HOME | DD
GreenSprite — Janitor nation
Published: 2007-04-30 18:11:43 +0000 UTC; Views: 2416; Favourites: 15; Downloads: 24
Redirect to original
Description
This one definitely needs a bit of explaining, all tough perhaps only Romanians will fully get it.I painted it on a "work and travel" flyer (bits of it are still visible). Hundreds of those are handed out to students at uni everyday. Basically, they're offers for Romanian students to go and work in the US for the summer holiday in low-qualification jobs, such as janitors or ride operators in parks. A lot of people do go, because the pay is higher than anything they could get here, even for jobs that need more skill. The text is from the original ad and says work and travel. Payment 20$/hour.
This is just part one. There are also tens of thousands of adults who abandon their jobs and families to go work in such low-payed jobs (mostly agriculture) in western Europe. Now, perhaps a teacher that picks up strawberries for a living might not be a big drama (altough it's disputable). But the way people leave their kids to be raised by grandparents, aunts or distant relatives, or even alone (teenagers) is. My mom's a teacher and has witnessed first-hand the way this lack of guidance spoils a child's behaviour and school performance. These parents imagine that if they send back home some fat cash, the kid will have everything he needs. Nothing further for the truth.
I'm not sure what impact this has on the economy, but I think the social problems should be enough to make people think twice before leaving. Just my humble opinion. And stop shoving the flyers down our throat, please.
I give *RoWatch permission to display this in the club gallery.
Related content
Comments: 57
to tell you the truth,partea sociala a problemei,with parents leaving their kids behind with various relatives,mi se pare cea mai putin importanta.as a matter of fact,si din desen reiese mai degraba ca your greatesc concern e faptul ca persoane cu o pregatire profesionala buna end up having the lowest jobs outside,slujbe care,paradoxal,sunt mai bine platite decat cele in conformitate cu pregatirea lor back here.
personal,cand am vazut all those flyers zburand prin cluj i said to myself: look at all that wasted paper
oricum,imi place idea de a face o "campanie" anti work and travel pe un flyer de-al lor
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Hm...desenul poate exprima ce vrei tu, ma gandeam la problema in general si nu am incercat sa scot in evidenta un aspect sau altul cand am desenat, I just said "hey I wanna do this". Cat despre problema sociala ca fiind cea mai importanta... cred ca e printre cele mai importante. It really does fuck up some kids, ask my mom. O societate sanatoasa se construieste din oameni inteligenti si sanatosi cu capu'. Si da, ma enerveaza si pe mine ca strica atata hartie
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
When I first moved to London I had a crappy carpentry job for a while. The head carpenter when I started was a guy from Bulgaria, who was working in London to buy a flat back home.
Once, after a particularly onerous a stressful job where we were dumped on the ouskirts of London and had to make our own way back home well past work-hours he took out a picture of his wife and showed it to me. She looked too young and pretty for him, and I asked him how long it had been since he saw her. "Three years" he said. "God," said I "do you think she's still your wife?". He smiled and said "maybe". He was panning to stay another two years, with no visits home, as to not waste money.
He was earning £6 an hour, but he lived poorly (that doesn't go far in London), and was one of the unhappiest men I ever met. He got hit in the head with a block of wood, and was fired when he got out of hospital.
It's a shite situation.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Wow... poor guy. It doesn't get much worse than that, he probably lost a large chunk of money with the hospital care and all. And who knows what he found when he went back home. It sucks when the people who try to make their way out of poverty by honest means fail, while other "approaches" are successful. It really sucks.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
da, mesajul e puternic si mai mult de juma din glob relationeaza cu ce spui. o natiune de "femei de servicu", nici macar nu avem masculinul pt meseria asta...
Dar nu asta vroiam. nu vreau sa spun lucruri pe care toti le stim deja. i miss u
te tzuc
si faina treaba
me proud
hugs
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
20$ pe ora? WOW! eu am luat 6 si pe deasupra m-am intors si cu buza umflata! (metaforic) ce sa mai zic?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Nici eu nu stiu de unde au scos 20$/ora, n-am mai vazut pe alte pliante chiar atat.
