The only immigrants we have in this town are college professors. This means it’s next to impossible to find anybody who will be interested in doing minimum-wage work (and I don’t exploit, my minimum wage is Bernie-style). Lawnmowers require a complex process of pre-screening, appraisal and analysis to decide if one’s lawn is worth their trouble. Cleaning ladies and nannies don’t exist at all. A handyman charged my friend $75 for installing a microwave (which took him 20 minutes of very unhurried effort.)
We so need immigrants.
Clarissa's Blog 
We never have trouble finding help. We just pay them more than anyone else is willing to, and they are happy to work for us.
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What?
Handy men will always end up trying to overcharge so it helps to research what it is is before calling them. My mother has never hired an immigrant for cleaning service.
What disturbs me is the idea you’d need to pre-screen, analyze and appraise lawnmowers. If they have the equipment, some simple instruction should suffice.
Immigrants run and work in a lot of open to the public, high volume businesses. How are the restaurants in your town? The dry cleaners? The gas stations? The kinds of businesses which are open 24-7 and deal with everyone tend to suck. The children of such business owners want nothing to to with the business when they grow up. For example, the last time I walked into a gas station, the woman working the counter made sure I knew her kid was in medical school. :p
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No, I don’t prescreen lawnmowers. They prescreen and appraise me, the customer. I was rejected by two this year, and it ranked.
I’d take anybody, I don’t think my lawn is all so special.
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Here in Arkansas, where almost everyone makes (not Bernie) minimum wage, and immigrants are thick on the ground, I get guys knocking on my door two or three times a week, begging to mow my lawn, rake my leaves, do anything at all, just to make a buck. And flyers are stuffed in my mailbox non-stop from women who want to clean my house, watch my kids, or walk my dogs. It’s too bad I can’t send some of them your way!
Only a few of these are immigrants, though — most of them are locals: white Arkansas natives in their mid-thirties to early fifties. The immigrants mostly work for Tyson, in the chicken slaughter houses, or at similar jobs, also at minimum wage, doing work so awful that when my (immigrant) students write about it I am appalled.
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Or yes, as Shakti notes, the immigrants here are running their own businesses!
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Yes, that’s true. I know two such businesses, at least.
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People want to work at mansions or on campuses / large complexes so I have difficulty hiring no matter how much I pay.
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I have a step-daughter who was a restaurant manager for Steak’n’Shake in suburban St. Louis. There is a large Hispanic population who are industrious and reliable, you just have to discover how to connect with them. She has since moved to another city, but she regarded them as her best workers. They may not be visible to you, but they are there.
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I’m puzzled by the phrase “install a microwave” – do microwaves need much installation beyond putting them on the counter and plugging them in?
Was this some special survivalist microwave that came with it’s own separate generator and battery power supply (for when zombie hordes have cut off the power grid and you really, really need to heat up a Hot Pocket.)?
(There are microwaves built into cabinets, etc. But I’d think that if any sort of cabinet work was involved 75 dollars would be a fair price, after all. However, you said “20 minutes”, so, probably not.)
(It’s also possible your friend is physically disabled and cannot put heavy objects on counters. If so, my apologies in advance)
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The microwave was installed over the stove.
I never knew people had them on counters. But I’m not a great connoisseuse of microwaves. I’ve only ever seen the ones installed over the stove.
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