A few years ago I raked blueberries up in Maine. It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, and I got paid almost nothing. One thing that i got out of it was a better acceptance of immigrants in our nation, especially hispanic ones.
Just wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar to this?
2006-12-21 15:00:50 · 16 answers · asked by blank 3 in Politics & Government ➔ Immigration
and I DO have an education. I did this for the experience not the money.
2006-12-21 15:07:22 · update #1
Just to clarify something..
Raking blueberries means you are hunched over all day (sunrise to sunset) scooping blueberries off the ground. It is INTENSE physical labor.
2006-12-21 15:12:12 · update #2
make sure you read my question carefully. I didn't say i gained respect for people living here illegally. i said i gained respect for hispanic immigrants :)
2006-12-21 15:25:47 · update #3
I actually worked on a harvest crew in my younger days, and it is back breaking work...I think it would be good experience for a lot of kids...pay sucks; work is hard and long; and there is little to no appreciation for your strife...
I still don't agree with illegal immigration.
2006-12-21 15:33:57 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
If you don't like the work you shouldn't do it. It the immigrants don't like it they shouldn't do it. If no one was willing to do it, it would pay more. If it paid enough, everyone would do it.
You're picking on this activity because it's the current illegal immigrant activity and we should feel sorry for people who break the law to do these jobs and make the Fortune 500 richer.
A hundred years ago it was a sewing factory in Brooklyn or a railroad in Missouri.
I'm sorry criminals have to hide and take what they can get but if it wasn't worth it to them they wouldn't do it. It's a simple mathematical equation. The moment the value goes down enough, people stop doing it. The more the value goes up, the more people want to do it. If it paid $100 an hour, everyone would do it.
I knew an illegal who made far more money than me. He did road construction in NYC and in the off season would wash cars. He made 500 bucks a week washing cars while I made 250 bucks as a special ed teacher getting attackec on a daily basis. the difference? I paid all sorts of tax while he got cash. but that was small change compared to what he made from construction.
2006-12-21 23:51:47 · answer #2 · answered by Breandan 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
So, only illegal aliens can do this work? Is it genetic? What's your point?
Isn't it true that if there were no illegals to pick the blueberries the growers would either have to go out of business or increase wages to the point where Americans were willing to pick them? Don't we call that a free market based on the supply of labor versus the demand of the growers?
Will wages ever increase if there is an absolutely unlimited supply of illegal aliens willing to work cheap?
By the way, I picked apples and peaches for 15 cents a bushel back in the 60's.
2006-12-22 00:10:26 · answer #3 · answered by Yak Rider 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, I have. I have done various amounts of farmwork, mostly with corn and hogs. I got paid about $10 an hour. It was some hard work I'll admit. I won't complain about the money though, there's alot of people in the states not making that. It may not be luxury salary, but it will get what you need.
2006-12-22 00:59:39 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I have never personally held a job like what you're describing but my brother works for a company that employs predominantly immigrant workers. They have a mandatory work week that is 50+ hours and I really don't think its the type of work that most Americans are standing in line to do.
2006-12-21 23:38:18 · answer #5 · answered by ? 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yup, cleaned feed bunks at a feedlot, trained hops in a hop yard and picked fruit in the 60's.
Side by side with illegals and MIGRANTS, not immigrants. Please do not call illegals', immigrants. The are aliens
Those of you who do not know, in the days before much of the mundane farmwork was automated,MIGRANTS were people who followed the work. By following the work, they were able to work almost year around
2006-12-22 00:55:22 · answer #6 · answered by bconehead 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Many of us have worked on farms, in fields, loading hay, on road crews, in manufacturing, construction, roofing houses, cleaning houses, (including toilets), cared for the elderly (including cleaning them up after a BM in their adult diapers), done yard work, washed cars, you name it. Many of us went on to get a better education and a better job. Some didn't. THEY are the ones who are being hurt the most by illegal immigrants coming from their third world society and bringing their third world mentality, working for third world wages, causing wages to plummet for those in the USA who already have a low wage. Those Citizens should NOT have to compete with people who have illegally entered our country.
We have no problem with IMMIGRANTS, it's the ILLEGAL immigrants we have a problem with. There is a HUGE difference.
2006-12-21 23:18:02 · answer #7 · answered by ? 4 · 4⤊ 1⤋
Picked strawberries when I was outta work and looking...way back in the day.
Which makes me wonder why we don't make welfare people work these so called jobs Americans dont do.
2006-12-21 23:10:28 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
if raking blueberries was the hardest thing you ever did in your entire life I think you are pretty dull
were they illegal aliens,,,illegal aliens are not even immigrants technically,,,,so stop being a dumb flake,,,really
god ,,rake some blueberries and you think you are the followers of brother Moses what a joke
2006-12-21 23:06:34 · answer #9 · answered by smart t 1 · 3⤊ 4⤋
I think people all over the world should stop working until all war is over. (Put this in a slow mickey mouse voice) So funny in my head.
2006-12-21 23:09:52 · answer #10 · answered by GrapeMSH 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