my thoughts about the work life!

When we first started this course I was excited about the fact that it was going to be connected with work. I thought it was wonderful to help me set a better guide as to which field I really want to join. Through the course I began realizing all the unrecognized jobs out there and all the struggles so many people go through for production and for service. I learned alot that really did help me in my carreer choice and even in just everday life in general. I now try to consume less, tip more, treat workers anywhere with more respect, especially those who seem to work for such little money. With the economy the way it is, this class actually brought me to want to help out the economic working class. I want to find a way to help Wal-Mart workers, help women in third world countries, and prove to every ignorant person out there that a woman in the work field should have equal rights as men.

Through my interview and researches I learned to value more than just my status in a field. Whether I end up being my own boss, or working for a big boss, I will value more the job itself and my love for the job than the status it gives me. I want to learn more, so I can help more. I believe we all should find a organization where we can help with globalization and other important matters in the work field. If anyone has any ideas as to how to get a strike at Wal-Mart started let me know!!!

more bonus!!!

1) I found this article to be quite eye openeing to myself and any other person who likes to be pampered. Honestly, besides the fact that its just soomething else to spend money on, I decided to do my own nails, my own eyebrows, and my own waxing. Not only am I discovering some hidden talent (I'm very good with my tweezer), but also I now don't feel so guilty about having someone poorer than I pamper me for only $7 (plus about $2 tip) a visit. I always wondered how much they got and this article answered my question. I realize some places its fancier and for customers of high classes, so the price is also more, but still, these women are on their knees, polishing other women. It must put alot of psychological pressure on these workers, and the feeling of inferiority must be very stressful. To the customers who go in the workers must be polite and slave themselves for such little pay. That's true emotional labor. For example, I got a coupon a few months ago for a salon in Midtown Manhattan which was very fancy. It was well made up and the workers there treated you like a princess, with a glass of whatever it is you wanted and some chocolates or mint when you left. The environment was very relaxing and all the workers seemed very calm, and yet there was one customer shouting at the top of her lungs at a worker because the poor worker failed to understand what she wanted. Meanwhile the worker had to put on a smile and kindly fix what she had done wrong...which I honestly didnt understand so myself. Though, even after all this, the manager still got in a few words with the worker and gave their customer 20% off her next visit! Now, if this doesnt show how money controls your title or status then I dont know what does!

!! Bonus !! ..#1

I was recently sent this email which contained this video and I thought to myself it was the perfect video to demonstrate how the economy is working in todays world. How much we consume and what we can do about. It was mostly a video to help us understand why we should go "green", but alot in this video showed me a connection to the movie Mardi Gras: Made In China, and also, especially, to the movie Wal-mart: The High Cost Of Low Prices. The connection I made with this video to the two movies was the consumption part. They speak of how America's government told its people to shop in time of crisis, meaning we consume and consume, and then consume some more, even in times where we should consider other countries, especially third world countries where the people cant consume. well, its an interesting video, I hope who reads this can take some time out and watch it, and more importantly pass it on to others so they too know the truth!
Thank you!




Here is a link to the site:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8

post #6

Honestly, even though its almost time to hand in my paper, I am still unsure of my essay question. My focus is on the status of the job. Because the person I have interviewed has had many jobs, all in such different fields, I feel that status is most related. Especially, the change in status with the change in career. Though with that I also want to include his status in the economy and how that changes him as a person and how it in the long run affects out society. I'm still working on the perfect thesis.


some of the questions I started off with to ask on my interview were:

1) was status something important at each job?
2)how did your status change?
3) was the labor more physical or more emotional?
4)what led you to want to change each job?
5)did your status change in society or to your family as your job changed?
6)what were your daily routines at each job?
7)did this affect your everyday life?
8)which job was most rewarding? least rewarding?
9)if you were to go back would you change how people saw you(your status)?
10) how does each job affect the economy? and vice-versa?


