I have propagandized at various times for the causes of (a) getting a government job, and (b) doing manual work. Plainly the Derb ideal would be a job working with one’s hands for the gummint, or at least for some entity outside the grubby world of competitive capitalism.
This job would be just the ticket.
Dennis O’Connell, who oversees props at [New York City’s Carnegie Hall] … made $530,044 in salary and benefits during the fiscal year that ended in June 2008. The four other members of the full-time stage crew — two carpenters and two electricians — had an average income of $430,543 during the same period, according to Carnegie Hall’s tax return.
Note that this isn’t an opera house, with huge sets to manipulate. It doesn’t even have a curtain to raise and lower. It’s a concert hall. These guys set out chairs. For ten grand a week. Two hundred and fifty bucks an hour.
The stagehands benefit from a strong union …
No kidding.
Y’know, it hurts to say it, but sometimes I think I see the point of illegal-immigrant labor.