Find Your Valentine
Slog
News & ArtsFriday, June 12, 2009
City The Class
Posted by Charles Mudede on Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 9:31 AM
The place, Chinatown (it makes no sense to call this part of town the International District); the time, thirty or so minutes ago.
A handsome young man—hardhat, orange shirt, tough pants, boots—looks into this hole. A GMC truck is parked behind him. And out of its passenger side, the word "water" on its door, appears an older man. He is reading a clipboard, and, eyes not leaving the clipboard, says to the young man: "Have you taken a confined space class yet?" The young man, eyes still looking into the hole, indicates with his head that he has not. I'm amazed that there is such a class in the world of learning.
1
If you knew how many people have either died working in confined spaces or trying to rescue thier passed out co-workers you would not be amazed.
2
I'm amazed that they got to the site without checking that first. Oops! Guess you're not doing the work today!
4
It isn't a class, so much as a 2-hour training session involving a VHS video, an old TV, and a 3 page multiple-choice test that's practically impossible to fail. I'm amazed that you, with all your "observations" of education and class, haven't grasped the concept that some people of certain upbringings use the same words for plenty of things.
5
I think it makes plenty of sense to call it the international district. For one thing, a good number of the shops down there aren't chinese. and another, it's been called the international district for 100+ years.
6
The large numbers of Japanese and Vietnamese people in the ID means it makes no sense to call it "Chinatown."
7
Yes, those of us who work in the trades know about these things. OSHA -- not just a pretty acronym!
8
@3 FTW. Is it really hard to believe that manual laborers might have specialized training for their work environments? I bet they find it hard to believe that colleges offer such intellectual classes as "The Social Construction of Whiteness and Women" (UMass Amherst) or "Black Marxism" (Vassar) or "Cultural History of Rap" (UCLA).
9
Silly OSHA, trying to make sure we all get to go home at the end of the day. There are a lot of us in occupations that can easily kill and a little trainning is often the difference between life and death.
The hardest part of the confined space trainning is trying to unlearn the idea of going in and saving someone, watching them die being better than dying with them.
The OSHA 40 hour HAZWOPPER trainning, now that was a fun class.
The hardest part of the confined space trainning is trying to unlearn the idea of going in and saving someone, watching them die being better than dying with them.
The OSHA 40 hour HAZWOPPER trainning, now that was a fun class.
10
International District? Huh? Where are the Arab food stores? Where are the African food stores? Where are the Slavic food stores? So let's not kid our selves and call it "International". "China Town" is a handy little soft pejorative that conveys the dark ignorance of the past. America has many such soft pejoratives.
Wal-Mart could be called "China town" with greater reason for the amount of stuff coming from China they stock.
Wal-Mart could be called "China town" with greater reason for the amount of stuff coming from China they stock.
11
Wow, what class ignorance.
One of the dangers of confined spaces is H2S.
it's an odorless gas. It kills you. It can "evolve" from petroleum products. that means it comes out of them and in confined spaces that used to hold them it can be waiting for you. It's invisible, too!
There are about 1000 examples of guys who got killed because their workmate entered a confined space and apparently had a heart attack? So despite all their training about H2S they GO IN TO TRY TO SAVE THEIR BUDDY. But because the buddy keeped over due to H2S and not a heart attack, the rescuer dies, too.
So in response to shit like this they have classes 'n' stuff. Because it's really, really hard to just stand there and see your buddy dying in a confined space with no visible poison and just have to let them die.
Apparently, Charles, these "proletariat" type folks have these strong feelings of devotion, selflessness, and a bit of machoness too, and they just can't stop killing themselves trying to rescue their buddy this way.
Totally bizarre, right? Or funny maybe?
Go back to fucking Hegel.
And btw it's all day w Amanda testifying, when are you going to actually tell us what she says?
Or just another comment on her face, or her body?
One of the dangers of confined spaces is H2S.
it's an odorless gas. It kills you. It can "evolve" from petroleum products. that means it comes out of them and in confined spaces that used to hold them it can be waiting for you. It's invisible, too!
There are about 1000 examples of guys who got killed because their workmate entered a confined space and apparently had a heart attack? So despite all their training about H2S they GO IN TO TRY TO SAVE THEIR BUDDY. But because the buddy keeped over due to H2S and not a heart attack, the rescuer dies, too.
So in response to shit like this they have classes 'n' stuff. Because it's really, really hard to just stand there and see your buddy dying in a confined space with no visible poison and just have to let them die.
Apparently, Charles, these "proletariat" type folks have these strong feelings of devotion, selflessness, and a bit of machoness too, and they just can't stop killing themselves trying to rescue their buddy this way.
Totally bizarre, right? Or funny maybe?
Go back to fucking Hegel.
