Alex Ratikan
English 120



			stereotype: why are dogs always broke? Because they have no pockets.


	Why are dogs always broke? Maybe they aren't? I am one of those dogs. I fell this way because of a stereotype inflicted upon me.
	I am a working class dog. I've worked my way through college for many years in hopes of escaping low wage jobs and low income living. Working in a restaurant isn't a very easy job. Its not like hammering nails in shingles all day on a steep roof ten stories up, but it has its own hazards. After all your job title is server. They don't really use the term waiter or waitress anymore.
	When you meet someone very often the first question they ask is “so what do you do for  a living?”. “oh I'm a server” you reply. Automatically they think oh gee this guy is uneducated and not very motivated in life. Well thats not true. Behind the scenes of this so called server, lies another identity. One that not even some of my closest friends knew about. I first became interested in computers when I was around ten. Twenty years later or so I am at the college of marin acing every computer class I could get my brain on. Somewhere in the meantime, I developed an uncanny interest in breaking into remote computer networks and infecting thousands of computers with what is called exploits. What triggered me to do this had nothing to do with the stereotype yet. But it was my weapon against the stereotype I was soon to face. Before  that I put in many years working on a commercial fishing boat out of the gulf of Mexico. In my offshore time I learned how to run a commercial fishing boat on my own. But even being as accomplished as I am, I still feel the need to hide the truth about my occupation. Being a server makes me feel like I have to lie, denied socially, and hurt to the point of motivation.
	My first experience of feeling this way, was when I moved to Marin county. I came from a working class blue collar area in Fort Walton Beach Florida. Back there there was no real class difference. Everyone was equal. The only way you were looked down upon was if you didn't have a job at all. So moving to California was a real adventure to me, and I was looking forward to the change of pace and scenery. It was then, I realized what the change of pace and scenery was. Or at least how I perceived it, I was not only outclassed but outranked by some even younger than a 24 year old dog,
well either way the necessity of paying bills drove me to becoming a server. And with that comes my lie. When people ask “what do you do for a living”? I almost want to cringe and hide. Especially when I can tell they are more educated and hold a higher rank in this horrible class system. People sometimes  get too wrapped up in the money game and miss out on some parts of life. That is what I tell myself inside my head every time someone asks me “what do you do for a living”?. I just kinda hide my lie face and say “oh I'm a student”. Somehow that makes a person feel better about how they are perceived.
	The second horrible way this made me feel, well is awful. Being new to an area is hard enough with no friends. Then when you make friends, if you don't quite make the status quo, you are not really one of them. You don't fit in. It feels really good to meet some new friends for the first time, then have them not invite you to an event because of your status. Oh great there is this big get together at someones house. But because you are the server without the degree, “we better not let him come over”.
Its a very crappy feeling. After a few experiences like that, you start to become self conscious. Then you always feel like the under to the rest. I was denied socially because of my current trade.
	Last but not least this hurts my feelings and many other parts of my mind I cant even define. To the point of a new feeling. Not self pity, nor hatred against those that stereotype me. I developed a new feeling. Maybe a self defense mechanism. Its motivation. I get soo angry inside at the people that I feel have an IQ of 20, that I just want to show them, You cant consider yourself above human. I am sure I would be proud to have a degree and a job. I am also sure if and when I do accomplish this I would never ever belittle someone for trying. I would never belittle someone for just being either. Life is made for all of us. You dont have to be a doctor to live life.
	With all that said I would like to bring some closure to this. Can you judge a person by their job.  I can assure you, you cannot. They can be the next einstein or tesla, and you may never have the pleasure of knowing them, by stereotyping them, as the under or the misfit. Well next time invite them and treat them as an equal peer. You may find your working class dog does have some pockets.