Unfair
This week in class, we read about the hardships of having to work in a restaurant. Barbara Ehrenreich explains it best when depicting her experiences being a waitress. In describing her difficult boss, the chaos of the job, and the ungrateful people she encounters, she helps the readers immerse themselves into the painful realities of working minimum wage. I, for one, have never worked in retail nor at a restaurant, but I do work as a receptionist at a small, family doctor's office. Thankfully, I have a relatively friendly boss, but I've definitely come across some interesting patients. It's like, yeah, I know you've been "waiting for way too long" and that it's "despicable" to make people wait forever in a "frigid cold room" with "screaming babies" and "sniffling, sickly people," but there's really nothing I can do about the fact that we have two doctors trying to consult with like 50 patients. And I can't really do anything about the temperature, so deal with it. Also, this is a doctor's office, so what'd you expect, perfectly healthy people just coming in to say hello? No, it's flu season and sick people are coming in to see the doctor. Obviously, I can't say any of that; I just reluctantly smile and say "sorry about the wait." On the other hand, I fortunately, I don't have to deal with terrible tippers. I couldn't even imagine working so hard and being perfectly kind to hateful people, just to have them leave you no tip, or barely any. Society should really think about the hardships that minimum wage workers face before making unfair assumptions.
Interesting post. It felt like you were talking throughout this, and I could almost hear your annoyed voice from here (I can't tell if that's good or bad). It's eye-opening to see the negatives that come with any job, whether it be in a doctor's office or a restaurant.
ReplyDeleteNice post. I really feel strongly about how unfair minimum wage workers are treated when in reality they are working just as hard as a doctor, for example. It may not be same thing but both receive a lot of mental stress. I have also noticed that we need more doctors. Great post btw.
ReplyDeleteI also wrote about this issue and find it frustrating that people focus on the flaws in others and ignore their hard work. I like how you connected this issue with your own personal experience.
ReplyDeleteI like how you made parallels between your life and Ehrenreich's narrative. It further validates her point and really goes to show how caught up in their own world people can be. It's also eye-opening how universal the negatives of customer service are, no matter what the exact profession is.
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