I listen to a lot of comedy routines on my nifty satellite radio.
A lot of the comedians strive to be politically incorrect (usually about themselves) and use stereotypes for a laugh. So, a number of times I’ve heard some of the Mexican comedians refer to hanging out at the Home Depot. That got a big laugh from the recorded live audiance but went right over my head.
Around my area (Kansas City) the only people I see at Home Depot are contractors and do-it-yourselfers. Both of these groups are very diverse.
So what is the perception of Mexicans hanging around a Home Depot. Is it because they are more likely to be working as general contracors and laborers or am I missing something that occurs only in Caliornia.
Is it possibly a pick-up point for illegal labor?
Not trying to offend anybody, I’m just trying to find the source of the stereotype.
Home Depot is the place you can go to buy the supplies and the cheap illegal labor you need to finish a home repair or home improvement.
Also, contractors and such will grap a truck load of immigrants to do various odd jobs and clean-up stuff around the construction site. Contractors make morning trips to Home Depot to pick up shit, so immigrants will congregate outside and hope to be picked up.
An average citizen savvy in the ways of illegal labor, will also head to Home Deport early in the morning if he has some work around the house that he wants finished by the time he gets home from the office. Or maybe if you’re installing a new air conditioner or something and you need some extra hands to help you–cause all your friends are “busy” that weekend… go to Home Depot and pick up some cheap labor.
I would like to note that such day laborers aren’t necessarily working illegally, just because they are hanging out at a spot where it is known that contractors can find day laborers.
I figured it was the “instant labor” situation. I haven’t seen that in the Kansas City area though. I probably go to the wrong Home Depot.
Funny, right after I posted this, I took off for lunch and when I turned on the radio I heard Carlos Mencia make some comment about Home Depot ond Mexicans.
Yeah, I wish I could get decent day labor at my local Home Depots. Am I not getting there early enough? I know and understand the stereotype, but I’ve never actually seen it first hand. At times, it could be really handy since my lazy brother won’t work for beer and pizza. Of course the alternative would be to hire a licensed contractor, pay a living wage, and contribute to the continued ability of such workers to participate in the American middle class (whereas south of the border, such laborers are decidedly not middle class, even there). But one little underpaid worker isn’t that bad, right?
Ok, I am linking this video to demonstrate how day laborers operate. The video contains coarse, racially-charged language and cruel behavior that I find despicable. In fact, I wish I could unwatch the portion after the first one minute. The guy calls himself ‘The Amazing Racist’. That said, it shows how illegal labor can be found and used. I’m not sure if this is at a Home Depot but it certainly could be.
I didn’t watch past the first few seconds with “look at them over there, like animals, let me work, let me work”. There’s a lot of problems with the situation but people willing to work in order to earn some much-needed cash is not one of them. I hope he does smash his pickup; maybe he’ll land in a ditch and need to hire a few of the “animals” to help him get it out.
In New Orleans, since Hurricane Katrina, there are lots of Mexican and Hispanic Texan workers that came in to help rebuild. Most are here legally.
But there are thousands of illegal immigrants here too and they DO all hang out at the Home Depot waiting for a Do-It-Yourselfer to come up needing a hand (and hopefully who knows a little Spanish because most of them don’t speak any English).
The legal Mexicans seem to be very well networked and don’t need to hang around the Home Depot looking for short-term jobs. And the legal immigrants generally won’t work for $50.00 a day or anything even close to that.
We actually had an incident here where there were so many illegals, Immigration surrounded the Home Depot and took them away by the busload.
I printed some business cards for a guy from Texas who was of Mexican descent and he told me that he had brought his brothers, their sons and a bunch of cousins who lived in Mexico and formed a 20 man crew. They all came in legally and were each making about $150 a day.
That’s from a DVD called National Lampoon’s Lost Reality, a collection of reality show parodies. In other words, it’s 100% staged. (The guy also goes to an Islamic Mosque looking for terrorists.) Just thought I’d point that out for those who think there’s actually a guy doing this.
Oh! Day laborers! I saw the those guys in the worn jeans and tool belts. White guy in a pickup pulls up. Both drive away. I presumed it was some sort of social thing.
Do they hang out at Lowe’s too, or do they steer clear of it, like rednecks avoid Target?
When I lived in New Mexico, locals jokes about Mexican family reunions at Wal-Mart. On weekends, Hispanics flocked into Wal-Mart, with a common scene being large extended families moving slowly through the aisles as a pack.
I’d like to know the cultural reason for this. At the Mexican grocery store that we shop at, they do the same dang thing. It takes up all of the space in the relatively small store; one must approach being rude to pass these slow amblers; kids are crying or otherwise making a fuss; sometimes an aunt is along for the trip further clogging the aisleways.
I can guess that mom does the shopping, but macho dad does the paying, and there’s no one to watch the kids – even with an older, big sister on the scene and the aunts?
So’s the one in Campbell, right near Hwy 17. You can’t get into the parking lot without being mobbed by day laborers. What’s the going rate-- $10/hr or something like that?
Some towns try to regulate this by designated a certain area for day laborers to organize. There’s a lot of potential for abuse.
That’s what they have been doing here for a while. There is an industrial area (literally) on the other side of the tracks. You go up to the guy in charge who has a clip board and tell him what sort of work you need done. He yells out for the specific people that will be helping you and tells you what you will be paying them.