewed as inferior because the work that maids do is probabaly somewhere at the very bottom of the enjoyment scale and that most people view them as dirty, gross, and inferior because they do the work that everyone else is to high and mighty to do. I think that maids should be viewed highly because the work that they do makes our world livable and they are the ones willing to clean up the messes that we make.
Jake. Period 6
Jenny,
ReplyDeleteI think that your question is a very thought provoking one and I think that it can be viewed from many different perspectives. I think that for one thing they are viewed as inferior because the work that maids do is probabaly somewhere at the very bottom of the enjoyment scale and that most people view them as dirty, gross, and inferior because they do the work that everyone else is to high and mighty to do. I think that maids should be viewed highly because the work that they do makes our world livable and they are the ones willing to clean up the messes that we make.
Jake. Period 6
“There are no secret economies that nourish the poor; on the contrary, there are a host of special costs. If you can’t put up the two months’ rent … you end up paying through the nose for a room by the week… you can’t save by cooking up huge lentil stews… you eat fast food or the hot dogs and Styrofoam cups of soup that can be microwaved… if you have no money for health insurance you go without routine care or prescription drugs and end up paying the price.” Pg 27
ReplyDeleteI thought this quote was interesting because the poor doesn’t receive help when they need it the most. Only the people with money are able to afford health insurance but people like Gail need more medical attention. Also, they can’t afford healthy food because they need to save up money to pay for their rent. Poor people’s incomes are low because their money goes toward things that the wealthy are aided with and so it’s hard for them to save up money.
Question: Are poor people getting enough financial aid?
Jess, I felt the same way about the quote. When I read it I said to myself that I’d rather clean it myself then pay someone else to make it dirtier. But I felt bad for the maids because they are doing what they are told to do make their money.
Ash Y 6
Scrubbing in Maine:
ReplyDeleteIn this section Barbara talks a lot about how the upper class has no idea what kind of torturous work goes into making their homes look nice. She says, “...an acquaintance of the real Barbara Bush takes me into the master bathroom to explain the difficulties she's been having with the shower stall. Seems its marble walls have been “bleeding” onto the brass fixtures, and can I scrub the grouting extra hard? That's not your marble bleeding, I want to tell her, it's the worldwide working class- the people who quarried the marble, wove your Persian rugs until they went blind, harvested the apples in your lovely fall-themed dining room centerpiece, smelted the steel for the nails, drove the trucks, put up this building, and now bend and squat and sweat to clean it.” The wealthy woman is not aware of the suffering that goes on in order to make her life more cushy. She is unaware of what others go through because money has blinded her.
Why does money seem to cause people to lose compassion for others?
- Alexis A. Period 6
Hey Ash,
I thought your quote was interesting too. People who aren't making much money get stuck in a hole that they can't get out of. How can they save money when they have to spend each paycheck just to live? They get cheated out of saving money because they don't have that option. I think it's really sad because it doesn't give anyone in that situation much hope. Their health can be in danger and they're paying more then they should for rent but they can't help themselves. I believe people who can help, who have the money to help, should be helping these people. I though you chose a really good quote that really gives everyone something to think about.
"Nothing is said about the possibility of transporting bacteria, by rag or by hand, from bathroom to kitchen or even from one house to the next. It is the "cosmetic touches" that the videos emphasize..." (75) The cleaning service that Barbara works for clearly cares more about the appearance of their work over the quality. I think that they do this in order to achieve the maximum amount of money from people. Also, if the customers see that The Maids did a good job cleaning, they will call back and use their service again. Ultimately, all the company cares about is making money, rather than doing a good job cleaning. Do you think that all businesses are like this? Do all companies choose money over good qualities?
ReplyDeleteConnor M period 5
Grace, I really agree with your comment on this quote. I think that Barbara went into this experiment knowing that she would have hardships and obstacles, but took the easy way out in calling her dermatalogist. Although this is a medical condition, if somebody working for minimum wage as a maid had this problem, I'm sure she would not be able to just call up her doctor and get a perscription. Really good point.
ReplyDelete-Connor M
“Not only were the professors and students, […] so were the hotel housekeepers, the panhandlers, and the cab drivers...(pg 51)
ReplyDeleteThis was significant to me because it's very rare to see white people do labor work like the ones mentioned above. By the way it was described, the area seemed predominantly white, which is something to think about when it comes to low waged workers. Most of the people mentioned during this either white, Hispanic or African American. Barbara Ehrenreich helps the stereotypes of all low waged workers to be one of the races that are mentioned.
