beginning of essay #3

It was a warm November night when Joe’s unit was dispatched to a 911 call. There was a man about to jump off the roof. They drove as fast as they could with lights flashing and sirens screaming; on the scene in less than a minute. After running up six flights of stairs arriving completely out of breath Joe saw the man as he was taking a step off of the roof top. Stop, he yelled but the man continued to take another step only this time it would be his last. Joe ran and reached out to grab the man as he started to descend, Joe was holding on to him, only to realize he was going over the edge as well. All of sudden Joe felt a big tug; it was his partner pulling him and the man back to the roof top. Both hearts racing they looked at each other with relief. They saved the man from jumping off the roof. “What did you do that for?” The man stood up and started screaming at the two emergency medical technicians, I wanted to die! He began to curse and scream at them and than out of nowhere he spat at Joe getting him in the eye. The man was inebriated and became extremely violent kicking and screaming. Joe has had nightmares since this event last November. Sometimes he wakes up screaming I got you and sometimes he wakes up relieved that he is still alive and didn’t fall off of the roof with the man. I never thought my job would be this hard, emotionally. My job is to save peoples lives and I love what I do. Joe and his partner went on to receive an award in heroism. But, what about the costs of managing emotion in his private life as well as at work.

step 3 annotated bibliography

Furnham, Adrian. “IN SIGHT Smile. Script. Action. You must be is service, says Adrian Furnham.” The Daily Telegraph (London) June 1, 2006 Print
The Daily Telegraph article is on how service staff is required to express emotions they do not necessarily feel. They have to smile and look relaxed even if that is not how they feel. They are taught to read from scripts, which teaches them the appropriate emotion which may in time, become how they feel.
Solomon, Jolie. “Trying to Be Nice Is No Labor of Love—Customer Service—Challenge for the ‘902: Forced Courtesy Strains Workers, Irks Customers.” Wall Street Journal (New York) Nov. 29 1998 Page 81 Print
This 1990 article in the Wall Street Journal Solomon talks about how many different companies expect front-line employees to expend emotional labor, they are the closest to the customers and yet they are the lowest paid. Delta Airlines is one of the companies who put prospective flight attendants through simulated passenger contacts to gauge if they have “a kind of warmth, a kind of pleasure to have you on board.”
Terkel, Studs. “Working.” : Terry Mason page 41-49 1972
In this interview Terry is an airline stewardess in the 1970’s she tells us that she is told what kind of make-up to wear, what kind of hairstyle as well. She gives you an inside look on first class passengers, how they act as well as the coach passengers. She describes stewardess school and how everyday they had to pass an examination in order to do your job.
Hochschild, Arlie. “Exploring the Managed Heart: Private Life.” Pages 3-9In this chapter of the book Sociologist Arlie Hochschild coins the term “emotional labor”. She compares two jobs one form 1863 in England in a wallpaper factory to a flight attendant 117 years later. The reason for the comparison is to show how assembly lines have changed to another kind of labor the face-to-face delivery of service. What are the costs of managing emotion, in private life and work?

Essay 3 Step 2 Blog #6

I choose Fred Ringley, Second Chances. Fred is middle class and lives in the suburbs of Chicago with his family living the “American Dream”? He has a home, two cars and belongs to a country club. He realizes that when he doubles his salary, he is smoking and drinking more. He and wife used to sit up until three in morning thinking there has got to be a better way, they had everything they wanted and yet they felt poor. So they sell everything and move to Arkansas. In Arkansas they buy a farm and a dairy bar. He and his wife share the responsibility at the bar as well as the farm. On Mondays they close the dairy bar send the kids off to school and go fishing on the lake in their boat six minutes from there home.
Jesusita Novarno, Just a Housewife. Jususita is a housewife on welfare. She struggles with what people think of her, being on welfare she believes that everyone looks down on her and when she ends in a hospital she is not treated well. She states that she works hard taking care of her home and her five children. She helps others by working in a settlement house part time. She aspires to be a social worker, so she can help people “get over the bump”.
The connection I see is in They Say, I Say: Paul Krugman, in Confronting Inequality. He talks about middle class families buying houses they really can’t afford. The lack of clear economic progress for the lower and middle income families is in itself an important reason to seek a more equal distribution of income.
As for myself I see in my own work experience how difficult it is to be a housewife as well as having the two cars, house and country club. This American Dream is not what you really think it is. I believe it is about doing what you love for a living and enjoying your family like Fred and his wife end up doing.

