"I doing casual labor by the day. They wouldn't pay you until the next morning. There was a bar that would cash your check if you bought a beer first. A lot of guys never left until they'd drunk up all their money"

This quote by Fred Ward paints a vibrant picture of the battles of casual labor in the past. It speaks with the lack of financial security and the desperation of those who had to depend on it. The quote suggests that the only way to access the wages made was to buy a beer at a bar, which would then cash the check. This suggests that many of these workers were not able to save their cash, as they would invest it all on alcohol. This quote highlights the difficult conditions of casual labor and the lack of monetary security it supplied. It likewise speaks with the prevalence of alcohol consumption amongst those who had to depend on it.