The Lives Of Minimum Wage Workers

In this book Ehrenreich changes the names of the people and places, so the “Hearthside” is not actually the name of her first low-wage job), working for two weeks from 2pm-10pm for a wage of $2.43/hour + tips. After the two weeks were up Ehrenreich learned a lot about the people she had been working with, most of them were living in such poor conditions and or were living from paycheck to paycheck with nothing left over. Examples: Gail: Shares a room with a male roommate; she would like to not live with him but the rent would be impossible alone, Andy the white cook lives in his boat that doesn’t run, and Joan is the hostess that lives in her van parked behind a shopping center. These living situations of some of the workers at the Hearthside is really common as we learn later in the book that no matter the area that you are living in low-wage jobs do not meet the requirements needed in order to live financially stable.

Through the struggles of stabilizing two jobs at once while searching for a temporary home, Ehrenreich displayed the frustration of sticking to her three guidelines in her experiment: she cannot go hungry, be homeless, or ignore the skills she learned through her education and past work experiences. She struggled to find jobs that provided more than minimum-wage incomes in

Ehrenreich begins her experiment in Key West, Florida, where she finds an efficiency apartment for $500 a month. Ehrenreich will work at the Hearthside as a waitress for two weeks from 2:00pm until 10:00 at night for $2.43 an

Ehrenreich developed the objectives of this book in a very interesting way. Ironically she developed the idea for this project over a very elegant expensive lunch at a French country-style restaurant. Ehrenreich and her editor Lewis Laphan from Harpers had gone out to lunch to discuss future articles. Throughout lunch the topic of poverty came up. Questions like, “How does anyone live on the wages available to the unskilled?” (Ehrenreich, 2001 pg. 1) and how do unskilled workers survive on such low incomes, started to surface. She then thought “Someone ought to do the old-fashioned kind of journalism – you know, go out there and try

Ehrenreich is part of the upper-middle class; she is "privileged" to have a job in which she makes money by sitting at her desk and writing (E 2). She has never considered herself one of the working poor before this experiment, even though she explains, "the low-wage way of life had never been many degrees of separation away" (E

The most difficult problem Ehrenreich faces is lodging. Finding a place to stay is very costly and exhaustive. As Ehrenreich finds out, a lot of her coworkers live inside their cars or with roommates in very small quarters.

Before moving any further with potential weaknesses, the major and possibly only strength was Ehrenreich’s issue with rent, but this later hits a dead-end. Rent being a significant problem for a society that expects and claims that people are able to afford to live off of minimum wage should highlight a flaw in that assumption. Throughout this book, rent becomes a major issue for her but her continuous complaining with no action becomes ineffective. When placed with desperate measures, strategies are quickly summoned. If one has some family and/or friends, there will be an attempt to ask them to loan money. If the individual has formed relationships and associations with people who are also hanging on the poverty line, the idea of taking in a roommate or moving in with a roommate to split the rent will definitely be a consideration as well as considering any government assistance programs. Ehrenreich’s fictional character did not include any family nor friends and associations that she could split the rent with nor did she seek out any other ways to make ends meet. These subtleties can make it easier for readers to disregard the stress of paying ones rent, because Ehrenreich’s experience is simply not an accurate depiction; failing to demonstrate logical behavior of someone who is sincerely

Throughout the book we see several reoccurring patterns and themes. One of those is how workers continuously try to allocate income to food, lodging, and medical care. It is interesting to see how they, and Ehrenreich manage this feat. We also see the relationship between dead-end jobs and poverty traps, and the many obstacles Ehrenreichs’ characters faced. And, finally we see how applicable Ehrenreich’s experience, and that of low-wage workers are, by drawing comparisons to Madison, Wisconsin.

"Serving In Florida" Rhetorical Analysis As a social critic, Barbara Ehrenreich is able to provide opinions about societal issues. Regardless of her opinion, the audiences she reaches out to, take her stand point on what she writes about. In the excerpt of a chapter in her book, "Nickel and Dimed", from her a research project she conducted, Ehrenreich vividly describes her experience as a server at a restaurant in Florida. This chapter is specifically for the upper middle and upper classes to show that minimum wage isn't enough for someone to be living off of. Ehrenreich reaches out to this specific audience because they aren't able to experience the harsh conditions the lower class comes across during their daily lives.

