SHE WORKS HARD FOR THE MONEY.

FELICIA SMITH, 27
FACTORY WORKER
MELBOURNE, FLORIDA

SALARY: $17,160/yr

HOURS WORKED: 40 per week plus overtime

FAMILY LIFE: Single with one 6-year-old daughter

I GET UP AT 5:30 TO MAKE IT TO MY JOB TEN MINUTES BEFORE MY 7:00 A.M. SHIFT at the Comfortex Window Fashions manufacturing plant in Melbourne, Florida. I get dressed and then wake my 6-year-old daughter, Ashiyah. I usually fix scrambled eggs and a biscuit for breakfast and make my lunch.

By 6:30 I'm on the ten-minute drive to the day-care center Ashiyah attends. At 6:42 I'm back on the road to Comfortex, which is five minutes away. It's around this time that I'm hoping the day goes quickly so I can go home and get back in bed.

I put on my blue craft apron to start hammering, gluing and drilling together white wooden shutters for home interiors. It takes me 15 minutes to build the first shutter. Within an hour I've completed four. My back hurts sometimes from standing and bending over so much. I heard about this job through a friend's sister. I take pride in my work. And the overtime doesn't hurt either. I've been working at least three Saturdays out of the month because of hurricanes and the holidays. I would love to have my Saturdays off, but because I'm living paycheck to paycheck, I'd rather have that extra overtime money in my wallet in case something comes up.

And something unexpected usually does. Like the day I had to leave work three hours early to take Ashiyah to the doctor. I spent $22 on prescription drugs to fight Ashiyah's touch of bronchitis. It could have been even more if I didn't have insurance. Still, leaving early means less pay. Of course, my first thought was taking care of my daughter. But I still thought about the time I lost. After medical, social security and taxes are withheld, I make $279 a week. I take $157 out of each check toward the $629 for rent, then use what's left to pay for my car insurance, phone and electric bills and groceries. I also receive $176 in child support every two weeks, which I use for Ashiyah's day care and clothes. We wouldn't be doing okay financially without the child support and the overtime money.

My mom would rather I did something different because of the hours. I know she wants me to spend more time with Ashiyah. I want to, but at the moment I've got to work, work, work.

FELICIA SMITH

TERESA SMITH-ROSS, 32
911 DISPATCH
SUPERVISOR,
ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA

SALARY: $50,000/yr plus $ 10,000/yr from part-time job

HOURS WORKED: 40-76 per week

FAMILY LIFE: Married with four children

AT 7:00 A.M., WHEN I'M PULLING INTO MY DRIVEWAY AFTER A 12-HOUR shift as a 911 supervisor for the Alexandria, Virginia, police department, my husband, Vincent, a letter carrier, is leaving. He drops off our 2-year-old son at day care on his way to work. That leaves me to get our 11-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter off to school. (My 10-year-old stepson visits every weekend and during summer vacations.)

If it's a good morning, my 11-year-old is ready and eating breakfast and my daughter just needs help getting dressed. If it's a bad one--a sock is missing; my 5-year-old's cornrows have come undone; or my husband, who has the kids all night while I work my rotating, two-days-on, two-days-off, every-other-weekend schedule, has forgotten to lay out our daughter's clothes--it's murder trying to get everybody out of the house by 7:30 A.M. Still I cut him some slack because I know my husband is juggling a lot, too.

On those mornings I wish I had more time to keep my house in order and care for my family. Part of my guilt is that I work at night, and I really and truly want to be home with my children. My kids hate my schedule. But my family wouldn't be able to make it without my $50,000-a-year job. The younger ones don't understand, but my oldest son respects me for what I do.

I joined the police department as an emergency communications technician eight years ago. When I was promoted to supervisor less than four years later, I became the youngest woman in my position, and one of the few Blacks to hold the job.

I've always been the kind of person who likes to be in control and likes things to run as smoothly as possible. But that's kind of hard in a 911 center.

Initially I developed migraines from the strain of having to prove myself, so I had to become comfortable exercising authority to show it wasn't a mistake to hire me. Some people would come into the center and go to a regular technician to ask who the supervisor is--and they would walk past my desk to do it. It was tough finding my voice in a place that's dominated by White men. It's also difficult when people minimize what I do--a high-stress job working with technical computer and radio systems. It's not a position that any person can just come off the street and perform. Under my direction, my team has finally jelled. We've even received commendations for our work. I'm so proud of that. We make sure people are either safe or saved.

Although my job is rewarding, this year I hope to finish my college degree. I was my high-school valedictorian, and I attended Johns Hopkins University on scholarship before dropping out to have my oldest son. I think some people in my family are disappointed with the turn my life has taken, but I see it as part of a divine plan. I may not be a doctor, but I'm making an impact on someone's life every night at the precinct.

And while the kids are in school, I also work part-time at Home Depot four days a week to earn money that I can use to take vacations and pay for school. I'm taking online courses at the University of Maryland, and once I finish my psychology degree, I plan to go into crisis management, to help young people make better choices. It's just the beginning for me.

