I applaud the efforts of the Downtown Improvement District’s (DID) willingness to convene a range of stakeholders to look for solutions to the increase in panhandling and vagrancy. It will certainly require a robust and sustained public-private partnership to address these issues.

But I am concerned with the notion that there is a quick fix solution, or that one more service program will provide the answer. Before jumping to solutions, I believe it is essential that we ask ourselves: Why? What are the underlying reasons for panhandling and vagrancy in our community?

Changes in the enforcement of the law explains the visibility of panhandling, but poverty is the root cause. Over 14 percent of Rhode Islanders live in poverty today. Given these numbers, the dearth of affordable housing, the lack of adequate mental health care and low wage jobs that don’t allow workers to earn enough to support themselves and their families, it is surprising that this has been underground for so long.

It makes us uncomfortable, and it should, to encounter so many people in our public spaces who seem to have no place to go and are struggling with mental health issues and/or addictions.  These are our neighbors, they are suffering and we don’t know what to do. But the solution is not to empower police to move these people out of sight so that others can enjoy a “clean, safe city.”  I am not saying, that police should not intervene when law-breaking occurs.  I am saying that our efforts to address these issues should not focus on criminalizing people who are poor, homeless or mentally ill by depriving them of their rights to congregate in public space, to engage in conversation, or just enjoy the outdoors.

The Scripture I know teaches us to leave the corners of our fields and the gleanings of our harvest to the poor and to open our hands and lend to people whatever it is they need. We learn that helping fellow human beings in need is not simply a matter of charity, but of responsibility, righteousness, and justice. The Bible does not merely command us to give to the poor, but to advocate on their behalf.

I call upon business leaders, public officials and all of us to act with wisdom and compassion, to focus on the larger structural issues of poverty. And I hope that any proposed interventions are sustainably funded, based on models of best practice and built with inclusive community participation.

Rabbi Alan Flam is the executive director, Helen Hudson Foundation for Homeless America.

“I think I and other business people should pony up some dollars to try to help toward that,” he said. “It’s not our job but it’s our social commitment that we should make as members of this community.”

He spoke of the need for new shelters, new laws and more experts on the streets to address the issue, but he didn’t estimate a cost. “I don’t know because you have a state-wide problem, you have a city problem, different communities have their problems and you have a downtown problem.”

But he did offer reassurances that he isn’t interested in simply relocating the issue away from downtown. “I don’t want to see the problem moved to another area,” he said. “I want to see the problem fixed. If we can fix it here, then it becomes an example of what other communities can do.”

He said austerity and government cost cutting have exacerbated the issues of poverty and panhandling. “By cutting those dollars you’re creating the problem,” he said.

The good news, Paolino said, is that all the interested parties are finally communicating with each other.

“With every crisis comes an opportunity,” he said. “The social service agencies finally have business people listening to them. This is an opportunity for the progressive leaders in the General Assembly to seize upon this. I don’t think they have to fight us.”

We had a fascinating 30-minute conversation that you can listen to below. While we agreed on a lot, we often passionately disagreed, too. For example, we exchanged some heated words about whether a City Hall employee was mugged or harassed.

When you look in a mirror, what do you see?

No, you don’t see yourself. You inhabit a body—not a mirror. No, you see a projection of yourself. Similarly, we often project ourselves upon others.

Are you diligent and honest? Then you tend to trust others easily: You project on them the traits of diligence and honesty which come naturally to you. If you are a private person, you likely believe others also keep secrets. Or if you often tell small lies, you may readily conclude others are deceiving you.

Name the trait or motivation. We tend to project these on others. This is familiar and natural. The opposite attributes are foreign to us, so we find these more difficult to believe.

The consequences of these beliefs can be disastrous, for ourselves and others. As a landlord, for example, I lost several thousand dollars when I rented to a few tenants despite signs they were untrustworthy. We all need to widen our vision—to see reality—or our mistakes will multiply.

How can we apply this wisdom? How can we challenge our mistaken projections?

Shortly after graduating college in 1977, I discussed farm subsidies with Mark, a church friend. I had just completed a study of economist Milton Freedman, agreeing with his tenet that the free market alone should determine a person’s income. So I opposed farm subsidies.

Mark was shocked. Why would an otherwise caring Christian approve of farmers going bankrupt when farm prices crash? My friend thought I was heartless, having lost both compassion and common sense.

Mark was right.

