Work (3)

Before I moved to Oklahoma, a friend from the UK, who had spent a few months working here in the past, told me: 'Oklahomans work very long hours, but they get almost nothing done.'

It's true. The working day typically starts at 8am (even 7am is not uncommon), and often continues to 6pm or later. The salesman from whom we bought our car told us that he sometimes works 90 hours a week - of course he may have been exaggerating, but I think it's quite likely, as car dealerships are usually open to about 9pm Monday -Saturday, and he ususally seemed to be there when we phoned. I suppose he has an incentive to work such long hours as he's paid largely by commission. That's probably one reason why salespeople here are so attentive and friendly - though Oklahomans are naturally friendly anyway, and the service culture is definitely better here than in the UK.

Most people here work full-time, including many people (well) over 65. It's usual for both parents of a young family to work full-time: hence the wasp-striped school buses, ferrying children to and from school in their parents' absence. Part-time jobs usually consist of evening and weekend work, as it's assumed that anyone applying for a part-time job will be looking to fit it around their full-time one.

Add on church (typically two or three times a week, Sundays and Wednesday evenings) and the assumed heavy commitment to one's family, and your time is pretty much fully taken up. I think this is one reason why middle America is the home of the drive-through (fast food outlets, banks, pharmacies) - people simply don't have time to visit these establishments in what I would regard as a more conventional manner.

Other aspects of employment law and conditions don't help. Paid holiday and sick leave are paltry by UK standards, and even a routine visit to the doctor or dentist has to be taken as sick leave. If you're ill for more than about 10 days in a year, you have to take unpaid sick leave; and in a country where there's no universal health coverage (ie. your chances of getting better quickly might be lower than if that was not the case), that's not helpful.

Apparently, Oklahoma is what's called an 'at will state', which means employers can pretty much do what they like. For example, I am aware of a university which is requiring its staff to work 7.30am - 6pm for four days a week, for three months in the summer, in order to save on air conditioning bills. Not only are they allowed to do this (in the UK it would almost certainly be illegal, and if tried, the unions would refuse to comply) but, even more incredibly to me, most of the employees affected seem to think it's a good idea.

All these rules (hours, sick leave, etc.) are quite strictly enforced. The one card the employee does have up his or her sleeve is that very often, no notice period is required - you can just decide not to turn up for work one day. Hence, I suppose, the occasional dramatic scenes you see in American films where the employee announces 'I quit!', packs up his things, and strides out of the door. I think of Lester Burnham leaving his boring job on a magazine in American Beauty, or George W. Bush giving up work on the oil patch (as I believe it's called) in W. Not quite as dramatic as the British version, which would be 'Right! I'm giving you my contractual month's notice, which I will work in full as I need a good reference from you!'

At the same time, Oklahoma is enough of a hillbilly state to have a rather laid-back attitude to life. There's never any rush to get anything done or to get anywhere, and things can usually wait; so even though everyone spends a lot of time at work, they're not necessarily being very efficient or productive when they're there. It's rather like someone who keeps their house obsessively tidy, but then you discover stuff is crammed any-old-how into drawers and cupboards. I suppose it's a mixture of the Puritan work ethic and the slow, Southern way of life.