Last week, we wondered what the new economic trend piece would be. Well, we wonder no more: it's the "Pity the poor (ex-)executives" piece. Forced from Executive Pay to Hourly Wage, the lamentation of former executives pushed into janitorial work and other "survival jobs" by the atrocious economy, has been among the New York Times' most emailed pieces since its publication on Saturday, and continues in the privileged tradition of white people being shocked to discover that life isn't all peaches and cream outside the corner office (and then arguing about who discovered this first).
Today, the Boston Globe both participated in the trend (by profiling laid-off lawyers) and put a new spin on it. The Globe's profile of Delois Laws, who has been a custodian at Boston City Hall for more than 30 years, is fascinating when considered in concert with the Times article. Of Laws' difficult duties, the Globe condescendingly notes:
It can be a high-pressure job, given all the glass recognition awards to be cleaned, all the mahogany and leather that requires regular polishing, all the dignitaries the mayor wants to impress.
Not noted? That none of these awards are Laws'; that she probably cannot afford mahogany and leather (her position pulls in $39,000 on average); that she doesn't get to meet with dignitaries. But she should still be delighted to have a job, right?
In contrast to the implication that Laws should appreciate her "high-pressure" position, the Times' former exec deeply laments his janitorial job: “You’re fighting despair, discouragement, depression every day... I broke down thinking, ‘This is what I’ve become.'" Well, what have you become, executive man? Delois Laws?
The corporate-turned-custodian's wife was "embarrassed" by the cleaning position when her husband first took it; the Time describes other ex-executives as having "their sense of identity and self-worth upended" by the survival jobs the economy has forced them to take. One executive profiled in the Times piece lamented that her transition to a $15-an-hour customer service job "has really been even worse than the death of my mother." But it's never suggested that Delois Laws could be anything but delighted to clean up after yet another white male.
Basically, Laws (a black woman, if it wasn't clear) is supposed to be thrilled about her "high-pressure" cleaning job, even as the white man profiled in the Times struggles mightily with his fall from privilege. Perhaps if you've never known the view from the top, never come out of the cave into the light, you can't be expected to know how "embarrassing" and "depressing" your job is. But that doesn't excuse the media for celebrating time off from work and wailing over executives' transition to new jobs (note that they still have jobs) while ignoring the huge numbers of Americans who were struggling like this—and much worse—long before it was trendy, and continue to struggle with real dilemmas: food, shelter, health care.
So forget the people whose stars have been (temporarily) dimmed. What about the folks who'll never get to see the light—of jobs, of hope, of education? Can we talk about them sometime? Or would that be too depressing?
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