Why did I fail to care? Despite my business degree, I was ignorant. I knew nothing about farming. Even more pertinent: I had adopted an ideology which shut out the experiences of others.

I also projected on to bankrupted farmers my history of obtaining work easily. I did not consider the hardship of bankruptcy, the trauma of families losing their homes, nor farmers’ ordeals when seeking another profession.

I needed to widen my world. I needed to listen to others’ experiences. I needed to be thoughtful.

Similarly, many leaders project their limited experiences upon others. One politician, “Edward,” laments that so many receive food stamps. Why not? His family never needed food stamps. Why should anyone else?

Instead of projecting his economic abilities upon others, however, Edward could consider their experiences. What about the millions who earn a living yet, due to low wages, experience the continuing agony of poverty? What about the many millions of seniors dependent upon social security and food stamps for survival? What about the many children who, due to food stamp cuts, have some days each month with little or no food?

Edward projects his economic strengths on others. He concludes the US needs to spend more on the military, so our nation should spend less on food stamps. This is a false choice. One does not exclude the other.

Those in need should not be denigrated or starved. Moreover, the US military currently spends as much as China and Russia—as well as the next ten countries combined.

“Supporting our troops” instead of supporting those needing food stamps is ironic: The pay of low-ranking service people requires $100 million in food stamps and $1 billion in subsidies at military grocery stores in 2014. Severe reduction of commissary subsidies brings hardship to many military families. For many, food stamps remain a necessity.

Edward is not alone in projecting his food prosperity on others: A plethora of political leaders hold a variety of heartless viewpoints.

Sometimes, due to our own projections, we too have uncaring positions. What is true for these heartless politicians is also true for you and me: We need to widen our world; we need to listen to others’ experiences; we need to be thoughtful.

The Rhode island ACLU today launched the “first of a series” of lawsuits aimed at the current trend of municipalities to criminalize poverty and homelessness. At issue is Michael Monteiro, a 57 year old disabled man who until recently supplemented his disability payments by asking for money on a median strip in Cranston, holding a sign that says, “disabled, need help, God bless.”

On June 30 a Cranston police officer wrote Monteiro a court summons for soliciting money. The charge was ultimately dismissed, but the judge ordered Monteiro to stay away from the area or face arrest. This was Monteiro’s second run in with this law in Cranston, after having been arrested twice for the offense in Providence, where he lives.

Attorney Marc Gursky, representing Monteiro, says the ordinance prohibits individuals from soliciting for money, but is selectively enforced against people like Monteiro, and not against fire fighters, cheerleaders or little league teams. Monteiro said that when he sees the cheerleaders on the median where he usually solicits donations, he leaves for the day.

Gursky also alleges that the ordinance violates the free speech clause of the Constitution. It cannot be against the law to ask for help, or to request money. If the issue is truly one of traffic and safety, says Gursky, the city should address the problem of traffic and safety, not free speech.

Megan Smith, an outreach worker and case manager with House of Hope‘s PATH program, said that cities and municipalities across the nation are dealing with the problem of homelessness and poverty by criminalizing those who are homeless and poor. Arrest places the burden of a criminal record on those affected, making it more difficult to get people the help they need.

“Poverty should make us uncomfortable,” said Smith, but these ordinances are attempts to hide the problem from sight, not to help people.

Steve Brown, executive director of the RI ACLU, said that there is no timeline on when future lawsuits will be undertaken on this issue, but that Providence and Pawtucket both have similar ordinances, and both cities could face such lawsuits. Finding plaintiffs is difficult, because people in Monteiro’s position face a lot of discrimination and it takes real courage to commit to such a suit.

As for Monteiro, he used to make $20-30 standing on the corner for about an hour, which is as long as his legs could endure. He hasn’t returned to his spot since the judge’s order, and as a result, “I have to do without…

“I have about $11 to get through the rest of the month,” he said.

Edit: Shortly after the post went up, I was asked how someone might get some money to Michael to help him while he’s waiting for this case to resolve. Steve Brown said that the ACLU can accept donations to him as long as the donations are clearly marked as being for him at this address:

American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island
128 Dorrance Street
Suite 220
Providence, RI 02903

If the donation is not marked, they’ll probably assume the donation is for the ACLU, which is not a bad investment.

Rhode Island’s Democratic Speaker on race: “I don’t think anybody in society views any particular nationality as having any privilege over any other.”

