![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem came out of the March 2021 ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from ng_moonmoth. It also fills the "Irish" square in my 3-1-21 card for the Celtic Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred, ng_moonmoth, janetmiles, and edorfaus. It belongs to the Mercedes and Finn Family threads of the Polychrome Heroics series. It follows "The Responsibility to Care," so read that first or this won't make much sense.
"On the Backs of All This Unpaid Labor"
[Monday, July 20, 2015]
Molly was restocking snacks
when she realized that the dishes
had not been washed yet.
"It's easier to do those if you
don't wait until the food dries,"
she said to Jefferson.
"Shouldn't you be doing
that?" he said. "You're the girl."
"No, it's your turn today,"
Molly said in a firm tone.
"I'm not doing extra work
just because I'm female."
"You've got the Irish temper,
all right," Jefferson muttered.
"And don't you forget it,"
Molly said tartly.
As she watched,
Jefferson picked up
the dishes, turned on
the faucet, then gave them
a cursory rinse and wipe
before putting each one
into the rack to drain.
"Not like that," she said.
"Well, if you want it done
right, do it yourself,"
Jefferson retorted.
Molly frowned. "Do you
know how to wash dishes?
Has anyone shown you?"
"I've seen it done," he said,
looking away from her.
"When you were growing up,
who did the dishes?" she said.
"The maid?" Jefferson said,
looking confused. "I mean,
that's what they get paid for."
"You have an apartment of
your own now, right?" Molly said.
"So who does the dishes there?"
"The maid," Jefferson said.
"My parents paid the rent on
a nice place for summer. It's not
big, because I don't need much room,
but it has all the right amenities. So
the maids come in every day for
light cleaning, like at a hotel, and
deeper cleaning once in a while."
"O … kay," Molly said slowly.
That made a lot of things clearer,
like why Jefferson never seemed
to pick up anything without being told,
and why he left towels on the floor.
"But I just get the basics, not all of
the luxuries," Jefferson said. "Dad told
me if I want to use the chef, I have to pay
for it myself, and I really can't afford it --
but I want to celebrate summer's end."
"Well, that's something," Molly said.
"Here we share chores to keep
Soup to Nuts tidy, so we don't
have to pay a cleaning service."
"I thought women just did
that stuff," Jefferson said.
"All the maids are women."
"They get paid for that. It's not
a gender marker," Molly said.
"Men often take advantage of
women, claiming it's natural."
"It's not?" Jefferson said.
"Economies are built on the backs
of all this unpaid labor that people
do -- mostly women," said Molly.
"Not just housework but also
childcare and emotional labor."
Jefferson looked even more lost.
"What's emotional labor?" he said.
"Emotional labor is feeling management
and life management combined," said Molly.
"It is the unpaid, invisible work we do to keep
those around us comfortable and happy. As
an Empath, it's a necessity just to get through
the day without collapsing, since I can only
shield so much. It's easier to divert emotions
in a positive direction than block them outright."
"Oh. That sounds exhausting," he said.
"It is," Molly said. "When I was younger,
we left Atwood because word got out
that I'm an Empath, and people were
horrible about it. Here, it's easier,
and I have more experience now."
"It's good that things are better
for you here," Jefferson said.
Confusion still swirled around him.
"I think so too," Molly said. "Listen,
have you ever taken a patchwork test?"
"No," said Jefferson. "I thought that
was for abuse victims or foster kids."
"They do tend to need it more, because
they usually have gaps, but it's still
recommended for all young people
to see what they might have missed
growing up," Molly said. "Go back and
ask Da to give you one, we do it here."
Jefferson hesitated. "What about
washing the dishes?" he said.
"I'll do this batch," Molly said.
"Then you can cover for me
another time. We trade chores
here so everything gets done.
The test takes quite a while,
so you should get started."
"Okay," Jefferson said,
heading toward the office.
Molly rewashed the dishes
that Jefferson had given
a cursory rinse, then the rest.
Someone would have to show him
the right way to do them later.
She checked the choreboard
and was unsurprised to find
that he hadn't done much.
They hadn't pushed earlier,
because he was just getting
used to the place, and now
she was glad, because
Jefferson probably didn't
know how to do any of it.
So Molly did his chores
for him, making note of
which ones so he could
cover for her another day.
It was a slow day for
the zoomwagon, and
the only calls were things
that could be handled
at home with coaching.
Then Jefferson came out
of the office feeling glum.
"What's wrong?" Molly said
as she hurried over to him.
