Intro of essay # 3

What do you mean by what type of work do I think we do? “We do costumer service” responded Severine, when I once asked my friend and coworker Severine how she will call our job type. This is how the whole discussion on job types, and workers emotions started between us. We were on our way home that night after work and I told her that I learned from my English class that same day that l service jobs were considered as “emotional labor” as well as some “industrial labor”. She still couldn’t figure out what I was talking about. Then, I told her that there is relationship between the type of job people perform and the emotions they display at work and in real life. That’s when she told me that her emotions have nothing to do with her work as at work, she just smiles while taking care of people and keeps her emotions for her real life. In other words, you have to detach all emotions related to this type of job in order to perform it well.
Well, that’s what I use to believe too, until the day I read “Exploring The Managed Heart” from Arlie Hoschild and started wondering what is “emotional labor”, “industrial labor” and what is their impact on workers emotions.

Bonus Post: The Most Dangerous Job

I even don't know what to say about Kenny. His attitude goes wayyyy beyond dedication to his job and his company. Kenny gave all he had to these people, his body, mind and life that's how I'll describe it.

He shouldn't disinfect that plant just like his coworkers. That's against the law. Now he is in a big trouble (health related) and no one cares, his coworkers are still probably working for the same company or another one.

I wonder though if Kenny did all these things for this company because he "loves" his job or its because he thinks he couldn't do anything else. In others words he didn't have an option because of his background that lead him to become uneducated.

I still don't understand this type of dedication because I am not willing to do this no matter what. To me there is always another way around. He could have gone back to learning something else, moved to another city, state or I don't know.

Kenny shouldn't be frustrated because he should have known that if the management of this company cared about him he would have seeing it; he should have had a carrier advancement.

I see very few people with a certain level of "dedication" at my work but, I don't think they would go this far. Anyway, in NY companies are more likely to follow the rules, we don't have to worry about things like these. ( at least where I work).

QUESTION

Prof. T.

I have a quick question, if I am using the text "Who Built the Pyramids?" from the book "Working", do I cite the book or that part of the book ? Because I don't see an example of work cited of a text from a book. It looks like it is just book titles.

Thanks for quick response.

Post # 7: Annotated bibliography for essay # 3

The question of my research is " What is the impact of switching from physical labor to service labor on workers in the United States ?"

The documents I'll be using are the following:

2 course texts:

Terkel,Studs."Who Built the Pyramids?" Working (1972),page xxxi-xxxviii.

This article is an interview with a worker in a Steel Mill, Mike Lefevre who does strict physical work. Mike explains what are the conditions in which he works, with whom and how he feels about what he does as work. Most importantly, he explains how the stress of his job affect his personal life, his vision of the future for his children, and how he releases that stress.

I think this interview can help me show what is the effect of long term physical labor on workers mentally.

Hochschild, Arlie. "Exploring The Managed Heart" The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. California:University of California Press,(1983). Page 3-9.

This is a book in which Hochschild explains and compare the concepts of job accomplishment, and how to measure it. She uses interview with several front line agents to have their testimonies about how they perform their jobs and what are the emotions involved in their work. She explains how she came up with the notion of "emotional labor" and how she defines it.

This part of her book can help me I think, define, and explain the historic of the term "emotional labor" in my research.

2 outside sources:

Williams Walsh, Mary. " When May I Help You Is a Labor Issue." New York Times August 12 2000,Pg. C1,14. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 18 May 2010.

In this article, Walsh addresses the issues costumer service agents face while performing their job. The costumer service representatives of Verizon express to her how they are listened to while working by their supervisors, and that they have to follow the scripts designed by the company while talking to costumers on the phone, the big work load they have to face on a daily basis.

This article can help me show the stress costumer service representative endure and what are the consequences of that stress on their physical and emotional being over a long term.

Burling, Stacey. "Faking Happiness Detrimental to Workers." Contra Costa Times December 15 2005, Pg. F4. LexisNexis Academic Web 20 May 2010.

