Women at work, including The long day,: The story of a New York working girl by Dorothy Richardson & Inside the New York Telephone Company by Elinor Langer

by William L. O'Neill

Book by O'Neill, William L

Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 1972

About the author

William L. O'Neill was an historian specializing in 20th century America. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan and his doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley. He taught at the universities of Pittsburgh, Colorado and Wisconsin before accepting a position at Rutgers University in 1971, where he taught until his retirement in 2006.

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am very happy I chose to pick up this book from my library's book sale. I expected it to be educative, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the two personal narratives well-written and entertaining as well. Dorothy Richardson is no doubt a product of her Victorian era, but she is also an astute observer, and not quite so judgmental as O'Neill's foreword led me to expect (which is not to deny that she is exceedingly judgmental).

Langer's account of work inside the New York Telephone Company reminded me of my own stint inside Google's call-center, which despite being a top-place-to-work (and infinitely better than most call center experiences), retained many of the demeaning, bureaucratic systems that Langer critiques. I was made to remember how, much like the once-peer managers within the New York Telephone Company, I got wrapped up in Google's own surveillance-based quality assurance process without reflecting on the consequences or implications. Langer admits that when the surveillance disappeared on Christmas Eve, so did all sense of propriety and quality customer service - customers were made to wait on hold inordinately long times, hung up on, chewed out, and treated with utter indifference. Having listened to hundreds of recorded calls answered by Google's over-qualified customer service agents with 4.0s from top universities, I can attest that "common sense" is not enough to ensure even a minimal level of customer service. That said, as Langer points out, the surveillance's primary objective is not quality customer service, but rather absolute control of workers (definitely true in my experience as well). Further, the surveillance passively if not actively helps prevent labor organization.

Langer also points out how the company manages to create its own bubble of consumerist distraction that prevents the workers from dwelling too long on their underlying dissatisfaction or frustration with patently unfair policies (eg. unequal pay for equal work from men and women). These still-very-present bubbles concern me greatly, as they distract us from confronting the realities of economic inequality in this country. I was exceedingly distracted before I left the corporate/business world to become an urban teacher, and I know I am still not doing nearly enough. I appreciate the reminder.