De ce te-ai intors cu buza umflata?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
heheeh pt ca abia mi-am facut banii pe care i-am investit, si pt ca era unu rus la care ne-au trimis (mare mafiot) si am plecat de la el, la un roman, vezi domne, si ala era si mai si - prostie curata si el si americanii lui, pur si simplu te faceau sa crezi ca esti genial, sau esti de-a dreptul tampit - anyway it wasn't my kinda stuff :bleah:
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
ihhii da foarte funny, pai ce sa spun? ca nu as sti cu ce sa incep, o zic pe scurt : 'roman place sa fute la roman cand are ocazia' - cand vedeam romani pe acolo ma faceam ca habarnam, cam asa ceva, negrii erau mult mai de incredere (nu sunt rasista)
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I like the way you portrayed your stance visually, and that you're tackling political art. I'm waiting for my drawing skills to develop a bit more before I start blasting away- for now I'll stick to my pen, keyboard, and vocal cords for political commentary.
Also, those are some remarkably expressive figures for lacking detailed features.
I'll move on to the message. I found it quite funny, even ironic. Let me explain why. I am a United States citizen, who lives in California, and is currently attending a high ranking university, U.C.I. I am a commuter student, someone who drives through terrible traffic and bad drivers every day to school, averaging probably 50 minutes total driving to and from school per day. (However, given traffic variability I have had days that I have driven up to 2 1/2 to 3 hours.) In order to pay the bills: car& insurance, I need a job. So guess what I do? Yeah, I'm a custodian, which is basically a janitor with more responsibility. OH, it gets better, though! I would simply LOVE to make the wages your friends are making through this program. I make half that.
Trust me, nobody's getting ripped off there. That's a heck of a good wage for a student job, especially for a service jobs. I don't know why those wages are so inflated, but I have a hunch. I could be wrong, but I don't think the United States service economy largely relies on Romanian student visa holders. I'm pretty sure that we have all the minimum wage willing (or less if under the table illegal) workers available from the migrants, legal and illegal, that enter the country from the south.
I would not be terribly surprised if this was in some way sponsored by Romanian interests, either government or corporate. I am having a bit of a flashback to my last poli-sci lecture from this Tuesday. Please do not take offense at the analogy I am going to use -it is not meant to be derogatory to the Romanian (or Filipino) people in any way, but rather to highlight motive. My professor, in this lecture on global migration, used an example of the Philippines. Not long ago, it was discovered that every year 75,000 Filipino women enter Japan as "entertainers." When this was discovered, it was immediately obvious to embarrassed Japanese officials that that this "entertainment" was not the kind of good clean fun that the entertainment visa was designed for. So they went ahead and redesigned a far more restrictive entertainment visa. Guess who protested this move? The Filipino government itself! Those women were sending huge amounts of revenue back to their families in their home state, where it entered the economy and helped make it more prosperous, strengthening the state. Encouraging this migration, as unethical as it was, was in their national interest.
Obviously, the issue in your country is a far cry from my analogy. I doubt there is anywhere near 75k students using this work abroad program, and it doesn't bring in ethical issues so much. You're right about social problems caused by displaced parents. However, the particular program here is perhaps the most ethically and logically sound solution to these problems. College students tend to travel abroad, and have less local physical ties (except family who probably won't mind you being away for a summer).
I wish I could add something more solid and something like a solution, but the more I study international politics, the more cynical and complex the whole thing seems. In the end, countries look out for their own interests, period. These often correlate to their citizens well-being, but not always fully.
Alright, my rants done, I'm out of steam, time to sleep. I hope I gave you some interesting things to think about and a different perspective, maybe in reply you can challenge me with a new view of your own, or critique my thoughts on the issue.
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
hi
it looks that we have some stuff to talk about.
let me first reveal my background, 'cause in the end, much of the stuff is contextal. even what i shall say about the "national interest".
Well, i'm a romanian, 2nd year at political science dept in Bucharest. u know, small town, kinda ambitious and hard-working(new words for geeky). I have won a scolarship of one year at bard college and its time to see the American neo-cons and the left-overs of liberalism at work during ur presidential campaign. Anyway, this is off the point right now.
"
I wish I could add something more solid and something like a solution, but the more I study international politics, the more cynical and complex the whole thing seems"
Fisrt, I was surprised to see this skeptic attitude. In Europe, we have the impression that American univ. raise u in the spirit of "Enlightenment and imperialism of Western Values". Here, on the other side of the world, we are raised to believe in them, although we cannot see them near. See, the world is complex as one gets to study it...
