Mexico: Street Sweepers and Other Jobs
I once had a hockey coach who loved to give the team daily reminders that if we were meant to be a street sweeper, we should be the best street sweeper that we could be (paraphrasing Martin Luther King, Jr.). Taking a step away from my coach's metaphorical intentions with this phrase, its literal meaning has never applied to real life more than it does now. Each morning I wake up to the noise of the street sweeper outside my apartment building. He sweeps his broom back and forth on the sidewalk, cleaning up the leaves and dirt, more often than not in a slightly annoying rhythm. Personally, I would rather wake up to the sound of birds chirping than the sound of straw being brushed against pavement.
On my daily commute to work I pass by all of the street sweepers cleaning up outside their apartment buildings, stores, and restaurants. Having clean sidewalks is a priority here. There are street sweepers everywhere, and by all means they are being the best street sweepers they can be.
It seems to me that there is a sort of unspoken caste system here. Meanwhile half of the city's population preserves their corporate world/government official status by dressing in suits and driving nice cars, the other half of the population works as street sweepers, taxi drivers, public bathroom attendants, maids, etc. Everybody has their role.
Maybe this system feels uncomfortable to me because I grew up in a culture of self-sufficiency where do-it-yourself projects are the everlasting trend. Independence is a valued cultural characteristic. It is normal that if I need to wash my clothes I wash them myself...I don't take them to the lavandaria to be washed by somebody else. If I need to dry my hands after using the restroom, I am capable of grabbing a towel on my own...there isn't a real need for somebody to hand me a towel.
I also understand that in a city with so many people, the demand for jobs is higher. That means if I can help somebody make a living by paying them to bag my groceries, park my car, wash my clothes, open the gate to my neighborhood, drive me places, etc...everybody will be better off. We help each other out, I guess. How's that for cross-cultural learning?
On my daily commute to work I pass by all of the street sweepers cleaning up outside their apartment buildings, stores, and restaurants. Having clean sidewalks is a priority here. There are street sweepers everywhere, and by all means they are being the best street sweepers they can be.
It seems to me that there is a sort of unspoken caste system here. Meanwhile half of the city's population preserves their corporate world/government official status by dressing in suits and driving nice cars, the other half of the population works as street sweepers, taxi drivers, public bathroom attendants, maids, etc. Everybody has their role.
Maybe this system feels uncomfortable to me because I grew up in a culture of self-sufficiency where do-it-yourself projects are the everlasting trend. Independence is a valued cultural characteristic. It is normal that if I need to wash my clothes I wash them myself...I don't take them to the lavandaria to be washed by somebody else. If I need to dry my hands after using the restroom, I am capable of grabbing a towel on my own...there isn't a real need for somebody to hand me a towel.
I also understand that in a city with so many people, the demand for jobs is higher. That means if I can help somebody make a living by paying them to bag my groceries, park my car, wash my clothes, open the gate to my neighborhood, drive me places, etc...everybody will be better off. We help each other out, I guess. How's that for cross-cultural learning?
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