Lady Liberty is back. Or, rather, some dude wearing a Statue of Liberty costume is back, and standing outside a local tax-prep place. Instead of lifting a lamp beside the golden door, he’s waving a get-your-taxes-done-here sign at the passing traffic.
I’ve seen at least two dudes dressed this way lately, greenish robes bulging over winter wear and spiky crowns sitting uneasily atop messy mops. The facial hair is a bit jarring, since the real Lady Liberty is clean-shaven.
Being willing to don a silly costume and stand outdoors in the cold tells me something about these guys: They want to work.
Maybe they didn’t qualify for unemployment, or maybe their unemployment ran out. Could be these are temporary second gigs, done in addition to night shifts somewhere.
Whatever their reasons, they’re doing the jobs with dignity – well, with as much dignity as it’s possible to have while dressed as a green female statue. Neither man looked sheepish, or frowned or scowled on the job. One was even dancing, but he could have been doing that to stay warm.
Point being: They held their signs, waved at passing cars and put up a generally cheerful front for the companies paying them to be there.
It’s a job
And I bet they’re not being paid very much. Today the state minimum wage will go up to $8.75 per hour, according to the Alaska Dispatch News. Some companies are already paying more; a McDonald’s marquee I saw advertised $9 an hour to start.
So maybe these guys are earning more than $8.75 an hour. Key word: earning. I’ll admit I feel sorry for grown men who have to stand outside and wave signs, knowing they look pretty silly. That’s a job better suited to a 14-year-old with no work experience.
(Yes, you can get working papers at age 14 here. I mention this regularly to my nephew, who turns 14 in September. I’ve also offered to match whatever he puts into a Roth IRA.)
While it isn’t a gig I’d want – and I bet they don’t want it either – it is a job. They didn’t say, “No way am I doing that.” Both did what they had to do.
There’s plenty of sniping on the blogosphere about folks too stuck-up to take fast-food or other entry-level jobs. I expect some won’t because they’re too proud to do so. (I have a master’s degree! No way am I flipping burgers!) Others wouldn’t because it doesn’t make sense to trade a UI check for 20 hours a week at minimum wage.
I’m bothered by the fact that a low-paying mascot job might be helping Statue Dude keep the wolf from the door. I’m also impressed that he took the gig.
What if that were you?
Time for a privilege check: If you lost your job today, what would you do?
I’ve thought about that a lot since voluntarily slashing my salary. Right now I’m keeping the lights on as a freelance writer, but that could change if the market dries up even a little.
Would I be willing to take, say, a retail job? Willing, yes; happy, no. Retail can be hard on anybody and especially tough on a 57-year-old with some joint issues. Obviously I’d rather keep working at home, where I can take ergo breaks when I need them.
(And, yeah, where I don’t have an 18-year-old assistant manager telling me that I folded the T-shirts incorrectly.)
But if an extra 20 hours of work per week meant the difference between making bank and slowly draining my bank account, then of course I’d do it. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t piss and moan a bit, but I’d do it.
After all, the McDonald’s I take my nephews to has at least two elderly people working there. I’m talking people who are probably in their 70s and who move very slowly, which is possibly why they’re on cleanup vs. running registers.
Fact is, they’re working. So is the guy in the costume. The next time you see a man or woman dressed as a can of 10-W-40 outside an oil-change franchise, say a little prayer of thanksgiving. There but for the grace of your current job go you.
Just for fun, check out these “7 obscure facts about the Statue of Liberty.” You’re welcome.
Related reading:
- What do we want to be? A few thoughts on labor
- Let us now praise customer service
- The $10 wake-up call
- Termination dust
yep, there but for the grace of God go I. As you may recall, I did an emergency budget calculation. I don’t know how we’d survive if I had to work a regular job where I couldn’t lie down as necessary. But I guess we’d have to make do as best we could.
I really like working. Even when I am home sick, I work. If I did not have my job at this point, I would be retired. But it is not just the money, it’s something interesting to do.
Ditto. I want to hold off taking Social Security until I am 70 years old — and even then I’ll probably work part-time if possible.