We have learned about the wars, apartheid, pragmatic choices, hunger, capitalism and huge inequalities. Moreover, some put this under the umbrella of national interest. but, as Miroslav Nicnic, in "The National Interest and its Interpretation" put it, there is a fundamental flaw of current approaches in trying to link the abstract "national interest" with specific policies. what is national or corporate interest in this case? are they the only engines of this seemingly fucked-up world? my answer to this is, clearly, not.
Remember, here, in romania we are learning to cherish these values u seem to dismiss so easily. and international politics, although it is dominated by sterile debates in magazines, has a practical part also. Yes, one can help: by being a negotiator, an international lawyer protecting HR, being a civillian admin i a PK operation, or being just a translator for UN.
Yeah, there ae many things one can do
waiting to hear ur thoughts on this,
Catalina
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Thank you, your comment is much appreciated. I posted this precisely because I knew I'd get comments from many different people all over the world. A broader perspective is always welcome.
Now... about the rip off part. I don't know what made you think I said that, it's definitely a huge amount of money, even if you don't take into account the tips that those who work as waiters etc get. I did say that the living conditions suck sometimes (this I know from someone who actually went to work in the US), but well... if you're willing to make that sacrifice it's still a lot of cash.
Oh and to set something straight (maybe I should have stated this clearer): my real problem is NOT the student work and travel program, it just happened that I had that flyer handy. I wanted to outline the social problems with the adults leaving, because the issue is very real and serious, but noone seems to pay attention to it. Yes, we get the money, but what good they are if a whole generation of kids grows with various issues due to the lack of parents? I don't have actual figures to show you, but I can assure you there are really LOTS of people leaving, everyone you'd ask would say he has a relative or friend who left.
I might overreact over this, but I think not. The explanation is longer and more complex. I'll try to sum it up for you.
As far as I know, US citizens are in various degrees proud of their country and nationality. Sure, there are exceptions. Also, a lot of you may hate your president. But overall I don't think there is a great percent of people who'd openly say they're ashamed to be US citizens.
Here, it's the other way around. You'd have to look hard for someone who does NOT badmouth Romania, with everything from politicians to economy and to the people in it. It's a common thing when someone complains about how things went wrong for him to get the reply "we live in Romania, what did you expect". And he will nod with a resigned look on his face, because he agrees. "We live in Romania and there's nothing one can do to make things better". There is a general sheepish and depressive attitude about every problem and difficulty. After decades of communist rule when things got from bad to worse and people were not allowed to speak or act, this is what you get.
Now, you'd think that the attitude will die with the older people, but it's not true! The young are just as disgusted with the country and a lot of them would do anything to leave. These kind of programs only encourage this idea that we Romanians can't do anything to help ourselves, we always have to look up to someone for help, guidance and whatever. It also encourages people not to stay in the country and build anything (a culture, a healthy way of life here and especially self-respect), and instead be all "pragmatic" and go live somewhere just for the money, even if they have no friends there and they're not respected.
I'm sorry if it sounds preaching, I'm not very good with words actually (that's why I draw, lol). I'm quite pissed at the whole thing. The country needs somewhat of a moral revolution. People need to get their self-esteem and hope back, and get working on how to solve their problems instead of escaping them by taking a short-term solution. The whole masses-working-abroad thing is just one of the things that delays this.
Surely, most likely something good will come out of this. Maybe Romanians will get a bit richer and realise that money alone are really not worth much. But even in this case, this "janitor generation" of nowadays will not live to see it. I just can't help but think there would have been a healthier way around solving the poverty problem.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
merita fav peste fav si peste fav.
sincera chiar nu am analizat probleme sociale actuale(trebuei sa fie un defect profesional.. eu fiind la istorie... si cam traiesc asa rupta de realitate.. grav 
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Deci ii bine! I raised awareness!! Yay
Poti sa incepi sa te gandesti de acuma si sa aplici lectiile pe care ti le da istoria pentru rezolvare
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
erm... nu cred ca itosria s-a confruntat vreodata cu asa ceva. chiar dupa revolutia industriala , femelile nu munceau deci cineva ramanea mereu acasa
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Nu trebuie sa dam vina, mai degraba sa-i multumim
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
noi... ca unii se cam plang
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I know EXACTLY what you're talking about. I have had relatives ask me about working jobs like this in the U.S. Sadly enough there are many scams going on that entice people to go work in the U.S., but once those people get here they find out they get little money, lots of work, and are being used. I've ment immigrants from my own country here who went through this, so this is how I know. Sometimes those people can't make enough money to buy themselves an airline ticket to fly back home! If they advertise $20.00 an hour, it's either a big scam or you only work about one-two hours a day. The minimum wage here is quite low,... about $6-$8.00 an hour and believe me when I say, there's plenty of people (students and immigrants from Mexico for instance) here who'd take take those jobs. If these flyers offer minimum wage, I'd more likely believe them. There is no need to import people from Europe to fill positions, especially not for $20.00 an hour. I don't claim to know much,.... but that's just the way I see it. And I completely agree with you on the breaking up of family over money. Again.... I know many people who have done it and I never understood this. I'd be pissed if my dad left to make money overseas, not coming back to see us for months or even years.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yes, what you say about the wages is true. Most other flyers advertise for $8-$11. Also, some people don't take the job they officially went for, and find something better. But it IS very hard and exploiting, and usually the living conditions and work hours suck (it's what I heard). Perhaps that's why they'd "import" people from here, because Americans would not agree with the conditions? I don't know either 
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yes precisely. 
