~ AATOASJI-‘SW’-ITC-S/S/S/R/R ~ About A Third Of A Server’s Job Is – “Side Work” – Invisible To Customers – Sweeping / Scrubbing / Slicing / Refilling / Restocking

~ MCS-FHAATITW-B-ITJTSTNOEED-EWTNTD-A-TIW-FS-STCBAEAR ~ Managers Can Sit – For Hours At A Time If They Want – But – It’s Their Job To See That No One Else Ever Does – Even When There’s Nothing To Do – And – This Is Why – For Servers – Slow Times Can Be As Exhausting As Rushes

~ INHTGMCTAT-LS-B-H-IAEC-I-TPSO-D-ITL-TFTTFYIOWTARTS ~ It’s Not Hard To Get My Coworkers Talking About Their – Living Situations – Because – Housing – In Almost Every Case – Is – The Principal Source Of – Disruption – In Their Lives – The First Thing They Fill You In On When They Arrive For Their Shifts

~ I-P-AICPIP-SCAE ~ In – Poverty – As In Certain Propositions In Physics – Starting Conditions Are Everything

~ TANSETNTP;OTC-TAAHOSC ~ There Are No Secret Economies That Nourish The Poor; On The Contrary – There Are A Host Of Special Costs

~ IYCPUTTMRYNTSAA-YEUPTTNFARBTW ~ If You Can’t Put Up The Two Months’ Rent You Need To Secure An Apartment – You End Up Paying Through The Nose For A Room By The Week

~ IYHNMF-HI-YGW-RC-O-PD-A-EUPTP ~ If You Have No Money For – Health Insurance – You Go Without – Routine Care – Or – Prescription Drugs – And – End Up Paying The Price

~ T-RP-ITSURR-AUTWOHT-A-EOIFDS-B-TIASVSM-S/PT/TP ~ The – Regulation Poster – In The Single Unisex Rest Room – Admonishes Us To Wash Our Hands Thoroughly – And – Even Offers Instructions For Doing So – But – There Is Always Some Vital Substance Missing – Soap / Paper Towels / Toilet Paper

~ CL ~ Canned Labor

~ ITHFTHP?-Y-B-IT-ADANTTPP-TFI ~ Is There Help For The Hardworking Poor? – Yes – But – It Takes – A Determined And Not Too Terribly Poor Person – To Find It

~ ‘F’-M ~ “Furthermores” – Multiply

~ IYHAAMJ-360+DAY-DSKO-RIOTS-SI? ~ If You Hump Away At Menial Jobs – 360-Plus Days A Year – Does Some Kind Of – Repetitive Injury Of The Spirit – Set In?

~ CJ-M-AWAPM-WAP ~ Changing Jobs – Means – A Week And Possibly More – Without A Paycheck

~ OMI-L-WWIG-THTEOMYFLAP ~ Or Maybe It’s – Low-Wage Work In General – That Has The Effect Of Making You Feel Like A Pariah

~ T-SAD-AA-FDOSOL-TPHDFTCAL-FIPRAIEAWAFIDE ~ The Sitcoms And Dramas – Are About – Fashion Designers Or Schoolteachers Or Lawyers – The Poor Have Disappeared From The Culture At Large – From Its Political Rhetoric And Intellectual Endeavors As Well As From Its Daily Entertainment

~ PWDOTGOOFTLAHSUTPUW ~ People Who Depend On The Generosity Of Others For Their Lodging Always Have Something Untoward To Put Up With

~ ‘TT’-DAOTWDCT-AAA-TOOTI-N-H-AI ~ “Time Theft” – Doing Anything Other Than Working During Company Time – Anything At All – Theft Of Our Time Is – Not – However – An Issue

~ ALO-ST-HB-GW-A-ATLOF-N-W-IE-QSE ~ A Lot Of – Small Things – Have Been – Going Wrong – And – At This Level Of Finances – Nothing – Wrong – Is Ever – Quite Small Enough

~ BNJIAEAILTTU ~ But No Job Is As Easy As It Looks To The Uninitiated

~ NJ-NMHL-IT-‘U’ ~ No Job – No Matter How Lowly – Is Truly – “Unskilled”

~ TPORIEFAN-EASEL-WW-ITM-S-WTRATPCFHOTOM-TPDSAC-TRCAOT-TPHNBFIHTI-ME-MD-O-MDFTPOW ~ The Problem Of Rents Is Easy For A Noneconomist – Even A Sparsely Educated Low-Wage Worker – To Grasp: It’s The Market – Stupid – When The Rich And The Poor Compete For Housing On The Open Market – The Poor Don’t Stand A Chance – The Rich Can Always Outbid Them – The Poor Have Necessarily Been Forced Into Housing That Is – More Expensive – More Dilapidated – Or – More Distant From Their Places Of Work