Remember that if you have a college degree, many fast food places will not hire you because you are overqualified. WHen I was looking for a job, I applied at Babies R Us, which had a THREE stage process, for a minimum wage job! Fortunately I got a parttime job with benefits at twice the minimum wage. With only one interview.
Always worth keeping in mind. Of course, it depends on the place. A relative of mine who has an education degree and years of teaching experience got hired at a fancy-housewares store when it turned out there weren’t any teaching jobs in the place her husband’s career move took them.
When the economy tanked and the custom furniture finishing shop where I was working closed, it’s a supreme understatement to say it was a struggle to find a job. Any job I knew how to do was gone since all of the finishing shops were closing and housing had tanked. So I applied to low wage jobs by the bucket load and got hired part time for exactly one. It was a cut in pay from UI but I had always heard it is easier to get a job if one has a job. Not so true in my case. That smoke shop closed as well and it would be 2 more years before I found a job. I will admit I never applied to be a sign slinger but I did apply to fast food and retail stores. I got the “you’re overqualified” line-if they called back at all. I figured that most businesses had their pick of folks willing to do nearly anything for nearly nothing. I was in that group too but I felt-and still feel-that my education sent me to the back of the line. After 4 years of turn downs, blow offs and being “overqualified” for jobs I had never done, I finally found my perfect job. I can be a little gabby, never meet a stranger, prefer to be self directed, and love books-so of course I became a Bookmobile Librarian. I make above minimum wage and have incredible benefits. I love the job I do and the service I provide-and they will have to carry me out kicking and screaming to get me to leave.
After years of not getting the job because I had too much education I found a position that placed great value on my it. I try not to lose sight of my good fortune and do my best to stay out of the inevitable long time employees soul draining bitch sessions. After all, we could be out there spinning a sign.
I actually did the Liberty Tax sign spinning one year because no one would hire me, it worked around my husband’s schedule to watch my infant daughter at the time, and I thought why not? I have a BS in Child Development and no child care wanted me at that point. I was glad to do the sign job. I was told I was the best they had in the area….nothing an ipod and good music couldn’t fix. I just dance around, happy as a clam. I was thankful to do it at that point because it was helping my family out. So yes I would take any job if it meant putting money in my pocket for my family.
What I’m saying! Kudos to you for doing what you needed to do and doing it with verve.
Thank you! Thank you for giving me tips on how to live on what we have and what hacks I can use to help my family out!
Little Caesar’s Pizza on Friday evening has a fellow in his wheel chair waving the sign. Disability payments in my province in Canada are just over $800.00/ month. You are allowed to work up to $50.00 extra I think per week ( hopefully not month)to supplement this cheque.
Of COURSE I’d do that if not doing it meant draining a bank account, losing my home, etc. I live pretty close to the bone now, socking away all that I can (I’m 61)from my regular job. I’m slowly developing a side gig which I hope will bring in some extra funds when I am no longer an employee. Which could be at any time, or a long time from now. We never know, best to be ready for whatever happens!
Sounds like you’re making smart choices. Good luck with your side hustle.
In my neck of the woods (Denver area, Colorado), the sign-wavers are getting $10 hourly. So a little more than $8.75…but not much more. (And yes, we have the Statue of Liberty out there, too.)
I worked Wal-Mart’s “radio grill” eating area for a year when especially desperate — got used to coming home late at night sticky with cotton candy (we made that for sale in the store) and smelling like hot dog juice. I still have friends at Wally from that short stint.
I’ve also scrubbed church toilets, cleaned house and watched kids when needed. Have done plenty of other jobs, including working at a pick-your-own apple orchard, doing the census and working for a tax accountant…but not out of desperation.
My mom always said that if you have at least three different skills, and do them well, you can get a job anywhere. Mine were catering, typing fast and…being willing to do just about anything, I guess. But she’s right.
I’ve done a bunch of different kinds of work, too; they’re detailed in that Related Reading article, “What do we want to be? A few thoughts on labor.”
Did I want to pick tomatoes in an explosively hot greenhouse or inspect and pack glass jars in a factory? Nope. But I wanted to be employed. Such jobs are an object lesson twice over: Not only do they let you know what you don’t want to do 40 hours a week for 40 years, they remind you that if push comes to shove you aren’t afraid to get your hands dirty.
