>On Sun, 24 Aug 2003, Kelley wrote:
>
> > What also seems odd is that one of the maids who works for Merry
> Maids
> > much prefer working for Merry Maids than working as an independent.
>
>Well, she could also be an outlier. We all have to be wary of drawing
>a
>curve through one point. She might have been just starting out and
>have
>gotten a nut on her one time out on her own.
This particular maid claimed she liked the fact that she could take a day off and wouldn't lose her job.
>BTW, the company Ehrenreich worked for was actually The Maids
>International, not Merry Maids (who paid even worse).
:) I noticed that last night when I sat down to read the whole article
again, or tried to. Half way through the second beer, I was
zzzZZZZZzzzz.
> They're easy to
>confuse. Almost all these companies seem to have Maid in their title,
>and
>most of the time Ehrenreich refers the company she worked for for
>three
>weeks as simply "The Maids." (And who can blame her? The allusion to
>Genet is delicious.)
Yah.
> > Well, I'm going to call them tomorrow, cause now you've got me
> curious.
> > I'll also have to call my old boss in Ithaca and ask her how it
> worked.
>
>I'll be interested myself. One possible solution is that there is a
>segmented market in maids -- and that services are only competing in
>the
>top half.
Do you suppose, as we talked about yesterday, it is what Ehrenreich suggests: people are willing to pay for rationalization of the relationship? If as we thought yesterday, the network for black market services is well-established in big cities, it may not be in suburbania which just may be where the services are growing most. Which makes your point about regional differences a particularly apt one, if one buys your premise to begin with. And we now know that we are so far apart on that, it's kinda pointless.
>Another is that one or more of these numbers are wrong.
>
>And a third, which kind of combines the first two, is that the average
>conceals huge variation.
Oh yeah. Consider what I also learned last night and it ties into what Jeff wrote about. We don't have a choice between The Maids and black market, there's a whole slew of mom and pops. (Wojtek cue: rant about how we shouldn't hate evil corps like Maids and how wrong we are to valorize the small mom and pop, 'k?)
A quick glance in the phone book suggests that 90% of the listings are for small businesses or ind. contractors who are legit. The services charge from $15 - 35/ hr depending on the job. I'm gonna guess that they clear, what? $8 - 20/hr once you factor in the costs of doing business. There's also something about being licensed, insured, and bonded which seems to be used as a selling point.
> > and Joanna, do you want to know why my own experience working off
> the
> > books suggests it sucks
>
>I have to say, since I now know your experience from talking on the
>phone,
>that drawing an analogy from it might not be entirely apt. This may
>not
>be primarily a matter of working on/off the books so much as for/not
>for a
>subcontractor.
I don't follow you. I mean, I'm not sure how this, below, relates to my reason for thinking that earning and paying black market wages is bad business all around.
<just snipping because nothing more to add and saving k-wattage>
Kelley