This article is about a recent study conducted in a call center of a telecommunications company by the University of Pennsylvania. It studied what it takes to workers to manage their feelings while on the phone no matter how rude the caller is; what is the impact of the type of pressure they endure on their job performance, and their mood in general. Also it has some examples of this particular company shows it employees how to change their emotions; how the happiest employees were the one that knew that, their managers are more understanding when it comes to their handling of difficult costumers.

The particularity of this study is that it shows the relationship between doing the job "by the book" and the employees emotional being. Bottom line of the study is that people who love this job are better at doing it.

Post # 6: Step 2 of essay # 3

For this part of essay # 3, the interviews I choose in Terkel are:

"Cleaning Up" Nick Salermo

"Telepnone Solicitor" Enid du Bois

The 1rst one interested me because I clean up every night almost at work and all the time at home. I don't mind doing it. It's fun relaxing, and it is usually when we agents "debrief" about what happened during the evening. But, some of my colleagues do not like doing it. They find it degrading and are always arguing about it." It is not in my assignment" you will hear them say while, we all know that the last shift is the one assigned to it. Because of the problems it always raises at closing time, the supervisors changed its name to "close up". I guess it makes people feel better knowing that they are "closing up" instead of "cleaning up". I was wondering how is Nick Salermo feeling about his job.

Very surprisingly, he is proud of what he does because he knows that he honestly earns good money from it even though, it is overwhelming.

The workload is big, and it is not easy to deal with people trash; it's like you are entering their personal space. Psychologically,it is demanding to know that you are being watched so you waste the company's money, and yourself you have to watch out for a well done job and children playing while you are working.

Also, people's view of "cleaners" is very biased, they look down at them, and even stereotype them. Their children are picked at at school because of their parents jobs.

I picked the 2nd interview because, I was wondering what make people like Enid, do a job like this one. We have all being once or many times bothered by one of their phone calls and we end up hanging up the phone on them. So how do they feel about doing a job like this one puzzles me.

Enid is a telephone solicitor who had to do this job because she needs to. The pay is not good at all, and she doesn't like it. She is "subsidized" with $1.60 an Hr plus commission if she is able to make people to subscribe to the newspaper she's selling.She is made to lie to people she is calling which she finds immoral. she relate to some of these people because herself she is not wealthy. Women are not well treated, they are watched while working by their boss. The pressure is very high: it is either you get people to subscribe or you leave, because there are many people who are willing to take your job out there.

In both these interviews I see that the environment in which you work matter, people you work with, and the kind of job itself make a difference for workers. Both Enid and Nick tell how they rely sometimes on their colleagues for support. Know that you are not alone feeling bad about your work put you at ease, and sometimes people you work with become your friends or even more.

It makes you really wonder if gender plays a role in the type of work people "choose" to do, and what is the role of the social class of an individual in the the type of work he/she will do.

In other words, are women more prone to do some type of work than men? Because, in Enid's case she says that women weren't well treated but at the same time, the majority of her colleagues were women.

Do your work determine your social class, or your social class make you do some type of work ?

Question

Hello prof. T.

I was wondering if I decide to go with the privacy and work issue what texts can I use from what we saw in class. I know I can find the outside sources in the library database, but I am not sure about the in class texts and the question itself. Do you think I can formulate it the way we wrote it in class ?

Thank you again for your valuable support.

Mariama

Step # 2 of essay 3

Prof. T ,

I just wanted to update you on where I am at with this essay. I am doing option two and am a little bit behind in posting step #2. I am working on having it posted on the 11th of May.
Thank you your understanding again.
Mariama

Bonus post # 2: Wal-Mart in the spotlight again !

About a decade ! That's the time it took the juridical system to rule on whether or not thousand of women who worked at Wal-Mart can sue the giant retailer as a single class for gender discrimination. Now, that means if you are planning on taking this company to court you better be very patient because as we see it in this case, the trial hasn't started yet after about 10yrs. They are still debating on whether or not the steps being followed are legal or not.

I really have an admiration for these women because, it would have been others, they would have already desisted after all the time, and money it would have taken.

One more time this article shows us how difficult it is to bring down the giant retailer. Obviously it is going to take more than unions and court. The Government realy needs to take care of this matter; this is a shame for a country like the USA where you have to wait this long ofr a trial.

