Michael Adair
I have been working at a low-wage position for the past four years of my life. I have a good grasp on what kind of physical pains and labors go into working PART-TIME at one of these jobs. In reality, working full time at a low-wage job for your entire life is nearly impossible. Physically, your body wears down, you are emotionally drained, and economically you are doomed. If I had to survive on my income from a low-wage job, I would be officially screwed. Those adults that I worked with were typically working two jobs, one was full time, and the other was part time. One woman would literally drive from an eight hour shift at the grocery store directly to the restaurant that I worked at and would work until closing (typically around 10 PM). She was working 14-hour days to support herself and her husband. She worked Monday-Saturday at both jobs and Sunday was her “day off” because she only worked her 8-4 shift at the grocery store. These heroes, those persons that work two low-wage jobs, are whom I hope to focus on for my project. They struggle through life just to meet ends meet, in order to support their significant other and children. They can be right out of high school or in their 50’s. In any case, they are impressive. However, the fact that they are always working definitely causes some problems. There is a decrease in the amount of time that they can spend with their families. This may have detrimental effects upon their children, breeding further generations of neglected, bitter children. They cannot fully raise the children according to a strong sense of morals and ethics because they are not home enough to do so. Especially if they are a single parent and need to put their children in after-school day care, which costs them more money, so they have to work even more than they thought. The two-job workers themselves may suffer from extreme depression because they are constantly working and are trying to support everyone and have no time for themselves due to the fact that they are trying to keep their family safe and healthy. The pressure continually mounts upon them and they don’t know how to let loose because they have to constantly be working in order to survive. It’s a rough life for them. I would like to really focus in on those persons that work in restaurants due to the fact that I worked at various restaurants for four years. I got to see most aspects of restaurant working lives. I worked as a dishwasher, as a prep cook, as a host, as a buss-boy, and as a waiter. I have come to know the stress and physical/emotional pains that come with just the work alone. Especially over summers, I was practically working full time. However, there was a major difference between my experience and the experience of those that are constantly working two jobs. I was working to save money for college, to better myself, so that I would not have to work low-wage jobs my entire life. It was entirely different because I had a home and food to come home to every day and a safe life while only working one job, and I had a goal for a better life. I can’t even fathom the fear and pains that must come with being a single parent working two back-breaking jobs just to support my children in the hope that they will not end up in the situation that I’m in. There’s a certain hopelessness about it, no goals besides making it to the end of the month and hoping your children don’t fall in the same trap you fell into through your life decisions.
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