"I flunked the test," he said.
"How could I flunk it? I know
how to do things, I'm not stupid!"
"It's not about being stupid, it's
about what things you've had
a chance to learn or not,"
Molly explained. "Did you
do well on any of the parts?"
"Well, yeah," he admitted.
"I got Exceptional on Health,
Emergency and Safety Skills,
Educational Planning, and um …
Knowledge of Community Resources."
"Jefferson, that's wonderful," she said.
"You didn't flunk the test. Not everyone
gets Exceptional in any category.
Did you get any Advanced?"
"Money Management,
Transportation, and
Interpersonal Skills,"
Jefferson recited.
"That's above average
in almost half the test,"
Molly said. "Intermediate?"
"Food Management, Legal Skills,
Personal Appearance and Hygiene
Job Seeking Skills -- but I already
got a job!" Jefferson said.
"Okay," Molly said. "Do you
want to talk about what you
missed in those sections?"
"They kept asking about things
I didn't need," Jefferson grumbled.
"Like what?" Molly asked him.
"Cooking -- I don't have to cook,
I eat out. Laundry, I pay people to do
that. I don't need employment agencies,
those are for people without special skills,"
Jefferson said. "It's not relevant to me."
"Well, everyone needs to eat, and cooking
is good for human bonding," Molly said.
"If you understand laundry, you can save
things that get spilled on, before they stain.
You may not need employment agencies,
but what if a friend does? People look up
to medics, so they ask us for advice."
"Uh … what should I do, then?"
Jefferson said, feeling baffled.
"Pick one thing from those topics,
since you're close to skilled there,"
Molly suggested. "Either cooking or
laundry would be a good place to start."
"Cooking," Jefferson said. "I could
learn basic stuff, and food is part
of health studies anyway."
"Well reasoned," she said.
"Did you score any basics?"
"Yeah, Job Maintenance Skills
and Child Care," said Jefferson.
"I can see the job issues," Molly said.
"You don't always know how to talk
to higher-ranked people, and you
aren't very good at asking for help.
What happened with Child Care?"
"I know about pregnancy, but
not much about raising kids,"
Jefferson said. "I skipped that
in high school because I knew
the college courses were better."
"Well, you're not wrong," Molly said.
"Still, you should look into getting
advanced babysitting certifications
at least -- kids get hurt a lot, so you
need to know how to handle them."
"Oh, shit," Jefferson said, blanching.
"I'll get those certs." He made a note
on his smartphone. "What about
job skills? I don't want to get fired!"
"You won't as long as you work on
the issues," Molly said. "You're new,
nobody expects you to know everything.
We do expect you to speak up if you
don't know what to do or how to do it.
Da can help you make a plan for that,
and log any certifications you earn."
"Okay. I can work on it," Jefferson said.
"I didn't know I was missing all this stuff."
"That's what a patchwork test is for,"
Molly said. "So that leaves Housing
and Housekeeping as Incomplete?"
"Yeah," Jefferson said, emanating
despair. "I didn't know anything about
emergency shelter, because I'm not poor!
And housekeeping, that's what maids
are for, they need their jobs and people
with higher skills shouldn't waste time
doing stuff that anyone could do."
"What if your house or apartment
burned down? Or if we got a call
to a public shelter?" Molly asked.
"You'd need to know about it then."
"I didn't think of that," Jefferson said.
"Housekeeping is good to know
in case your maid calls in sick or
a friend needs help -- not to mention,
some jobs share chores like we do,"
Molly added. "We're happy to teach you."
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea,"
he said. "It sounds like a lot, though."
"Do not try to do everything at once,"
Molly warned him. "Here, you can
knock off shelters right now." She
grabbed a flyer and handed it to him.
"These are some local resources for
emergency housing. Study this and
you can fulfill that requirement."
"Thanks," Jefferson said, tucking
it into a pocket. "I'll do that tonight.
Housework? Where do I even start?"
Molly grinned. "We can kill two birds
with one stone there," she said, using
her smartphone to bring up a list. "See,
these are chores for kids grouped by age.
When they master one skill, they move on
to its next level. You start with easy things
and work up. We'll show you what to do;
then you'll have an idea what kids can do."
"You weren't happy about the dishes,
so … setting the table?" He looked
around. "We don't have a dining table."
"No, but we have coffee tables and
break tables," Molly said. "We also
set up snack trays, which is easy."
"Okay, I can do that," Jefferson said.
