I can remember being trained to work in a restaurant where what was sold was the _experience_. The training was about how to stand, how to speak, how to smile, how to joke, how to open a wine bottle, pour, how to hold your been, how to act demurely, how to laugh, what kind of jokes to tell, how to react to the jokes told you, how to graciously extract yourself from some pervert trying to feel you up, how to display desserts on the cart, warm brandy and put on a show for after dinner drinks, etc.
We had an expression for the noobs: "See the sign over the archway (entrance to the dining area)? It says, "Smile, time for a different you."
There was no sign, we were to imagine it. We were on stage once we passed through the archway. It was a show, and we were the show girls and boys. Everything we did, every move we made, every word we uttered was part of the show.
So, you see, I don't get the outrage. What really annoys is the attitude that, if you do work like that, you must be twisted or it must twist you. What I've learned is that all jobs are like that, it's just that the people doing them fancy themselves abovitall in nosebleed territory. You lie to yourself that it's your choice to do these things. Whatever.
At 04:33 AM 7/1/2005, Wendy Lyon wrote:
>I can't believe she only took $15,000 for it. Surely for a stunt like
>this she could have earned more than that.
She thinks $10k is like a million bucks. In another article, she said that she chose this particular joint because they gave money to charity. (Harkening back to _Magic City_ this isn't surprising. People in this culture like to present what they're doing as have some choice in the matter. So, she talks about how she likes to be the center of attention. She talks about how she had other options, but chose this one as the best one. Whatever.
I can remember telling people in grad school that I'd be thrilled to make $30k a year. Their jaws dropped as they continued to piss and moan about how poorly professors are paid. To them, the $45k our tenure track professors were given was considered the dregs.
>Yoshie:
>I, too, find myself in a condition where, "[t]o me, $10,000 is like $1
>million"
:)
>(Associated Press, "For $10,000, Woman Tattoos Ad on Forehead," <a
>href="http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/06/30/national/a064000D81.DTL">30
>Jun. 2005</a>). But is private education for your 11-year old child
>_really_ worth the sacrifice of having a gambling website address tattooed
>on your forehead, when he can go to public school?
i only found out just how bad my son's public school was after we left. he hid it from me because he knew I would fret. he also knew we couldn't afford to move. of course, he also liked his friends and didn't want to move. going to a rich school under the new "choice" plan didn't improve the educational climate, though the bathrooms were clean and you had stalls, instead of a big open room. Rather, what it did was teach him the importance and ubiquity of cheating your way through school, watching XX videos on the palm pilot while pretending to listen to a lecture, stuff like that.
you can send your kid to an ok private school for not terribly much money -- if it's catholic or christian. children from poor families often get reduced tuition since the schools often feel they have a mission to diversify and include poorer children. She's his mother, maybe she knows what he needs better than anyone else here.
My son's best friend during the time we lived in the sticks lived two doors down. A black family with five kids (one in college) and usually some cousins living with them, a non-union factory job/admin asst job to support the family, wasn't exactly swimming in dough. They managed it with reduced price tuition for two of their kids. They sent both of them to Catholic school because one had a slight learning disability and they also felt they would learn better in a more diverse environment. (I've told the story before about the first time sonshine's classmates saw his best friend: they wanted to know if he was black. apparently hadn't seen black people up close and personal, even though 10 black families lived in that little dinky backwoods town with a general store at the four corners).
we don't know why her son's "fallen behind". it could be other kids picking on him, bullies, a bad environment, a really crappy teacher(s).
we do know that, if someone thinks $10k is like a million, they probably aren't earning the big bucks.
who cares what she is or if she likes the spotlight. the idea that anyone here is so pure that they can sit around in judgement of this women is ridiculous.
we all advertise. we all compromise ourselves for a job. we all pretend that we don't.
instead of feeling sorry for her, instead of compalining that people aren't as enlightened as you, do something about it. If you have time, donate your time. I fyou have money, donate your money. 10 minutes a day, do something. She doesn't need your pity, she needs people who have time and money and wherewithal to do something.
"Finish your beer. There are sober kids in India."
-- rwmartin