Nickel and Dimed

In Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich reveals the difficult and unfair circumstances of low-wage workers, through her undercover discoveries. Working as a waitress, a maid, a nutritionist, and a Wal-Mart employee, Ehrenreich acknowledges the strains put on a non-skilled worker. She herself, a woman with a PhD in Biology and a background as a writer, feels underqualified due to the physical tasks she is given. She has a tough time adjusting to the draining of all physical and mental energy. As she attempts to make all her ends meet, using only the money earned through these employements, she realizes that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to live soley on only one minimum wage paycheck. This is an eye opener for her, and she begins realizing what poverty really is. Within each position, she observes how the people she works with do not seem to realize how they are being exploited, and how they seem to be almost afraid of their management. As her time goes on, Ehrenreich proposes to the other workers that they try and gain something more for their efforts. She believes that for what these workers do in a day, they should be paid something more to get what they deserve.

1. I have never been truly unemployed, for working on the family farm is a full-time job. I have also never been homeless, or without health insurance. I have held a few jobs down at one time, including farm work, babysitting, and working for day camps. However the time given to each job was not enough to be extremely substantial. The lowest paying job I have ever had is babysitting. The one factor that could make a situation better for these jobs would be the use of air conditioning during the summer months.