Wal-Mart claims that it improved allot in term of supporting its female employees since this case started but, in the mid-time the women the article is talking about have been psychologically and probably emotionally affected by the discrimination they faced during the time they worked for this company. Hopefully the case is going to move forward this time, and.

Post # 5 Archives interview

For this post, I am choosing the interview of Antony Avena with David Osborn.

This one seems to be easy to work on for me because of the length of the answers given by the interviewee to the questions. They are short, and that make the paper look "lite " or easy to read to me. I figured at the end though, that it wasn't an easy interview to figure out.

This is an interview of a Queens long time resident and businessman that took place on August 28th 1996. It looks like to me that the interviewer Mr David Osborn is trying to figure out how did Antony Avena and his family start their family business in Flushing, what was their life like as an immigrant working class during a specific time. At the end of the interview Anthony's answer to one the questions makes you think that it is about how he started to get in trouble in Flushing with the neighborhood boys.

His personality is very hard to determine because he doesn't give a direct answer to some of the questions . It looks like he still cherishes these memories from his youth and take great pride in what is today the result of his father's initiative; first to come to America and next the to buy this store in Flushing. He looks happy, and proud to share his story.

The historical context is around the early 1900, more specifically1910-1934. This period corresponds to the years of the Great depression, World War I, and the period preceding World War II I'll say.

From what I understood, Antony comes from a family that immigrated from Italy, and made it trough in America during a very difficult economic situation; his father became a "capitalist" in America as he said it(the famous "American dream"). They went from being poor to a working class family. His Dad experience unemployment once, yet he had to work very hard (7 days a week) at a another time to make it through. He had some serious concerns about the environment in which his children were growing into; his son(Anthony) , was already starting to get in trouble in their neighborhood; that's why he made his family move to Flushing.

I am not sure why at the end, Anthony got involved in a fight with a group of boys that asked him he was a "coward" if that's can be related to discrimination or not; maybe the boys figured from the way he was dressed that he was an immigrant ?

Essay # 2

Tis is the introduction and the body of my essay #2. Still working on the conclusion, but it will be ready by Monday !

The issue on Race and Racism has existed in the United States for a long time. Although, the country has progressed notably from slavery to having an African American President, the problem still seems to be unsolved. Nowadays there's a possibility that race and racism play a role in the opportunity of individuals to move from one social class to another.
In one of his election speeches in March 2008 “A More Perfect Union,” then-senator Barack Obama to answer controversial statements made by his former pastor about racial inequality in the United States said:”…that history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white,…A lack of economic opportunity among black men…a problem that Welfare policies for many years may have worsened,…lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods …” (Durst 368). In other words, racial inequality is an issue that emanated from the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow that got reinforced by the legislation on Welfare for example and passed on to future generations without really been the object of public debate.
Along the same lines, Michael Luo, in his article “In Job Hunt, College Degree Can’t Close Racial Gap” published in The New York Times says:”That race remains a serious obstacle in the job market for African-Americans, even those with degrees from respected colleges, may seem to some people a jarring contrast to decades of progress by blacks, culminating in President Obama’s election.”(Luo 1). Apparently even after the election of an African-American President, America is still unable to move beyond the racial issue.
According to then-senator Obama, to understand why the gap between the African-American community and the white community is becoming wider, one has to look back all the way to slavery. During that time, the foundations of segregation were established by certain laws like Jim Crow that enforced segregation, primarily in the south of the United States after the Civil Rights Act was passed by Congress. The black community became then a victim of lack of opportunity due to a poor education system which is still not fixed since, an exclusion from certain type of jobs, and unions like the fire departments, or more to own a property. These practices have continued thanks to policies on fields like healthcare, education, and other basic services in urban black neighborhoods that lead to a poor education system, and healthcare. Also, he stressed that one of the most influential things that is still contributing to inequality and racism is stereotyping. Stereotypes had been built up for centuries, and they still exist in both black and white communities. They may be based in some cases, but not in all cases; all black people are not criminals, and all white people are not rich either. This is the case of this confession once made to him by his grandmother:“…her fear of black men who passed by her on the street…uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes…”(Durst 366). This is a phenomenon that Americans need to break, as it doesn’t help build a “perfect union”. The black men his grandmother is referring to may be good people, but they are not given the benefit of doubt. If only the black people weren’t stereotyped and condemned without being understood, the diversity in America would have been perfect. People from all social classes regardless of their race will have the same opportunities.