Ehrenreich is a guinea pig in her own experiment of establishing a stable income with the help of a tight budget to get her to her goal, which is to build a financially stable life, as well as the help a minimum wage job. She performs this in three different locations; each having a lasting impact on her as she learns the difficulty of assimilating in a city with economic setbacks. Ehrenreich has her ups and downs in her experience, especially with money. After the ordeal, the author of the book learns about how much money is depended on and how it can change a person because she experienced it on a first-hand account. Documenting on her journey, Ehrenreich encountered people who were at their lowest and were still attempting to make the best out of it. She met immigrants and coworkers who shared stories of their low salaries and were still grateful for what they receive. This shows that it makes people more appreciated and humble for what they have because it could have been worse. Barbara Ehrenreich gained the talent of adapting to new locations, attempting to establish a secure economic foundation while having financial

In Barbara Ehrenreich’s documentary novel, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America (2001), she claimed that it is almost impossible to live off of minimum wage in the united states. She supports her claim by writing a documentary novel explaining the details of the life of the American struggles caused by the minimum wage. Through her book, she supports that minimum wage salary is insufficient means of survival and leads to a difficult life. After encountering many people who falsely accuse welfare receivers of being lazy and not work hard enough, she wrote a book to challenge and change the public’s negative opinion towards them and also about the day when the minimum wage workforce will stand up for themselves and demand to have a higher wage. Ehrenreich’s purpose for writing this novel was to bring attention to wage workforce by showing the general American public the life of their fellow citizens who are struggling to survive.

The criteria that was chosen for this paper showed that Ehrenreich demonstrated effort and experienced real life scenes as a low-wage worker for the sake of the project. Ehrenreich's project has taught me to appreciate the low-wage workers around me such as the maintenance workers. They work so hard and at times I do appreciate what they do because I am to concerned about myself at times and without them our school wouldn't be as clean as it is. I have now started to to greet them and say a simple thank you. Thank you Barbara Ehrenreich, because of you, I am more thoughtful of workers and

Ehrenreich, found out that Portland is another $5 an hour type of town, and that jobs are heavy labor and at risk for injuries (37). Afterwards, she worked for a hotel as a maid, where there was a lot of indifference like how the hotel charges $25 an hour to a client for their room clean but the worker is only getting $6.65 out of that pay (44). Interesting fact was that the hotel said “Cleaning fluids are less expensive than your time”, which shows that the hote value workers above cleaning products (45). Chapter 3, talked about her last destination, which was Minnesota, but originally wanted to go to Central Valley in California but changed her mind because people said the jobs and low-income housing are filled up by Latinos (69).Barbara Ehrenreich got a job at a retail store called “Wal-Mart,” where she talked about in detail about the interview and how she needed to pee in front of a health professional for a mandatory drug testing to get employed (72-73). Ehrenreich mentions how a housecleaner, who helping a man with cancer clean his sores and cook him food in exchange gave her $325 for her rent, which shows that there was a people that will help low-income workers (75).

Barbara Ehrenreich is a best-selling author, who wrote the descriptive narrative essay titled, “Serving in Florida”. In this writing, Ehrenreich tells the readers about her experiment into seeing if it was truly possible to live off of minimum wage, in a low-wage community located in Florida. Ehrenreich initially published this writing in her novel called Nickled and Dimed, but since then, it has also been published in other books for students in school. In “Serving in Florida”, Ehrenreich finds a place to live for about $500 per month. While living there, she had a waitressing job, paying 2.13 per hour plus tips. Throughout the writing, Ehrenreich described the obstacles that made it almost impossible to live off of only minimum wage.

In "Serving in Florida,” Barbara Ehrenreich described the similarity to live and work in a low class society. Ehrenreich focused on her experiences as a waitress and housekeeping. She describes the living and working conditions of lower income people, who became robots performing their duties. Throughout a very descriptive language, she explains her thoughts, emotions, and opinions of how to live in a more expensive city as a low-wage worker. Ehrenreich explains how the employees are fearful of losing their jobs even though they are forced to work in horrible conditions such as long hours, no breaks between shifts, and no food at times.