Beast of Burden at Minimum Wage

I held out as long as I could. But it was inevitable. My funds have run out. I’ve exhausted my savings. I had to do something. It would’ve been nice to get a job in my career choice. But in the end, I had to get a job. I had to get any job I could. I’ve applied at department stores, grocery stores, factories, warehouses, janitorial service companies, car washes, office cleaning, house cleaning, yard work, and still no bites. I finally went to a job staffing company. The woman laughed at me when I asked for ten dollars an hour. I finally accepted a job at a packaging company making minimum wage. Today was my first day. Unfortunately, it won’t be my last.

When I went to the staffing company I saw that the only people who worked for the staffing company were white people. The receptionist was white. The people processing all the job applicants were white. The company had its own van and the van driver was white. The manager was white. It was a small company, there were only ten people, but without a single exception they were all white. And all the people looking for jobs were black. There were about fifteen job applicants, including yours truly, and we were all being processed simultaneously. We were taking tests to judge our aptitude and ability to follow directions. We were learning safety regulations and how to tell if we were in a safe area at a hazardous job site. After the testing we watched a continuous video about working in an industrial company. And finally we would get to sit down and talk to a recruiter. We were all handled with assembly line like efficiency. But all the people looking for jobs were black without a single exception.

It took the staffing company a few days to find me a job. That’s not quite true. It took me a few days to come to the realization that all I was going to get was minimum wage. Once I accepted minimum wage the company had no problem getting me a job. For every hour I work the staffing company gets a percentage straight off the top. With so many of us on their payroll the staffing company can cover the payroll of all their office workers, pay for their van, cover all their expenses, and provide benefits to their regulars. But I’m the one working and all I can get is minimum wage.

At the packaging company, it was a similar arrangement. The managers were all white while the people on the floor standing over the machines were black with the exception of a Latino couple. I have to admit that the team leaders were black. But the team lead was nothing more than someone who does menial labor and leads others in the menial labor process. However, the supervisors were white.

As I stood there at my machine with my partner, a black woman who has been working at the packing company for four years, images of the plantation popped into my head. All the people who would’ve been performing the menial labor would have been black. Some of the black people would’ve been in charge of other black people. But the people who managed all the black and white people who monitor the black people would have been white.

And let’s not even look at the pay. At minimum wage I cannot afford housing, utilities, insurance, food, and gas for the car that I can’t afford either. At this rate of pay, I earn little more than enough for the clothes on my back and the food to keep my family and I going. I will have to find a second job to help make ends meet. I’ll work from sun up until sun down with backbreaking labor just trying to survive. If that doesn’t sound like life back on the slave plantation then I really don’t know what does. A used Kia Rio has more value than me at this very moment.

The labor really isn’t all that bad. I’m glad to have the workout. It’s mindless and monotonous but it gives me an opportunity to get away from the house with something real to do. I come home exhausted. But an Epson salt bath eases those pains and aches away. But the pay really sucks. And what kind of opportunity would I have a chance for, a team leader? With me being the newest kid on the block there are simply way too many people in line for that type of position ahead of me. Besides, my partner doesn’t quite make the ten dollars an hour I was hoping to get after being there for four years. The combination of poor pay, no benefits, and little opportunity for any real advancement leaves absolutely no incentive to stay.

If my old and tired body doesn’t fully adjust to the rigors of assembly line packaging I really don’t think staying is going to be a realistic option. I can see me now trying to do this beast of burden job and then supplementing it with another beast of burden job. I could go back to school but when? Even with the training I have for other software systems and environments companies don’t want to take a risk on a new hire without real hands on experience. It’s really no wonder people lie on their resume. And there’s still the matter of showing up for interviews only to be rejected. Only now I have to take off from a menial job and take a cut in my menial pay to do it.

I realize I may sound somewhat bitter and defeated. But nothing can be further from the truth. Everyday I respond to an employment classified I’m hoping that this is the one that will have the employment manager who can see my talents, skills, and experiences and who is willing to see beyond my choice to be true to my African ethnicity. Every day that passes is another day that I come closer to being out of my current predicament. I keep hoping that this day will come sooner than later. But until then I’ll keep my feet firmly planted on the ground and remember exactly what I’m dealing with.