Hot dog juice…eeeewwwww. Then again, I’d come home from tomato-picking covered with sap from the plants, which were taller than I was and which brushed me on all sides. When I washed my hair, the shampoo bubbled green.
When I purchased my first home (condo) 14 years ago, my realtor kept showing me places that were over my the “magic number” I had told her I wanted to spend – she kept insisting I could afford more at my income level – I had to keep reminding her if something happened to my current job, I wanted to be able to work at Mcdonalds /Wal Mart and still afford my home! So, yes- I would do whatever necessary to keep my head above water. I always secretly thought “sign weaver” might be a cool temp gig – you get be be outdoors, listen to music or your thoughts, people watch – no email or ringing phone whilst stuck in a cubicle farm 🙂
That’s an interesting way of looking at the sign-waver job. Sort of how I viewed my work-study job when I went back to school in midlife. It was in the student activities department, and I set up a lot of tables and chairs, walked around campus putting up signs, moved stereo equipment around for concerts, showed movies and made popcorn, and did whatever else needed doing. I preferred tasks I could get my hands around and, like you, didn’t want to be sitting in the English department office answering phones and trying to stay awake.
Good for you for keeping your condo payments affordable. Very, very smart.
I would not hesitate. I would rather make bank with money I earned since I am more than able. We are finally getting our life on track and got our savings account started and a retirement plan kicking in next month. Much too late in life but better late then never. Your daughter’s blog really got me even more motivated having to save up for Tim’s implants. I told my husband, this woman has to and will save up $10,000 by august so we are going to aim for $5,000 for us while paying off some credit card debt at the same time. I know it is probably better to pay off debt first then save because of the interest the credit cards charge, but I want and need to feel like I have a little savings too. But anyways, yes, I would hold a sign, work at fast food or pick up other small gigs I am capable of.
Good for you! I’m glad you’ve gotten your finances on track and I wish you luck in building that $5k.
For those who haven’t seen the article to which Melissa refers, here’s the link:
http://ipickuppennies.net/2015/02/can-we-save-10000-in-7-months/
I think the question you pose is worth pondering at regular intervals, because it can happen to any of us without warning: businesses fail, people take ill, bosses lose their minds and start letting people go… If we lost our jobs today, what would we do?
We’ve heeded your good advice about amassing and maintaining a fully-funded emergency fund, we live far beneath our means, and we eschew debt, so while a job loss would be a matter of urgent concern, it wouldn’t be an immediate full-fledged crisis.
I suspect that if we needed to take less specialized work than we’re doing now, we’d turn our attention toward those jobs that provide incidental benefits, like connections to our chosen fields, employee discounts, or even the ability to take home leftover food at the end of the day. And we’d pursue those jobs with ardent attention and humility, remembering what might feel like a “step down” to us is still honest work that a lot of people would be grateful to have, and nobody wants to hire or work with someone who thinks they’re too good for the job!
“Ardent attention and humility” — yep. Bosses don’t want to hire someone who not only thinks s/he is too good for the job but who also doesn’t plan to hit a lick once hired.
A relative of mine was applying for a part-time janitor’s job right before her 60th birthday. She has a degree and years of experience in her field, but that field just wasn’t hiring. The job would have supplemented her day job if she’d gotten it. She didn’t, which I’m glad about because she has asthma and the cleaning fluids/chemicals would probably have been very bad for her health.
Point is, she applied for every job she could find because she needed the money. You do what you need to do.
A quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s journals about Count Gurowski, a political exile from Poland who needed money and had heard that they were hiring people to dig peat from bogs: “Gurowski asked “Where is this bog? I wish to earn some money: I wish to dig peat.”_ “Oh no, indeed, sir, you cannot do this kind of degrading work.” _ “I cannot be degraded. I am Gurowski.
On the job training — it works!
When DF graduated into a recession there were very few jobs in Anchorage. He felt fortunate to land a gig as an overnight janitor at the J.C. Penney store, and also picked up other cleaning jobs at bars (imagine how disgusting that was — spilled beer and peanut shells and I don’t what to know what else).
