ND from Sarah Sheldon

Nickel and Dimed tells us how one journalist's dive into the search to see if people can survive on minimum wage opens up another world of employed people trying to provide for their families. In her travels from Key West, Florida to Portland, Maine and finally to Minneapolis, Minnesota Barbara Ehrenreich attempts to find affordable housing and jobs in the vicinity of her living situation so she won't spend unnecessary money on gas to get work. She has success finding places to live in Key West and Portland, but Minneapolis was another story. Her friends let her stay in their apartment while they were gone and she was looking for one to stay in but never finds one and for this portion of the book, she's living in a motel because there was low apartment availability there. Her job searches in each of these areas get her jobs, but she usually took two jobs each place she stayed like waitressing in Key West and a dietary aid in Portland. The long hours of work made her spend money on pain relievers so she would be able to function the next day. When applying at Wal-Mart and Menards in Minneapolis, she felt her privacy invaded because they made her take drug tests, and when she had the job at Wal-Mart, the employers didn't really care about providing for their employees at all and were treated badly sometimes. Ehrenreich shows us how even 11 years ago, people were barely able to survive and that the government's views and definition of poverty, and how many people live in it, were wrong. Even though after publishing this book has led to increased federal and state minimum wages, other costs of living have gone up too. 17) Having any job is better than not having one, especially when you have to support yourself with that job, unless your a teenager living in a stable home that just need the money for your car and other stuff. It made me realize how much i could take for granted because their are alot of people who don't have stable home situations because they can't afford one.