~ L-WPWDHCAODOARWIWTDTOAPTUA-ED ~ Low-Wage People Who Don’t Have Cars Are Often Dependent On A Relative Who Is Willing To Drop Them Off And Pick Them Up Again – Each Day

~ FTLOETW-T-‘P’-NTBWIATO-B-IAWEWAWHTTBWOM-A-FICR-TIAVSAUR-T-‘MT’-AMFPWFOTE ~ For The Laws Of Economics To Work – The – “Players” – Need To Be Well Informed About Their Options – But – Information About Who Earns What And Where Has To Travel By Word Of Mouth – And – For Inexplicable Cultural Reasons – This Is A Very Slow And Unreliable Route – The – “Money Taboo” – A Major Factor Preventing Workers From Optimizing Their Earnings

~ ITPIOTBP-TBHTRTEIC ~ If The Purse Is On The Boss’s Property – The Boss Has The Right To Examine Its Contents

~ DT-I-ARI-‘US’ ~ Drug Testing – Is – Another Routine Indignity – “Unreasonable Search”

~ A-P-EPT-T-TLODI-IIU-ATVL-TGASATT-LYS-DAYU-TAOSOIMOTS ~ Add – Pre-Employment Personality Tests – To – The List Of Demeaning Intrusions – It Is Unsettling – At The Very Least – To Give A Stranger Access To Things – Like Your Self-Doubts And Your Urine – That Are Otherwise Shared Only In Medical Or Therapeutic Situations

~ RA-‘G’-OE-‘T’-MIHTAOGTP-O-SYBSD-TEOWIAGETBAC-TWDSOOLOFLUP-SAHTSOTWAUC-O-YMBF ~ Rules Against – “Gossip” – Or Even – “Talking” – Make It Hard To Air Our Grievances To Peers – Or – Should You Be So Daring – To Enlist Other Workers In A Group Effort To Bring About Change – Those Who Do Step Out Of Line Often Face Little Unexplained Punishments – Such As Having Their Schedules Or Their Work Assignments Unilaterally Changed – Or – You May Be Fired

~ S-IL-WWDNABIAERW-TIA-FA-WA-CD-IIB-TDIAPTIN-F-NIAW-D ~ So – If Low-Wage Workers Do Not Always Behave In An Economically Rational Way – That Is As – Free Agents – Within A – Capitalist Democracy – It Is Because – They Dwell In A Place That Is Neither – Free – Nor In Any Way – Democratic

~ ADTAPTOIS-IYATAA-UP-PS-DA-O-T-YMBTFLTY-IYACROY-LPITSH-WB-IM-OB-APOIR-YBTATUS ~ Any Dictatorship Takes A Psychological Toll On Its Subjects – It You Are Treated As An – Untrustworthy Person – Potential Slacker – Drug Addict – Or – Thief – You May Begin To Feel Less Trustworthy Yourself – If You Are Constantly Reminded Of Your – Lowly Position In The Social Hierarchy – Whether By – Individual Managers – Or By – A Plethora Of Impersonal Rules – You Begin To Accept That Unfortunate Status

~ IYMTFUE-YMCTTTWYPIWYAAW ~ If You’re Made To Feel Unworthy Enough – You May Come To Think That What You’re Paid Is What You Are Actually Worth

~ S-C-UPI-A:CPSFTP-WASRTCAT-‘SW’-WIEMHI-PAC ~ Society – Caught – Up In A – Cycle: Cutting Public Services For The Poor – Which Are Sometimes Referred To Collectively As The – “Social Wage” – While Investing Ever More Heavily In – Prisons And Cops

~ TPOSMM-A-SOE ~ The Poverty Of So Many Millions – A – State Of Emergency

~ TPCSTAEE-OT-OTCOM-B-TARSTP-TALALLTSSASWTP ~ The Poor Can See The Affluent Easily Enough – On Television – On The Covers Of Magazines – But – The Affluent Rarely See The Poor – They Are Less And Less Likely To Share Spaces And Services With The Poor

~ TATL-WWDLPOOPWBTATIMHB-IHT-ACM-MA-P-B-S-TS-HTOSSADTAIIH ~ To Acknowledge That Low-Wage Work Doesn’t Lift People Out Of Poverty Would Be To Admit That It May Have Been – In Human Terms – A Catastrophic Mistake – Media Accounts – Persistently – Bright-Side – The Situation – Highlighting The Occasional Success Stories And Downplaying The Acknowledged Increase In Hunger

~ NOESTYCWH-HETYETP-A-SFYSEDIPAD ~ No One Ever Said That You Could Work Hard – Harder Even Than You Ever Thought Possible – And – Still Find Yourself Sinking Ever Deeper Into Poverty And Debt