Mike Lefevre, Steelworker, and Dolores Dante, Waitress

After reading about Mike Lefevre, a steelworker, and Dolores Dante, a waitress, I was shocked about their feelings towards their types of work. I was more particularly surprised with how Lefevre and Dante viewed their individual jobs. Mr. Lefevre was a steelworker, who hated his job. Lefevre was a hard worker, but hated the type off work he did. He believed “the day [he] [gets] excited about [his] job is the day [he] [goes] to a headshrinker.” (319) Lefevre also hated when other people watched him at work. He believed that working was bad enough, and that he “would rather work [his] ass off for eight hours a day with nobody watching [him] then five minutes with a guy watching [him].” (320) Lefevre was called just a laborer, but to him it was “degrading to say just a laborer.” (320) Lefevre mostly hated his work, but he believed that he was more than just a laborer. The job made Lefevre blow up, and after an argument with one of his superior workers, he “got broke down to a lower grade and lost twenty-five cents an hour, which is a hell of a lot. It amounts to about ten dollars a week.” (321) Lefevre took out his anger on others through fights at his local tavern, but would never take it out on the wife and kids. Lefevre was a good father who wanted to send his kids to college. Lefevre also took his kids out on the weekends. Mrs. Dante “became a waitress because [she] needed money fast”. (329) Dante needed the job, because her “husband and [her] broke up and he left [her] with debts and three children.” (329) Dante was also an atheist, but she believed in her job as a waitress. Dante served coffee, cocktails, and a little philosophy. Dante also found the words, “just a waitress” to be “implying that [the] [customer] [was] not worthy, and that [she] [was] not worthy.” (331) These stories raise a few questions. The first question I have is why did these seemingly minor jobs mean so much to these average Americans? The second question I have is why were blue collar jobs viewed so highly when workers with an education made more money? These stories remind me of World War II, because, during the war, the women and minority factory workers viewed their seemingly small jobs on the assembly line so highly, which is the way Dante and Lefevre felt about their jobs. These stories also remind me of my 6th grade English teacher Mr. Jensen, because, after working at a steel mill in Indiana, he desired to get an education to earn more, even though he felt that his job at the mill mattered. These stories also remind me of myself, because I view my job, as a cashier at TJ Maxx, as not just a laboring position in retail, but of one that helps produce commerce in America.