Hiding the Poor

In the US we've gotten quite good at keeping the poor out of sight.  Also, disguised.  They are not merely segregated into parts of town we tend not to visit.  These days they wear the Wal-Mart frock, serve us french fries, and clean our hotel rooms.

And we are pretty out of touch about how poor our working poor are.  I recently was talking to some family members about tipping hotel housekeepers.  I had read a book that shocked me by saying that a reasonable tip per night was $2-$3.  All these years, I had been overtipping with $5 tips, assuming that the woman who cleans my tub and toilet deserves at least that.

My son-in-law contested that they actually make a good salary.  I did quite the double-take.  He's a fairly recent college grad making a nice living in computers.  I told him that I was pretty sure these women made salaries not much above minimum wage.  Since this was a friendly, happily inebriated last-day-of-my-visit, we soon went on to other subjects.

Since I've been home, though, I've been mulling this over.  Today, I found some statistics.

Indeed, with the exception of a few states like New York, the wages hover around $20,000.  And I would guess that the big city in those states tip the scale a bit.

So this career path, which involves doing the kind of job that I don't even like to do in my own home, and for hotel guests that are probably often not as neat and considerate as I am, also likely involves not being able to pay one's bills, and not being able to afford extras, like buying a pizza to take home to the kids at the end of a long shift.  I would imagine the benefits do not include sick pay and paid vacation either.

And invisible?  How often do we actually know who is doing this scut work for us?  Unlike a waiter, you can skimp on the housekeeper's tip and never have to look her in the eye.

My point being that this is shameful.  And that maybe the worst thing about this situation is that we are able to not know that it exists.  And this is how we successfully hide our poor.

The Good Employer Award

You've probably heard of some of the awards they give out on the other side.  Our own SC legislators are always getting awards, including pictures all over the local papers and on their websites, for some noble cause or another.  Just last year Tim Scott got the Standing Up for Seniors Award.  Why they even remember to honor the little guy -- Peter McCoy proudly touted his Peas & Carrots Award during his debate for state representative last year.

You and I both know that behind all those fine sounding names lurk groups of fat cats whose real purpose is to continue to push for things like repealing social security and the right to continue to decimate the environment.

But it works.  Voters think Tim Scott is up there at the capitol working hard for seniors, and not just the seniors who run the big corporations.  Here in Charleston, the folks at that debate were impressed that an "environmental group" would give Peter McCoy an award for his work on saving our beautiful lowcountry.

I think we need to recognize -- and I mean loudly, publicly, recognize -- those who truly do fight for us.

A group that comes to mind is made of up the small business owners who are not currently whining about the Affordable Care Act.  There actually are employers who feel strongly about providing a living wage with decent benefits for those who work to make their company grow.  There are employers who understand that, even though these are tough economic times and the cost of just about everything is going up, the place to cut corners is not by hurting the people working for you.

There are employers who respect their employees, and I believe that if you respect your employees, you respect your customers.

And so, I propose that you out there who have the know-how, create some awards, and then give them to those good employers.  Maybe a Good Citizen Award, but with a fancier title.  And then use all your contacts to get those employers' names out to the public, so we can continue the good by giving our business to those that deserve it.

I for one would rather pay a few cents more to Costco, whose management thinks it's important that their employees have health care than to the criminals who run Wal-Mart.  Money talks, and I'm thinking that once the word begins to spread, the Wal-marts will start to see their employees as humans and not just commodities.

Help Us Serve You Better

I'm getting asked to take a lot of Customer Satisfaction Surveys these days.  Pretty much anything I do online, from Expedia to eBay to Snapfish, wants me to take a survey.  Not so much about the product, although they do ask cursory questions about whatever you've bought, but about how satisfied you were with the service.

I have decided pretty much without consciously deciding, that I would answer every question regarding my treatment by an employee, by giving the highest score possible.

Because I believe these surveys are a pretense.  I believe the surveys are a means to minimize the things we are most concerned about, like the actual item we have just bought, by allowing us to "give input."  And by asking about our "customer service experience" any problem we have with for example the price of the purchase gets deflected and thus diffused.

I took such a survey after a visit to Lowe's about a year ago.  This was a result of two things:  I wanted to let management know about a very helpful employee, and I went online and attempted to do that.  What I ended up with, instead of the opportunity to actually contact a human and describe my experience, was a survey.  And the questions infuriated me.

See if you recognize any of these "Customer Satisfaction Survey" questions.

Did the staff greet you in a warm and friendly manner?  If you asked about the location of a product, did the employee give you verbal instructions or take you to the product?  Did the employee tell you to have a nice day and come again?

Our own idiot governor here in South Carolina, Nikki Haley, has forced any of the state employees who have the (I think) unhappy job of answering the phone to say, "It's a great day in South Carolina, how can I help you?"  And at the library where I worked we were told to answer the phone with, "Good morning, this is (me) at the ________ Branch, how can I help you?"

