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Book Report on Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Getting By On Minimum Wage

Barbara Ehrenreich , author of Nickel and Dimed , decided to join the millions of Americans who work full-time , year round , for poverty-level wages , in 1998 . After hearing the politicians spout that any job was the answer to a better way of life , she decided to find out if it was possible to survive , or even get ahead , at a job making 6 or 7 an hour . She left home and took whatever lodgings and jobs she could find What she discovered is appalling and shameful

In The Intro

: Getting Ready , Barbara 's first thoughts about her endeavor set the stage . Someone ought to do the old-fashioned kind of journalism-you know , go out there and try it for themselves ' She had three challenges for herself . Rule One : No falling back on skills derived from education or usual work . Rule Two : Take the highest paying job offered and do the best to hold onto it . Rule Three : Take cheapest accommodations found . Almost anyone could do what I did - look for jobs , work those jobs , try to make ends meet . In fact , millions of Americans do it every day , and with a lot less fanfare and dithering

In Chapter One : Serving In Florida , the author sets out looking for a place to live and finds a 500 /month efficiency . She aces the interview and submits to a drug test . She decides not to take a 6 /hr job and instead scours the want ads to find that the listings are actually insurance ' for the companies against constant turnover . She finally lands a job at a restaurant earning 2 .43 /hr plus tips and began to miss the feeling of competency while on the job . She begins to feel that her mission failed due to the long shifts and relentless concentration

In Chapter Two : Scrubbing in Maine , once again begins looking for housing and finds a share .with a woman described .as a character but clean ' She works as a housekeeper for a maid service during the week and at a nursing home on the weekends . Her cleaning job is more like smearing dirt around rather than actually cleaning . She and her co-workers have little or nothing to eat during lunches and breaks . She discovers that cleaning million dollar homes is backbreaking work

In Chapter Three : Selling in Minnesota , she makes a vow : No waitressing , nursing homes , or housecleaning this time . I 'm psyched for a change-retail , maybe , or factory work ' She is put through another drug and personality test and lives in a motel . She finds work at Wal-mart where she discovers very little human-interaction is required She could be deaf-mute or autistic and be a Wal-mart employee . Even for a worker holding two jobs , wages are too low , housing costs too high for minimally decent survival

Her evaluation sums up the state of affairs : Something is very , very wrong , when a single person in good health , a person who in addition possesses a working car , can barely support...

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