Nickel and Dimed

"Maids, as an occupational group, are not visible, and when we are seen we are often sorry for it. On the way to the Martha Stewart-ish place, when Holly and Marge were complaining about her haughtiness in a past encounter, I had ventured to ask why so many of the owners seem hostile or contemptuous toward us. "They think we're stupid," was Holly's answer. "They think we have nothing better to do with our time." Marge too looked suddenly sober. "We're nothing to these people," she said. "We're just maids.""
-An excerpt from Barbara Ehrenreich's book, Nickel and Dimed. Every liberal should read this book, especially if he or she claims to be concerned with poverty and the lives of America's working class.