This denies the experiences of many minorities. They know whites have greater privileges in education, employment, housing, banking and criminal justice.

Hardships perpetuate one another: Poor education leads to poor job prospects—and these impoverish housing opportunities. Payday lenders scam often poor minorities who also suffer increased arrests, bail, sentences and fines.

Rhode Island’s fourth-grade reading proficiency is 48 percent for whites; 18 percent for blacks; 17 percent for Latinos. Should we blame minority kids? No, students from low-income families score 19 percent, so poor minorities rank far lower than students from white families with better schools.

Financial health varies widely by race: The Census Bureau reports black median income for 2013 is $34,600; Latino, $41,000; white, $58,300. Lasting low income affects resources: Pew Research Center reports 2013 median household wealth for blacks is $11,000; Latinos, $13,700; whites, $141,900. The wealth of one white family equals ten Latino or thirteen black families.

White privilege is powerful. Minority disadvantages are painful—and keep accumulating.

Consider housing. Poor neighborhoods are often minority while upscale neighborhoods are overwhelmingly white. Public housing projects built in poor areas preserve segregation.

Also, mortgage discrimination continues long after redlining. For example, though whites had similar credit ratings, Wells Fargo steered 4,000 blacks and Latinos into subprime mortgages and charged 30,000 minorities increased fees averaging more than $2,500. Predatory mortgage brokers often targeted minorities and schemed foreclosing quickly on the first late payment.

The cycle of poverty is vicious: Poor housing reflects poor income, and these deficits lead to children’s destitute education. Mass incarceration often penalizes offenders’ families with costly travel expenses, bail, attorney’s fees, and phone surcharges. Payday lenders’ outrageous tactics intensify poverty. Thus, poor communities remain perpetually impoverished.

Mattiello affirms the adage, “high tide lifts all boats,” but this comparison fails: While the rich get richer, everyone else’s economic boat has not lifted for 30 years. Indeed, Financial Times reports income distribution so favors the wealthy that, if 1979 levels held, the bottom 80 percent of families would now earn another $11,000 a year.

Could your family use another $11,000 each year? Now consider the even greater loss to many minorities who, compared to whites, already have immense disparities in income and wealth.

Mattiello states, “To a certain extent we have to give particular attention to the minority community,” but also asserts some don’t “take advantage” of opportunities—“and that’s something that I quite frankly don’t understand.” But the disadvantage is understandable: Equal opportunity is a fiction.

It’s not that only some minorities take advantage of opportunities. Instead of implying victims of systemic discrimination are callous or lazy, we must accept that opportunities available to whites are often unavailable to minorities. Need more convincing?

A 2002 Harvard study found whites and blacks, controlled for similar qualifications, had vastly different employment prospects. The callback rate from job applications for whites was 34 percent; blacks, 14 percent. Moreover, whites with criminal records received callbacks 17 percent of the time; blacks, 5 percent.

This is shocking: Whites with criminal records received more callbacks than blacks who committed no crimes.

The Harvard study confirmed 1994 results by Sociologist Marc Bendick, Jr., et al.—but the disparity between blacks and whites without a record was 24 points, not 20.

Many arrested—but not convicted—are also treated as criminals. Harvard study authors indicate these unjust employment denials afflict millions of low-income Americans, especially people of color.

Blacks and Latinos need more than a high tide of nearly nonexistent opportunity: Mass incarceration must be remedied; banking scams need reform; and enormous gaps in income, wealth, education and housing require ‘affirmative action.’

Let’s hope Speaker Mattiello opens his eyes: The evidence for white privilege is overwhelming.

Rev. Harry Rix has 60 articles on spirituality and ethics, stunning photos, and 1200 quotations for reflection available at www.quoflections.org. ©2015 Harry Rix. All rights reserved.

The EPI released this sobering news along with an updated version of its Cost of Living Calculator, designed to provide “a more realistic measure of economic security than the commonly used federal poverty level (FPL) which measures economic security based on the cost of food,” according to a press release. “The Calculator allows users to see what it costs families of different sizes to pay for housing, child care, health care, food, transportation and taxes and then calculates the pre-tax (gross) income they need to meet their expenses.”

Rhode Island’s recent move to raise the minimum wage from $9 to $9.60 is not nearly sufficient says the EPI, since a “single adult without children needs to earn $24,640 a year or $11.85/hour to meet his or her basic needs.”