TERESA SMITH-ROSS

VERONICA
COLEMAN, 40
HARDEE'S GENERAL
MANAGER,
MONTGOMERY,
ALABAMA

SALARY: $38,000/yr

HOURS WORKED: 60 per week

FAMILY LIFE: Engaged with one 13-year-old daughter

I START MY DAY PREPARING FOR YOUR MORNING COMMUTE AND OFTEN END IT PREPARING FOR YOUR EVENING ONE too. As the general manager of a Hardee's fast-food restaurant, I ensure that service at the counter and at the drive-through window is accurate, fast and friendly. The job description calls for 50 hours per week, but I typically work about 60. If things run smoothly, my day ends in time to pick up my 13-year-old, Tamara, from band practice, 38 miles away in Tuskegee.

But if someone fails to show up for an afternoon shift or the drive-through gets jammed just as I'm trying to leave, I'll hop on a register to help my crew. Dinner on those nights might be a sandwich. Most of the time, though, I make it to band practice and manage to get dinner on the table.

My fiancé, Michael, who's a roofer, helps me with the bills and getting our daughter to school. Because I get up at 2.45 A.M., I rarely see Tamara out the door. My workday is supposed to be from four in the morning until about 2:00 or 3:00 P.M. But I'm there ten hours regardless. I am tired at the end of the day, but it's a good tired. I spend most of my time on my feet. I've learned the hard way about the importance of good shoes. A normal day ends at 10:00 P.M., after I've cooked dinner, helped Tamara with her homework, and ironed her next day's uniform.

After 12 years as a general manager and 22 years in the system, I bring home $38,000 per year--including bonuses. That's a huge jump from when I started right out of high school as an hourly worker; back then, in 1984, I took home probably $3.35 an hour.

My salary could be more, but it takes care of bills and it's challenging. I manage a staff of almost 20, including two shift leaders and one salaried manager. A normal day might involve finishing paperwork, training employees, staffing a grill, creating local marketing campaigns, and interacting with customers.

I have a bachelor's degree in business administration from Faulkner University, which surprises people. The restaurant I run does almost $1 million per year in sales. This often surprises people, too. People think fast-food management is easy, but it's not. You have deadlines you have to meet. You're dealing with the public. It frustrates me when employees don't take their work seriously. There are a lot of jobs I could venture out into, but right now, I'm satisfied. This one gives me time to do things with my daughter at the end of the day.

VERONICA COLEMAN

TRACY M. TAYLOR, 41
CORRECTIONS
OFFICER,
ORLANDO, FLORIDA

SALARY: $30,000/yr

HOURS WORKED: 40 per week

FAMILY LIFE: Single with one 15-year-old son

I WORK THE GRAVEYARD SHIFT AT THE CENTRAL FLORIDA RECEPTION CENTER IN ORLANDO. It's my job to guard some of the state's dangerous criminals. At 10:40 P.M., when most people are getting ready for bed, I'm changing out of my nightgown and into the brown corrections uniform I wear to work. I wash my face and jump in the shower. Before I leave the house around 11:15 P.M. to make my 20-minute commute, I say good-bye to my 15-year-old son, Anthony, and remind him to make sure he gets up and doesn't miss the bus for school.

While I'm driving, I'm thinking, I'm tired. I'm doing this alone. How am I going to pay for Anthony to go to college? When is this going to end? Everything I do right now is for my son. I want to use corrections to get my son secure in his future. After that I'll pursue what I want.

At 11:45 P.M., I enter the prison compound. Two guards check my bags, then I sign in and report for my assignment, which is monitoring the prison from a 47-foot-high guard tower. I sit in a metal high chair and scan the perimeter through six windows positioned on all sides. The room has a toilet, coffee maker, radio, telephone, binoculars and a case holding a 12-gauge shotgun and an AR-15 rifle. If an inmate tries to get over, under or through the inner fence, I'm entitled to shoot them, but that hasn't been necessary yet. The inmates know the rules. I tell them that I don't want to take a life, but that I will do what I have to in order to make it home to my son. My son worries that an inmate might someday threaten me, but I can handle myself.

At 2:00 A.M., I get reassigned to wake inmates in one dormitory for cafeteria duty. That's when I often think about my son. I tell him all the time not to do anything illegal. In here you have somebody telling you when to shower, when to urinate.

I like the steady paycheck and medical benefits my job offers. My ex-boyfriend pays $118 every two weeks in child support, but money is tight. I make $30,000 a year, or $1,238.06 every other week. My check is chiseled to $900.02 after withholdings for medical, social security, taxes, life insurance and a school loan. And after paying my rent, phone, cable, car note and electric bills, I only have enough left over for groceries. My mother helps out with unexpected expenses, like when I had to buy a new tire.

When I get back home at 8:30 A.M., my son is already at school. I shower and change back into my nightgown. I try to get a few hours sleep before he comes home. Then I get up around 2:30 P.M. and make dinner.

With my midnight to 8:00 A.M. work schedule, I don't go out very much. I mostly just want to stay home and sleep. I can never get enough rest. Maybe I've been on this shift a little too long, or maybe I'm just getting older.

TRACY M. TAYLOR

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As told to Rolanda Hatcher-Gallop; Lonnae O'Neal Parker and Sherri Daye Scott