Domestic Worker Swag

Today, I did my first real interview!! Exciting!

Except, not QUITE as exciting as it sounds, because I was lost for half of it (luckily it's recorded).

The problem was mostly that I had no idea what the organization I was talking to was, because I just randomly walked into the building when I saw the "domestic service" sign. Turns out that "sindicato" means "union," which makes a lot of the interview make a lot more sense now.

It was a funny experience though --

I walk in, the office is full of domestic workers waiting in line (to get referrals for services, I think... also, domestic workers! tons of them! right there! = future interviews!!), but after explaining to the receptionist that I'm a student researching domestic labor and would like to arrange an interview at some point in the next week or so, I am ushered immediately into the director's office, where I proceed to spend the next hour and a half. I am led around the entire establishment, introduced to everyone [people clearly in meetings in offices: "Everyone! This girl is from Boston! She's writing a paper on domestic workers! Isn't she just the sweetest?!" (which, by the way, I have no way how she could even judge, as I barely got a word in edgewise)].

No worries that I didn't have any specific questions prepared for their organization. Although I did have an outline of basic questions to ask, I barely had time to bring any of them up. (I probably would have tried harder to fit them in if I felt like I was actually understanding everything that was being said to me...)

I was given a bunch of swag, shown here (except not the purse, although I did get that in Buenos Aires). Some of the papers and pamphlets are about domestic labor laws and the union, but most of them are about different diseases, like HIV and cancer, and how to prevent them – which I really had no interest in, and said so, but was given anyway.

I have a meeting with one of their lawyers scheduled for next Tuesday at 10 AM* and was told that I was more than welcome to solicit interviews from the workers there.

In all – I am satisfied. Now off for a weekend in Chile!

Brianna

*Why I decided to schedule the meeting directly conflicting with yoga when I could literally choose any time is a little beyond me.