The most 'jarring' part in the article was "But when the Homejoy app maid shows up at her apartment, she feels uncomfortable. The class implications of someone cleaning her toilet are jarring."
Income inequality will always exist in capitalistic society and to a certain level that's ok. Whats not so cool it to feel as if they are inferior just because thats how they're making the best of their life circumstances. As one of the workers said “This is a job I need, but I actually love,” Some of them come from tougher times and appreciate the work they have. Being polite to them and treating them equally as another human goes a long way.
When our cleaner is over we always have a good little chat to her. She moved from Colombia to Australia by herself, is studying English. Respect to her drive to move to a foreign country and work hard to get ahead. She wasn't born in a middle-upper class first world country like I was.
> Being polite to them and treating them equally as another human goes a long way.
Yeah, but it goes a longer way to make sure they're paid a living wage for their work, and that they're not being exploited by you or their employer (by not paying into their Social Security, say).
Part of the class weirdness around these jobs comes from the way the rich want people to do them, but they don't really want to pay what it would cost to have someone do them legally. So a whole gray market emerges of companies offering cheaper cleaning services by taking advantage of workers who don't have a lot of options, due to things like not being fluent in the local language or lacking proper immigration documents.
Homejoy's particular dodge to keep costs down is insisting its cleaners aren't actually employees of Homejoy; by classifying them as independent contractors, Homejoy can skip out on all sorts of expenses, like paying the minimum wage, providing health and retirement benefits, and reimbursing them for work-related expenses they pay out of pocket. Homejoy cleaners actually just launched a lawsuit against the company to challenge their classification -- see http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Homejoy-Postmate....
Yeah but the other class weirdness comes from actually confronting poverty. When you live in relative luxury, and you see someone who cleans toilets for a living, you feel guilty that not everyone can enjoy the life you have. Now, you shouldn't feel guilty, because it's not entirely your fault. You're just one person in a massive economy. But it's hard not to feel bad for the person scrubbing shit off your toilet bowl. That's why a company like Alfred should stress discreetness. You know in the back of your head that poverty exists, but you don't have to see it. Out of sight, out of mind.
I think it's more along the lines of Katy's own sudden perceived elevation of status is jarring to her. "The wealthy" as a group come with a lot of stereotypes, responsibilities, & judgments. Katy doesn't think of herself as wealthy, but having hired help is generally a sign of considerable wealth in the USA. So, Katy is unsettled by how her social status seems to have changed out of the blue, and how she now needs to behave.
Particularly, there is a pervasive stereotype of the wealthy mistreating or dehumanizing hired help, so any suddenly-wealthy middle class person is going to be panicking, "Oh shit, how do I not become that wealthy person, I've never done this before"
I don't think judgement of the worker was even on the radar.
There's another, perhaps US-specific dimension to the discomfort:
The self-sufficiency and egalitarianism of doing one's own chores used to be a note of middle class pride, at least in the once strong middle-class industrial areas of the country.
These values were further facilitated by the post-war boom in home-labor saving appliances (washing machines, etc.)
Many of us who grew up in such a cultural context have a more difficult relationship with others serving us, and we don't feel it gives us an increase in status, but rather it feels almost like a moral failing. Of course, with the ever busier nature of our lives and the availability of low-wage workers, it's quite hard to stick to those morals, hence the inner conflict.
People I know who grew up in US cities or other countries where a significant service-employed underclass exists don't seem to have issues with being served. From what I've seen, being able to afford service labor in those places is actually a status symbol that people strive towards.
Good points, the discomfort as the article put it is a better way to describe it than inferior. Also true that not everyone feels comfortable in the elevated position of being able to afford to hire other people to do what they might consider menial tasks.
A phrase I heard recently that really stuck with me: "Human beings are not designed to be compared to each other"
It's true. We all have different backgrounds and we all have overcome different hurdles to be where we are. It's easy to look at someone who's 10x as successful as you by whatever metric you use to measure success and feel inadequate, or to see someone with 10x less and feel guilty.
But the reality is that we've all been dealt different hands, and all we can do is play the hand we have the best we can, and help others to do the same.
I would imagine that this wouldn't normally be as big of an issue if it wasn't a service offered in SF or NY, where there is already a lot of animosity around wealth and its impact on the community around it.
Income inequality will always exist in capitalistic society and to a certain level that's ok. Whats not so cool it to feel as if they are inferior just because thats how they're making the best of their life circumstances. As one of the workers said “This is a job I need, but I actually love,” Some of them come from tougher times and appreciate the work they have. Being polite to them and treating them equally as another human goes a long way.
When our cleaner is over we always have a good little chat to her. She moved from Colombia to Australia by herself, is studying English. Respect to her drive to move to a foreign country and work hard to get ahead. She wasn't born in a middle-upper class first world country like I was.