Now that may be possible because, things have notably changed since the segregation time. Black children can go to the same school as whites; they can ride the same bus, even seat next to each other and drink from the same fountain now. However, since Barack Obama’s election to the presidency of the United States of America, there is still no change in the way the black community is treated compared to the time when he made that speech. In his article “In Job Hunt, College Degree Can’t Close Racial Gap,” Michael Luo says that there is work to do when it comes to the opportunity given to African Americans men when it come to hiring for prestigious jobs. Therefore, it seems that race and racism still have an effect on the chances people have for class mobility.
Actually, joblessness in the black community is striking especially with those with a college degree. This seems paradoxical because, for a long time the idea was that black men did not occupy prestigious positions because they didn’t have the necessary education. Luo’s article shows that in 2009, black men with a college degree had an unemployment rate of 8.4% compared to 4.4% for their white counterpart (Luo 4). In other words, white men with a college degree are being two times more hired than black men. When companies see their names, and some others details on their resumes, they tend to not call them for an interview. When they succeed in arriving at the interview without the recruiter paying attention to their names and other details, they see the disappointment on the face of the recruiter as soon as they meet. Here is the testimony of Mr. Williams who applied for a position with top business schools at a Dallas money management firm. The hiring manager had already told him how excited he’s about him moving down to Dallas; no one from the prestigious schools wanted to that. When they meet says Mr. Williams, talking about the recruiters:” Their eyes kind hit the ceiling a bit…It was kind of quiet for about 45seconds”. This reduces their chance for class mobility by half; at least for those with a college degree. Beside the fact that it‘s illegal to discriminate based on race. Some companies don’t even post the openings anymore to avoid someone they don’t want to apply for it; the announcement is made by mouth in their circle of friends.

Update of post # 3

The relation between the texts "Who Built the Pyramids ?" and the movie "Born Rich" may be in the description of how one social class (the working one) wishes to have more time for leisure, and how the second one (the rich one) is tired of too much time for leisure. The dream or fantasy of one is the life of the other !

Also, Mike in "Who built the Pyramids" says that all he wishes for is that one day there will be a place where the college kids and the steelworker could sit down and talk without any shame and difference. basically no separation of working class and rich class: Respect if not equality of classes.

In "Born Rich" we see that these kids are taught to not feel sorry for other people's poverty and to take pride in their life as they deserve what they got. They don't/can't even imagine what life looks like for poors and working families. There is also no chance from their perspective that a person from the working(or poor) class can mix with them. They always hang out together with no one else outside their social group. They all know each other and are all planning on making their future fiances sign a "Prenup" before getting married. So no chance for anyone who think that they can by getting married to a heir to get rich.

Am not sure if this what you were referring to Prof. T, let me know.

Will post essay #2 for you after this.

Update of 1rst bonus post

Here we go !

What I mean by increase in pre-tax is the amount of money people earn before taxes get deducted from it. In an effort to attract and retain employees, lately employers have been providing compensation packages that include wages and benefits. Benefits that are paid for by the employer generally are not taxable to the employee. If benefits, such as group life insurance, are paid for by the employee, generally the money used to pay for the benefits is taxable. In recent years, tax laws have been created that permit certain benefits like 401(k), retirement benefits, cafeteria benefits, and health savings accounts to be paid for with pretax money. Pretax benefits enable both employers and employees to set aside money on a tax-free, salary-reduction basis for retirement expenses as well as for qualified dependent care and healthcare expenses.
The others causes of increasing inequality we learn from Krugman's article are (to name only few):

Income inequality: apparently, some people are earning way much more than others;

The rich are living in a virtual world that separate them from other social classes;

Debt: middle class families are taking on more debt to either send their children to good schools, or to buy houses they can't afford;

Education: schools in the poor neighborhoods are degrading,

Lack of good healthcare for low income families;

Innequal opprtuny given to chidren based on their socio-economical environment;

The tax sytem that gives a break to the weathy, and not to the poor;