The Labor Corner... (Houston, Commerce, Howe: how much, Home Depot, to buy)

[LovingSAT]

Is that what they still call it? Downtown near Market Square, under the bridge? When we were little my parents would drive down there to pick up workers to help with yard/house work. I was by there today and felt so sorry for these people, do they still hang out there looking for work? It was so very hot!!!

I wish there was something I could do on a personal level.

[Reallybigshoe]

Home Depot is the place to find them now (as far as migrant workers). That or one of the missions if you want to help out homeless types.

You can always bring one of them in on a part time basis to help with things you need to get done. It may mean you have to cancel some cable channels, though.

On a serious note - what kind of help is there to offer? People in this position have always been a mental twist for me when I consider their situation. I was as badly off as some of them in college. For a while I was quite literally homeless and stayed on a buddies' couch. I decided that bumming it through college was not for me, and started working with my hands. I believe that anyone who is willing to work hard can make it to a degree. We all have different levels of gifts, but the first task is to crush the laziness inside of you.

I've hired many people from the needier walks of life in an interest in helping them out, only to find that no matter how 'hungry', they come up with the same 'family emergency' and 'violently ill' excuses to not come to work.

I'm not saying there are not people out there who are trying hard and need a break - because I was one of them - but even having been one, I cannot seem to pick them out. Nothing changes over night no matter how much you help someone. It took me a couple years of hardship to get into a 3 bedroom home in a late model vehicle, caught up on the bills - and I assume this would be the goal for someone in hardship. No single break I caught got me where I am, and there were fall backs along the way.

I do have a heart for hard workers. I wish they were easier to find in this day and age. One thing I come across lately are workers who seem to think that the tasks I am giving them are too hard, and that I am only hiring them to get them done at a cheap price so I don't have to. What they don't realize is that not long ago I was doing the same tasks to make it. If they hang around long enough to see what I am doing when I am leaving workers at a job, they find out I'm over somewhere else doing something worse.

There's some kind of attitude of pride and entitlement that is found even in the lowest of the low. Society here has become too good to sweat, hurt, or bleed. A hard day's work hurts while it is being done, and even more the next day. This is going to happen to anyone until they get used to that hard work. A hard worker is rewarded by having this pain subside after a while, or at least we don't notice it. Not many people get there in my experience.

This is not a rant against the needy, or against people who work in a field that does not require hard physical labor. These are merely my views through my own experiences in life.

[ShaneSA]

I gave up trying to help people who told me they were in need or I perceived as being in need. The outcome is usually that I am the bad guy and rich, why do I feel the need to make people work. The real work ethic if this country is gone.

[LovingSAT]

Yes I believe you all are right, I remember as a child when we would bring these workers home, they worked!

Those were the days!

[Chaka]

It's still a spot to pick up day laborers, and most indeed work. However, if they're hanging out under the bridge rather than on the corner, they're probably not looking. Plenty still hang out on the corner asking people for work. Home Depot as well, but definitely that spot on Commerce. And those guys work.

[TXRose]

There's always a bunch on Houston street in between the access road and Frio Street.

[SnappyBob]

I've often thought of hiring some of those guys to do one task or another that I can't or don't want to do but I never have. For one thing I don't speak fluent Spanish and another is I guess I just don't know how that system works. What is a reasonable pay to offer? If it's more than a one day job, will they be there the next day? If it is a job that requires some level of skill or expertise how do I know they won't just make a mess of it? It alway seems like it would be so sketchy that I wind up not going that route.

[LovingSAT]

When we were growing up my parents would bring them home and let them stay for weeks at a time. They would sleep in our garage which was insulated and made into a room, matresses on the floor, bathroom...

I do not know what they were paid but I do not think it was much, he would just drive up there and tell them what he wanted and they would just jump in the truck.

I am thinking from what I saw the other day, not all were (or looked) hispanic. You just need to say a couple of words - Necesitas trabajo? (I dont know if the spelling is right) Te pago _______ para el dia.

Something like that -- are you looking for work?

I will pay you _____ per day.


(I dont speak spanish either - I am sure someone will correct if I said this wrong!)

[firstclassflyer]

The going rate was $50-60/day in SoCal..this was just 2 years back. My wife liked to make them lunch and give them cold water...so we treated them well. I only had them do grunt tasks like moving boxes, painting a fence or digging a hole. I wouldn't hire them for "skill required" tasks.

[Reallybigshoe]

Figure on paying them a little better than minimum wage for an 8 hour day - this is whether you use them the 8 hours or less - once you have offered the price you pay that regardless of how fast they work because that becomes their incentive. Do not expect the same worker back the next day - even if they say they'd like to keep working with you. The reason they are in that position is they can't handle a regular job usually. Just give them your phone number and tell them to call you when they are looking for work. When they do call they will be hungry, but most of the time they never call.

Definitely give them water and food, it's only polite. You don't have to buy them lunch just give them a ham and cheese and they will appreciate it. Cold water is great, and a Coke on ice for lunch is royalty.

You'll get used to seeing the same ones and get a feel for whose the best workers - if you hire more than once.