In addition to the Cost of Living Calculator, the EPI also publishes a “comprehensive ‘Guide to Assistance’ explaining the government assistance programs and community resources available to help individuals and families meet basic needs including food assistance, tax credits, and child care subsidies which can all help lower-wage working families make ends meet.”

“We hope these tools serve to better educate the public and policymakers about the cost-of-living in the Ocean State and the importance of government assistance programs for the large number of Rhode Islanders working in low-wage jobs” said Kate Brewster, executive director of the Economic Progress Institute, in the press release. “Many people often don’t realize they are eligible for help paying for basic needs like child care and food.  We encourage Rhode Islanders who are struggling to pay the bills to review the Guide to see if they qualify for assistance.”

Last year, after the General Assembly stole away the power of cities and towns in Rhode Island to set their own minimum wages, Providence City Councillor John Igliozzi told a packed room of disappointed hotel workers that the city was not prohibited from imposing higher minimum wage standards via tax stabilization agreements (TSAs), which are contracts between cities and private industry, and cannot be interfered with by the General Assembly.

Igliozzi said then that all future TSAs should include strong minimum wage requirements and many other worker protections and rights.

Igliozzi is the chair of the Providence City Council Finance Committee, so one would expect that he would follow up on this proposal, but so far, nothing like this has been incorporated into the new TSAs being cooked up in City Hall and expected to be voted on this week.

When Jesse Strecker, executive director of RI Jobs with Justice, testified before the Finance Committee of the Providence City Council, he presented a short list of proposals to ensure that whatever TSAs were adopted would truly benefit not just the investors and owners of billion dollar corporations but also the working people and families of Providence.

Strecker’s list included the following:

1. Provide good, career track jobs for Providence residents most in need by utilizing apprenticeship programs and community workforce agreements, hiring at least 50% of their workforce from the most economically distressed communities of Providence, with a substantial portion of that workforce made up of people facing barriers to employment such as being a single parent or homeless, or having a criminal record, offering job training programs so local residents are equipped with the skills necessary to perform the available jobs and hiring responsible contractors who do not break employment and civil rights law;

2. Pay workers a living wage of at least $15 per hour, provide health benefits and 12 paid sick days per year, and practice fair scheduling: offering full time work to existing employees before hiring new part time employees, letting workers know their schedule two weeks in advance, and providing one hour’s pay for every day that workers are forced to be ‘on call’;

3. For commercial projects, create a certain number of permanent, full-time jobs, or for housing developments, ensure that 20% of all units are sold or rented at the HUD defined affordable level. Or, contribute at an equivalent level to a “Community Benefits Fund,” overseen and directed by community members providing funding to create affordable housing, rehabilitate abandoned properties, or finance other community projects such as brown field remediation; and

4. Present projected job creation numbers before approval of the project, and provide monthly reporting on hiring, wages and benefits paid, and other critical pieces of information, to an enforcement officer, overseen by a Tax Incentive Review Board comprised of members of the public and appointees of the city council and mayor, to make sure companies are complying with their agreements, and be subject to subsidy recapture if they do not follow through.

Mayor Jorge Elorza submitted an amendment mandating that under the new TSAs, “projects over $10 million will be eligible for a 15-year tax stabilization agreement that will see no taxes in the first year, base land tax only in years 2-4, a 5% property tax in year 5 and then a gradual annual increase for the remainder of the term.”

In return, the “agreements include women and minority business enterprise incentives as well as apprenticeship requirements for construction and use of the City’s First Source requirements to encourage employment for Providence residents.”

But that short paragraph above contains few of the proposals suggested by Strecker.

Supporting the Jobs with Justice proposals are just about every community group and workers’ rights organization in Providence, including RI Building and Construction Trades Council, Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE), UNITE HERE Local 217, IUPAT Local 195 DC 11, District 1199 SEIU New England, RI Progressive Democrats of America, Teamsters Local 251, Fuerza Laboral / Power of Workers, Environmental Justice League of RI, RI Carpenters Local 94, Restaurant Opportunities Center RI (ROC United), Mount Hope Neighborhood Association, American Friends Service Committee, Occupy Providence, Olneyville Neighborhood Association (ONA), Fossil Free RI, Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM), Prosperity for RI, and the Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School Prison Health Interest Group.

2. Cleaned for an entire shift: snow storm.

3. I claim all my tips. No one will give you an apartment or credit if you don’t show income.

4. Forced to “close the bar” and to pay the sitter for overnight hours. I finish the day up about 30 dollars. This was my “money shift”.

