Sunday, February 26, 2017
Serving in Florida
I think the author of "Serving in Florida" would agree with the statement, "inequality will always exist: some people will always be rich, and some people will always be poor" because of her experience working at the Hearthside. She witnessed multiple people from different races, genders, and ages all working minimum-wage jobs and barely affording a place to stay and not ever having money left over to save. Even if one of them, such as Gail or Joan, were to be promoted and replace Phillip, they would not make enough money to save and "get rich." In Barbara's experiment, she leaves her Florida Key's lifestyle to work a minimum-wage job as a waitress in a restaurant connected to a hotel. She was originally wanting to be a maid but then deemed suitable as a waitress. In the reading it states, "I am at the wrong end of some infallible ethnic equation: most, but by no means all, of the working house-keepers I see on my job searches are African Americans, Spanish-speaking, or refugees from the Central European post-Communist world." Barbara believes that you need to be a white English speaking person to get a job that has human interaction. A job that pays more from tips and would be easier to get promoted. All of the workers have their own struggles, weather it's the Haitian men living in crammed quarters or the host, Joan, living in her car behind a shopping center. No matter what a person looks like or how they dress, they could be in worse conditions than someone in torn clothes. Joan wears nice clothes and gives the appearance of having a better lifestyle, but buys all of her clothes from a thrift shop and lives in a car. Some people can work their entire life and always be poor.
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I do agree that there will always be inequality that exists. Some people can’t people that they’re poor and don’t have help from people to get them on their feet. The author was $100 short in rent and instead of pulling money she had from her real life journalism job, she stayed strict into her experiment and found a harder solution to fix her problem- get a second job. What I assumed she meant by having to be white and speaking English is that, Key West is a tourist town and most people there speak English; so it would help an employer if they could speak English clearly. Which gives a disadvantage to the Spanish speaking and Haitian people. The workers who struggle with finding enough money to survive in this location are very hard working and definitely should be paid more for how much effort they put into their job. They shouldn’t be one of the people suffering because they work for a living, unlike some people who are just lazy and shouldn’t be helped. Joan, Gail, and all the other hard working people should be helped in some way but this is where inequality comes into effect. This isn’t fair for people but we can’t always help people in need.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the statement "inequality will always exist, some people will always be rich, and some people will always be poor" the author experiences what it is like for most people. She had a hard time just trying to get by on necessities. I think the author would agree with this statement because in her experiment she saw how many employers are always ready to replace someone at any cost. She learned that even though in ads it said that jobs were available in reality there weren't any and people did this because they had to. Inequality will always exist because people never want to look any farther if they don't have to. Even though she was overqualified for the job the people that interviewed her were to lazy to even look any further into her. I think having experienced herself first hand what it is like to be poor and to stay poor even though you try your hardest if you aren't in the right place or area or born to the right family you will most likely live your life being poor. Inequality today is inevitable someone will always be richer than someone else and someone will always be poorer than someone else. We can try to portray ourselves as not being as poor but at the end of the day were still poor because of inequality.
ReplyDeleteI too agree with the statement "inequality will always exist, some people will always be rich, and some people will always be poor", and I believe the author would agree as well. But I also believe the author would DISAGREE with the statement "If people work hard enough, they will achieve success." The Key West area she attempts to look for a job in has a high price of living and she is aware that a minimum wage job will most likely be just enough to get her by with necessities like rent, food and gas. She begins to realize after witnessing a variety of people that no one, not even Joan who dresses well but actually purchases all her clothing from a thrift shop, have the luxury to dedicate their money to anything but the bare minimum. With her month's rent quickly approaching, Barbara realizes that in order to pay for rent and food she will need to look for another job. Because she is a white, English speaking woman, she is labeled as a waitress. I think it is here that the author realizes that employers automatically label people when searching for a prospect. Although she was among people working extremly hard and constantly, Barbara still finds it necessary to look for a second job. This idea that people put in hard work for no real and substantial reward goes along with the statement "inequality will always exist, some people will always be rich, and some people will always be poor" while disproving the statement "If people work hard enough, they will achieve success."
