Yesterday one of the Indian laundry guys nervously opened the door to the QC office, looked around, and then started to close it when I said "hi?" to see what he wanted. "Ravi?" he said and stammered something I didn't understand. I said "Oh Ravi just left, umm i think he should be back in a few ..." and then realized the guy didn't understand what I was saying. So I just said "Ravi" and nodded my head in a positive way and motioned to the guy to sit down and wait. He stood there and waited a few minutes for Ravi to come back and after an akward pause I went back to doing whatever I was doing on the computer.
It turns out Ravi was typing a short letter for him in english to send to his bosses in Muscat to ask for a raise. His total salary is 52 OR ($140) a month and he says hasn't gotten a raise since 2001. He's goes home to see his family for one month and comes back for another 12-15 months of working 16 hour days in a country where he endures racism and 130F heat.
And he probably has kids my age. It makes me feel dirty. Never never never should I complain about my job!
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My experiences working for a seismic field crew in Oman.
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About Me
- Selah
- Philadelphia, PA, United States
- I'm an aspiring computer scientist who just returned to the great city of Philadelphia after living in the Middle East for three years.
4 comments:
Selah
Great posts these last three - which I hadn't read yet. Write us some more!
Tomas
Most people in America just don't have a clue as to how priviledged a life we lead. Of course, it's all relative. I myself whine more than I should, even if to myself, about how little I have relative to those in the upper middle class with $500,00 homes and $50,000 cars and huge 401Ks. That's why international travel is soooooo important for education in our country, so people get exposed to something outside their rarified little world, and give them a point of reference outside their small fishbowl.
You make me very proud.
Selah
Check this out: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080721/lookout
Tomas
A lot of these guys are working so their kids to good schools and to university so that their next generation will be better off.
And as much as their job sucks what to do about it?
You can make these workhours and this pay illegal and set strict regulations. If you do, make it more expensive for a company to hire cheap labor from overseas. The result is you just end taking jobs away from most of these people, and open up room for a black market with absolutely no regulation.
There aren't any easy fixes for millions of people living in poverty. That is the problem. The fact that they are willing to work shitty jobs to be a little bit better off, is the symptom, not the underlying problem!
And it's important not to make the problem worse when treating the symptoms.
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