I have a lot of problems with all that nonsense.  First of all, if I call you with a question, you don't have to be happy to talk to me, as long as you are attempting to answer the question I'm going to ask you.  You don't have to tell me your name, because that's not relevant to what I've called you about either.  And when you have to give a speech before I can ask my question, I'm either not listening or by the time you're done I'm not going to remember what I called about in the first place.

And for the record, I don't believe for one minute it's a great day in South Carolina, because I know where we stand in education, health care, and income compared to the rest of the country.

To get back to the "Customer Satisfaction Survey," it is appalling enough that we work people harder for less pay and fewer benefits than most other "civilized" countries.  Employers now believe they have the right to force their employees to not only do their work well, but be personable and popular.  All the damned time.

Have a sick child at home because you can't take the day off?  Car broke down on the way to work and your boss is ticked off because you're late?  Just found out your spouse lost his/her job?  Your back aches because you've been standing for 2,3,4 or more hours?

Just keep smiling and acting like the coolest thing in your day is listening to me go on and on and on about some nonsense.  Or asking you stupid questions.  Or complaining about something that you have absolutely nothing to do with.

You'll never get questions like that about your Wall Street banker, or about your Congressman.  Or about the CEO of whatever company actually determines the quality of the goods or services you have purchased.

For that matter, while teachers get rated by everyone from their principal to their students, the principals never have to suffer that indignity, although many certainly should.  As a parent, you can complain about the principal or the superintendent, but neither you nor the teachers that bear the brunt of bad management will be able to take a "Customer Satisfaction Survey" detailing the ways those particular employees have done their jobs. 

If you're my age you'll remember the old airline commercials, from back when those folk working in the aisles were called "stewardesses." With a wink and a smile, the stewardess on that commercial suggested that you -- honestly -- "Fly me!"  Well, we have come full circle, and if you work with customers, forget about dignity and respect.  You are the front line, and you aren't even allowed to defend yourself.

So when I am asked about whether the hotel room was clean enough, or whether I was asked if there was anything else I needed, or if I was told to "Have a nice day," the answer is always yes, and the rating is always the top rating.

Because these people who are out there trying to do their best to for god's sake keep their jobs, they are us.

Let Me Give You a Little Tip

While I was away last week, I was giving some thought to the matter of tipping.  I think it started when I noted the tip jar as I got myself an ice cream cone.  I didn't leave a tip, although I'm told I should have.

There is a book about tips and tipping that was recently written by a former waiter, who made a name for himself after writing a restaurant tell-all anonymously and then saying, "what the hell" and going public.  All I know about tipping has to do with restaurant dining-in.  I have always wondered if I was tipping maids enough, and how much to tip someone who carries my luggage or drives a taxi, as well as someone who carries my luggage into and out of the taxi he (she) is driving.  Keep the Change seemed like it might have the answers.

What it did have was not as much entertainment as the first book by Dublanica, but some surprises.  He did attempt to entertain, himself and his readers, by dealing with tipping people like strippers.  And most of his information had to do with tipping people I'll never want or need to employ, like limo drivers (that are taking you to visit strippers).

The essential point that I took from the book was that the harder you work, the less of a tip you are warranted.

Imagine my surprise to learn that when I leave a maid $5 a day, I am overtipping.  I mean, it takes her more time to clean my tub and toilet than for a parking attendant to park my car.  And for another thing, it is a far more disgusting job, and to my mind, therefore deserving of greater appreciation.

Not so.  According to Dublanica, a maid should get $2 to $3 per day, while the parking attendant could get $5, especially if you want him to take good care of your car, and be really attentive to you.

A good barista, one who really knows how to draw that lovely dollop of whatever onto your caffeinated beverage, deserves a dollar for that fancy (and overpriced) coffee; a bartender gets a dollar for the drink.  Basically, that's half of what your maid gets for cleaning your entire room.

And how about the guy who served me my ice cream cone? Why on earth do places like that (or that "coffee bar") solicit tips?  I think it goes way back to why we tip Pullman porters, which is that originally they were freed slaves and of course weren't paid anything like a living wage, so the Pullman Company had the genius idea of convincing passengers to tip the man.

And so, increasingly, whenever an employer doesn't pay living wages, you are likely to find a tip jar.  And yet...

You're going to tip that ice cream guy, right?  But do you tip the high school student -- or the "retired" senior -- at McDonald's?  My guess is no, even though they are likely to be earning the same or less than the ice cream guy.

And my favorite story about tips is the idiot in the Louisiana legislature who introduced a bill making it illegal for library workers to accept a plate of cookies from a patron.  And you might want to check for yourself; it is quite likely that they earn less than the ice cream guy.

