“Hi, how’s it going?” “I want the soup. Wait, what is polenta?” “Well -- ” “Is that that corn based thing?” “So, it’s -- ” “No I don’t think I’d like that. Give me the soup.” This is the conversation I have been having for eight years. Eight years of people speaking at me as if I don’t exist except to service their needs. On days when it is particularly bad, I joke with … [Read more...]
10 Ways To Check Your Privilege With Fast Food and Other Service Workers
My brother is a service industry worker. He works at a hamburger restaurant doing all sorts of tasks, from taking orders from testy customers who want to order items that don’t exist on the menu, to cleaning up the messes people leave behind on their tables, to cleaning bathrooms and taking out garbage as swarms of flies buzz around his face. All for ten dollars an hour. Many … [Read more...]
Why Taking the Job Home Is Killing Us: Beyond the Binary of “Work” and “Home”
Three years ago, I got my first job out of graduate school as a therapist working with at-risk youth and their families. Because this was my first job out of grad school, I felt I had to give it my all. Not only that, I took a year off after school, during which I hit rock bottom in my own drug addiction. A year coming out of my drug addiction is when I got that job, and, … [Read more...]