Was it what he wanted to do? Nope. Did he do it well? Yep. He also got an object lesson from a couple of the other janitors: This was their second full-time job. They’d routinely work 16-hour days to support their families and they were always, always tired, but accepted it as the price of doing business.
Incidentally, he’s still the cleanest guy I’ve ever met. “Once a janitor, always a janitor,” he says:
http://donnafreedman.com/2013/03/10/an-anomaly-worthy-of-praise/
Ha! Nice one. Again, I don’t want to dig peat — but neither do I want to be bankrupt. So unless I planned just to give up, I’d have to get my own equivalent of a peat shovel.
In this neck of the woods those “sign guys & gals” make $10 an hour and they are out there “rain or shine”….I tip my hat to those folks! Do have personal experience with the “bottom dropping out” from back in 1979. Had a great job making almost $10( no small sum in 1979) WITH benefits that went away with a “breath-taking recession”. There were no jobs to be had…period. A new grocery store opened and was hiring. I applied and was immediately hired… which was a relief…at $4.50 an hour… with NO BENEFITS and a big slice of “humble pie”… Stayed there about 8 months…got a couple of raises…and learned enough to leave and buy my own store when the opportunity presented itself. Probably the best thing that ever happened to me….
On the job training — it works!
When DF graduated into a recession there were very few jobs in Anchorage. He felt fortunate to land a gig as an overnight janitor at the J.C. Penney store, and also picked up other cleaning jobs at bars (imagine how disgusting that was — spilled beer and peanut shells and I don’t what to know what else).
Was it what he wanted to do? Nope. Did he do it well? Yep. He also got an object lesson from a couple of the other janitors: This was their second full-time job. They’d routinely work 16-hour days to support their families and they were always, always tired, but accepted it as the price of doing business.
Incidentally, he’s still the cleanest guy I’ve ever met. “Once a janitor, always a janitor,” he says:
http://donnafreedman.com/2013/03/10/an-anomaly-worthy-of-praise/
What a sweet story….DF can certainly relate to hard work and starting at the bottom. To me … the crazy thing is you never about those guys working over 16 hours a day to support their family. But ya always here about the guys who are on the “dole” and ….”wouldn’t work in a pie factory if they could stick their finger in every pie”…
While unemployed and freelancing a bit plus going back to school, I did some seasonal retail at Target and for Hasbro. One time, the parents of a childhood friend saw me working and the mother asked me why I was doing this. That I could be doing something better. I just quickly said that I was in school and it was extra money to help with tuition. It hurt because I felt like I was doing something to get extra cash – plus my unemployment was still going on – and, to me, it sounded like they assumed I didn’t have any goals or ambitions.
“Something better” — like, say, sitting around letting bills pile up instead of taking care of business? Sheesh.
Last year, mostly to see if it suited me,I accepted a part-time job that has me visiting different locations each day, but pays a high hourly wage for work that usually lasts less than an hour at a time.
If friends and family ask me about it, almost every one of them decides they have something better to do with their time and finds a way to poo poo my second job and find reasons not to do it themselves, even though they usually just finished telling me they are broke or close to broke. Fine for me – less competition!
We’ve had financial emergencies come up and each time the part-time earnings have saved the day and kept us from going in debt. I have also used the money for little things that I never felt strongly enough to purchase – new shelves for the fridge, new handles for the perfectly good stainless cookware one handle away from being tossed.
Currently my husband might be facing a job loss and by working a full time job and a part time job may really save use since we are very close to paying off our home.
A week ago a family member urgently needed money to stay in college. A miscalculation almost got her dropped. It felt good to save the day with my second job earnings!
I’m with you Donna – people who want to earn money always find a way. I probably will never retire completely – I am leaning toward keeping my second job no matter what.
While I don’t want to be 75 flipping burgers, I just might be a 75 year old working at my current “leisure” job that I currently do on weekends.
A little extra money makes a huge difference not just on the budget but also on your peace of mind. Bravo for helping your family member; I hope she pays it forward.
