Republicans would call Maria Fernandes lazy.
She worked three jobs at three different Dunkin Donuts in New Jersey, trying to survive and pay her $550 a month rent. According to her landlady, Maria’s rent payments were often late.
Working three jobs meant Maria was hardly ever home. She took naps in her car between shifts and at 6am on August 25th, after finishing up one of her shifts, Maria got into her car heading to her next job. She had another shift at another location and during a brief conversation with her boyfriend that morning, Maria told him she was going to pull over for a nap.
She pulled into the parking lot of a Wawa convenience store and reclined her seat. It was the last moments of her life. Maria was found dead in her car, foaming from the mouth.
Maria’s story is detailed in a report by the New York Times, and according to the report, Maria always slept in her car with the engine running. Her biggest fear, the report says, was waking up and realizing that she had no gas left after sleeping with the engine running. So she bought a container, filled it with gas and stored it in her car.
Her boyfriend cautioned her about storing gas in her car, but waking up and realizing that she had no gas was something she had to avoid. No gas meant she couldn’t get to work and not working a shift at one of her three jobs was out if the question.
Surveillance cameras at the Wawa convenience store picked up the images of the 32-year-old woman, dressed in her Dunkin Donuts uniform and driving her 2001 Kia Sportage, pulling into the parking lot at 6:27am.
A Wawa employee, on his way to work, noticed Ms. Fernandes about an hour later. She was lying motionless in her S.U.V., which was parked behind the store, police records show. He said he thought she was sleeping and went inside.
When he finished his shift around 3:30 p.m., the Wawa employee noticed that Ms. Fernandes was still there. This time, though, she was foaming at the mouth. His manager called 911.
Emergency responders found the gas can open and overturned in the cargo hold and the S.U.V. filled with fumes, in what police said appeared to have been an accident. As commuters streamed by her counter in Newark, Ms. Fernandes was pronounced dead at 5:56 p.m. She was still in her uniform.
Maria’s story is unfortunate, but not exclusive. Republicans who are trying to end Obamacare and other social programs designed to help the poor, and those trying to fight any raise in the minimum wage, are all contributors to stories like Maria’s.