5. Served the manager drinks while I do his job.

6. Moved full kegs. Many, many full kegs and Co2 canisters (they’re as tall as I am).

7. I listen to people when they’re sad, which happens a lot when people rely on alcohol to manage their stress and emotions. Listening and empathizing is often part of the job.

8. Inventoried and processed liquor orders.

9. Restocked an entire bar. Every shift.

10. “Cashed out” an entire waitstaff. Most shifts. Not in my job description.

11. Accepted Crumpled up money thrown over the bar onto the floor as a tip.

12. Customer says he’s a “producer”. Asks me to turn around and see my “rear” in not so polite terms before he orders. I neither do nor say anything.

13. Manager brags about running a “brothel / escort service” in college. I do nothing.

14. Busy day at the bar. Customer grabs drinks over the fruit tray, smashing it. I get gashes across my knuckles and bleed everywhere. No one asks if I am okay. I tape them and keep working.

15. I cut off a customer who has arrived drunk from another venue. He pees on the “service area” of the bar.

16. Man grabs my arm, I twist away and scowl, but otherwise do nothing.

17. Owner grabs me forcefully by the back of the neck to show me where a switch is. I don’t tell him that’s not my part of my job. I do nothing.

18. Owner splits up my tips. Strangely, I leave with less than when I counted it two hours before. When I make a fuss, they cut my shifts.

19. Manager tells me I’ll get a great recommendation if I quit. I do not sign the paper he hands me, knowing I might need unemployment. My son is about 2 years old.

20. I close the bar by myself, at 3 AM. I put the cash in the safe, and set the alarm. Every shift. No extra pay.

21. There are many rubber floor mats here. They are all very heavy and about 6’ by 3’. I carry all of them, covered in filth, to the kitchen, where I clean them myself. Every shift.

22. I tear my rotator cuff setting up the bar. An accident. I do nothing. I don’t have health insurance. It still hurts occasionally, years later.

23. You can still smoke in bars. I clean stacks of ashtrays, some with gum. There are maybe thirty of them.

24. I roll silverware. Enough to fill about a dozen shoeboxes.

25. I pay a sitter ten dollars an hour, so when I get to work, I’m already at least sixty dollars in the hole.

26. On my feet all night. I close the bar at 3 am and get up to feed my son at 6 a.m.

27. When people say “You’re too smart for this job. Why don’t you go back to school?”, I think, “What makes you think I haven’t?” but say nothing.

28. I memorize customers drink orders on the fly. I’m pretty good. I can remember groups of about 8-10 at a time, depending on how busy it is.

29. Manager tells me I had a really great sales day. Like, the best of the past few weeks. Feeling good, but don’t get a raise or bonus.

30. The “Service Bar” tape is going crazy. I make pitchers of margaritas hand over fist for hours. The servers only tip us out maybe 10-15 dollars a piece. They make 2.89 an hour too. We have to tip out barbacks 15-20% to keep them happy. We tip out the bussers and expediters as well. Tips are stretched thin.

31. I run Keno slips. No one tips me on those unless they win, which is not frequent. It makes a lot of money for the bar, as I understand. It’s time consuming and makes me no money and takes away from my service.

32. I wash dishes. A lot of dishes. I scrub lipstick from glasses.

33. I wear a uniform that is sexually degrading. It’s a “referee” outfit that says “#69” on it. I make good money here, so I do it anyway, even though it embarrasses me. I can’t bend over without exposing my underwear. This is a new “uniform” and wasn’t what I signed up for.

34. Senior bartender tells me I’m shit, and I cry. I don’t know what to do. People are yelling at me. I’m only 19. Women (and servers in general) are forced to be competitive in this environment.

35. I get burned expediting food. It’s my own fault, I think. Even though the manager practically threw the plate at me.

36. Underage waitress comes into the restaurant and is physically and verbally abusive to me, because she is drunk. I complain. She’s friendly with management. They make her a bartender. I have to find another job; this is ridiculous.

37. I book the shows, and live bands for the nights I work. It brings in a little crowd on an otherwise dead night. I get no extra pay for this.

38. I listen to my boss, the owner, talk about how upset they are about their personal life even though it’s really inappropriate.

39. I make “bar food”. We have a mini-fryer and a pizza oven. I’m a bartender-cook now, I guess. Maybe we’ll make more tips. I hope. We get no extra pay.