Yes indeed. And for that reason, it used to be that there wasn’t a job or an hour of overtime I wouldn’t pick up. There wasn’t room to be choosy but I did try to pick things that paid better than others if there was a legitimate choice and I could only do one or the other.
I still use my “free” time, such as it is, to think about/work at earning more and socking it away. Every little bit helps of course since we took on Seamus with his health issues and now have Little Bean to keep in diapers. If it weren’t for this awful drought and my body shutting down, I’d have gone the cloth diaper route to save more but alas, we have to spend on the disposables to conserve my limited energies. And we can do that for now. I shudder to think how we’d have to adjust, and quickly!, should one of us be unemployed though. We have too many mouths to feed and households to support to make it on one, a fact that makes me perpetually uneasy.
I’m glad you’re taking care of yourself. Don’t fret about the disposables. I understand your concern about the multiple households, but first things first: Concentrate on LB and your health.
So happy for you, by the way. <3
I’m an adjunct professor at a local college and I would LOVE to work full-time! I do make a good hourly wage, but I feel guilty that i’m not doing more. Seems like every application I fill out, when they see what I do, my resume/application gets tossed.
We had just married and moved to a new city. While I was looking for work, a part time holiday sales job at a department store came up which was not what I was looking for with my accounting degree (they quickly asked me to stay on after the holidays due to my sales numbers).
I was not happy with the kind of job I was going to do because that was not what my degree was for. When I told my Dad about how I felt, he said “What are you making sitting at home?”
True. But if you wanted to use your accounting degree you still can. Or maybe you did?
I always thought that my most nightmare job (bag lady syndrome) would be as a greeter at Wally World. It’s so mind-numbing boring. But at Mickey Ds at least the pace is fast and not so boring. But you have alerted me to an even worse job – standing outside waving a sign. I think I’d prefer Wally World, at least it’s indoors. Oh yes, maybe an even worse job would be cleaning public restrooms. Wally World greeter maybe isn’t so bad ;))))
Sometimes when you work in fast food you have to clean the restrooms. But I’d rather be busy and, yes, clean an occasional rest room than stand around saying “Welcome to Wal-Mart.”
My ex-boyfriend, still friend, works at Sam’s Club, checking to see if people have their card. He needs two hip replacements and has knee problems. He is 62 with engineering degree. I met him right after his engineering firm closed. However, he has cut yards, trimmed bushes, worked airport security, painted houses. When he was between jobs, he was looking for work.
He actually likes the job at Sam’s Club. He does not have to walk, lift, or bend, or use the cash register/lift merchandise. So, in a way the job is perfect for him. He walks slowly with a cane, so I doubt they will ever ask him to pitch in for a strenuous job.
He has resigned himself to never getting another job as an engineer. That is good and bad, but wont change. At least he is not sitting home watching tv. I think he does not have to work as he is financially secure from years of steady work.
6 years ago I used to work in the real estate industry. After the housing market bubble burst and being laid off twice in less than a year….jobs where scarce.
I took what I could as a temp…..getting paid a lot less, but being able to pay the bills and a roof over my head was a lot more important than pride.
People with an over developed sense of privilage not wanting to take a minial job annoy me. And I ran into a lot of them working as a temp and suffered many barbs for being “just a temp” even though I did the same job they did and often did it better than they did. I can thank my mom for a good work ethic.
Have yet to run into a job that I would call beneath me…..maybe I was lucky in that I had some good jobs that paid less than I was used to making, but a job is a job.
A job is a job, indeed. It may not be the one you want, but it’s the one you need…for the moment.
Thanks for reading, and for leaving a comment.
I feel the same way. The job doesn’t define the person you…the fact that you work and pay your way does!
HA! In California these people are called “Sign Dancers.” And, yes, you gotta want to work to do that job! I’m pretty sure no one gets rich doing it either.
I have three part time jobs. I am doing what has to be done while I keep looking for full time work. So I would never judge anyone willing to work. Sometime this is just the world we live in.
Far from judging — I’m saluting people who are willing to do what it takes. Having been one of those people myself, I know it isn’t always easy. Good for you, Tessa, for taking care of business.