“If you want to be fit, just fire your cleaning lady and do it yourself (90).”
This quote from the trainer speaks to the following:
1) the disposable nature of the working class (“just fire”)
2) irony- the cleaning ladies are sweating from dehydration and manual labor which they do to survive however the owner only sees the physical gains of the work
3) lack of regard for the job the maids do
I also found this last section the most interesting. The part that really stuck out to me is when Ehrenreich tells that she has never nor will she ever hire a cleaning service to clean her house. Her reasoning for this (other than the fact that she believes it is a “mark of womanly virtue” – which is a whole different can of worms) is that she doesn’t want to have that relationship with another person. While at first I agreed with this, particularly after reading this section, I then began to wonder about the repercussions of adopting such an ideology. If everyone stops hiring cleaning services on moral grounds, what happens to Rosalie and Marge and Maddy?
I agree with the above comment. It seems that Ehrenreich states that she will never hire a cleaning service because she fears the subservient type of relationship that the cleaning lady would have with her. Here, she reiterates how many of her idiosyncrasies to certain experiences she has during this novel are actually her personal reactions to her environment rather than for the sake of others. It seems like she is incredibly selfish. The moral stance of not hiring an exploited cleaning lady would normally be that to do so would devalue the human rights of said cleaning lady. Barbara sees it differently. She doesn’t want a cleaning lady because having one would put Barbara in an uncomfortable and authoritative position. To elaborate on Katie’s point, I think Barbara is a coward. Though she crafts this novel in supposed efforts to expose income inequality and thus raise minimum wage, her delivery of this piece comes across as a narrative on her own struggles while she temporarily adopts (and thus satirizes) the true chronic struggles of impoverished peoples.
I completely agree with you guys. Furtheremore, I took issue with her approach to exploring the issue of minimum wage jobs. In taking these jobs, she is taking away jobs from poor people who need these jobs to survive which I find unacceptable. In addition, on your points on whether she would hire a maid in her own life, I completely with Katie’s argument. If she objects to the treatment and payment of maids why not simply treat them as her equal and pay them more.
I take take back my objection to her taking these jobs due to Stephen’s comment today about the supply of labor as well as the hope that in doing this investigative journalism she will be able to spread awareness on this issue and make a difference in the lives of the working poor.