Dolores Dante was a waitress at the same restaurant for 23 years and worked from 5:00PM-2:00AM. She became a waitress because she needed fast money to support her children; her husband left her and left her with debts. She wasn't like your average waitress. She liked being an interesting person by saying things in interesting ways to have more fun, "What's exciting at the bar that I can offer" (330). She also wasn't like the average waitress because she never over-stressed over her earnings, "If you like people, you aren't thinking of the tips. I never count my money at night. I always wait till morning. If I thought about my tips I'd be uptight. I never look at a tip" (331). If someone didn't know what to give her for her tip, she would just say, "...it didn't really matter whether I got a tip or not. I would spit it out, my resentment..." (331). This illustrates her character that life isn't all about money. She was just a happy person in general. She also enjoyed making conversation with her customers and making amusing comments to them.
Phil Stallings was an auto worker at the Ford assembly plant on the far South Side of Chicago. He works from 3:30PM-midnight. His job was very hard and had a lot of negatives, "I stand in one spot, about 2 or 3 feet area, all night. The only time a person stops is when the line stops. We do about 32 jobs per car, per unit. 48 units an hour, 8 hours a day. 32 times 48 times 8...That's how many times I push that button. The noise is very loud. You open your mouth and you're liable to get a mouthful of sparks. That's a burn, these are burns" (354-355).This exemplifies how terrible, difficult, and scary his job was. He could get sparks in his mouth, it was extremely loud (hurt your ears), and he got a lot of burns. There was also racial tension at the plant, "...there's tension here. It's not always obvious, but the whites stay with the whites and the coloreds stay with the coloreds" (356). I just think it is really too bad that everyone couldn't just get along, work, and socialize together. Phil and Dolores tried to achieve and grasp the American Dream by making enough money to support themselves and their loved ones and to succeed in society. Phil didn't love his job, but Dolores liked hers. Back then, there was a lot of racial discrimination, which was too bad. However, nowadays, there is a lot less racial discrimination. Therefore, things have improved over time, which is good. We just have to keep on improving society for everyone.
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