Yesterday I had about half of a somewhat frustrated post written out concerning workers and the first of May and the current student protests. Or at least, those are the issues I planned on discussing in depth, but what I really ended up writing about was how it feels to work in the service industry, and at cafés in particular. I realised that the tone and content were not what I’d had in mind and certainly not in an attitude of rejoicing. It hasn’t taken me long to lose sight of the concept, I’m sad to say. So instead of trying to talk about these things as general concepts or even “facts,” I will instead share my experience with you.
I may live in Ontario now, but I was one of those Quebec students.
I was able to go to school for a variety of reasons: low tuition rates, especially for CEGEP but also for university, government-backed student loans, bursaries, a couple scholarships, and part-time work. I have many, many complaints about the student loan system and many, many anecdotes to support those complaints.
Oh, but the student loans factor in here, because you have to be careful not to work too many hours a week or they will cut you off. Remember that. A student has to work to supplement the loans and bursaries (I received approximately $700/month from them for six months of the year (not twelve!) and that’s with an exemption from the usual required parental contribution–yay large family–plus about $1500 in September and January to cover tuition and textbooks). That might sound like a lot, especially coupled with the part-time job, and it was, relatively–one of my sisters only got 300/month. But I needed to pay my rent (approx 300/month, a steal!), utilities and laundry (approx $150/month), buy my monthly metro pass (also a steal at around $35/month), eat (not cheap pasta or noodles because I’m gluten intolerant, and are students expected to eat unhealthy crap anyway?), pay off my credit card that I’d had to use during the leaner summer months (more on that later) and for text books (the larger amount of money in September barely covered tuition, never mind books and living expenses for that month). Plus clothes, some socialising (I didn’t drink or do drugs, if you were wondering), and coffee for those long nights studying. Never underestimate the necessity of cafes for serious students.
So I needed to work. So I worked in cafés.
Being a barista is not difficult, it’s true, but I don’t understand some of the rhetoric I’ve seen poured out against them in some online articles and message boards (I’m looking at you, commenters on TheConsumerist). It can be gruelling, though, and while I’d rather be a barista than a garbage collector, the garbage collector is at least paid more to deal with people’s crap (haw haw). Shift work is hard on your nerves. Not knowing how many hours you’re going to get is hard on your budget AND your nerves. Too few and you can’t make rent. Too many and you’ll be penalised at school–even if you’re not on student loans, you’re more likely to miss classes due to scheduling conflicts or just plain exhaustion. My feet are permanently messed up from pacing and standing in one place for hours at a time. One place I worked allowed for one 30 minute break no matter how long the shift was–sometimes nine and a half hours. And no smoke breaks (I don’t smoke but thought I’d mention it). My hands are messed up, too. And I have reoccurring bouts of tennis elbow. I’m only 26.
YES, I know, I know–before you say it, there are worse jobs out there (I chose to be a barista, didn’t I? No, not really–that’s just where I could find the work). But they get paid better or they get tips. My tips worked out to roughly $1/hour, whereas my sister, who has worked as a server, would sometimes come home with over $200 for one night. And what is the difference between a barista and a server? A counter. What is the difference between a bartender and a barista? Alcohol and a slightly higher level of belligerency. I’m sure there are those out there who would disagree, and they are free to do so. I would never work as a server because I don’t like the idea of people reaching out and touching me. I would work as a bartender if I ever wanted to work in service again, but I don’t see how they would ever hire me.
Being a barista was an exercise in patience every day–you have to work so fast you can’t think, if you’re good at your job (and I was). It has to be muscle memory and nothing else so you can spend the rest of your time smiling at the customer and trying to read them and maybe distract them from the fact that there are ten drinks before theirs because of the line that’s stretching all the way across the atrium. Meanwhile you have to communicate/deal with your coworkers, many of whom are new due to high turnover (a barista who’s been there for three months is an old hand), keep an eye on health standards, fight exhaustion… and deal with the utter condescension so many customers rain down on you. I remember every once in a while someone would ask me if I was in school and I’d tell them I’d just finished my MA–boy, their tone changed in an instant. I was no longer an underling, but some sort of peer who’d suffered a run of bad luck, someone to be treated with empathy and reassurance and not just some stupid coffee fetcher. So I’d tell them that all but two or three of the people who worked at our location were either in university or had a university degree, and again, they were always amazed. I hope that made a difference. Oh, people are people, and I had my favourite customers–Dr Marc comes to mind, if only because he was so serious and mysterious. I also had my bitter rivals–the angry nurse who always gave us a hard time and told me I had a “sarcastic face.” And I did choose to work there, and at the end of the day it wasn’t the customers who drove me to quitting but one of the people I worked with (plus I was moving to Ottawa, but I didn’t know that at the time).
But what was my point? Good question. My point was, I think, that much in life can be exhausting and demoralising–as a student, as a barista. This does not mean that it is the worst of the worst, or that we shouldn’t be grateful for what we have, but that we ought to view each other with empathy and not participate in a race to the bottom. I’ve heard so many people say of the students protesting: “What are they complaining about? I paid X times more in tuition than them and I made it through school–they should just get a summer job.” So you had it worse in your province so they should have it worse too? Or even worse, people complain about out-of-province students having to pay higher tuition. Well, yes. That’s the case pretty much everywhere, for one thing, and for another, I guarantee you they have better funding from their home province or the federal government. For Quebec students, AFE is the only game in town. Did I mention that they completely cut off my funding for my last two months at McGill, “in order to reduce my debt load” and thus forcing me into even more credit card debt? Somehow I doubt OSAP acts like that. A few years ago a group of students sued AFE and won. What does that tell you? Why can’t we aspire, as a society, to have a highly-educated, debt-free generation that is not mentally, psychically, and physically exhausted by the time they’re ready to enter the work force? I was never able to take part in any internships, for example, because I couldn’t afford to give up my cafe job in the summer because I needed to know that the job would be there for me in the fall–when I would need the money to supplement my income. Should I have risked it anyway? Probably, but at the time I was just worried about finishing my degree and, well, eating. I’m disturbed by the economic rhetoric the government uses when talking about the students. Now that their generation has already benefitted from Quebec’s low tuition rates, had their careers, lived their lives, they want to allocate money reserved to benefit this younger generation (which is facing lean economic times and uncertain future employment!) in order to fund their own retirements.
The same is true for baristas. I’ve heard/read many people dismissing their concerns by saying, “Well, it’s not like pouring coffee is that hard. I’m sure there are many desperate, unemployed people lining up to take their places.” Maybe, but again, should this be a race to the bottom? If someone is willing to work a twelve hour shift at two dollars an hour because “it’s better than nothing,” should we allow it? I’m not necessarily saying that baristas should be paid more, but they should at least be treated with the respect and kindness you would grant someone standing next to you at the bus stop. And please understand that while there are worse jobs out there, that doesn’t mean that the conditions are ideal, or that they shouldn’t be improved.
So maybe this wasn’t very joyful. But it can be! Instead of focussing on the negatives and dismissing the aspirations of those around us, let’s try to wish for better conditions for all of us.
