One of the things that struck me about Working is its descriptions of jobs that are no longer available to people. There were quite a few, but those I remember the best so far are telephone operator and installment dealer.
The job of telephone operator was very important back before direct dialing was common and when people didn't have long distance because it was so expensive or because they didn't have a private line. Also very common then was to use a pay phone. So there were a lot of operators, but they weren't paid very well, probably because they were women for the most part and because it wasn't a highly skilled job (at least, according to employers). But the interviewee's description made the work sound very difficult--long days spent sitting in one spot in an uncomfortable chair with a headset on, talking, talking, talking, pulling and pushing the connectors, biting her tongue when a caller was rude or abusive.
That made me remember the song by Jim Croce, "Operator," in which he tells the operator that she was "so much more than kind" to stay on the line with him when he was trying to call his old girlfriend who had dumped him for his best friend. I also remembered how little we cared about the soldier during the Vietnam War and how now we would bend over backward to provide the soldier with someone to talk to. Of course, these days we provide them with cell phones and Skype and every other kind of communication device such as email and Facebook and Twitter so they can stay in touch with their loved ones. It makes me feel sad that we were so indifferent to those guys during the Vietnam War.
The job of installment dealer was one I'd never heard of. The man being interviewed said that he sells credit rather than merchandise. He goes door to door asking people what they need and he gets it for them on the installment plan. He works for himself, catering to people who can't go shopping or don't want to and extends credit to them for the cost of the item. He then collects the weekly payment in person. It's amazing to think that this service was still needed back in 1970 when these interviews were being conducted. No one needs the service anymore, of course, thanks to the ubiquity of credit cards, catalogs and online shopping opportunities. And that's too bad, I think. Another opportunity for face-to-face human interaction is gone.
The dealer told an interesting story about riots in the city where he worked (Chicago, probably) following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. He had many customers in the ghetto, he said, and had a hard time getting to them to collect his weekly payment during and after the riots. A few of his customers were burned out. Some of them, afraid for his life, sent him the payments in the mail. In his description, he speaks respectfully of his impoverished customers. I think he really felt he was needed and was doing them a genuine service. When later in his career he changed to working in the white suburbs, he said, he was dealing with "honkies" who fled the city due to the changing racial mix. He didn't seem to have as much respect for those people.
This is a fascinating collection of stories and one I believe everyone should read. But it's a thick book, so I'll be dwelling in this world a while longer.
Until next time . . .
