"R.I.P. American Dream, We hardly knew ye."
- Abraham Lincoln 1789
In an effort to further understand the plight of the electorate this voting season, PMW is taking steps bring their pain directly to YOU! Our new FOCUS '08 segment will do exactly that. Today we take a long hard look at America's working class. Minimum wage earners trying survive.
Our journey begins at a Wal-Mart super center in downtown Galveston, Texas.
Name: Harriet Andrews
Age: 33
Occupation: Wal-Mart Greeter
Life Status: Miserable / African American
Political Mouthwash: "Hi, what is your name Ma'am?"
Harriet Andrews: "Thanks for shopping at Wal-Mart, my name his Harriet Andrews"
Political Mouthwash: "May we ask you some questions about your employment here?"
Harriet Andrews: [Under her breath]: Meet me out back in 15 minutes, I'll have a 10 minute smoke break, we can talk all about it.
- 15 Minutes Later -
Harriet Andrews: Hey sorry 'bout that. It's company policy that we can't talk about employment while we're on the job, i guess it's bad press or something. Anyways, I can't get fired any more this week. I've already been fired twice this month.
Political Mouthwash: From the same store? How is that possible?
Harriet Andrews: Oh heavens, i don't know. Turnover is so high, they practically higher anybody with a pulse. The only catch is once you get fired and hired back on, you have to start at the base salary of $8.23 an hour.
Political Mouthwash: Ouch!
Harriet Andrews: Oh, that's not the worst of it honey. You lose all your full-time benefits to. It can take years without getting fired to get those back. So far I've only been able to go six months at most before getting fired. It's kind of surprising because I have one of the better employment records here at the store.
Political Mouthwash: So the reason we're here actually is to ask you a little about your job, just basic questions. You're kind of our random sample. Maybe you can tell us a bit about where you live, your family and your annual savings?
Harriet Andrews: I live about 3 blocks down the street, in those apartments over there, The Beachview with my 3 sons (Tatum, Jerome and Nathan). My husband left us after our third child was born. I haven't seen that ass-hole for maybe five years now? As for savings, yeah i know it's some shameful shit, but I ain't got a fucking scrap. In fact, I'm in about $25,000 worth of credit card debt right now. The only way I'm keeping this ship floating is payday loans and a serious fucking coupon collection.
Political Mouthwash: Is this how you pictured your life maybe 10 or 15 years ago when you were younger? What aspirations did you have then?
Harriet Andrews: Yeah, this is about right. Well actually, I was really hoping to work at Target: Greatland because they give a better employee discount. Wal-mart supercenter was my next choice, it's still pretty good. We get 10% off their already low prices. It's a good deal.
Political Mouthwash: I find it hard to believe you've never had any higher ambitions than Wal-Mart or Target, is this where you shop for all your household needs?
Harriet Andrews: Well shit, it ain't like we've had a whole lot of "opportunity" 'round here. There just ain't the jobs here like there used to be. My dad and his dad both had jobs working at the steel mill. That's been shut down for some time. Nowadays you need some kind of education to get out of this line of work...either that or sell some crack, personally I can't stomach doing either. Between the two I'd probably sell rocks. I mean shit, school is too expensive and i wasn't never much for education anyways, my teachers always told me I was bad with school kinds of stuff.
Political Mouthwash: OMG! How much does it suck to be you right now!?!?
Harriet Andrews: What the hell is that supposed to mean? Hey, listen, we don't have glamorous lives here at Wal-mart, but I'm proud of my life and my family.
Political Mouthwash: Astonishing!
To be continued.........
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