By the title of this article, you may think it is entirely inappropriate for a high school blog, but it actually has some very interesting things to say about low level jobs. Would you accept a job like this? Have you ever underestimated the intellectual abilities of those who work in these types of jobs? If you have had a paid job in your life so far, presumably it was not a very high position, but what, if anything, did you learn from it? And finally, why oh why are people in such jobs paid more than teachers like me?
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If I would need some money, and I would not have any other option, I would definitely try this type of job. I don’t find this type of job to be humiliating and I don’t think that the women/girls who work as waitresses are less intelligent, or they are not trying to succeed in life. I think that they are insofar intelligent to accept even this type of job, because they want to achieve something in life. You have to start at the very beginning if you want to be successful in life, and therefore you shouldn’t expect life to offer you only the good and highly paid jobs. You should accept what life offers and try harder to achieve even more.
ReplyDeleteI don’t find it offensive to be a waitress, or to serve shots at a pirate- themed bar. When I will have more time, I would really want to earn money and I would like to find some part time job. I don’t care if it will be as a waitress or as a secretary. I have never underestimated women who work like that, although many people do underestimate these types of jobs. There are many people who think that when you work at a bar you must not know what to do with your life and you are probably dumb or light.
No offense to waitresses, but I think that it is more less a part time job, or a job you do until you find something better, something you really enjoy doing. However, it is pretty common to see a waitress to earn much more money than a teacher. This is a very good example of how our society is corrupted. A teacher has to prepare for a class, and then teach at the school from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. for example, and then when he comes home he has to correct some tests, or mark essays. I think it takes much more time and much more effort for a teacher to be successful at work. However, a waitress can do whatever she wants through the time when she isn’t at work. It may be physically hard, to walk all the day and serve drinks, but I find it much harder to be a teacher than to be a waitress. I am really surprised sometimes that there are such differences between the wages of waitresses and teachers. There are also many other occupations which are really low paid. The society doesn’t respect teachers, even though they educate the future generation.
I agree with Barbora on almost every point. I too would probably accept a less traditional job, such as the one the article is about if I was jobless and needed money, especially considering how easy it is. Personally, i actually have respect for waiters if they do their job well - that is if they are polite, effective and have experience as waiters. Teachers’ salaries are notoriously know to be low for the amount of work you have to do even in your free time, and the paycheck of an ordinary waiter is definitely comparable to that of an ordinary teacher. On the other hand the amount of money a teacher at a tip-top educational institution gets is also similar to what a tip-top waiter gets. The main negatives of this job are that, as the article stated, you will get old for the job and also there will always be the looks people give you that will range from pity to, possibly, condescendence.
DeleteEverything taken into account, I agree with Barbora. This kind of job is good as a part time source of income but nothing too permanent.
I don't think that I would take a job like this. Mainly because I am a man and it would feel strange an possibly humiliated by doing this kind of job. It is not something to be proud of. Let me explain: It is not something to be proud of in front of your friends. I doubt that I could persuade any of my friends that this kind of job is at least somehow honorable and I am not to be mocked because of it. It is problem that these kinds of jobs are considered desperate in society - that people who do them are desperate for a job. I wouldn't deny this opinion, but this kind of generalization is dangerous. Me myself would reinforce this opinion - I would take a waiter job only if I were desperate for money and I wouldn't have much choice.
ReplyDeleteAlso to second question - why do waiters make more money than teachers do? I have an easy explanation. It may not be the right one, but I think that it's quite plausible.
The main cause may be priority setting. This means that waitresses get wage based on the amounts of drinks they sell (as mentioned in article). This encourages them to sell more drinks and work harder to get greater wage. Teachers sure could use something like this, but it's difficult to implement. What could it be based on? Amount of tests? Average grade? Number of lessons taught? Because it is nearly impossible to create an objective priority setting for teachers, there is none. That means that average teacher gets paid the same amount of money as a great one. This has been there for some time, and it discourages improvement in teacher's job, because it is easier for teacher to be average.
Also, I think that this is so because teachers are employed by government. Waiters need to be hunted by restaurant companies, because they can work elsewhere in a better conditions, so employers need to improve their own conditions. Schools have defined wage for teachers, so they don't have any need to increase it, because they know that other schools will offer the same wage for pretty much the same job. This lack of competition between schools makes it nearly impossible to improve wages for teachers, yet waters have seemingly all the money in the world.
I can see why many people would think that women that do this kind of job are stupid. However, I never though that meeting stupid people is a memorable experience for me and so far, I have found them doing all kinds of jobs. It is true, that young people that have not yet finished college or high school do not have many opportunities to find an intellect stimulating job. So it is quite natural you can find young people full of knowledge that they can not use in these kinds of job.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Barbora, that these kinds of jobs are not humiliating and just like the author at the beginning of her article wrote, I would look forward to a job where I would dress as a pirate (maybe depending on the costume).
I think the reason these kind of jobs have such a high salary compared to a salary is a school teacher is because a school teacher is paid by a state that is not really a big spender. On the other side, waitresses are paid by customers and if they have a good time, they can be quite generous.
I liked this article, because it provided an insight from both point of view as the writer gained more experiences.
I could never pull off fishnet stockings and miniskirt with my legs but I wouldn't mind working some other low profile job. Not just because the modern society depends on people being there for it to bring it drinks or take away it's dirty plates, but also because it seems like a good opportunity to get to know what are people like. Nothing is more revealing about the true character of a person than the way they act towards someone who is there to “serve” them.
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine anyone does a job like that to get a lot of money, but it is understandable why are their paychecks higher than for example the teachers'. First, the bars have to lure people in to work the long hours on their legs and there really isn't any other way to do so than financial benefits. Second, it is a freer market than the teachers' market. And third, as I said, without jobs like these the society would collapse, and we really don't want that to happen, do we? I'm not saying it's fair (teachers, of course, deserve the paychecks of GE's CEOs) but I don't think this might change in the near future.
It is easy to underestimate people who work like bartenders or construction workers. You somehow imagine that their work characterizes their personalities, just like you imagine that someone is an awful human being just because they are a lawyer. We seem to forget that some low profile workers are in their job just because they need money to pay for their college or because their specialization is so obscure they didn't find a job suitable for their degree.
This comment is a comment on Milan's comment.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Milan that a job that does not require any education is definitely considered as a desperate job in our society and a person could be mocked because of it. I do not know if this is for the best, since the level of unemployment in Slovakia is currently about 15%. That is about 400 000 people that have no job. Many of these people are students that have just graduated, but they can not find a job that would fulfill their expectations. The level of unemployment has been rising for a long period of time and it does not seem like it will stop anytime soon. That is why I think that people should stop looking down on these jobs, because many people have been or will be forced to do them for the money.