"It looks like your gaps come from
growing up in a household where
other people did lots of things for you,"
said Molly. "You might want to make
friends from different backgrounds."
"And when they decide I'm a dick
because I don't already know
this stuff?" Jefferson said dryly.
"Just tell them you missed it
growing up and now you're
trying to catch up," said Molly.
"The ones worth knowing will
understand and help you out."
"I hope so," said Jefferson.
"There are a lot of gaps."
"Remember that you did
better than average in a lot
of parts too," Molly said. "Here,
let's jot down things that you
want to start working on."
"Yeah, that's a good idea,"
Jefferson said, taking more notes.
"Given your financial background,
I suggest that you make a budget
to save for a celebratory chef meal
when you complete your internship
at the end of summer," Molly said.
"I've been trying to save some, but
it's hard to keep track," he said.
"Ask Mrs. Wu to show you how
to set up a budget," said Molly.
"I bet you can save money by
doing some of your own laundry
and housekeeping chores."
"Once you show me what
to do, yeah," said Jefferson.
"You can get money back if you
don't max out the services."
"You might also want to budget
for stainproof shoes," Molly said.
"In your work, you'll need them."
Dave groaned. "That is not
a beginner goal, Molly!"
he said as he came in.
"Fair point," she conceded.
"Jefferson, you'll probably need
your parents to buy those, then."
"Oh good," said Jefferson.
"They'll be happy to do it."
"What are you two working on?"
Dave wondered. "Life skills?"
Jefferson sighed. "Molly noticed
that I didn't do dishes the way
that she wanted. So I took
a patchwork test and it showed
a lot more gaps than I expected."
"Plenty of people are surprised
by their results," Dave said.
"Did you get any good scores?"
"Yeah, some," Jefferson said,
and recited them. That made
him perk up a little more.
"Have you decided what
to work on?" Dave asked.
Jefferson showed him the list.
Dave looked at it, then said,
"I can coach you on asking for
help. Roleplaying is good for that,
and I'm sure we have a binder
full of scenarios around here.
You'll need that skill in order
to work on most of the others."
"That would be great, thanks,"
Jefferson said, nodding.
"I'll go look --" Dave began,
turning toward the bookcases.
But a call came in, and they
had to roll out the zoomwagon,
so Jefferson would have to wait.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its location and content notes appear elsewhere.
crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from ng_moonmoth. It also fills the "Irish" square in my 3-1-21 card for the Celtic Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred, ng_moonmoth, janetmiles, and edorfaus. It belongs to the Mercedes and Finn Family threads of the Polychrome Heroics series. It follows "The Responsibility to Care," so read that first or this won't make much sense."On the Backs of All This Unpaid Labor"
[Monday, July 20, 2015]
Molly was restocking snacks
when she realized that the dishes
had not been washed yet.
"It's easier to do those if you
don't wait until the food dries,"
she said to Jefferson.
"Shouldn't you be doing
that?" he said. "You're the girl."
"No, it's your turn today,"
Molly said in a firm tone.
"I'm not doing extra work
just because I'm female."
"You've got the Irish temper,
all right," Jefferson muttered.
"And don't you forget it,"
Molly said tartly.
As she watched,
Jefferson picked up
the dishes, turned on
the faucet, then gave them
a cursory rinse and wipe
before putting each one
into the rack to drain.
"Not like that," she said.
"Well, if you want it done
right, do it yourself,"
Jefferson retorted.
Molly frowned. "Do you
know how to wash dishes?
Has anyone shown you?"
"I've seen it done," he said,
looking away from her.
"When you were growing up,
who did the dishes?" she said.
"The maid?" Jefferson said,
looking confused. "I mean,
that's what they get paid for."
"You have an apartment of
your own now, right?" Molly said.
"So who does the dishes there?"
"The maid," Jefferson said.
"My parents paid the rent on
a nice place for summer. It's not
big, because I don't need much room,
but it has all the right amenities. So
the maids come in every day for
light cleaning, like at a hotel, and
deeper cleaning once in a while."
"O … kay," Molly said slowly.
That made a lot of things clearer,
like why Jefferson never seemed
to pick up anything without being told,
and why he left towels on the floor.
"But I just get the basics, not all of
the luxuries," Jefferson said. "Dad told
me if I want to use the chef, I have to pay
for it myself, and I really can't afford it --
but I want to celebrate summer's end."
"Well, that's something," Molly said.
"Here we share chores to keep
Soup to Nuts tidy, so we don't
have to pay a cleaning service."
"I thought women just did
that stuff," Jefferson said.