40. Every week, I do a “deep clean” on my slow shift. I pull out the keg coolers and mop and sweep behind them, I take out every single beer from every cooler behind the bar. Clean every shelf. Anything that can be touched by human hands, I spray cleaner on. It helps pass the time. No one comes here when it rains, except for a few friends. I will break even today.

41. I slice bags upon bags of lemons and limes for the bartender following me. It takes a long time. We help each other out.

42. I come into work, even though I’m really sick. My manager says it’s my job to cover my shifts.

43. I pick up an extra shift, Yay! The manager just phoned me. Someone just called out. I guess in some special cases the manager will find shift covers.

44. We’re open every day, rain or shine. Everything is closed in the “blizzard”, I’ll walk the two miles, I like hiking and snow. Maybe it’ll be fun, even though I won’t make any money.

45. I have an abusive relationship with a co-worker. I get fired a few months after asserting that I feel threatened. He does not.

46. There is a refrigerator for condiments that needs restocking. I refill ramekins of mayonnaise, and other sides. It takes me about 20 minutes. One of my many chores. Part of the job is helping out. The servers need these things ready for the next shift.

47. I refuse to wear a t-shirt that says “Check Out My Rack”. That’s not a funny joke to me. I’m getting tired of this.

48. I’m not receptive to a customer’s vulgar come-on. He calls me a “dyke”, and I walk away, otherwise doing nothing.

49. Customer says, “How much for a smile?” I squeeze out a grin even though it’s the tenth time I’ve heard that this week, and it’s not funny anymore. It makes me feel dirty. I’m not smiling because I had to push my way through a crowd to get to you. I am 20.

50. I get a really big tip. I’m psyched, because we were overstaffed this week, and rent is almost due.

51. Customer repeatedly orders a “Smirnoff and Vodka”. I try and clarify because that’s not an actual drink order and customer calls me a “(expletive) idiot”. I brush it off.

52. Not a lot of tips because I’m working a “techno night” where everyone is high on “party drugs” and drinks 5 dollar bottled water all night. I restock the cases of water.

53. I get fired for refusing to work a show in conflict with my personal beliefs against racism and homophobia. The owner says it’s a “no-show” even though I told him far in advance.

54. Not trying to insult me, a customer says, “You must love this job. It’s so easy.” People who have never done it don’t really know what it’s like, or how little they have to pay us. I wish it was just chatting and being friendly; that would be great.

55. I keep a few babysitters, and family members on “standby” for childcare. I don’t know what my schedule is going to be, and I can’t say no to a shift, or I get a warning or suspension. Say no multiple times, and you get fired. I can’t afford that.

56. I buy my own uniforms.

57. I hide my superior’s drug use.

58. I memorize the daily specials, and push for extra sales. We have meetings about “up-selling”, and I’m generally pretty good at it.

59. I make just enough money to still qualify for SNAP, or food stamps, because the cost of living is so high in the city of Providence. My rent consumes about 70% -90% of my income, sometimes more, in the years I live here. I borrow money. I get roommates. My family helps me. What do other people do to get by?

60. I can’t afford a car. I walk to work. Providence is a great walking city.

61. My co-workers and I hang out after work. We vent and swap stories. Camaraderie really seems to get us through tougher shifts.

62. I set up sound equipment for the music tonight. I do not get extra pay.

63. I work well into my pregnancy. The comments about my body (some from superiors) really upset me and I say nothing.

64. I have morning sickness, and run to the bathroom frequently during my shift. Not sure if I’ll make any money tonight. Not sure what I’m supposed to do.

65. I think about one of my favorite elementary school teachers. She waited tables on the weekend, and was a lovely, intelligent woman. I think about her especially when people say things like “Stupid people are stuck waiting tables”, or when people insult my intelligence for being a server.

66. I carry 16 gallons of orange juice down two flights of stairs.

67. Stood on a ladder and dusted cobwebs. I am in my ninth month of pregnancy.

68. A dishwasher quit mid shift so I washed all the dishes in the restaurant.
No extra pay.

69. I worked for 55 hours in one week and was only paid for 39.5 hours because my boss didn’t want to pay time and a half (it would have still only been $4.36 an hour before taxes).