Blog #6 Interview

I choose the interview with James Cerofeci, from 10/19/1981. I believe the interviewer is trying to find out what it was like to work in a factory and how things changed when they form a union. James was a factory worker in the early 1900’s. In Queens for the Steinway Piano factory, James was in “rubbing department”. (The factory closed for three years during the depression) James states that, “It was all hand work, and you pretty much did the same thing?” But that wasn’t the problem, the problem was they were being discriminated against, and their wages were being cut, and they didn’t like it. So James decided to form a union, it started out with talking about it and then they began to meet outside of the factory at a local bar. “Bussey’s bar” it was close to the factory. Their meeting grew through word of mouth, it took some time “a hell of a lot of time” says James. According to James he formed Local 101. He states that the Steinway Company was very upset, but couldn’t do anything about it too many people were sticking together. They fought because they didn’t like discrimination or their wages, they had no holidays, and they had nothing. James realizes they could have been fired any time that they were not protected. James states that he never got credit for forming the union.
James reminded me of all the Wal-Mart employees. The Wal-Mart employees are also being discriminated against and are unhappy with their salaries just like the Steinway employees, the Steinway employees did not shy away like the Wal-Mart workers. They forged ahead and made a difference. Wal-Mart employees could do the same thing; they just have to bond together and create a union. This shows that we can make a difference that there is strength in numbers!!!

Essay 2 draft

The American Dream
Are you more likely to prosper, have a better quality of life, the power to change the world or be a major contributor to the greatest nation on earth with a college degree? Not if you’re a black man. A college degree doesn’t seem to make a difference.
Having a college degree should be all you need when you are looking for a job it shouldn’t matter what skin color you are. “In Job Hunt, College Degree Can’t Close Racial Gap” Michael Luo states, “That race remains a serious obstacle in the job market for African-Americans, even those with degrees from respected colleges.” (1) These men have gone to good schools and have been raised believing they can accomplish anything and just by their name they are not even getting the interview. Luo shows figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics in this same article: “The unemployment rate for black male college graduates 25 and older in 2009 has been nearly twice that of white male college graduates – 8.4 percent compared with 4.4 percent.” (1) We are in need of closing the racial gap between all Americans it is time that we look past the color of ones skin or the gender and live the American dream as one. That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Whatever that happiness is, a college degree should be enough to gain employment in whatever you would like and the color of your skin should not hold you back. Race is an issue that I believe cannot be ignored any longer there is a need to find good jobs for every American.

Working Class Blog #3

I really don’t see a connection between Mike Lefevre in Who Built the Pyramids and the young people in Born Rich. Mike talks about his experiences as a steelworker as dying bread, how he would like to take pride in his work that he’d like to show his kid “you see that, I built it”. He works hard and fantasizes about living it up in Miami like a college kid, with a sports car! Marijuana! Wild sexy broads, he’d love that, but then he goes on to realize the reality of his life, to work hard so that his son can go to college. Mike also says he’s like an old mule as he shows his black and blues from his hard work its always about his kid going to college so that his son can be better then him. That what working class is all about to Mike working hard so that you can provide a better life for your kids. The young people in Born Rich have no idea what working class means they have been raised in the “lap of luxury” they are isolated and socialize in their own little world. They are privileged most don’t know what to do with themselves and probably wouldn’t last a day in the life of Mike Lefevre . They are actually living his fantasy. Mike talks about the possibility of working a twenty hour week where I don’t believe some of the rich kids could work twenty hours it would be too much for them. And even when some of the rich kids work like Carlo who earns 50,000 a year he still receives a six figure salary in addition to working. They are completely different. The two texts clearly show a difference in the working class and the social world and the two rarely meet.

Hello everyone here is a little piece from the middle of my essay, thanks in advance for your thoughts. Ellen
Wal-Mart should hire enough employees to cover the daily tasks so that one employee isn’t overextended and underpaid. Wal-Mart associates themselves describe the working conditions for Karen Olsson in “Up Against Wal-Mart”. Liberty Morales Serna a former associate states, “They would know you’ve clocked out already, and they’d say ‘Do me a favor. I don’t have anyone coming in – could you stay here?’ It would be like four or five hours. They were understaffed, and they expected you to work these hours”. (349) This personal favor turns into a threat. They are not being paid for this time which is illegal.