THE POOR LIFE

This is Life? ***

Reflections on daily life as “The Working Poor”

The long road, made longer. A six mile drive, ten minutes by car, becomes an hour. Public transit is necessary, but we punish those who use it. Photo by on

I saw the meme on LinkedIn.

Do you know the Lisa Simpson standing in front of a whiteboard meme template? It’s a very common one. It read, “People should clock in when they leave home, not when they get to work. The commute is not free time.”

My jaw tensed in anger. It is a reaction more and more common these days. It wasn’t the meme that made me angry. It was that the meme is right. This is the way it should be. I think we all know it.

In an interview, one of the first questions you’ll be asked, “Can you reliably get back and forth to work every day?”

They know. Employers know. They can’t pretend they don’t know. And yet, workers still spend hours of their day, every day, unpaid, going back and forth to their job. The lower the worker’s wage, the more time they likely spend.

My partner leaves our apartment at 5:25 am most mornings. He starts work at 8 am.

He takes public transit. Coworkers have asked why he doesn’t get a car. He doesn’t bother with a verbal answer anymore. It’s too hard to hide the bitterness. He just rubs his thumb and fingers together.