"All the maids are women."
"They get paid for that. It's not
a gender marker," Molly said.
"Men often take advantage of
women, claiming it's natural."
"It's not?" Jefferson said.
"Economies are built on the backs
of all this unpaid labor that people
do -- mostly women," said Molly.
"Not just housework but also
childcare and emotional labor."
Jefferson looked even more lost.
"What's emotional labor?" he said.
"Emotional labor is feeling management
and life management combined," said Molly.
"It is the unpaid, invisible work we do to keep
those around us comfortable and happy. As
an Empath, it's a necessity just to get through
the day without collapsing, since I can only
shield so much. It's easier to divert emotions
in a positive direction than block them outright."
"Oh. That sounds exhausting," he said.
"It is," Molly said. "When I was younger,
we left Atwood because word got out
that I'm an Empath, and people were
horrible about it. Here, it's easier,
and I have more experience now."
"It's good that things are better
for you here," Jefferson said.
Confusion still swirled around him.
"I think so too," Molly said. "Listen,
have you ever taken a patchwork test?"
"No," said Jefferson. "I thought that
was for abuse victims or foster kids."
"They do tend to need it more, because
they usually have gaps, but it's still
recommended for all young people
to see what they might have missed
growing up," Molly said. "Go back and
ask Da to give you one, we do it here."
Jefferson hesitated. "What about
washing the dishes?" he said.
"I'll do this batch," Molly said.
"Then you can cover for me
another time. We trade chores
here so everything gets done.
The test takes quite a while,
so you should get started."
"Okay," Jefferson said,
heading toward the office.
Molly rewashed the dishes
that Jefferson had given
a cursory rinse, then the rest.
Someone would have to show him
the right way to do them later.
She checked the choreboard
and was unsurprised to find
that he hadn't done much.
They hadn't pushed earlier,
because he was just getting
used to the place, and now
she was glad, because
Jefferson probably didn't
know how to do any of it.
So Molly did his chores
for him, making note of
which ones so he could
cover for her another day.
It was a slow day for
the zoomwagon, and
the only calls were things
that could be handled
at home with coaching.
Then Jefferson came out
of the office feeling glum.
"What's wrong?" Molly said
as she hurried over to him.
"I flunked the test," he said.
"How could I flunk it? I know
how to do things, I'm not stupid!"
"It's not about being stupid, it's
about what things you've had
a chance to learn or not,"
Molly explained. "Did you
do well on any of the parts?"
"Well, yeah," he admitted.
"I got Exceptional on Health,
Emergency and Safety Skills,
Educational Planning, and um …
Knowledge of Community Resources."
"Jefferson, that's wonderful," she said.
"You didn't flunk the test. Not everyone
gets Exceptional in any category.
Did you get any Advanced?"
"Money Management,
Transportation, and
Interpersonal Skills,"
Jefferson recited.
"That's above average
in almost half the test,"
Molly said. "Intermediate?"
"Food Management, Legal Skills,
Personal Appearance and Hygiene
Job Seeking Skills -- but I already
got a job!" Jefferson said.
"Okay," Molly said. "Do you
want to talk about what you
missed in those sections?"
"They kept asking about things
I didn't need," Jefferson grumbled.
"Like what?" Molly asked him.
"Cooking -- I don't have to cook,
I eat out. Laundry, I pay people to do
that. I don't need employment agencies,
those are for people without special skills,"
Jefferson said. "It's not relevant to me."
"Well, everyone needs to eat, and cooking
is good for human bonding," Molly said.
"If you understand laundry, you can save
things that get spilled on, before they stain.
You may not need employment agencies,
but what if a friend does? People look up
to medics, so they ask us for advice."
"Uh … what should I do, then?"
Jefferson said, feeling baffled.
"Pick one thing from those topics,
since you're close to skilled there,"
Molly suggested. "Either cooking or
laundry would be a good place to start."
"Cooking," Jefferson said. "I could
learn basic stuff, and food is part
of health studies anyway."
"Well reasoned," she said.
"Did you score any basics?"
"Yeah, Job Maintenance Skills
and Child Care," said Jefferson.
"I can see the job issues," Molly said.
"You don't always know how to talk
to higher-ranked people, and you
aren't very good at asking for help.
What happened with Child Care?"
"I know about pregnancy, but
not much about raising kids,"
Jefferson said. "I skipped that
in high school because I knew
the college courses were better."
"Well, you're not wrong," Molly said.
