Last Night Experience: The Real America that Most Americans Don’t Want To See.

Back in 2010, while teaching the VC Finance, MBA program, I was horrified to hear from my students?—?how difficult it was for them to pay the tuition?—?$3,400, I believe, just for this one course. In the very first class, I realized that it would be a huge burden for most of them to buy the book which was like $400 I think. So I redesigned the program and stuck with the Harvard Case studies only, the book was optional. I kind of decided then to understand the wealth and income inequality issue and the sufferings of Americans and started my own research, not scientific.

I understand pretty well wealth creation, startup, finance, investment, science, technology, and innovation. I am on top of it.

For heaven sake, I quite don’t get it- why even a single working individual should have so much stress, to pay for simple “BASIC LIVING” in the richest country on the planet.

The reality is , it seems like “99% of America is under stress”. Why do we accept such a system?

What horrifies me even more?—?that the entire world is trying to imitate this model of Capitalism.

Since then I have dedicated a lot of my time and resources to the issue and have shared some of my experience, earlier on my Facebook page –including my experience moonlighting as a beggar and a homeless guy in LA. For the last 6 years, whoever I meet; waiter, security guard, mailman, parking lot attendant, engineers, teachers, fireman and all, I try to talk with them to understand their finances, their stress in life and what is causing it. I think, read and try to make sense of it all and pass sleepless nights in pain.

Last Night- My Experience With The Waitress:

Last night I went out for dinner with an old friend in a city I am visiting. When I paid the bills in cash and told her to keep the change?—?the waitress, a young beautiful, girl, asked if it was a mistake. I said, “No, Please, keep it, Thank you for your service”. I asked her to pack the leftover. She came back with the box and with a huge smile on her face and “Thanked us” for the tip.

I could see through those deceiving eyes?—?her trying to hide the stress and suffering behind those fake smiles and asked her “if I could talk with her for a minute”. I have done it so many times in the past and she agreed.

I asked, “How much are you paid and how much did you make today?” It was almost 10 PM, and we were the last table she served. She replied, “I get paid $2.30/hr and I worked 6 hrs today and served 5 tables and got $15 in tips”. So that’s a total of $28.80 before taxes excluding our tips.

I already knew the answer as this is like the thousandth times I have asked people from all walks of life over the last 6 years.

I asked her if I could give her a hug. She extended her arms. I had my head behind hers and I was crying and choking inside.

I tried to delve in a little deeper only if she was willing as I always do. I asked, “How do you pay your bills and survive?”. She explained that her employer wouldn’t give her more than 30 hrs of work to avoid benefits. She does multiple jobs and still her credit card bills are piling up. She has no idea, how long she can go on like this.

When I asked, she said, she wanted to go to college, but how can she? She has no-time-left after working all hours she possibly can just trying to pay the bills, let alone to save the money needed to go to college. I pulled another bill from the wallet and gave her and Thanked her again.

I am not rich?—?I did what I could?—?I knew no matter what I gave her, that won’t solve her problems. I wanted to make a small difference in her life?—?make her realize that “someone else understood and appreciated her work and deeply cared about her as a human”. That would give her the hope to keep going?—?that one-day things will be better.

But that better day never comes for tens of millions of Americans.

Think of her for a second before you have your family dinner tonight. This is an able bodied young woman, working hard full-time trying to live her so-called “American Dream”. Yes- I know about American dream, I know the Zuckerberg’s of the world because that is what I have been involved in for the last 17 years of my life. I gave up everything to build Tech hub in NYC from 1999–2008. So I totally get it. But those are far and few in numbers.

This young woman represents the true America that the world doesn’t see and most American don’t want to recognize that it exist.

The few billionaires don’t make a country great. If we have a system that can create few billionaires but makes everyone else suffer inside?—?it is past the time that we reevaluate it and tweak it, we can solve it. I am 100% certain of that.

But before we solve it, we must first accept that it exist. That the system is no longer working. This is not the America the founding fathers thought of. This is not the America we so deeply care about.

She is smart, beautiful, hard working, respectful, kind and generous?—?everything you want in a decent human being. But we as a society are not reciprocating her good soul. You, me and everyone have failed her?—?she wants to work and study but she can’t do it.

When we stepped out and sat in the car, I looked around and it is a huge strip mall kind of place with maybe more than 100–200 stores. All that I could imagine that?—?I was surrounded by thousands of crying souls?—?who are hiding their pain underneath a fake smile and about to go home after a day of hard work not knowing how to pay their bills.

They have to drive back home, not even sure if they earned enough to cover to pay for the gas, insurance and the cost of owning the car. BTW?—?Car is not a luxury but a necessity because that is how we designed our cities and our country. The sheer cost of housing in the cities is so high that most of these folks have to live in far away places and commute every day to work.

They have no choice but to work hard and get paid whatever we chose to pay them. They have no bargaining power. They are helpless. They are even short on pay check to pay check and this “they” is a big number of the American population now. And the “they’s” are most of “us”.

