February
10
The Price of Nice Nails–New York Times series
http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/04/30/nyregion/10nailsweb1/10nailsweb1-articleLarge.jpg
Reader Response.
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Summarize it briefly. Then, share some of your thoughts about the piece. What was your original reaction? What surprised you? What affected you most? Can you think of any solutions to the problems presented in the article?
The article shows us the hardship of being an immigrant and working a job that pays little to nothing. At first i thought the article was about people working at a nail salon. But as i read through it got more deeper than that. These hard working people get ripped off as soon as they get the job. People come here for a better opportunity and live a life, but not like this.
my original reaction to this article was amazement because i did not know about the failure to provide a pay with employment. the thing that surprised me is that we are in a new age and have been for some time now you would think human life mattered it hurts me to see that people are selfish enough to let someone who works hard for there employer continue a life style that is unhealthy like living with pest or in a one bed room home with eleven other people and children. i also dislike how they have to pay for there training and cant afford to because they are working with out pay for months with out receiving any commission. that’s not giving any one a chance to survive and to me i see it as a way to enslave. this is not freedom or comfort ability at all. a solution would be to pay them minimum wage and allow them to pay for there training threw there pay check every two weeks or how ever they are payed , the fair way would be to be fair.
This article describes the struggle that many manicurist go through on the behalf of the owners of some of the salons on the streets of New York City . What surprised me the most was the fact that these Asian American manicurist are underpaid, underappreciated, and mistreated on a daily basis simply because of their race, color, ethnicity etc. This article gave me insight on a subject that does not cross my mind often, what affected me the most is seeing how they are treated as they work as hard as possible, because of that I feel a larger appreciation for the way I am treated/compensated for any work that I do.
In the article, “The Price of Nice Nails,” by Sarah Maslin Nir the manicurists expresses their daily routines, how they are under payed and treated badly by the owners. Most manicurists live off their tips and only get paid if they are of a certain race which is Korean’s. Owners are the ones who are really getting paid and buying nice cars because owners feel like they are putting their business on the line hiring workers that aren’t even U.S citizens. My initial reaction was that’s so messed up because these poor women are basically slaves to their own race/women. What affected me the most was that I go to the nail shop and notice that the owner which happens to be a man sits in the back and collects the money while all these manicurist are bent over women feet scrubbing and painting toes for a little to no money. My solution to this problem would be to make the manicurist go to school and do things the right way that way they will have to get paid. Also, I would even go on strike as a woman doing all this work with hardly a break and pay I would do a lot of walkouts.
Halonna Gilbert
Professor Keeble
English 201 A
17th February 2016
The Price of Nice Nails Summary
The price of nice nails may come as a shocker as the wages of the current nail salons has not changed since the 1990s for a reason. The salons are most commonly found on the streets of New York City and the competition of these Korean owned shops has been increasing. The price of low trendy nails has been the same but many shop owners display their salons as if you are looking through the glass of a Holiday window, which is far from the truth. Many manicurists in the nail salons are undocumented and know very little English, one of the few available jobs are at nail salons. Every beginning has to pay a training fee of $100, and even when they are on the floor working on customers, they are still not allowed to get paid until their boss says they are experienced enough to receive it. It is also common for beginner manicurist to work 12 hours a day for $34, more advanced manicurist receiver up to $70 or $80 per day. Even as they move up in this industry it is far from luxurious, the plastic particles in the air is very unhealthy and cause problems like miscarriage or even cancer. There is also a lot of discrimination in this industry, the two most common are against Chinese and Ecuadorian workers, they are usually treated unfairly by their Korean boss and get the undesirable customers such as males, and pedicures. The Korean manicurist is treated more fairly as they only work on females and work on manicures. The under paid workers are also forced to pay for spilled polishes, new clothes, and receive pay deductions because of their unhappy clients. There have been many lawyers who have tried to shut down these chains and when they question the owners about their shops they believe they aren’t in the wrong. The shop owners are able to bypass the minimum wage laws by considering it “tipped work” but often the manicurist aren’t tipped at all and never receive a decent wage for the day. It is surprising you me how long this has been going on now. There are too many injustices in this world and if they can be stopped they should be as soon as possible.
What I got from this article is that I didn’t know how cut throat small business really are. This article also reminds me of when everybody wanted to come to America for the “American Dream” but instead of having money, cars, and power, these immigrants are cheated out of this opportunities for a better life in America.
This article was a way for myself to look in another culture and how hard they work to get higher in life. Anyone of color or to be more exact none white were always taught or most were that you have to work harder to get to a equal playing ground. I enjoyed this article and thought it was well written through and Asian American perspective.