Just ranting mostly, if this isn’t the right sub for this feel free to point me in the right direction.
I’m 24 and recently moved to a new city. Previously I lived in a very small city and worked in childcare, starting at $10/hr and working up to $15/hr over the 1.5 years I worked there. The job was really good for me- I enjoy working with kids and felt like I was really making a difference and doing something meaningful. The facility was the most “prestigious” in the area, but the area had a lot of low-income families who qualified for childcare credits, so I was able to serve a wide array of families in the community. The pay wasn’t great, but it was enough for me to get by on in a less populated area with a lower cost of living. I wasn’t making many large purchases outside of necessities and I was overworked, but at least the work I was doing felt fulfilling and meaningful.
I really only moved because of the political climate of the area. I’m transgender, but those I worked with didn’t know that (except for one person who luckily kept it on the low). Working with kids in a conservative area, when so much of the conservative culture war is targeting trans people, did not feel safe (on top of just being trans in a conservative area generally).
I want to get back into childcare, but in the current circumstances it feels unlikely to work out. Not only do childcare centers here have stricter requirements for working (which is a good thing probably, I just don’t have the university level classes/certifications they want) but they’re paying the same or less than I was making in my old city- and my new city has a significantly higher cost of living.
I’m currently working for a housecleaning service and making 18.70/hr, and I’m still feeling stressed about money. I’m basically only sticking around long enough to use some of their paid sick leave while I have a hysterectomy in two weeks, and then I plan to look into other opportunities. I thought this would be a good fit for me considering that it’s above minimum wage and I have enjoyed janitorial work in the past, but I’ve only been at it for three weeks now and it feels like the work is taking a toll on my sanity.
Part of it is that I’m required to use my own car to carry equipment from house to house, so my car is always full of cleaner and used rags, which smells pretty bad on top of taking up so much space. The other part of it is that it didn’t take me long to realize that the service I’m providing is really only that accessible to very rich people- a handful of the residences I’ve cleaned so far seem pretty average, but for the most part, it’s fairly obvious that the homes we’re cleaning belong to people with a lot of money.
Seeing all these luxury homes, combined with a friend encouraging me to watch Selling Sunset and a ONS with a guy who works in real estate has made me realize just how much money is made by serving rich people- and it’s been extremely frustrating. I’ve been aware of how capitalism only goes to serve those at the top for a while, but I was out of touch with just how far above me these people are financially. Like, they can put half a million dollars into a luxury condo in a city they don’t even live in, and pay hundreds of dollars a week to have it professionally cleaned, while I’m stressed about being able to afford vaccinations for my dog.
Things really got to me today with a review after one of my cleanings. It’s my first week working on my own without a trainer, and I’m going into houses I’ve never seen before. After each clean, the clients are able to send a review to our managers, giving us a score of 0-4. On the customer’s end, a 3 means they are satisfied with the clean, and a 4 means we exceeded expectations. On my side, however, a 3 gives me a score of 75% and a 4 gives me a score of 100%. I’m expected to keep my average score above 97% if I don’t want to face disciplinary action.
Right now my score is at 82%, I’ve gotten only 7 reviews so far; three 3’s, three 4’s, and one 2. The two came from a clean I did today, from a client I’d never cleaned for before. The space wasn’t huge so I didn’t feel too rushed, and I really took my time paying attention to cleaning details. I scrubbed spots off of walls and made neat lines in the carpet with my vacuum because the notes on the job said those things were important to the client. In retrospect I believe I might have missed making a bed, but when I left the house I was honestly pretty proud of my work and expecting to get a 4.
Obviously that didn’t happen and the client gave me a 2. Their comment on the review said nothing negative about the actual cleaning I did- just that they could tell it wasn’t their regular cleaner who did the job because there wasn’t the same “little touches that make it sparkle” and they were upset that the office didn’t give them a heads up. It just really set me off. I doubt this person knows that this review could negatively affect my employment, and I guess I can understand being uncomfortable with somebody you don’t know being in your space and wanting to communicate that to the company, but the comment just reeked of entitlement. Like, I scrubbed grease off their oven and jam from their counters. I got on my hands and knees to wipe their bathroom floor with a rag because they don’t like the streaks the mop leaves. I picked hair out of their bathroom sink. And they give me a 2/4 because what- their pillows weren’t arranged in the cute way they were used to seeing?
Like I said, I’m going to try to find a new job once I’m recovered from surgery, but it’s feeling so stressful. I don’t want to do something that only serves rich people, whether that’s being a wage slave to one or cleaning their toilet. I want to directly help people who need it (preferably kids) but those jobs don’t pay enough. I’d love to do something creative as I recently found a love for art, but that seems impossible to make money from. I’m looking into some different trades I could potentially apprentice in, but that’s the only lead I’ve got right now that feels like it might be a good fit for me, and I’m stressed about it not working out for some reason.
As I said, I’m mostly venting. It just seems impossible to find a job that won’t require me to go back to school and won’t make me feel like I’m only working to serve rich people.