And btw it's all day w Amanda testifying, when are you going to actually tell us what she says?
Or just another comment on her face, or her body?
12
sargon..and charles
i live on 12th and king.. two and a half blocks away from azteca carnaceria in the area called 'little saigon'.the city put up those signs years ago. vietnamese, japanese, indonesia, phillipines, large contingents form africa who shop regularly at the at the seafood market directly across the street from my apartment. the neighborhood is served by two newspapers ( still) and they're both printed in a variety of languages.
'america' might prefer the pejoratives, but if you live here, or live near here, calling it chinatown, insisting on calling it chinatown is just weird and stupid.
i live on 12th and king.. two and a half blocks away from azteca carnaceria in the area called 'little saigon'.the city put up those signs years ago. vietnamese, japanese, indonesia, phillipines, large contingents form africa who shop regularly at the at the seafood market directly across the street from my apartment. the neighborhood is served by two newspapers ( still) and they're both printed in a variety of languages.
'america' might prefer the pejoratives, but if you live here, or live near here, calling it chinatown, insisting on calling it chinatown is just weird and stupid.
13
@3 FTW. I barely work for a living, and I have heard of/worked with such things.
Some people (maybe Charles is one of them) actually have no working class friends. Or if they do, they don't ask them any questions about their work, because they assume it is monkey work that they could do with no training.
I know a guy who grew up in Vienna, who had not had a conversation with a working class person until he did his civilian service as an ambulance driver at age 21, where the classes finally had a chance to mingle.
Some people (maybe Charles is one of them) actually have no working class friends. Or if they do, they don't ask them any questions about their work, because they assume it is monkey work that they could do with no training.
I know a guy who grew up in Vienna, who had not had a conversation with a working class person until he did his civilian service as an ambulance driver at age 21, where the classes finally had a chance to mingle.
14
The International District is thought to possibly be the only place in the continental United States where Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Filipino Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Korean Americans,Thai Americans, Laotian Americans, Cambodian Americans, and Burmese Americans live in one neighborhood. It makes no sense to call this part of town Chinatown.
15
Do working class people only exist in Charles's imagination as a Marxist abstraction for him to wank over? Do all Asians look the same? How much does he get paid to write this bullshit? Is it part of his contract that he write at least four jaw-droppingly ignorant Slog posts per week?
16
Man, how did this allofasudden become about (social) class? The notion of a "confined space class" is wonderful and strange, in part because "confined space class" is an excellent phrase (one imagines a classroom full of civil engineers, construction workers, and electricians, each taking turns in a tiny wooden box at the front). I've taken a "confined space class" but it never struck me as too interesting or amusing, mainly because it was just called a "safety orientation". Nonetheless, I'm pretty sure finding that phrase amusing, especially in the context of an overheard street conversation, doesn't not have a strong correlation with a deep-seated hatred of / alienation from the working class.
I am curious about the chinatown comment, though - if it wasn't intended as a joke.
Tearing-apart-buildings-paid-for-my-philosophy-degree-lly yours,
Scott
I am curious about the chinatown comment, though - if it wasn't intended as a joke.
Tearing-apart-buildings-paid-for-my-philosophy-degree-lly yours,
Scott
17
I don't care what Charles wrote. Something nonsensical, it seems. I just fucking love the photo on this post. Sometimes phone cameras accidentally work a little magic.
19
It became a matter of social class when Charles displayed a surprising ignorance of one of the most basic concepts in manual labour.
This combined with his musings on the motivations of the working class (spitting, etc), make him sound pompous and out-of-touch.
Charles: "I have no idea what you do, but let me tell you why you do it".
This combined with his musings on the motivations of the working class (spitting, etc), make him sound pompous and out-of-touch.
Charles: "I have no idea what you do, but let me tell you why you do it".
20
Charles, I'm sorry nobody gets you. They don't understand that you are trying to stimulate their imaginations, not their misguided powers of reasoning. The concept of a "confined space class" is rich and horrifying. To me, it suggests melancholy and madness.
And for the record, I was born and raised working class, and I have never heard of this type of course.
And for the record, I was born and raised working class, and I have never heard of this type of course.
21
I JUST EXPERIENCED THE WHOLE RANGE OF EMOTIONS LIKE I WAS TRIPPING AND THEN MY BRAIN STOPPED WORKING. I NEED TO STOP READING THE COMMENTS ON MUDEDE POSTS.
22
Charles isn't trying to stimulate anyone's imagination. His Slog posts are an archive for him and him alone. Think of them as a journal. There is no conversation. Just thoughts. His thoughts. And 39 times out of 40 they remain his thoughts with no response, or change of thought process, or anything.
26
that hole knows how to be a hole! see how i just tied amanda knox to this post? i could be charles, i'm that good.