"Still, you should look into getting
advanced babysitting certifications
at least -- kids get hurt a lot, so you
need to know how to handle them."
"Oh, shit," Jefferson said, blanching.
"I'll get those certs." He made a note
on his smartphone. "What about
job skills? I don't want to get fired!"
"You won't as long as you work on
the issues," Molly said. "You're new,
nobody expects you to know everything.
We do expect you to speak up if you
don't know what to do or how to do it.
Da can help you make a plan for that,
and log any certifications you earn."
"Okay. I can work on it," Jefferson said.
"I didn't know I was missing all this stuff."
"That's what a patchwork test is for,"
Molly said. "So that leaves Housing
and Housekeeping as Incomplete?"
"Yeah," Jefferson said, emanating
despair. "I didn't know anything about
emergency shelter, because I'm not poor!
And housekeeping, that's what maids
are for, they need their jobs and people
with higher skills shouldn't waste time
doing stuff that anyone could do."
"What if your house or apartment
burned down? Or if we got a call
to a public shelter?" Molly asked.
"You'd need to know about it then."
"I didn't think of that," Jefferson said.
"Housekeeping is good to know
in case your maid calls in sick or
a friend needs help -- not to mention,
some jobs share chores like we do,"
Molly added. "We're happy to teach you."
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea,"
he said. "It sounds like a lot, though."
"Do not try to do everything at once,"
Molly warned him. "Here, you can
knock off shelters right now." She
grabbed a flyer and handed it to him.
"These are some local resources for
emergency housing. Study this and
you can fulfill that requirement."
"Thanks," Jefferson said, tucking
it into a pocket. "I'll do that tonight.
Housework? Where do I even start?"
Molly grinned. "We can kill two birds
with one stone there," she said, using
her smartphone to bring up a list. "See,
these are chores for kids grouped by age.
When they master one skill, they move on
to its next level. You start with easy things
and work up. We'll show you what to do;
then you'll have an idea what kids can do."
"You weren't happy about the dishes,
so … setting the table?" He looked
around. "We don't have a dining table."
"No, but we have coffee tables and
break tables," Molly said. "We also
set up snack trays, which is easy."
"Okay, I can do that," Jefferson said.
"It looks like your gaps come from
growing up in a household where
other people did lots of things for you,"
said Molly. "You might want to make
friends from different backgrounds."
"And when they decide I'm a dick
because I don't already know
this stuff?" Jefferson said dryly.
"Just tell them you missed it
growing up and now you're
trying to catch up," said Molly.
"The ones worth knowing will
understand and help you out."
"I hope so," said Jefferson.
"There are a lot of gaps."
"Remember that you did
better than average in a lot
of parts too," Molly said. "Here,
let's jot down things that you
want to start working on."
"Yeah, that's a good idea,"
Jefferson said, taking more notes.
"Given your financial background,
I suggest that you make a budget
to save for a celebratory chef meal
when you complete your internship
at the end of summer," Molly said.
"I've been trying to save some, but
it's hard to keep track," he said.
"Ask Mrs. Wu to show you how
to set up a budget," said Molly.
"I bet you can save money by
doing some of your own laundry
and housekeeping chores."
"Once you show me what
to do, yeah," said Jefferson.
"You can get money back if you
don't max out the services."
"You might also want to budget
for stainproof shoes," Molly said.
"In your work, you'll need them."
Dave groaned. "That is not
a beginner goal, Molly!"
he said as he came in.
"Fair point," she conceded.
"Jefferson, you'll probably need
your parents to buy those, then."
"Oh good," said Jefferson.
"They'll be happy to do it."
"What are you two working on?"
Dave wondered. "Life skills?"
Jefferson sighed. "Molly noticed
that I didn't do dishes the way
that she wanted. So I took
a patchwork test and it showed
a lot more gaps than I expected."
"Plenty of people are surprised
by their results," Dave said.
"Did you get any good scores?"
"Yeah, some," Jefferson said,
and recited them. That made
him perk up a little more.
"Have you decided what
to work on?" Dave asked.
Jefferson showed him the list.
Dave looked at it, then said,
"I can coach you on asking for
help. Roleplaying is good for that,
and I'm sure we have a binder
full of scenarios around here.
You'll need that skill in order
to work on most of the others."
"That would be great, thanks,"
Jefferson said, nodding.
"I'll go look --" Dave began,
turning toward the bookcases.
But a call came in, and they
had to roll out the zoomwagon,
so Jefferson would have to wait.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its location and content notes appear elsewhere.
