France is a country full of charm. But how much do we know about the people who live here? The series "Group Portraits of French Society" may be able to show the daily life of the French from different perspectives. Today we are talking about a group of people who are in large numbers in society, neither managers, technicians, nor necessarily protected by the system. None of them have a skill, let alone an irreplaceable one, and they will eventually suffer from middle-aged unemployment.
"Dames pipi" is the French name for public toilet cleaners: in addition to cleaning, "lady boo" sometimes also works as a fee collector and sells hygiene products.
In 2015, Sarivo Point WC, a French subsidiary of the Dutch upscale bathroom manufacturer 2theloo, took over the Paris municipal government's public toilet renovation plan, intending to transform public toilets in tourist resorts such as Notre Dame Cathedral and Montmartre into modern public toilets selling souvenirs.
2theloo operates stylish paid toilets at tourist attractions across Europe, such as those in London's Covent Garden.
This plan disrupted the lives of the "shhh ladies". In fact, 2theloo refused to renew the contract with these "shhh ladies": they needed employees "not cleaners", but "salespeople". As a result, employees "must be fluent in the elegant manners of France and speak foreign languages in order to make foreign visitors feel welcome."
The "shhh ladies" do not meet these criteria regardless of education, image, and age. Many people came to France from Guinea, Togo, Vietnam and other places in the early years. They have experienced more difficult days, many of them are important economic pillars in their families, but they have to face the prospect of being eliminated like "rags".
Seventeen years ago, 25-year-old Françoise came to Paris from Togo to work as a cleaner in public toilets. "Compared to the toilets in Togo, I saw such a clean, high-class toilet for the first time, even though it was underground," she recalls. ”
Many of the "boo ladies" who protested and went on strike with the help of trade unions protested publicly for the first time in their lives. In order to keep their jobs, they can no longer have the luxury of caring about the eyes of others. After finally being re-employed by the Paris municipality, their entanglement with 2theloo company was not over, and 6 "boo ladies" as representatives took the company to court with the support of the union, suing the latter for illegal dismissal. On October 21 this year, the Paris Labour Court heard the case, and the specific verdict will be announced on January 20 next year.
Last summer, cleaning staff who had lost their jobs protested at the Paris station.
However, with the conversion of most residential areas in France to gray automatic cleaning toilet kiosks, there are fewer and fewer posts to manage public toilets.
Automatic cleaning toilet kiosks on the streets of France.
A reporter from the French newspaper Le Monde interviewed Silvigne, a 47-year-old former toilet cleaner: she found a cleaning job in a nightclub for a monthly salary of 1128 euros. In addition, Silvini goes to care for four nights a week and earns an extra 100 euros a month. Laundry workers, receptionists, caregivers, production line workers... She's done everything she can. Although she worked hard because of this unpromising job, she cherished the income very much: "Making my 13-year-old son happy, making sure that he is compared with his peers, not lacking anything, not jealous of my classmates, is the motivation for my work."
The profession of "Boo-boo Lady" is also the inspiration for many literary and artistic works in France. In "Remembrance of the Watery Years", Proust describes from his own point of view "The Shhh Lady"—the lady sitting in the cubicle at the entrance of the public toilet, "as if she were a marquise chatting in her living room."
Of course, in addition to Proust's observation of unavoidable glorification of detachment, there are also people who are not naïve in lamenting for "booing lady". The poet Gohanek wrote,
"In the future, there are no promises
Even so, let's sing!
Eye-catching pools, mirrors
Doors that obscure the toilet
The sound of water splashing, the sound of coins
And "thank you"
In this convenient place
Flavor and stench are at war with each other
Where are you going to wander?
"Shhhhh ms", you are beautiful!
Who put you in this landscape?
What is the arrangement of ghost fate? What kind of ridicule is this? ”
In the movie, the professional setting of the cleaner can quickly show how humble and depressed the protagonist is in reality: In "Paris Sleepless", the girl Camille played by Audrey Tatoo is talented, but the years of loneliness and painful memories of childhood have caused her to fall into strong self-doubt, and she will give up painting and rely on cleaning work to make a living.
"Sleepless in Paris"
In Mindcatcher, Matt Damon plays the "mysterious mathematical genius" of MIT, who works as a cleaner on campus due to self-isolation.
Mindcatcher
The position of the cleaner in society also shows the current situation of her/his disconnect from mainstream society: in "The Concert", the conductor Andrei is expelled from the command community because he is unwilling to obey the authorities, and can only put away his pride and go to "sweep the cowshed". In the novel "Trembling", the enthusiastic Belgian girl Emily works for a famous company in Japan. Emily, who was difficult to tame by the Japanese corporate culture, gradually reduced her position from French translator to cleaner. Emily, who was banished to the bathroom, was completely cut off from the real Japanese society.
Stills from the movie "Trembling".
For people with a good educational background, the trapped cleaner's position temporarily stained their lives with a poetic tragedy. The cleaner's identity is like an ill-sized coat, and it is only a matter of time before it is replaced. However, in reality, the cleaning post acts as an air raid shelter, giving the last dignity and destination to those who cannot adapt to society and insist on self-reliance.
In these "places of dirt and grime," a person can retreat into a safe space and exchange money and presence for scrubbing and cleaning. This "seeing the old" job provides a solution to the individual's inability and the hope of dissipating the pain. Although anyone can go in and out of the public toilet at will, or even make it filthy, perhaps the public toilet can give the cleaner the illusion that she has a world of her own. Here, she can take charge of her own destiny like Robinson surviving on an isolated island.
The pay for cleaning work is always "just right" and doesn't leave enough energy to dress yourself up with dreams. In this "conscienceless" position, age does not bring more resources, ability and charm, but makes people numbly and obediently accept their own inertia and bleakness. Because the job is not "decent", the practitioner does not "deceive himself": I am an ordinary person. My labor doesn't make much sense.
Where do they "lose" in their lives? Why not change jobs? Faced with common anxieties such as financial conditions, housework, and children's education, they never had the energy to pursue their careers. Indenting into a life that has been repeated over the years, it is simply normal to lose all courage, ability and curiosity without slacking off. When they really can't keep up with the changes in society, in addition to scolding Like Naipaul, "Life is really fucking live", "Shhh ladies" have to go out of the "cave" to demonstrate and complain, in order to defend their own small world.
European Times Italian edition WeChat public number: Oushi1983
(Editor: Huang Hao)