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arguchikok...so while i'm down here in so-cal working, i'm staying in a hotel. my room is basically a studio apartment, with a fully equipped kitchen, small living area (with a fireplace!), a king-sized bed, and of course a bathroom. i have a two-part question:
1. should i "let" housekeeping come in and change the bed, replace used towels, clean, etc. every single day? i have a couple of concerns about this, and they are in tension with each other. on the one hand, i'm sure the housekeeping workers are paid an hourly wage, which means that if they don't clean my room they don't work as long, thus don't earn as much. on the other hand, i am by myself and don't really need to have my linens washed and my room's surfaces scrubbed and disinfected every single day--processes that consume water, bleach, detergents, and other chemicals, stuff that then gets ejected into the wastewater, etc. i have put out the "no service, please" sign a couple of times this past week, and each time i got a note on my door followed up with an anxious phone call from housekeeping asking me if everything was ok, if i needed anything, if i was *sure* i didn't need my room serviced, etc.
2. when i do "let" housekeeping come in and do their thing, how much should i tip? i have read some stuff online about tipping etiquette, but i'm kind of curious to hear what other people do. the suggested amounts vary a lot, from $1 to $5 (which translates into an even more disparate range of $7 to $35 per week); and the suggested method for tipping also varies, with some people recommending that i tip weekly or at the end of my stay, and others recommending that i tip daily because it's probably not going to be the same person doing the work every day.
today i was in my room when the housekeeper came. i think it made her a little nervous to have me there. she asked me a couple of times if it was ok for her to do her job--in particular if it was ok for her to change the bed, and to vacuum. for my part...i was impressed by how efficient and thorough she was. however, i was also uncomfortably aware of the fact that i was sitting there reading a book while she worked on my room.
in an uncritical, surface reading of the situation, i "simply" felt uncomfortable about having another human being clean up after me. it's not something i'm used to. now let's scratch this surface just a little... i don't typically think of myself as occupying a position of class privilege, but in this particular scenario i clearly do. indeed, i *always* do, i am just not always so conscious of it (though i should be, particularly if i want to claim a commitment to social justice, and actually *do* something to help bring it about). but still, i don't come from an economically privileged background, at least within the u.s. context, and i have never earned a high salary in my life (i don't think i've ever gotten up into the 30K range, actually, unless you were to average my salary with my ex-husband's for the years we were married, which is a different, albeit related, issue...). the point is, even cheap hotel stays are a luxury for me. if my employer weren't paying for my lodging now, there's no *way* i'd be able to afford to stay in this hotel for more than a few nights.
so this hotel is putting the housekeeper and me into a particular class relation with respect to each other, such that she cleans up after me, and i may or may not choose to "bestow" a tip on her. (come on...it's a wage...calling it a "gratuity" is an obfuscation.) this relation makes me uncomfortable, because i don't consider myself part of an upper class, and in most of my everyday life, i'm not considered thusly classed by other people--but class is always relative, and the privilege i *do* enjoy in my everyday life works in part by insulating me from reminders of my own privilege. but the hotel also *wants* me to feel privileged in this context--pampered and special--because this ensures that i won't question their decision to pay their housekeepers an unjust wage; they basically get me to participate in the system underlying that injustice. calling it a "gratuity" or a matter of "etiquette" covers up the fact that it's really an issue of basic social justice; and it deflects responsibility from the hotel to me, and to the housekeeper. if i tip the housekeeper, she is supposed to show gratitude for it rather than simply taking it as her just due; and if i don't tip her, she is supposed to keep quiet, and be satisfied with whatever compensation she gets from the hotel (see below). for my part, if i am uncomfortable being in the position of "bestowing" (or not) part of the housekeeper's hard-earned wages, there is no real way out of that position for me, or for her. if i tip her, that reinforces *social* class difference; and if i don't, she gets less income, which perpetuates *economic* class difference. (and also would make me a stingy asshole! i should be clear, here, that i *am* tipping, and will continue to do so.)
now, as a feminist and marxist scholar i recognize that class positions result from a systematic and insidious devaluing of certain types of labor and a concomitant valorization of other types of labor--for example public vs. domestic labor, intellectual vs. manual labor, paid vs. unpaid labor, men's vs. women's labor, "white" vs. "brown" people's labor, etc.--that are typically hierarchized along classist, sexist, and racist lines. these demarcations and hierarchies play out socially as well as economically, so that classism, sexism, and racism articulate together--i.e. economic and social differences (injustices!) are overdetermined. as a labor activist, i am uncomfortably aware of the fact that this is *not* a union hotel. (my employer has a policy of using union goods and services whenever possible, but there are apparently very few union hotels in this area, and none in close proximity to where i need to be.) that means the housekeeper probably earns less than a living wage--i'm sure her employer, whether it's the hotel or a contractor, calculates her wages by factoring in the assumption that she will receve "extra" income in the form of tips--and she probably doesn't have health insurance, either.
i recognize, of course, that i can work against the above-described demarcations and hierarchies in a given *particular* situation or interaction, by treating people with dignity and respect--in short, by treating them as equals (god, that sounds so condescending...why is this *ever* in question?). at the same time, i can't escape the fact that i *do* have a choice about how i treat the housekeeper--nothing would probably happen to me if i were rude, or if i left a big nasty mess, or refused to tip, or whatever (short of physically harming her--at least i hope something would happen to anyone who did that!). meanwhile, she really doesn't have a choice about how she treats me, or any other hotel customer--if she wants to keep her job. and i'm sure she really needs both the job, and the tips.
and that's really the root of my discomfort. power. i have it, in this situation (among others), whether i want it or not; it's not something i can simply, cleanly refuse to participate in. nor can she--even less so than me. that's just...fucked up. if you have ever wondered why i'm a labor activist, i guess you now have a partial answer.
