…while in line before a recent train ride, while standing in line during what turns out to be a lengthy delay:
A(n older) (white) woman directly in front of me is talking to two young people – one an (almost college-age) (white) (male) and the other an (almost college-age) (black) (female) – and – of all things! – she turns out to be a healthcare instructor at a regional college who teaches for certain eldercare positions, where she was telling them that you can get a license and move up, pay is $16-17 an hour “to start,” you can get all the hours you want and fill in shifts while you go to college for a better position like nursing, etc. etc. etc.
And, it was exactly the same lines that people were saying like a decade ago.
It brought to mind what a (graduate school) colleague of mine had observed to me a number of years ago, that all of these institutions are just up and humming along and behaving like nothing’s changed.
Like, that pay was all right 6-8 years ago, it was more than you could make off-the-bat at retail or many restaurants or whatnot, but it just doesn’t compare anymore – you can make that much at Target, and probably more at many restaurants, even at the shifts you start out at! – and the “fill-in” thing isn’t like the “fill-in” thing of 6-8 years ago, since you’re basically not supplementing manageable situations, but are more than likely walking into severely short-staffed operations where who knows what the heck is going on.
It really is just incredible, to know these things, and to see that.
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