Yesterday, I was in desperate need of a haircut and my favorite barber wasn’t open, so I had to resort to going to the local SuperCuts. When I walked in around 5pm, I noticed that the sign on the door said that the store was open until 9pm on Wednesdays. After waiting for about 10 minutes, a young black woman in her late-20’s or early 30’s said that she was ready to cut my hair.
As we made small talk, I learned that we both have three-year old sons. I also learned that she is a single mother who is engaged to get married (not to the father of her child) and that she had previously worked her way up to a management position at the Hair Cuttery across the road. She is also the manager of this store.
Not long after she began cutting my hair, her cell phone rang and she took the call. She was making arrangements to get her son picked up from day care. It turned out that her corporate overlords had originally promised that she could close the store at 6pm, because it was the eve of Thanksgiving. As a result, she had arranged with the day care facility that her son could stay a half-hour late, so she would have time to close the shop and drive over there by 6:30. But her corporate overlords reneged on their promise without any notice, and told her that she needed to stay open until 9pm.
Single black mothers take a lot of crap in our society, but this woman is taking care of her business. She’s doing everything anyone could ask of her. And this is how she is treated. I guess she is lucky that she could find someone to pick up her child or she would be out of a job. And, why? Because she took her bosses at their word.
So, remember stories like this today when you see people who have been forced to work on Thanksgiving. Some may want the hours, but many are doing it because they have no choice. The workers count for nothing in today’s corporate world.