27
Two nationalities in a neighborhood = International
Three or more nationalities in a neighborhood = Multi-National
Every neighborhood in the nation (with the possible exception of some Pennsylvania Dutch communities) is an international district. Hell, even white supremacists compounds can contain people of multiple nationalities.
Three or more nationalities in a neighborhood = Multi-National
Every neighborhood in the nation (with the possible exception of some Pennsylvania Dutch communities) is an international district. Hell, even white supremacists compounds can contain people of multiple nationalities.
28
It sounds like the bullshit about people complaining about UAW assemply line workers getting paid $80/hr to "turn a wrench".
29
"Charles, I'm sorry nobody gets you"
What @20 said. I clicked hoping to see some folks here elaborate on what that training actually is, and found it a tad horrifying, perfectly understandable but horrifying nonetheless, that you have to train to Not go in and save a co-worker. I still vividly remember a news story about some workers who went into an underground tank...they had their gas masks on no less...and get into trouble, and a third worker goes in to help...with his mask on...and he gets into trouble too and all the people gathered above ground crying helplessly while more help was on the way. Some news stories trouble you for years afterward and that one was one of them for me.
What @20 said. I clicked hoping to see some folks here elaborate on what that training actually is, and found it a tad horrifying, perfectly understandable but horrifying nonetheless, that you have to train to Not go in and save a co-worker. I still vividly remember a news story about some workers who went into an underground tank...they had their gas masks on no less...and get into trouble, and a third worker goes in to help...with his mask on...and he gets into trouble too and all the people gathered above ground crying helplessly while more help was on the way. Some news stories trouble you for years afterward and that one was one of them for me.
30
@1: And incidentally, my dad worked in mines for much of his life and once rescued a co-worker from a collapsed passage. As far as I know, he never took a class on confined spaces, yet he worked in them every day.
This also reminds me of that article on spelunking in the current National Geographic, where the cavers say you pretty much have to have zero susceptibility to claustrophobia or you just can't do it. The one guy kept a "chicken loop" around one leg, so his friends could pull him out if he got so tightly wedged into a passage that he couldn't move.
Nightmarish. Check out this shot:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/0…
This also reminds me of that article on spelunking in the current National Geographic, where the cavers say you pretty much have to have zero susceptibility to claustrophobia or you just can't do it. The one guy kept a "chicken loop" around one leg, so his friends could pull him out if he got so tightly wedged into a passage that he couldn't move.
Nightmarish. Check out this shot:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/0…
32
@30: Confined space and other similar training classes have only existed since about 1970, when OSHA was created.
Incidentally, I have taken a confined space class. You can get a pretty good idea of what they discuss in it by reading page 31 of the OSHA handbook for small businesses:
http://www.osha.gov/Publications/smallbu…
Incidentally, I have taken a confined space class. You can get a pretty good idea of what they discuss in it by reading page 31 of the OSHA handbook for small businesses:
http://www.osha.gov/Publications/smallbu…
34
Confined Spaces Class brought to my mind one of the tests my brother and his fellowes were put to as part of the USN Submarine Corps:
Five sailors were sealed into a very small room (about 6'sq) on the boat. (Insert tasteless joke here.) The room contained several huge, hi-pressure pipes. Each pipe was damaged in some way. The water was turned on. The pressure was such that in one instance, it required 3 men to hold a strap of metal over the water stream long enough for the other two to secure it. All the while, the room is filling with water. Really fast. In my bro's test, when they got the last pipe repaired, the water was to his ears (he's 6').
If you freak or fail, no submarine for you.
Five sailors were sealed into a very small room (about 6'sq) on the boat. (Insert tasteless joke here.) The room contained several huge, hi-pressure pipes. Each pipe was damaged in some way. The water was turned on. The pressure was such that in one instance, it required 3 men to hold a strap of metal over the water stream long enough for the other two to secure it. All the while, the room is filling with water. Really fast. In my bro's test, when they got the last pipe repaired, the water was to his ears (he's 6').
If you freak or fail, no submarine for you.
Advertisement
Most Commented on Slog
-
SL Letter of the Day: Pill The Homos! by Dan Savage
-
The AP Is Reporting That Whitney Houston Is Dead by Paul Constant
-
Slog Bible Study: Deuteronomy 21:10-14 by Goldy
-
Because Guns Make Us Safer by Goldy
-
SL Letter of the Day: Daddy Loves Who? by Dan Savage
-
Dear Huffington Post... by Dan Savage
-
The Rick Santorum Rally in Tacoma Probably Could Have Gone Better by Paul Constant
-
Gay Kids Are Still Killing Themselves by Dan Savage
-
Gregoire: "This is signed!" by Eli Sanders
-
Whitney Is Dead, And So Is Hollywood by Kelly O
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (35) RSS