On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane

by Emily Guendelsberger

We will clock in and out by scanning our white badges four times a day. “Lunch is gonna be a thirty-minute break, unpaid, and you will also get two fifteen-minute breaks, paid. “Now,” Miguel asks us, “what is it that you are not going to like about the breaks?” A former worker raises his hand. “Your break doesn’t start once you get out the door. It’s your last item you scan—that’s where your fifteen minutes starts. And it takes you ten minutes to get out the door, so you’ve got five minutes to get back and make your first scan.” Miguel nods at this correct answer. “Breaks are measured from last scan to first scan. So if your break starts at ten, then ten is when you make your last scan. And then by 10:12, or 10:13 at the latest, you head back in to your work area.… You know,” he pauses, “the easiest thing in the world is taking too long a break.” The former worker pipes up again. “You’re gonna get tired and lose track of time.” Miguel nods. “You will be coming back at 10:19, 10:20. If you do that, then—” “The coach is going to be there. Guaranteed. Guaranteed,” the man again interrupts. “It’s more than just guaranteed,” says Miguel. “They’ll want to know the reason you took those extra few minutes. If this happens for a reason, then you will be fine! But if you don’t have a reason, then you will not be fine. You are going to be fired.” Miguel seems pleased with this odd turn of phrase, as if he came up with it himself.