We are all willing to cover our own sufferings and don’t want to see others sufferings with the belief that “this is how it is supposed to be”. We see a well-dressed cashier, a well-dressed waiter behind a fake smile in deep pain. These are our fellow Americans, our fellow human beings. We treat animals (I love all animals) better than our fellow citizens and feel proud of it.

We have become blind to humanity surrounded by buildings, green lawns, and beautiful LED lights.

Instead of caring for the people we care more about the look of the buildings and the glass doors. How long can we fake ourselves? To whom? We are supposed to be our brother’s and sister’s keeper. What happened to that?

It is not the minimum wage earners alone:

Once inside the car, my friend said?—?“I like to tip as much but I can’t afford a lot-I pay the 15%- as I am always struggling with a mortgage, car payments, 2 kids and I even don’t know how to send the kids to college”. The friend is a Sr. Tech executive who makes good money (six figures).

That is the answer I get from almost all of my friends (besides the real rich ones)?—?most of them are professionals including Technology professionals?—?that is supposed to be the best-paying jobs in America.

How did America come to this? Most Americans are decent people, very kind and generous. This is the nation that spends trillions of dollars doing good for the world.

The issue is that we DON’T look at employees as “PEOPLE”?—?we treat them by their “job title”, as someone merely doing their job. We never try to understand what they are going through.

When we go to restaurants and order that fine wine for $300, let alone the food, we fail to understand that the server who served us with a smile is actually going back home to count the bills, not sure, if he/she had enough to put food on the table for his/her family. When we check out with $500-$1,000 worth of clothes, the cashier maybe thinking “if she can afford to buy the diaper that day for her only child”. We just don’t think of them.

We have lost our souls?—?all in the name of “Free Market Capitalism”- where we make sure people compete with each other to work the hardest and longest hours for the lowest pay. We have been led to believe?—?“that is the best way for our collective growth and progress”.

We hire the one who agrees to work for the lowest pay even if we can afford to pay more. Somehow we feel like winners?—?that we negotiated the minimum/best salary for the new hire. The manager gets a pat on the back from his/her boss because he/she saved money for the company.

We fail to realize that “people are not things” and their salary shouldn’t be thought of as “Cost of Goods Sold” to be negotiated and minimized in the balance sheet.

T

he basic premise?—?the foundation of Capitalism should be that “we pay living wages to people”. That is the start.

People’s basic needs must be met before anything else. Everything else should be built upon that foundation. That will build a strong, more productive and happy society. The productivity will go through the roof and America will be a true “land of the free”.

What we have created is a “land of the modern day slaves”. We don’t chain them physically but we have chained them in a system that makes them do whatever we want them to do at whatever price we want to pay.

We criticize the sweatshop workers in SE Asia, but we do the exact same thing. Except our workers look cleaner, smarter and working in beautiful buildings. But the inside of our workers are more hurt than theirs.

Don’t listen to people who tells you that increasing wages will cause hyperinflation. That is a bunch of nonsense. I am ready and willing to debate anyone on national stage.

While the system awaits an overhaul?—?to be re-engineered-may be it will require a revolution?—?you can do something. Be kind and generous to everyone you see around. Think about them. Share what you can. Ask the person if you can help and help them.

Some may immediately think of the dreaded words “Communism, Socialism?—?STOP. I am a total hardcore capitalist.

Let me remind you something?—?may help you:

We as a nation have decided, agreed and provide basic needs such as food, water, shelter and healthcare to the most condemned prisoners, even those waiting on the death row for the most heinous crimes, rape and murder. If necessary we fly them out to give healthcare, pay for open heart surgery.

Why shouldn’t we at least provide the same basic human dignity that we provide to our inmates?—?to the hard working law abiding citizen of this great nation?

Can someone explain me? Ask yourself that very question and you will have your answer.

I know what you are thinking. How can it be solved? Well if we could land a man on the moon and now planning to create a settlement on Mars, we sure can do this.

First, we have to agree what kind of society do we want to live in and recognize that this system may be good but definitely need some tweaking.

• Stay tuned for more- a solution is there?—?only if we all want to care for each other, respect each other's work and provide the basic decency and dignity that each one of us demand from the other.

PSA: Always pay the TIPS in Cash. In many places, the restaurants take a cut from the tips. If you pay by cash, you are sure the server gets it.

Thank you and Have a Good Day. 

God Bless you All!

Best Regards- Gyan (The Fair Market Project)

PS: Please give me some slack?—?I am no writer and I have exactly zero knowledge of grammar.

About the Author:

Gyan Parida is the Executive Director of “The Fair Market Project”. He is on a mission to “tweak” Capitalism to work for all NOT for a few. Please support and we can do it together.

Gyan is a humanist, Futurist, Venture Adviser and Strategist who is passionate about innovation, entrepreneurship, startups and investment. More about him on his site and his LinkedIn profile. His primary social media presence is here.