1. should i "let" housekeeping come in and change the bed, replace used towels, clean, etc. every single day? i have a couple of concerns about this, and they are in tension with each other. on the one hand, i'm sure the housekeeping workers are paid an hourly wage, which means that if they don't clean my room they don't work as long, thus don't earn as much. on the other hand, i am by myself and don't really need to have my linens washed and my room's surfaces scrubbed and disinfected every single day--processes that consume water, bleach, detergents, and other chemicals, stuff that then gets ejected into the wastewater, etc. i have put out the "no service, please" sign a couple of times this past week, and each time i got a note on my door followed up with an anxious phone call from housekeeping asking me if everything was ok, if i needed anything, if i was *sure* i didn't need my room serviced, etc.
2. when i do "let" housekeeping come in and do their thing, how much should i tip? i have read some stuff online about tipping etiquette, but i'm kind of curious to hear what other people do. the suggested amounts vary a lot, from $1 to $5 (which translates into an even more disparate range of $7 to $35 per week); and the suggested method for tipping also varies, with some people recommending that i tip weekly or at the end of my stay, and others recommending that i tip daily because it's probably not going to be the same person doing the work every day.
today i was in my room when the housekeeper came. i think it made her a little nervous to have me there. she asked me a couple of times if it was ok for her to do her job--in particular if it was ok for her to change the bed, and to vacuum. for my part...i was impressed by how efficient and thorough she was. however, i was also uncomfortably aware of the fact that i was sitting there reading a book while she worked on my room.
in an uncritical, surface reading of the situation, i "simply" felt uncomfortable about having another human being clean up after me. it's not something i'm used to. now let's scratch this surface just a little... i don't typically think of myself as occupying a position of class privilege, but in this particular scenario i clearly do. indeed, i *always* do, i am just not always so conscious of it (though i should be, particularly if i want to claim a commitment to social justice, and actually *do* something to help bring it about). but still, i don't come from an economically privileged background, at least within the u.s. context, and i have never earned a high salary in my life (i don't think i've ever gotten up into the 30K range, actually, unless you were to average my salary with my ex-husband's for the years we were married, which is a different, albeit related, issue...). the point is, even cheap hotel stays are a luxury for me. if my employer weren't paying for my lodging now, there's no *way* i'd be able to afford to stay in this hotel for more than a few nights.
so this hotel is putting the housekeeper and me into a particular class relation with respect to each other, such that she cleans up after me, and i may or may not choose to "bestow" a tip on her. (come on...it's a wage...calling it a "gratuity" is an obfuscation.) this relation makes me uncomfortable, because i don't consider myself part of an upper class, and in most of my everyday life, i'm not considered thusly classed by other people--but class is always relative, and the privilege i *do* enjoy in my everyday life works in part by insulating me from reminders of my own privilege. but the hotel also *wants* me to feel privileged in this context--pampered and special--because this ensures that i won't question their decision to pay their housekeepers an unjust wage; they basically get me to participate in the system underlying that injustice. calling it a "gratuity" or a matter of "etiquette" covers up the fact that it's really an issue of basic social justice; and it deflects responsibility from the hotel to me, and to the housekeeper. if i tip the housekeeper, she is supposed to show gratitude for it rather than simply taking it as her just due; and if i don't tip her, she is supposed to keep quiet, and be satisfied with whatever compensation she gets from the hotel (see below). for my part, if i am uncomfortable being in the position of "bestowing" (or not) part of the housekeeper's hard-earned wages, there is no real way out of that position for me, or for her. if i tip her, that reinforces *social* class difference; and if i don't, she gets less income, which perpetuates *economic* class difference. (and also would make me a stingy asshole! i should be clear, here, that i *am* tipping, and will continue to do so.)
now, as a feminist and marxist scholar i recognize that class positions result from a systematic and insidious devaluing of certain types of labor and a concomitant valorization of other types of labor--for example public vs. domestic labor, intellectual vs. manual labor, paid vs. unpaid labor, men's vs. women's labor, "white" vs. "brown" people's labor, etc.--that are typically hierarchized along classist, sexist, and racist lines. these demarcations and hierarchies play out socially as well as economically, so that classism, sexism, and racism articulate together--i.e. economic and social differences (injustices!) are overdetermined. as a labor activist, i am uncomfortably aware of the fact that this is *not* a union hotel. (my employer has a policy of using union goods and services whenever possible, but there are apparently very few union hotels in this area, and none in close proximity to where i need to be.) that means the housekeeper probably earns less than a living wage--i'm sure her employer, whether it's the hotel or a contractor, calculates her wages by factoring in the assumption that she will receve "extra" income in the form of tips--and she probably doesn't have health insurance, either.
i recognize, of course, that i can work against the above-described demarcations and hierarchies in a given *particular* situation or interaction, by treating people with dignity and respect--in short, by treating them as equals (god, that sounds so condescending...why is this *ever* in question?). at the same time, i can't escape the fact that i *do* have a choice about how i treat the housekeeper--nothing would probably happen to me if i were rude, or if i left a big nasty mess, or refused to tip, or whatever (short of physically harming her--at least i hope something would happen to anyone who did that!). meanwhile, she really doesn't have a choice about how she treats me, or any other hotel customer--if she wants to keep her job. and i'm sure she really needs both the job, and the tips.
and that's really the root of my discomfort. power. i have it, in this situation (among others), whether i want it or not; it's not something i can simply, cleanly refuse to participate in. nor can she--even less so than me. that's just...fucked up. if you have ever wondered why i'm a labor activist, i guess you now have a partial answer.
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-02 12:18 am (UTC)Thoughts on the class ideas might require me to read that another dozen times.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-03 10:56 pm (UTC)