ND from Kayleigh Hughes

Nickel and Dimed

   In the book Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehremreich, the author experiments with living the life of a lower class American in 1998. Ehrenreich's book shines a light on many struggles and difficulties the working poor have to face, such as finding housing, jobs, and food on a minimum-wage budget. She worked a variety of different minimum wage jobs, such as a waitress, housekeeper, maid, and Wal-Mart employee.

  Throughout the book Enremreich experiences an entirely different treatment in life than she is used to be cause she is now at the bottom of the American social hierarchy. When she works as a maid in Maine, she notes that when wearing her uniform she is treated as if she were "invisible", even by other "6 dollar an hour gals" such as waitresses and convenience store clerks. This illuminates the difficulties of being "looked down on" when belonging to the lower class. Another example of this mistreatment is when she finds out that homeowners will purposely leave money and valuables out in the open with hidden cameras, as if they thought the maids were more likely to steal just because they have low paying jobs.

  Yet another struggle Enremreich faces is the problem of finding places to live. Her low budget makes it very hard to find housing in every town she moves to. Often she has to spend over a week living in small hotel rooms while calling every apartment complex she could afford, and many times her calls were not even returned. Any time she settled on a place to stay, it was often in a small, cramped space with no luxury at all. In Maine she lives in a cottage where her bathroom was inches away from her kitchen space.

 Finding jobs so she could support herself was also not an easy task for Enremreich. As part of the experiment she did not put any information about her education or past employment experiences (even though she has a Ph.D, worked as an assistant professor,is a well known journalist and a feminist activist) on her job applications.She acknowledges in the book that because she was looked at as a middle aged, poor woman, potential employers treated her differently than they would have otherwise. After applying at Wal-Mart she notes the emphasis on how against drugs the company was.She has to pass a drug test to get hired there, which, as she points out, shows that many employers care more about drug use than any good qualities an employee may have. "It rankles-at some deep personal, phsyical level-to know that the  many engaging qualities I believe I have to offer-friendliness, reliability, willingness to learn-can all be trumped by my pee."

Question 12-How does managers' scrutiny-"time theft" crackdowns and drug testing-affect workers' morale? How can American companies make the workplace environment safe and efficient without treating employees like suspected criminals?

  American companies can make the workplace environment safe and efficient simply by doing a background check on people if they seriously consider hiring them. They could try a Social Security scan, a criminal record check, employment verifications, ect. A drug test can cost anywhere from 25 to 100 dollars, which is a waste of the employer's time and money especially because most people who apply for jobs pass them. Even if they are considering someone with a criminal record, perhaps they should take into consideration the seriousness of the crime. Someone with a drug possession charge would probably make a more honest employee than someone who has assault or theft charges on their record. It's obnoxious and degrading for these companies to treat everyone who actually wants to work for them as if their some low life criminal just because they're applying for a low paying job.

 It effects the workers' morale by making them less enthusiastic about working for the company, because the company is already making assumptions about the quality of that person's worth ethic simply based on whether or not they use drugs.