Nickel and Dimed Essay example. Words10 Pages. “. “Somebody should research that.” (Ehrenreich, ). During the final course of her lunch with Louis Lapham, editor of Harpers, Barbara Ehrenreich wondered how people could survive on minimum wage. She would soon be eating her words as Lapham pointed to her and said, “You” Throughout Nickel and Dimed we are shown that there are many “hidden costs” to being poor, and oftentimes those in poverty are stuck in a rut with no way out because of them. The working poor have to live day-to-day in hotels accumulating costs, where is would normally be cheaper to rent an apartment if they could simply afford the security deposit and starting utilities Nickel and Dimed Essay. Words8 Pages. Barbara Ehrenreich's intent in the book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America exhibited how minimum wage isn't enough for Americans to get by on and that there's no hope for the lower class. Her main objective was achieved by living out the life of the "working poor"
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Essay Examples. Ehrenreich initiated her research in Junein the form of participant observation. Her experiment was design allowed her to personally experience the hardships of a worker with minimal skills living on minimum wage. Women in this faction have a monthly income of approximately 50, The reporter in disguise first sought a place to call her home. Ehrenreich was in the Key West area, where she was limited by her monetary means to flophouses and trailer homes as a form of shelter, nickel and dimed essay.
She had come to the realization that any area in America, whether it was New York City or the Bay Area, was expensive to inhabit. The cabin that she purchased is in the back yard of a mobile home, where her landlord resides.
In a broader perspective, nickel and dimed essay, transitioning from welfare to work will lead to greater prosperity for society.
There are limitations to this theory, nickel and dimed essay, however. The economy will eventually be subjected to a decline that can eliminate a plethora of jobs.
And should the downturn not occur, the large influx of workers in a low-wage labor market could further decrease wages, nickel and dimed essay. According to the Economic Policy Institute EPIsalaries could diminish by as much as The theory, otherwise, can only bring about positive outcomes. Based on these statistics alone, low wages could not possibly serve as a solution to poverty, let alone homelessness.
Ehrenreich considered many of the factors that would affect her ability to sustain her way of life, such as medical and physical. Another flaw was that she had no children to pose as part of her family, as she was curious about families living off minimum wage. On her first official day of playing a divorced homemaker, Barbara searched for an occupation in the newspaper advertisements. She manages to land a job nickel and dimed essay a family restaurant, Hearthside, as a waitress.
The restaurant is linked with a well-renowned hotel chain. Phillip is the manager of the establishment and allows Barbara to begin the next day. She is to work for two weeks from to P. Gail, a middle-aged waitress, nickel and dimed essay, is assigned to train Barbara on her duties, while adding in personal tidbits of her life. Aside from learning where to fill the lemonade, Gail would mention how her boyfriend died in prison. On Fridays, there are mandatory meetings for the employees.
The consultant insists that the break room is a privilege among the employees and that he has every right to strip them of it. Barbara finds the scenario rudimentary — rounding up the employees in one area and threatening to search their lockers or for some other base accusations.
Ehrenreich compiled the housing situations of her coworkers. Claude, the cook, desires to leave his current apartment, where he lives with his girlfriend and two unrelated people. Annette, a twentyyear-old waitress, has been pregnant for six months and was abandoned by her boyfriend; luckily, she found shelter with her mother.
Andy, another cook, lives on nickel and dimed essay boat is merely 20 feet long according to Andy.
They do not own a car and the Days Inn is within walking distance of Hearthside. Marianne is kicked out from her trailer and moves in with Tina and her husband, nickel and dimed essay.
Gail considers moving out of her apartment and into the Days Inn, yet she will struggle with paying the daily costs of landing a hotel room.
Barbara is fortunate because she set aside start-up costs prior to this experiment. In reality, the average person in this social class would not have the means to save money; rather, social mobility is practically impossible. Many of these workers are trading their nickel and dimed essay for their basic needs in life.
Barbara, too, begins to reflect her journey so far in the world of low wages and long hours. Her experimental life, should it be real, would be just as miserable as those of her coworkers. Although the tip money she earned as a waitress appeared reliable for it covered the expenses of food and gas nickel and dimed essay, it was not a consistent flow of money entering her pockets.
Even worse, she has no expenses that she could cut to save more money, and at that rate, she would be short of her rent of about one hundred dollars, nickel and dimed essay. In order to uphold her way of life, Barbara must find a second job. Barbara begins her search in hotels and inns like the Hyatt and Econo Lodge.
She is unable to land a job that in these companies despite her efforts. Her observations during her job search included how housekeepers were African America, Spanish-speaking, or immigrants indigenous to the Central European postCommunist world, while serves were primarily white and English-speaking. Nickel and dimed essay the first two days, she managed both jobs, having high hopes that her new schedule was a feasible one.
Joy, a woman in her early thirties, teaches Barbara her duties as a waitress, but is renowned for her fluctuating moods between and during shifts. s another coworker who sternly supervises the other employees via chastisement and harsh orders.
Barbara decides to move closer to Key West. Barbara observes that her coworkers, the ones not in a serious relationship, have also taken up a second job. Her new home is about one mile from the cluster of hotels in Key West. Her trailer is eight feet wide, has a sink and stove, a two-person table, half-sized couch, and a bedroom. The bathroom is extremely with barely any room for a person to sit down comfortably.
Firstly, restaurant employees are restricted from the hotel bar. The justification for this new rule is due to Joy, who also inhabits a trailer-home with three children.
Joy was reportedly upset about something that led to her have a few drinks and return to work intoxicated. Another new regulation is locking the dry-storage room. Ted reveals to Barbara who the culprit is without her inquiring. Essays Find a Tutor. APA MLA Harvard Vancouver Essay Examples. June Summary Of Barbara Ehrenreichs Nickel And Dimed Essay. Copy to Clipboard Reference Copied to Clipboard.
Summary Of Barbara Ehrenreichs Nickel And Dimed Essay [Internet]. Related essays: MontanaChapter Summaries Lewis and Lewis, P. C Accounting Firm A Brief History of Mcdonald Union And Women Why Are Racial And Ethnic Wage Gaps Larger For Men Than For Women Residet evil 3 walk through Identifying all motivational employee-centered programs that the AAA Travel Agency has in place.
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
, time: 4:47Summary Of Barbara Ehrenreichs Nickel And Dimed Essay Essay on Employment, Minimum wage, Wage
Nickel and Dimed Essay. Words8 Pages. Barbara Ehrenreich's intent in the book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America exhibited how minimum wage isn't enough for Americans to get by on and that there's no hope for the lower class. Her main objective was achieved by living out the life of the "working poor" Throughout Nickel and Dimed we are shown that there are many “hidden costs” to being poor, and oftentimes those in poverty are stuck in a rut with no way out because of them. The working poor have to live day-to-day in hotels accumulating costs, where is would normally be cheaper to rent an apartment if they could simply afford the security deposit and starting utilities Jasmine Compton Professor Downer English 7 September Nickel and Dimed: Essay Ehrenreich’s journey to go undercover as a minimum wage worker to see if she can “match income expenses as the truly poor attempt to do everyday.”(Ehrenreich 6). Ehrenreich’s purpose was to shine light on how the minimum wage workers deal with everyday life. It also illustrates to the Economist of
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