These questions did each lead to more questions so I got alot of information I needed and alot of information that didnt really count. Though, even with all that being said I still dont necessarily know exactly what my thesis question will be on my essay. That then leaves room for more research and more brainstorming!

post #5

Considering we live in America, I think we contribute the most to our global economy. Any american, be it rich, poor, high class, low class, middle class, no class, all contribute to the exchange of money. So, therefore, I too contribute a whole lot. I consume alot. We all do. Actually, America itself consumes 30% of all goods in the entire world. We are what makes the gap between rich and poor so drastic. I work to then spend,be it on housing, school, food,or any other goods,I still spend. So, I am part of this huge cycle of money. I buy things (even though I wish I didnt) that are made by young adults in other third world countries. I consume more than they do and I live with it. It's really sad because I wish I could change it. I wish there was a way for me to help these people so that they can have more without someone having less. I am so glad Redman (director of the film) made the movie "Mardi Gras: Made In China" because people of America and other first world countries need to realize the value of the things they use. To them its nothing to throw some beads at people, but to the girls in the factory the beads are all they know. It's a terrible economy, its cruel and unfair. Though, what bothers me most is the owners of the companies, the bosses, the head of corporations who know the story behind all these products and still haven't done anything to help it. I can connect myself to the girls at the factory because I have baught beads before, though if i could have I would've handed my $1.09 to the girl who made the bead and not to the corporation.

post#4

I really enjoyed Philipe Levine's poem, "What is Work". As i began reading it I thought it would be about something completely different. I love how he associated work with the love for his brother. It reminds me alot of some of the stories in Working, especially in the section "The Demon Lover". Not only because of the men working in an assembly line at a car factory, but also because he mentions only men in his poem. He speaks of himself, the other men in line, and his brother, all men in a work field. To me, he made it seem almost as if we get lost in all the work we do in all the hours and labor that something so simple as showing a family member love becomes "work". I dont know if I feel this because of some strange personal reason or if that really is what he is saying, but he's saying that work isnt who we are but just what we do.

Well, the first thing that came to my mind that talks about work was the book Of Mice and Men, by Steinbeck. Though, surprisingly enough a song came to mind, that song by Loverboy called "Working for the Weekend". First, in Steinbeck's book, the work is all done by the men. It's set place in the early 1900's so women weren't involved in the workforce yet, and since it was on a farm, most of the work was physical labor. The images it gives about work is that its all for the men, which we very well know is not true anymore. Though, in the song, its about everyone, in every work field. It talks about how everyone works during the week for those two days of freedom. This actually gives me hope, and kind of laugh it off that we do work really hard just for the weekend. I basically do, I work then save that money and spend it on the weekend.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E82ozXyNjk

post#3

The class my family grew into was upper-middle class...though this was in Brasil. When we came to America, suddenly we were part of the poor lower classes. It was hard for my parents to get jobs and get used to this economy. Therefore, it was a long time before we made it into the middle class. Well, my father made it there, my mother is still considered poor..well through statistics. Because if you ask me, I think living comfortable is all you need. My father and his family are really big on social classes. Both in Brasil and in the states. He wants to keep the family name big, so now he has his own car company and is living well! My mother on the other hand doesnt really care much for economic issues or social classes. As long as we are eating well, we have a roof over our heads, and she has all the shoes she needs, she is A-ok. hahaha. This was easy to grow up around because I would get told by one parent that I need to make big money and get into a higher class so I can be treated like a queen. Then my mother would say all I need is what I can live off of and that class is just another reason to judge and cause tension between people. I mostly agree with my mother. I dont need many things. What I have is more than enough and I'm ok with being in the lower classes. I feel that when you do make it to the higher social classes you tend to loose value in the real important things and start putting value in more materialistic things that arent a necessity.
I think the fact that I grew up with both views I built a pretty good hypothesis for the social class war. In Brasil, when I was around 4 years old, these boys and girls who seemed to be about the same age as me would come knock on our door every morning to ask for bread or water because they were homeless and hungry. Seeing that and seeing my mother give them so much more than just bread and water made me realize that theres more value in what we take for granted everyday. I grew up knowing not to want too much of materialistic things. I got all I wanted but with alot of work, and even so, I never wanted alot. Through all of this I know that getting to the upper class in good because you can have a very comfortable life, where anything is at your reach. But who wants that? I think thats boring. I like hard work, and I like to work for what I have. Also, especially now that we are such big consumers, I like to think I'de rather stay in the lower classes. I dont want to have that guilt in the future because I was a contributer to the reason earth got demolished. :/


Though, when it came to gender roles in working classes, I grew up always being told that men and women are equal, so whatever work a man can do, a woman can as well! With that in mind I never necessarily cared much for which gender was doing what. Though, as I got older I started to realize that some jobs people prefer a man, or some a woman. This made me want to push myself into doing anything a boy could. So much that all my friends were suddenly boys and I was turning into a little tomboy. This did change my goals in a work field because now I too want to own a business and join many fields of work.