I think that if I was in your position, I would probably consider England instead of the U.S. At least you're still relatively close to home, and you make some money.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Well, there have been countless cases of people duped into thinking they go to work in some foreign country and once they're there, forced into beggary or prostitution, so there's even worse. Not that these agencies that advertise all over the place would do such a thing, but still there's no guarantee they offer decent conditions.
I haven't heard of job offers for students in England so far, or anywhere in Europe for that matter, except Greece or Turkey, and I'm not keen on those 
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Definitely true. I would fear going into other countries to work based on some flyer,... no matter how nice-looking and professional it looked. If anything I'd ask friends who have been there and gone through it. By recommendation is the only way I'd take one of those jobs. It's cool that you don't have to do this sort of thing. 
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Misto ideea, ar merita sa fie poster si pus prin oras. Tocmai acum citeam un articol despre cersetorii romani din koln, carora li se spuse ca se duc la 'munca' si au ajuns pe strazi. [link] Realitatea poate fi dezgustatoare. Totusi revenind ... eu nu cred ca as pleca, decat eventual la studii si inainte de a avea o familie. Nu cred ca merita, daca esti dispus sa muncesti poti realiza ceva oriunde.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Ma enerveaza, peste tot flyers and shit. And I havent even got into the paper waste
(no actually, numa discutam, nu-s mai pornita decat impotriva...altor chestii?)
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
kek. am o prietena care se duce sa lucreze ca "ride operator" cu 8$/ora *shrug* nush de unde au scos aia 20$/ora pe flyer
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Cred ca se poate. Multi nu accepta job-ul care li se da "by default" si isi cauta ceva mai bun, si de obicei se gaseste.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
A really powerful message.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
So it's the same in all the poorer countries :/ At least we here have a hope for improvement since we joined the European Union, but what could Nepal do about it?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Actually Nepal can't do shit about it and I doubt it ever will at the current pace. 
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Things can only improve in time. If the country is not a desert, it means you have something to attract tourists with. Of course you need roads and places to stay for them, but with proper management and with those money the government wastes, they can be done. Apparently the problem everywhere is that the people that rule the country are assholes.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
(Chiar daca nu sunt in situatia asta, am foarte multi prieteni ai caror parinti sunt in strainatate si ei sufera)
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Multumesc de aprecieri! (desi subiectu nu-i asa placut :/)
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Da, dar opera ta de arta da...
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Ideea e ca 1/3 din economia Romaniei se bazeaza pe banii pe care oamenii care au plecat in strainatate il trimit inapoi. Si sincera sa fiu, daca ar trebui sa aleg intre a pleca sa lucrez si sa-mi las copilul, dar sa stiu ca pot sa ii ofer cat mai mult si a sta in tara cu salariu mediu pe economie si sa vad ca nu ajunge nici pentru intretinere, nu as ezita sa plec. Ma rog, parerea mea...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Eu sincer nu as pleca. Nimic nu se compara cu educatia si sprijinul moral pe care trebuie sa i-l oferi copilului pana la o anumita varsta (tu, ca parinte, nu prietenii sau bunicii sau mai stiu eu cine). Astea nu-s povesti. Maica-mea poate sa dea exemple concrete de cum s-au schimbat in rau elevi de-ai ei de cand parintii lor au plecat la munca in strainatate. Deci atata vreme cat nu murim de foame eu si copilul, as ramane cu el. Most definitely.
Cat despre 1/3 din economie... now I really doubt that. Probabil ca vin bani, dar gandeste-te ca:
-specialistii cei mai buni din domeniile lor pleaca. (software engineers de exemplu)
-zidarii, instalatorii, etc, pleaca.
