Interviews what I choose from Terkel's are Terry Mason who is a stewardess and Hots Michaels, bar pianist. Becuase I'm going to wirte about emotional labers and service economy for my essay #3, I choose them.
Terry Mason has been a stewardess for six years. In her interview, she says that she is proud of her job but doesn't look that she really likes her job. A job like a stewardess looks nice to many women. I also guess a lot of women want to be a stewardess becuse they look pretty. However, Terry tells that the job is not that good than she thought. She has to smile at every passenger even though she doesn't really feel good. She can't get private time. And passengers bother her. Moreover, people have a streotype about stewardess, especially guys. The job is pretty tough according to what she says. In the article, 'Exploring the Managed Heart', the author talks about 'emotional labor', he says they,emotional labors do something more than physical and mental labors. Emotional labors provide intangible things called service directly. So, they have to take care of how they look like. Now, many of jobs are service jobs. They require more from workers than before. So, what do people think about this? I believe the change looks good. Worker escapes from simple-physical works. However, it looks that workers aren't satisfied with their work.
Other interviewee is Hots Michaels. He is a piano player at a bar. In an interview it seems like he likes his job. Customers sometimes bother him, but he doesn't really care about them. He doesn't think about customers too much, he just does his job if there are people in a bar. His job is also kind of emotional labor's. He meets many kinds of people and communicates with them. However, contrary to Terry, Hots doesn't get stress too much. He likes playing piano and enjoyes his job. He is satisfied with his job.
I read some interviews in a Terkel's book. Most of interviewees are discontented. But, there are some people who are contented with their jobs too. So, I'm wondering what factors make difference between them. How does service economy affect emotional labors?
Interesting reflections - what do you think accounts for the difference between the experiences of these two workers?
ReplyDeleteIn my view, it depends on their minds. I say that Terry she has to be trained to be a stewardess. It can make her to reagard herself a professional stewardess. So, she thinks that what she does is a just job. However, Hots says he never took any lessons. He jsut enjoy to play paino. It doesn't seem like he plays a piano as a job. He doesn't refer to him as a professional piano player. He says that he isn't qualified.
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