70. A coworker sexually harassed me in front of a crowd of people.

71. I was called a “retard”.

72. I was called a “cunt”.

73. I was told to “(expletive) off”.

74. Served a patron who had his penis out of his pants during moments of his
meal.

75. I worked holidays, my child’s birthday, my birthday, and every
mother’s day.

76. I was sexually harassed and propositioned by friends of my superiors.

77. I was told if I didn’t like it to “get a real job” when I asked for more
than 2.89 an hour.

77. Since becoming an advocate, I’ve been told by strangers that poor people like
me should just die.

78. The air conditioning breaks at work. It’s over 90 degrees in here.

79. No lunch break, ever.

80. I pulled a muscle while lifting a heavy bus bucket. Kept working.

81. Slipped on butter and smashed my face into the tile floor. Finished my shift with a bloody nose.

82. Came into work to cover someone else while having contractions from pregnancy.

83. Turned down unsolicited dates, while smiling, and still doing my job.

84. Wouldn’t let patrons in after close. Got called a “bitch” for doing my job.

85. Been a full-time student and made the Dean’s List. People still assume I’m lazy and uneducated.

86. Cleaned a rotting mouse out of a sticky trap behind my bar. Got told, “Clean it yourself.”

87. Got left drugs as a tip. I don’t do drugs.

88. I was forced to pay for tabs that were walked out on, even though I was told not to take credit cards as collateral on lunch shifts.

89. Had a drink thrown at me by a customer who had had enough to drink and was cut off.

90. Broke up a fight. Held a towel over the bleeding man’s forehead.

91. Used my personal time to promote for the business that employed me.

92. Too busy to take a break, and we’re not allowed to eat behind the bar, so I eat my food cold at close to last call. I got here at 11 AM, so I’m desperately hungry.

93. Spent my own money at the business that employs me. I’m a customer, too.

94. During the lunch shift, a customer (a doctor) says, “See, a girl like her is good girlfriend material.. busy and grateful. Wouldn’t get in the way of the wife.” Like I wasn’t even in the room. I did nothing.

95. Re-organized the walk-in and made sure nothing was past code or spoiled.

96. Didn’t fake sick to get out of work, but couldn’t get time off for being sick even if I was. I try to never miss work.

97. I don’t like karaoke. But when I worked a karaoke night, I did it anyway to give the customers a good laugh.

98. Danced with one of my customers on his birthday. We have become good friends, and we both like jazz.

99. Struggled to pay my bills. Though I’m thankful for my customers, I wish they knew how their tip really pays my hourly wage for my boss.

100. A family member died this week. I go to work and tell no one how upset I am. We’re supposed to “keep that shit at home”.

101. I met a lot of wonderful people, hard-workers, and friends at work. I think we deserve to make at least minimum wage. But we don’t. Our labor is paid $2.89 an hour.

Robin is an employee of a chain pharmacy here in Rhode Island who was required to work during Tuesday’s blizzard, from 11am to 7pm, or risk losing her full-time status. To protect Robin, I changed her name and won’t mention the name of the store.

She lives about a 15 minute walk away from the store at which she works. She doesn’t own a car, but sometimes her boyfriend might drop her off or pick her up. But of course, on Tuesday morning the streets were impassable by car or by foot. So her manager asked her to grab a shovel and dig her way to work through the snow.

“The manager wanted us to be at the store and wait for the pharmacist to open,” she told me. “He wanted us to shovel our way into work.”

The manager, who worked from home, wanted the store opened at 8am. To her credit, Robin told her manager that his plan “wasn’t happening.” The manager contacted the plow company and got the parking lot cleared. By that time the streets were plowed enough for Robin to walk to work. Her 15 minute walk took about 40 minutes.

“It was miserable,” Robin said, “and absolutely dangerous. There were plows everywhere and the sidewalks weren’t shoveled. I could have had my boyfriend drive me, but there was driving ban and I’m not on the exempt list.”

In Governor Gina Raimondo’s Executive Order restricting motor vehicle travel throughout Rhode Island, health care and pharmacy workers were exempted from the ban.

“I’m technically not a pharmacy worker,” said Robin, adding that in her opinion she, “could have been arrested.”

It turns out that the chain pharmacy corporation is quite clear with the employees as to who is a pharmacist and who isn’t. There are all sorts of rules governing the operation of the pharmacy, keeping it distinct from the operation at the front of the store. Of course, a case could be made that the front of the store operation was providing “critical services to the public,” and therefore be exempt from the governor’s order in much the same way as might a grocery store or hardware store, and I doubt any police officer would have bothered to arrest Robin if she told them she was on her way to her job at the chain pharmacy. But just as Robin isn’t a pharmacist, she’s also not a lawyer. And she can’t afford to risk a ticket she can’t pay.

