ABSTRACT
Alma Pacheco is a janitor at one of northern Nevada’s largest casinos. From 6:00 PM to 2:00 AM, five days a week, 52 weeks a year, Mrs. Pacheco cleans
bathrooms and banquet rooms, for which, after eight years on the job, she’s paid $8.00 an hour. At 2:00 AM, she leaves, not for home, but rather for her second job-cleaning a fast food restaurant where she earns $7.00 an hour. At 10:30 AM, Mrs. Pacheco, who is 50, returns to her modest apartment and sleeps a few hours, but by 2:00 in the afternoon she is up cooking her children’s and grandchildren’s dinners and helping them with homework. At 6:00 PM, she returns to the casino. Mrs. Pacheco (whose name is fictitious, but whose story is absolutely real) has worked two full-time jobs for most of the last eight years (A. Pacheco, personal communication, May 21, 2001).
