This is a story showing the personal struggles that the writer endured while trying to survive on minimum wage. Ehrenreich is trying to speak out to the middle and upper class, hoping that people might realize that minimum wage is not a living wage. It is poverty. There is a man named Stu in the story and he plays the role of the assistant manager where Barbara Ehrenreich is a waitress. The author mentions that Stu is only there to make sure employees are always working, even if the restaurant is nearly empty. “Managers can sit - for hours at a time if they want - but it's their job to see that no one else ever does, …” (265 Ehrenreich).
Stu represents many qualities of poor management. He never seems to acknowledge the good