A few stories.
- One time, in the US, I was frantic for employment. This was during the Recession. So I got a job at a local coffee shop which was known to be run by a crazy lady. But, it was hiring. So long story short, basically she worked me for 12 hours a day for the entire week CONSTANTLY berating me and shouting at me, arbitrarily fired me at the end of the week, and then refused to pay me what I had earned. The only reason I tolerated this was because I had no other choice in terms of employment. I think if it were me 10 years later, I would make her pay hell. Alas. I looked online some time later and saw that dozens of other people reported the same thing, and she even stole money from performing artists on occasion. I'm happy to say the establishment was ultimately taken from her; wherever she is, I hope she is struggling to make ends meet and going hungry.
- When I was teaching in Japan (so the rules are different, but STILL, I was pissed off at them), they essentially sponsored my visa as that of an independent contractor. This meant essentially that I had to do everything on my own (so, navigate a brand new society all in Japanese without their aid, etc) and they claimed it gave me "freedom", but basically it was just an excuse for them not to give two shits about us. Because I was still accountable to their dress code, I was still required to show up 30 minutes early to work, I still faced disciplinary action for everything I did wrong (which was often related to my physical appearance)...etc. Even though I was on my own and completely without assistance from the company, my every move was controlled by them. I felt this was very exploitative, an underhanded way of maximising profit while short-shrifting employees.
- Another incident that stands out in my mind was this one time when I was sub-hired to work on organizing the information in a database for said Japanese company. So, when I showed up, they made me wait for 10 minutes before even attending to me. When they put me to work, nobody gave me any guidance. They simply asked that I put the information in various categories according to what made sense (it wasn't always straightforward). My supervisor would then read it and polish it up.
At one point there was literally gibberish, and I wrote the word "WTF" as a note to the supervisor...assuming that it was quick shorthand for "I really can't make any sense of this". And she came back and yelled at me for it. When I apologised, she said it was OK.
The next day, I received word I had been fired behind my back on the grounds that I "showed up late" and "left early" (it was true, when I was finished I just left, as I couldn't find my supervisor on hand to ask if there was more I could do--but the 10 minutes late was their fault) that I used "profanity" (despite the fact that I didn't, and that it was a private database that no one else was going to see), and that I had "incorrectly categorized the data" (which I wouldn't have done if I'd gotten proper guidance). They then forced me to stay late to "fix" my "mistakes", as though I had done it on purpose and KNEW exactly what I was doing "wrong".
I was seriously ready to walk out right then and there. I wish, in retrospect, I had. I mean, you can't simply demand someone do something and then not give them any guidance whatsoever on it or naming your unstated expectations and then punish them for not knowing it, without even assessing THEIR side of events, issuing a warning, or giving them a second chance. And this isn't the only incident, it's just the one that pissed me off most. Stuff like this happened on probably a bi-weekly basis. They would never give me advice or instructions, and then punish me for not knowing things.
I still felt a surge of fury typing that up. I'm like shaking as I write. I mean, it's not THAT bad, it's pretty minor, but it's so fucking arbitrary, and somewhat humiliating. All the people involved were Otaku whites who had overly merged to the Japanese Way out of some sort of deep self-loathing, I swear to God. That was the part that really got to me...we're all minority foreigners in this culture, why are we marginalizing and punishing each other like this? Gross. We should be expressing solidarity. Ahem...sorry. Anyway, I jumped at the chance to get out of that degrading institution.
- Said institution was also charging student about $80 per lesson, whereas we teachers only got about $15 of it. I'm bolding this line, because that tells you everything you need to know about it.
- I could also tell you about one time when I exploited corporate China--something atypical at best. But, the owner of the corporation was a brother to one of the gods, who apparently saw it and hasn't stopped making me pay since then.
So I don't know if that answers the question, but it's to the point where I pretty much expect labour to be unfair and designed specifically to trip me up. I haven't worked for several years now, and I'm not actually sure I can with memories like that. I will, hopefully, have an MSc by the end of this year. Even with an advanced degree, $16 per hour sounds insanely high to me. I really expect to be working class my whole life, undoubtedly in bullshit conditions like above, irrespective of whatever efforts I make to the contrary. This is depressing.
