Studs Terkel's Working

Studs Terkel

While reading Studs Terkel’s “Working”, I had came across three stories that interested me. First while choosing the stories I was seeking to have three different views on life in the work force to give off a sort of climax perspective to life. “Be good to your job, and your job will be good to you.” (page 280 top paragraph) States Brett Hauser who is a seventeen year old box boy who works in a supermarket on the outskirts of Los Angeles. He talks about how being at a low position is stressful and agitating but if you take each day one step at a time and treat each customer as an individual rather than a person, than your day goes a little smoother. I just would like to know how stressful it has to be to feel that people are being personable with you and communicate with you when there really only reading your name tag? Like are you even making an impression on their day? I could never work in a place that was semi fake like a box-boy’s job is when he is aiding to every customer with their groceries without and respect at all. After reading this interview it got me thinking how the other end of the authority works in the business world, which led me to Ernest Bradshaw.
Ernest is a supervisor in the bank auditing department and has around twenty five people under his belt. “Everybody takes the easy way out and just put down a person’s average. This takes away all the pressures. I felt it has to be one way: be truthful about a person ‘cause it’s gonna come up on ‘em later. I look at people as people, person to person.” (Page 399)Ernest states later on that he had to fire an elderly woman for not keeping up with the young crowd, and how hard it was to defend her case in front of the board. “The human being doesn’t count anymore. In any large corporation it’d the buck that counts.” I would never want a job such as this one. I could never fire people for not being as fast as others, especially if they were still consistently getting their work completed. What I’m curious about is how you can go day by day and fire people who have been working for you for many years without a heart? Can you imagine how many friends you would lose if you had fires them all? Would you lose respect in yourself? This interview was an upsetting interview for me and got me yearning to chill out take life a little slower.
Bill Norworth was a locomotive engineer, railroad fireman, and president of his local locomotive engineers society in his home town Spring Valley Illinois. He has been with the railroad company for 53 years. “My house is small, No mansion for a millionaire. But there is room for love, and room for friends, that’s all I care.”(Page 424)He is a simplistic man who enjoyed everything that life sent his way. This quote from his interview really got to me because that’s how my family is. We love company and have our friends over all the time for dinner or just to relax and chit-chat for a while. To have people around you is a comfort I could never give up. The only question I have is do you ever regret not being home as much while your kids were growing up? I know I would miss watching them develop into young ladies and gents. I could never be gone for a week or two on a ride for work without my family by my side. These stories are the one that meant the most to me.


Kyle A. Boris