Last week my door bell rang. This was a small Mexican guy. He smiled to me and said, "Hello, I'm Eric". There are lots of people from Mexico in New Jersey: they are hard working people performing jobs that do not require higher education: lawn movers, bus boys in the restaurants, construction workers... Eric offered me to do a regular Fall cleanup on my property: trim the bushes, trees, kill the weed, etc.The price was cheap, and I hired him.

Eric arrived on Saturday at 8AM and started his work. At the same time I went to the bus stop: I had to go to New York City to teach my Java class at New York University. I checked my students' home works on the bus (I always have my laptop with me). The class started at 10AM, I explained Java Exceptions and method overloading by 1:30PM and came home at 3PM. Eric was also finishing his job.

I paid him... and realized that each of us earned the same amount of money that day. This is what we have in common! The only difference is, that I've earned my moneyworking as an adjunct professor at one of the most prestigious Universities in the USA, and Eric did it in using the scissors and a spade.

posted Friday, 28 October 2005 6:45 PM EST