It wasn’t a busy day, of course. The majority of Rhode Islanders were doing what Robin’s manager was doing: staying home and waiting for the storm to be over. “I must have gotten a hundred phone calls asking if we were open,” said Robin, “but by the time we closed at 7pm we maybe had 20 customers in all.” The customers were looking for chips, candy, soft drinks and other junk foods.

The pharmacist didn’t have a single customer all day.

After closing, Robin walked home. The blizzard had abated somewhat, but the snow was still coming down and the wind was still kicking up powdery snow. “The roads were a little better, but it was still freezing and slippery,” Robin told me. Of course now it was dark, and the plows were still out and the sidewalks still needed shoveling, so Robin was walking in the street again. She finally arrive home at around 8pm.

For her trouble Robin made about $72 on Tuesday, before taxes and insurance. I asked her if the experience was worth the money. Her answer was blunt.

“No. It was uncalled for,” Robin said, noting her co-workers felt the same way. “No one was happy. We were all extremely disappointed that no one cared about our safety.

Robin

Robin is in her early twenties and has worked at the chain pharmacy store for about four years. In December of last year she was making $8.75 an hour but when the minimum wage was increased to $9 in January, she found herself making 25 cents an hour more, the same as all the new hires. Robin has a high school diploma, and no college.

She lives with her boyfriend, and they split the rent and utilities, though he makes slightly more than she does. Because she and her boyfriend combined make enough to eke by, she considers herself middle class, but if she were on her own she wouldn’t be able to afford the rent on her apartment and would be poor.

“I can’t afford to live on my own,” she told me. Robin has worked since she was 16 and has never been on any kind of public assistance.

Because Robin is technically a full time employee, she is entitled to healthcare under the rules established by the chain pharmacy corporation. The cost of the healthcare is about 25 percent of her take home pay when she works 40 hours a week, but since the new year began all employees have had their hours cut and Robin’s been averaging 30 hours a week, if she’s “lucky.” 30 hours is the minimum amount she has to maintain to keep her full time status and her healthcare.

The technical title for Robin’s job is “Customer Service Representative” and her duties include helping customers locate items in the store, running the register and restocking shelves. When new people are hired their training technically is the responsibility of the store manager or a shift supervisor, but often the training falls on Robin, due to her four years of experience.

I asked Robin if she likes her job.

“No, not really,” she replied, “but I like some of my co-workers, especially the people who were there when I started. I love them.”

Some of Robin’s complaints about her boss are perhaps typical. “He’s not very shy about letting you know that he’s not fond of you. He micromanages and he doesn’t recognize good work. He only tells you when you’re doing a bad job.”

Others are indictments of the company’s business model. “He cut everybody’s hours down so that pretty much everybody is at part time. Then he hired a bunch of new people and we’re all fighting for hours.”

Some say if low wage workers don’t like their jobs, they should find jobs that pay more, or get an education and find better jobs. So I decided to ask Robin why she doesn’t do these things.

“It’s not as easy as you might think it is,” she answered. “I don’t have a great education, I don’t have transportation… I know it’s possible, I can go back to school, but people think it’s so easy to go back to school. Get loans. Get grants. But it’s a lot of hours and a lot of work and I’d have to cut down hours at my current job and I’d have less money. Plus I’d be paying for school.”

I asked Robin if she thinks the minimum wage should be raised to a living wage, like $15 an hour. Her answer shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did. “I know that there’s a lot of things that come with an increase in minimum wage. When you increase minimum wage, other things increase as well.”

I told her that a study just came out from UMass Amherst that purports to show that the price increases of goods in the event of an increase in the minimum wage would be modest.

Robin had never heard of this study, which is unsurprising, given the sparse media coverage given to economic reports that play against conservative business interests. Instead, she was parroting the accepted “wisdom,” a narrative that conveniently prevents employees from demanding fair and just compensation for their work.

Robin does think that there should be a law mandating double time for hourly employees who are forced to work during official declarations of disaster. Being paid fairly would help make her feel more appreciated. “This sounds a little selfish, I guess,” said Robin, “but if I were getting something extra, I’d be more willing to be there, and I wouldn’t be so upset and disappointed with my job.”

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