Nickel and Dimed

Is America truly the land of endless opportunities? People from all over the world come to the US in high hopes of becoming rich with minimal efforts. Sadly, this is not the case. After reading Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich, I have a new outlook on individuals struggling to get by on low wage paying jobs in America. Barbara travels to Florida, Maine, and Minnesota to "investigate" life as low wage worker. She plays a different role in each of these three states to experience the true life of these workers. She works at four different low paying jobs as a waitress, housekeeper at a hotel, house cleaner and a Wal-Mart associate. In the course of three months she finds insight in life with minimum wage. Reading this novel has truly had an impact on me and the way millions of people within America truly live. As an upper middle class citizen I don’t experience these struggles Barbara experienced in investigating different types of low wage lifestyles. It has really opened up my eyes to the way people live and makes me feel extremely privileged.

The first place Barbara embarks on in starting her new low-wage life is Key West, Florida. She manages to find a waitresing job at a place called Hearthside. There she earns $2.43 an hour plus tips. During this investigation she used $500 a month for rent and still wants to have $400-$500 left over for food and gas. She gets by at this waitressing job but comes across a number of interesting observations. She mentions how managers demand of you to perform you task, while they can sit for hours at a time and do nothing. "Managers can sit- for hours at a time if they want- but it’s their job to see that no one else ever does, even when there’s nothing to do." This is true for most places that pay low wages. You would never see a respectable business man or women just ordering others around without performing their job as well. Barbara also experienced the way these low income individuals live outside of work. The numerous co-workers she came across mostly lived out of their car. This was a way for them to save up money and use towards other essentials -food, gas, clothes- other than worrying about rents and appliances. What really shocked me in reading this chapter is the bathroom situation. I have learned that not until April 1988, there was no federally mandated right to bathroom breaks. This really shocked and disgusted me. Some managers would not let their employees use a bathroom break and let them defecate in their clothes. " A factory worker, not allowed a break for six hour stretches, voided into pads worn inside their uniform; and a kindergarten teacher in a school without aides had to take all twenty children with her to the bathroom and line them up outside the stall door while she voided." That statement really disturbed me. That workers that do not have the personal workplace liberties, don’t have the right to use the bathroom.

The next place Barbara embarks on is Maine. Here she gets a job at a local maid service, called Merry Maid. They pay her $6.65 an hour. Like in Florida she rents out an apartment for $500 a month. This type of work is very different from waitressing. It is from 7:30 in the morning until whenever you finish cleaning all your assignments. It struck me as extremely interesting that there wan an "art" to being a maid. The first day on the job, the managers showed her a tape of the specific things that needed to be done. Such things as the right way to dust or mop a floor, and in the order of which to due the chores. Whereas being a waitress you usually need some sort of experience, "you can arrive straight from welfare or the bus station- fresh off the boat." Like the other job she rarely has time to sit down and eat or take a break. She is consistently on her feet cleaning. This chapter also got a glimpse of working long hours with no breaks and no sick days. Even if you do get sick or hurt, you are forced to work through it. If you don’t you are in jeopardy of getting fired and most of these workers can’t afford to not get paid for a day. Whereas professionals who become ill can take a day off and still get paid and their benefits. "Now if I get a migraine, I just pop two Excedrin’s and get on with my life." That’s what you