Reema C. Period 5
Comment:
ReplyDeleteIn the section "Scrubbing in Maine", the main focus is on the The Maids. This is where Barbara comes to know or rather mystified by the feeling of the actual poor about their poverty. Barbara is certainly one complainer when it comes to working as a maid or any other low-paying jobs. Her fellow employees seem not to care the way Teed mistreats them. Barbara wonders why that don't revolt. Well, it's obviously because they are afraid they'd lose their job if they rebel against their employer. The Poor's only purpose is to survive; their main goal of the day is not to be treated fairly, but to get by it. But coming from a higher background, Barbara expects to be treated with dignity.
Question:
Why do you think the employees weren't shocked/surprised when Barbara told them that she was only experimenting on low-wage jobs to write a book? What had she expected?
Response:
Jenny, I think that the maids are viewed as inferiors to waitresses because maids make off their living by cleaning the filthy houses of others. The owners naturally give them dirty looks because they feel the “low class” people like maids don't deserve any respect. Waitresses are employed to work in a restaurant. They serve foods and drink to people who can be either friendly or rude depending on their mood.
Anjita P-6
"Maybe, I reasoned, when you give white people a whole state to themselves, they treat one another real nice." p.52
ReplyDeleteI think that it is evident from this quote that there is a least some racist sentiment in Barbara. Whites aren't the only people who live in Maine, and they're not the only people who can be nice to each other. There are many mean whites, including the author of this book, who thinks whites are different and better than blacks.
Why do some people think that having an all-white state would make it a perfect place?
Caitlyn - I think she chose Maine there because she thought it was all white, and a nice place to live, where people would cut her a break because of her race.
-Carley W. p5
"I get pushy with Rosalie...about the meagerness of her lunches, which consist soley of Doritos-a half bag from the day before or a freshly purchased small-sized bag...So how does she hold up for an eight- or even nine hour day? 'Well,' she concedes, 'I get dizzy sometimes." page 78
ReplyDeleteWhy doesn't this girl get food stamps or visit a soup kitchen? Why isn't she trying to get all the food she can get? I just don't understand why she isn't spending more of her pay check on food!
Steph E
Julianne,
ReplyDeleteI believe that Barbara has a small case of racism. I think that really influenced her choice of Maine. Also, as a middle-aged caucasion female, I think she felt more comfortable with people of her color and mostly around her age. I'm sure the book would have been a lot more interesting if it had not been in such a dull area.
Steph E
"Do I work well with others? You bet, but never to the point where I would hesitate to inform on them for the slightest infraction. Am I capable of independant decision making? Oh yes, but I know better than to let this capacity interfere with a slavish obedience to orders..."
ReplyDeleteI personally like this quote because of my experience with with applying for jobs. Last summer, I applied to several restaurants and business, most of which had what I started to call a "common app", and those asked the basics. But several large "faceless" corporations did not have such a simple application, but a survey to go along with it.
"Answer honestly" they said, but really they meant "Answer honestly, to not get applied here."
I think that if a company has an application online, it should back it up with a personal interview. Does anyone else agree?
Noah P Period5
To the very awesome, Katrice.
ReplyDeleteKatrice the situation of the smokers in this unit was very difficult. One must understand that an addiction is an addiction, and without any help it is very hard to cut something you "need" out of your life. However, I am on your side, so to speak, because they all seem to be at a point where they need the basics to survive, but can't decide between something that calms them down, and something that keeps them alive.
All and all, a tough situation.
Noah P period 5
1. At one point, Barbara had to go to a store while still in the maid uniform. She commented that she felt a little of what it was like to be black when the people stared at her. Now while it is true that some (racist) people assume a black person to be poor and uneducated, Barbara is in a different situation here. Unlike black people, she can take off her uniform and continue being a white lady, assumed to be educated and middle class.
ReplyDelete2. Is Barbara experiences valid if she quits her jobs whenever they get too difficult?
3. Alexis, I think it's because that the people who have money start to view people who don't as lazy or uneducated. They might think, "If I can get to where I am, why can't they? I'm probably just better than them."
Luke S. Period 6
kevin durant shoes
ReplyDeletekyrie 5 shoes
moncler jackets
jordan shoes
kyrie shoes
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off white shoes
kyrie 6
golden goose
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