So what is my point?  I really dislike tip jars, because what it means these days is that the employees are not making adequate wages.  Here we are in a country where one percent of individuals can't shovel their profits into tax havens fast enough, and our less-than-esteemed members of Congress are afraid that raising the minimum wage would destroy our economy.  (Is that a paean to small business I hear?)

It also pisses me off that the harder you work, the less you are seen to be deserving of a tip, and the smaller a tip needs  to be.

We need to take a good look at people like farm workers and maids, child care workers and fast food employees.  Because right here and now they are invisible.  They aren't even the tier that guilt us into giving a decent tip.

As far as tipping, it has become, much like the Pullman days, the means by which employers squeeze more profit, and the way we make those who do an honest day's work beg to be paid.

Meanwhile, I'll continue to leave 20 percent to my waiter,  because it's an old habit, and I'll leave $3 a day to the maid, although I really believe she deserves more.  The barista?  I'd as soon leave the harried McDonald's worker a dollar than pay a dollar for a cup of coffee, but I won't do that either.

What I really want to do is stop having to be one of the persons who decide whether you are going to go home with an adequate day's pay.  It's time for employers to recognize and compensate, and stop whining about the cost to do business.

So You Want to Be a Teacher?

Since Friday I have had the image of six-year-olds being killed, and other small children as witnesses.  But today I would like to talk about the other victims of our refusal to act against gun violence.

Teachers today, because of our insistence that any idiot should be able to get their hands on a gun, have to train to lead the children in their overcrowded classrooms to safety should a gunman breach the school.  They need to be on guard against strangers in the building at all times, rather than welcoming members of the community into their school.  It's not enough that they have to break up fights and be sure that overly energetic kids are not injuring themselves accidentally, they need to be the military guard of the classroom.

I, for one, can't imagine that we overpay any teacher who educates and cares for our children.  Imagining myself in front of a classroom for hours in a day, I am more than happy that teachers get long vacations, although these days many of them need summer jobs to supplement inadequate incomes.  And are forced to be accessible to parents at school and by phone at all hours.

But add to that the fact that our teachers are risking their lives, and expected to give up their lives, to save our children.  And then, assuming they get out alive, they have to live with having been in the middle of a war zone, and have to go back into that war zone yet another day, and the day after that.  And that their own families will take a back seat to that awesome responsibility.

The tragedy in Newtown was the horrendous extreme of gun violence.  But teachers in some neighborhoods face the possibility of that violence every day.  And we reward them by bickering about whether we should grade them, continue to offer them tenure, extend their school year without remuneration, forbid them to unionize, and if unionized, forbid them to strike.

Take another look at the teachers in your community.  Ask yourself if you would be willing -- if you would be able -- to do what they do for us and our children.

Job vs. Life

I wonder if the media is missing the boat on the tragic suicide of Jacintha Saldhana, the nurse who transferred the prank call by two Australia DJ's claiming to be Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles to Kate Middleton's private nurse.

This is a foreign born woman who, according to the Washington Post, commuted 140 miles to work and often worked double shifts so that she could spend more time with her family.

And England is a country that continues to slash its budget despite the fact that austerity has resulted in less economic growth rather than more.  It is a country whose royal family holds unimaginable wealth while its working class struggles.  And this royal family continues to thrive due to the idolatry of its citizens.

I wonder if an Indian woman working at a job for a government that has as its priorities budget slashing may be feeling a bit paranoid about her job security.  And of course, at the crux of her insecurities in the days of the Duchess's hospitalization would be her service to the Queen.

The two idiot DJ's who carried out the prank did no more or less than mock the royal family.  Most of us, here in the 21st century, enjoy mocking anyone who carries on as though they are royalty, including royalty.  In their defense, the call was not rude or offensive, and they were probably as surprised as anyone to be getting information on Middleton's condition from her private nurse.  Even the Royal Family appears to have taken the gag in stride, which they surely have had to learn to do over the years.

What we do have, though, is a woman who worked very hard and took her job very seriously.  The fear of condemnation for her mistake, the fear of losing her job, and the humiliation all that entails, may have been what put this good woman over the edge, to suicide.

In 2012, I'm afraid too many workers can identify with those fears.

Thankful to Have... Fair Pay?

Spurred on by Wal-Mart employees, which I'm sure were energized by the wave begun by the Occupy Movement, employees of fast food restaurants in New York City have begun a protest movement.

Fast Food Forward is the name of the movement in NYC that has organized protests against the big fast food chains.  They are demanding a living wage, better working conditions, and better benefits.

As should we all.

Here in Charleston, library workers get paid little more than minimum wage.  In the right-to-work-cheap state, we know what it is like to have to struggle to be able to afford Wal-Mart and McDonald's prices.

Go to the Fast Food Forward Facebook page and show your support.  We may not have heard a lot from the Occupy Movement these days, but it appears they have sown seeds that will, with all our involvement, lead to a resurgent labor movement, and that will include those of us who were left behind the first time.