A LABOR DAY SAMPLER
What Americans profiled by The Times think about their work.
EMMA NOBLE:
DELICATESSEN WAITRESS
“A job is what you make of it. If you use it just to make a living and nothing else, you’ll never get anywhere . . . I made up my mind to enjoy what I do. And why not? I’ve gotten to know so many beautiful people here. If I wouldn’t work, I wouldn’t know what was going on with them . . . It’s like family.”
CHUNG U CHON:
CORNER GROCER
“In this country, you still got a lot of chances. You want to make money here, you can make money. You can do anything in this country. If you work hard, work very hard.”
ED DAVIS:
MAINE LOBSTERMAN
“The only thing I ever wanted to do was lobster. It’s a good life. It’s a free life. I never had to take orders from anybody. . . . You don’t do it for the money. At the end of the year, it’s just a living. . . . but it’s different than a job. That’s what keeps me in it. It’s the love of the water, and the freedom that keeps me going, you know.”
PAULINAPORIZKOVA:
TOP MODEL
“One of the biggest minuses is the insecurities modeling gives you . . . no matter how beautiful you are, you always think you’re not beautiful enough. You’re not perfect, and modeling sort of digs that in more than anything.”
RALPH YOUNGS:
AUTO WORKER
“Sometimes, I think, ‘Boy, I wish I had gone to college; maybe I’d have an easier job; maybe I’d be sitting in an air-conditioned office.’ But when you think about it, I make more money a year than a lot of people who went to college . . . . Besides that, I’m just not a suit and tie kind of a person . . . I like to do things with my hands . . . “
BOB HAZEL:
WHISKEY SALESMAN AND FORMER BIG LEAGUE BALLPLAYER
“People’ll say to me, ‘You played ball. You ought to be retired.’ And I say, ‘Do you know what you’re talking about, fella? We didn’t make any money to amount to anything then. I got to work to pay the bills like anyone else. . . . Don’t get me wrong. I like my work . . . . It keeps me active and that I’ve got to be.”
DOROTHY CLEMENT:
SMALL CAFE OWNER
“Money’s always on my mind on work days, from the minute I get up. In a business like mine, every day’s a battle with the buck--trying to get it and trying to keep it. . . . Most of the time I don’t feel like a business person at all. I feel like the little Dutch boy, trying to plug up the holes in the dike with his fingers.”
DIANNA GUINYARD:
SOCIAL WORKER
“One city bureaucrat had the nerve to tell me I’m doing too much for my clients. My clients can’t can’t come out and fight the system. I have to do it. Sure you get weary, but you know if you don’t do it no one will. . . . Computers will take over everything but the human touch.”
C. NORMAN MORROW III:
REFRIGERATION SALESMAN AND FORMER STEEL MILL WORKER
“In the mill, I worked eight hours, and I did the same thing day after day after day. I stood on top of coke ovens that were so hot we had to wear wooden shoes . . . . Two years after I started, I was doing the highest paid production job in the mill. That was as far as I could go . . . But here, the only one holding me back is me.”
MIKE HELLER:
AIRLINE DISPATCHER
“There’s more weather (in the United States) here than any other place in the world. As a rule, if you’re dispatching aircraft in the U.S. you’ll be dealing with it almost every day . . . . (but) even people within the airline aren’t sure what we do.,”
JOE ERNST:
MACHINIST
“What we do is just a little part of things, but its important because of America’s future . . . Can you imagine how much it would cost if they had to shape these (wheel) rims by hand? Without companies like this you wouldn’t be able to drive a car. Instead of costing $10,000 they’d cost $30,000 . . . . If the U.S. did not have places like this a lot of people would be a lot worse off.”