ReplyDeleteThis author would definitely agree with the statement, “Inequality will always exist, some people will always be rich, and some people will always be poor.” From her experiment, she finds that people who start with no money or resources find it very difficult to live in anything but poverty. Any money earned must go to meeting the bare necessities of living. The author would probably also agree with the statement, “Moving up the socioeconomic ladder is too difficult in America.” After not only watching people around her, but also experiencing it herself, the author finds that people working in minimum wage jobs are almost always struggling just to make ends meet, much less climb up on the economic ladder. If simply living is a struggle, making extra money is impossible. If people on the poor end of the spectrum can’t climb out even by working their hardest, then it is literally impossible that inequality will disappear. The author became very close with these realities while working at minimum wage, even taking a second job to make enough money for rent. It seems that, even despite the hardest efforts of working people, inequality will always exist unless our system radically changes. Poor people will always stay poor, and rich people will always stay rich.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Barbara Ehrenreich would agree that "Inequality will always exist, some people will always be rich, and some people will always be poor." She had her own struggles that she went through. She barely made a leaving trying to get by on necessities. Barbara Ehrenreich had did an experiment that showed how many employees are always ready to replace someone at any cost. I think they do this because everyone in the world wants to have more money and be rich. People didn't go out and get these jobs because they just wanted to they went out and got them because they had to. It wasn't a choice in the matter for them to obtain a job. If people wanted to survive they had no choice other than to get the job to support and survive. Inequality will always exist because no body in this world will work harder or move up the ladder if they don't have to. In the end Poor people will remain poor and rich people will remain rich unless the people themselves change it.
ReplyDeleteI believe the statement "inequality will always exist: Some people will always be rich, and some people will always be poor." is a hundred percent accurate; and i believe the author of "Serving in Florida" Barbara Ehrenreich would also do the same after experiencing it first hand herself. I don't know how much journalist generally make, but I'm sure that the earnings from that job in Barbara's real life is fairly higher than minimum wage. I believe Ms. Ehrenreich would say that working hard and trying your best to get a decent job and work your way up the socio-economic ladder isn't guaranteed. As she witnessed for herself, there was many people in the same financial and harsh conditions of her during their experiment, people that were even overqualified for jobs or weren't even criminals stood no chance of being employed for even minimum wage. I know that it's true that no matter how hard you work you can still be poor all your life because I've sen it first band also. I come from a family full of drug dealers, robbers, and old pimps and they resorted to illegal ways to get good money because trying to do the "right thing" and get a decent job is extremely difficult. Many people would disagree and say that you can climb the socio-economic ladder from purely working hard, but i don't think they take into account of life; life can have many bumps in the road and setbacks that can keep you from never getting to the top of the ladder.
ReplyDeleteI believe the author would agree with the statement “Inequality will always exist, some people will always be rich and some people will always be poor.” But I think the author would also agree its not necessarily how hard you work but how smart you work. If you’re working on cleaning and entire empty warehouse and you start by sweeping from the front to the back of the warehouse it will become clean and you’ll have probably worked hard at this to get it completed, However take another person who notices that if you open the doors to the warehouse a gust comes and blows the majority of the dirt and particles towards the back half of the warehouse cutting the work load to half as much this person has proven to work smarter. Even if you are a hard worker that doesn’t equate to being valued and innovative among the work space. It is merely one part of an attribute needed to increase your value to a company. The company is there to make money so they have measured every aspect and limits to what they are willing to pay for a service. The key to increasing wealth is to increase self-worth in the eyes of others. A fashion degree is meaningless if you work at a restaurant as a cook unless you apply that knowledge to increase your self-worth as a cook. That is why there will always be inequality because of a difference in attributes, knowledge/self-worth, and a number of other factors it is up to the individual to discern a way to increase their value or way of life.
ReplyDeleteEspecially after to author conducts her social experiment, I do believe she would agree with the statement "Inequality will always exist, some people will always be rich and some people will always be poor." In the part time job work force many employees struggle throughout their daily lives. No matter how hard they work, the minimum wage payment is hardly enough to maintain a healthy lifestyle. In our society being a waiter is assumed to be an easy job that requires little to no educational experience. It's interesting that even as an educated citizen Barbra is surprised with the workload of being a waitress. In my own personal experience as a server, it can be pretty hard and stressful work. It's troubling to know that some people live with the low pay of a restaurant server. The amount of work that goes into serving should be rewarded with a higher pay, and I think the author would agree. However, since serves primary source if income is tips, I do think commitment and skill towards the job can benefit the employee significantly.
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