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I was in the month & beginning to peruse the March/April edition of Utne Reader. I actually read the Editor's Note at the front of the magazine, and he was talking about a journalist's convention he attended in Memphis, TN. Following a speech by Jesse Jackson, the crowd of journalists headed to a hotel coffee shop where there were two African-American women behind the counter, struggling to keep up with the demands for coffee-to-go. He wrote that at first, the crowd was still buzzing with the enthusiasm and energy left over from Jackson's speech, but it didn't take long for impatience to grow and frustration to take over. People left, angry because the line was too long or the servers were too slow, or they threw temper tantrums at the counter for the same reason. Many just left in a rush, without so much as a thank you or a tip.
He went on to say that he wondered if, even with all the activists and social-order movers and shakers, the staff that served everyone attending that convention sort of become invisible, along with the panhandlers that are so common in downtown Memphis. It hit me then. To a certain degree, we of the service industry are all pre-integration Southern black. It doesn't matter if we're white, Latino/a, Asian, actually black, Indian, etc. - when we put on our polyester uniforms and step behind the counters and vacuum cleaners of a hotel, we're black. For the most part, we're invisible, below notice, until it's perceived that we've caused a problem or an inconvenience. It's always our fault, too - never the management or the person with the foul attitude we're trying to assist - nossuh, it's always us. And it doesn't matter what happened, according to the guest it's our fault so management agrees, it's our fault. The hotels we work for don't even usually want us patronizing the facilities and mingling with the paying whites. They give us a sub-standard dining area or encourage us to bring our lunches so we won't be in line in front of the guests. In most hotels we're even supposed to give up seats and line spots for the guests. We hold the doors open on elevators we're not supposed to ride. We clean rooms we're not allowed to rent. Most companies that have an 'Employee Appreciation Day' don't hold it at their own property - the Excalibur/Mandalay Bay used to do it at Wet 'n Wild, but now we get coupons for movies at Blockbuster. "Yes, we appreciate it when our staff stays home!" The guests can insult us, yell at us, tell us we're incompetent... and for the most part we just have to stand there & take it. I've even had moments out on the desk where I've been yelled at for not smiling at someone when they come up to the counter, and then when the guest is unhappy due to not being able to get exactly what they want, they've been like, "What are you smiling about?! Do you think my inconvenience is funny?!" I've even heard guests call some of our male staff 'boy'. They think it's funny, "bring my bags, boy", but I wonder if they understand just how deeply nasty that word really is? If they understand all the implications that one three-letter word holds?
One thing about it, though, it's just part-time black, part-time second class citizenship. When I shed my polyester penguin suit in the morning, I'm just another lower-middle-class white woman. It's given me a slightly different perspective, putting on the black skin of a hotel clerk. I can be so patient while waiting in lines, and it doesn't matter where, either. DMV, post office, grocery store, convenience store, fast-food joint, doctor's offices. I can sit on hold for an hour and not be nasty to the person who finally picks up the phone. I can hold doors and wait for the next elevator. I can be gracious and polite, and I tip almost everybody when I've got the money. If I have to stay at a hotel, I don't do crazy shit to the room because I know someone's got to collect that bedding & the towels, someone's got to clean that tub & vacuum the floor. Every day I go to work, I'm thankful for the buffering walls of my cubicle because I'm not out on the front line as much, having to put up with people who seem to be getting meaner and nastier the longer I work for the Excalibur - and that's just my fellow employees. Approximately one more year & I'll have my degree... right about the time our union contract expires.
He went on to say that he wondered if, even with all the activists and social-order movers and shakers, the staff that served everyone attending that convention sort of become invisible, along with the panhandlers that are so common in downtown Memphis. It hit me then. To a certain degree, we of the service industry are all pre-integration Southern black. It doesn't matter if we're white, Latino/a, Asian, actually black, Indian, etc. - when we put on our polyester uniforms and step behind the counters and vacuum cleaners of a hotel, we're black. For the most part, we're invisible, below notice, until it's perceived that we've caused a problem or an inconvenience. It's always our fault, too - never the management or the person with the foul attitude we're trying to assist - nossuh, it's always us. And it doesn't matter what happened, according to the guest it's our fault so management agrees, it's our fault. The hotels we work for don't even usually want us patronizing the facilities and mingling with the paying whites. They give us a sub-standard dining area or encourage us to bring our lunches so we won't be in line in front of the guests. In most hotels we're even supposed to give up seats and line spots for the guests. We hold the doors open on elevators we're not supposed to ride. We clean rooms we're not allowed to rent. Most companies that have an 'Employee Appreciation Day' don't hold it at their own property - the Excalibur/Mandalay Bay used to do it at Wet 'n Wild, but now we get coupons for movies at Blockbuster. "Yes, we appreciate it when our staff stays home!" The guests can insult us, yell at us, tell us we're incompetent... and for the most part we just have to stand there & take it. I've even had moments out on the desk where I've been yelled at for not smiling at someone when they come up to the counter, and then when the guest is unhappy due to not being able to get exactly what they want, they've been like, "What are you smiling about?! Do you think my inconvenience is funny?!" I've even heard guests call some of our male staff 'boy'. They think it's funny, "bring my bags, boy", but I wonder if they understand just how deeply nasty that word really is? If they understand all the implications that one three-letter word holds?
One thing about it, though, it's just part-time black, part-time second class citizenship. When I shed my polyester penguin suit in the morning, I'm just another lower-middle-class white woman. It's given me a slightly different perspective, putting on the black skin of a hotel clerk. I can be so patient while waiting in lines, and it doesn't matter where, either. DMV, post office, grocery store, convenience store, fast-food joint, doctor's offices. I can sit on hold for an hour and not be nasty to the person who finally picks up the phone. I can hold doors and wait for the next elevator. I can be gracious and polite, and I tip almost everybody when I've got the money. If I have to stay at a hotel, I don't do crazy shit to the room because I know someone's got to collect that bedding & the towels, someone's got to clean that tub & vacuum the floor. Every day I go to work, I'm thankful for the buffering walls of my cubicle because I'm not out on the front line as much, having to put up with people who seem to be getting meaner and nastier the longer I work for the Excalibur - and that's just my fellow employees. Approximately one more year & I'll have my degree... right about the time our union contract expires.