-mai nou si profesorii pleaca, dar nu sa lucreze in domeniul lor, ci sa fie capsunari.
Pe termen lung, consecintele nu pot sa fie decat proaste. Intrebarea e (mai in gluma, mai in serios)... noi cu ce ramanem?
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Cat de mishto si de expresiv este! Desi realitatea exprimata e cam trista...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
A couple of wierd things:
*
20$/hour or equal in Swedish currency is not an unussual paynment here, but I earn less, even when I worked as a building engineer. And since I'm actually a Swedish citizen I also had to pay about 40% in taxes on that... Maybe _I_ should go and pick strawberries somewhere?
**
When private organizations and firms want to exploit the people of other countries because they are willing to work for less money, I can somehow understad it even if it's not ethnically correct or whatever... What I don't understand though is how the governments don't bother doing anything about it when
1. Well educated people leave their home countries to work somewhere else
2. When countries like Sweden that hires people from Eastern Europe have their own, relatively high unemploynment within those same professions...
***
Then there are those social problem that I haven't even thought of before, but knowing that I myself would never leave the ones closest to me for months, just to earn them some cash unless there was _no_ other option (and I think there most often is)...... I lost my thoughts there... but it seems to me as if it is a deeper problem that has to do alot with culture and some family hierarchy-thing, more than anything else... I have a hard time explaining myself here
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
20$/hour is astronomical for Romania. I can't think of people who make that kind of money except those in high management positions. I googled it up and last year, Romania's medium wage was 1,62 euros/hour.
My opinions on the students who go and work in the US for summer are mixed. I mean, they're good clean money and I was tempted to give it a go myself a few times. Better than asking your parents for money to pay the rent. But then, I keep thinking you can do something for your own country if you stay, your own little part in making things better.
It's so weird, those well educated people you were talking about go and get the jobs of unskilled laborers somewhere else. It's almost ridiculous when you think about it. An agreement between governments could regulate this, but then the state shouldn't mix in business so much.
Blah... I'm not saying anything new here, nor do I have any solutions. I was just trying to point out the social part of this that is often ignored. What was that about culture and family hierarchy? Do try to explain if you can, maybe you can provide a fresh view on this and I always appreciate that.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
damn 1,62 euros... but is the economy going better lately? and if it is, then how fast?
I think that what I was trying to say is that by culture - much less in West European countries than in Eastern, and especially in generationes from the 40's and 50's the man have been seen upon as the main provider for the house hold. Even if that is changing now, and so on, and so forth, on many levels it's still the same. And if you look furter down into the family hierarchy of these generation of people, and take a family where you have a father, whife and a couple of children, the father is in most cases less attached to the children than the mother. Why? - Because he is the provider, he provides and takes care of the practical things and teaches the children about the practical things, while the mother is more connected on an emotional level.
It's more in some families, and less in other, but this being the general situation where the parents are about 40-50 years old makes it kind of "natural" for e.i. the father to be away somewhere else to provide for the family...
And this is something that is probabably quite hard to change. but everything is changing lately, so it'll probably change more and more "by it self" with time...
About being just a student and going to some other country and get some extra money, have fun and see a different place, I can't see no harm though... I for instance, can't see myself being bound just to Sweden or Russia or whatever... As long as I don't ruin for thos closest to me and myself, I go anywhere...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yes, the economy is getting better, but it will be a long time until we're at the level of say, Sweden (if ever, lol). Romanian politicians are notorious for the fact that they can't really solve problems and just blame each other.... so yeah, it's gonna take a while.
I know what you mean about the mom being closer to the children and all (even in my family it's like that), but when it comes to working abroad, in a huge majority of cases both parents go (more money!). Some people take their children with them and sell everything they have here, and never come back. Come to think of it, the flat where I live at uni is rented from a family that went to work in Spain. It's so common for people to leave like that it doesn't even surprise me anymore, maybe it should?
I agree, as a student going to work abroad is probably a very good experience. It helps knowing different cultures and lifestyles, and it's not like you're not seeing your family and friends for years. But most of the other cases are just...sad.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
foarte fain, nu atat ca mod de realizare (fara suparare) ci mai mult ca mesaj, cam toti cei care merg la cules de capsuni isi distrug copii, le trimit bani, iar ei o iau razna, si parintii mei sunt profesori 
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
| Next =>