Josh, A Day Laborer About to Give Up

“People come to the park, and offer jobs so I'm getting ready to be picked up right now,” Josh, 33, said when we met him at a spot for day laborers. “It's picking up slowly, but it's picking up, you know. It's gonna be busy later but now it's slow and we are just here hanging out. Payment depends on a person. Sometimes I make a hundred, maybe under 100... it depends on the person and the job itself.” Josh says the problem is when he doesn’t get picked up for work, he turns to drinking or weed to pass the time. “That's a bad thing,” he said. “But hey, I still work and still get my job done and I still get paid. I do anything like construction, moving. I can do yard work and, all that stuff.” The San Jose native has been in Reno about 15 years, but he says when he can, he prefers to find work in the Biggest Little City, but then sleep outside city limits to avoid trouble. He lost his parents and went to prison, and says he finds it hard to recover in today's society. Our reporters for this episode are Prince Nesta and Jordan Blevins.