Thursday, May 15, 2008
Rates of pay
The first time it rained while I was in Downtown Boston, I was surprised that there weren’t little old Chinese women on every (or any) block selling umbrellas for “fiy dulla”. Another thing I have been surprised at is that the per-block ratio of people begging for money here seems rather higher than in the Big Apple.
A couple of weeks ago, I passed so many people with their hands out, I started to wonder how much money it might cost a person if they decided to give a dollar to every person who asked them in any given month, How much would you need to earn just to cover that? Not that I can be bothered to find out, but I would be interested in the result if someone actually took such a project on.
But another thought occurred to me as I witnessed various styles of begging and augmented this with memories of people on the New York Subway.
I believe that smiling nicely and saying “good morning” or “have a nice day”, carries a higher hourly rate of pay than simply shaking a money tin, and also more than millions of Americans are pulling in from their minimum pay jobs.
On the Subway, I suspect the people who need money the most get the least, but of course what they really need is actual care. Thanks to that darling of Republicans, Ronald Reagan, all too many people who used to receive psychiatric help were put onto the streets. And there they have stayed ever since.
Who gets the money on the subway? Mariachis make some great bucks. An a cappella group seen occasionally also does quite well. And the couple of jazz quartets seen all to rarely do very well indeed. Solo singers don’t make out so very well unless they sing the word “Jesus”. They get more for singing it in two distinct syllables and far far more for singing it during the Holiday season. Their most generous audience is undoubtedly African American women of a certain age. I have seen a couple of smart singers turn their fortunes around by injecting this word into their repertoire. Suddenly the hands are dipping into purses as if the plate is being passed around in a Church!
One person, however, invoked in my mind Polanski’s The Fearless Vampire Killers, in which British Actor Alfie Bass played a Jewish Vampire who, when someone held a cross up to him, exclaimed: “Boy have you ever got the wrong vampire here!” This person on the subway picked the wrong audience also, singing the ‘J’ word to a sparse all White and mostly Russian Jewish crowd. Perhaps he ought to invest the time in learning hava nagila for the next he finds himself in that situation! You've got to play to your audience!
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A couple of weeks ago, I passed so many people with their hands out, I started to wonder how much money it might cost a person if they decided to give a dollar to every person who asked them in any given month, How much would you need to earn just to cover that? Not that I can be bothered to find out, but I would be interested in the result if someone actually took such a project on.
But another thought occurred to me as I witnessed various styles of begging and augmented this with memories of people on the New York Subway.
I believe that smiling nicely and saying “good morning” or “have a nice day”, carries a higher hourly rate of pay than simply shaking a money tin, and also more than millions of Americans are pulling in from their minimum pay jobs.
On the Subway, I suspect the people who need money the most get the least, but of course what they really need is actual care. Thanks to that darling of Republicans, Ronald Reagan, all too many people who used to receive psychiatric help were put onto the streets. And there they have stayed ever since.
Who gets the money on the subway? Mariachis make some great bucks. An a cappella group seen occasionally also does quite well. And the couple of jazz quartets seen all to rarely do very well indeed. Solo singers don’t make out so very well unless they sing the word “Jesus”. They get more for singing it in two distinct syllables and far far more for singing it during the Holiday season. Their most generous audience is undoubtedly African American women of a certain age. I have seen a couple of smart singers turn their fortunes around by injecting this word into their repertoire. Suddenly the hands are dipping into purses as if the plate is being passed around in a Church!
One person, however, invoked in my mind Polanski’s The Fearless Vampire Killers, in which British Actor Alfie Bass played a Jewish Vampire who, when someone held a cross up to him, exclaimed: “Boy have you ever got the wrong vampire here!” This person on the subway picked the wrong audience also, singing the ‘J’ word to a sparse all White and mostly Russian Jewish crowd. Perhaps he ought to invest the time in learning hava nagila for the next he finds himself in that situation! You've got to play to your audience!
