...Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Carmen Arvelo Northwestern State University SOWK 3350 Barbara Pierce PHD, LMSW, ACSW March 04, 2013 Abstract The author Barbara Ehrenreich sets out on her quest to decide for herself if the working women in America are able to survive on low paying jobs. Accomplishing this will mean living on only what she makes to pay the rent, groceries and gas. The author makes up her mind to seek employment in three different cities around America, Key West, Florida, Maine and Minnesota. Her reasons for choosing each these cities varies and she realizes very quickly that making ends meet in any of these cities will not be easy to do if not impossible on a low salary. The author meets numerous people, including Holly a maid in Maine that she befriends. Ehrenreich’s view of low wage workers helps her understand their situation around the country as she comes to the realization that one cannot afford nutritious food, a protected living enviroment and provide for health insurance all on low earnings. My paper will discuss the repercussions of low wages on the working poor as well as how they are viewed by society. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America The book Nickel and Dimed begins with the author, Barbara Ehrenreich (2011), contemplating how she will take on the task of living with limited money and assets as she has a Ph.D. in Biology, but her focus became social change. Ehrenreich must ground rules for her research...
Words: 2072 - Pages: 9
...Is America truly the land of endless opportunities? People from all over the world come to the United States in high hopes of having a prosperous life with minimal efforts. They expect this glorious life in the United States not knowing what it really takes to get there. But can people really make this happen living on low wage jobs? In Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich goes undercover to find out if it is indeed possible. Starting from scratch she faces the everyday situations of a low wage worker. She has absolutely no idea how things will go, but she is determined to get good information for her research. Ehrenreich leaves her regular life to explore the experiences of a minimum wage worker. She travels to Florida, Maine, and Minnesota looking for jobs and places to live on a minimum wage salary. At one point she has to work two jobs just to make ends meet. Day by day, as she worked at these jobs, she began to discover many problems in the social world. Everything she went through during this experience was so different to her, she had never before been through any of these situations. It was hard for her because she was not used to living in environments of the poor. Ehrenreich worked as a waitress at two different restaurants, as a maid service cleaning houses, and as a Dietary aide at a nursing home. Ehrenreich had many days where she got very home sick and she just wanted to go back home. But she knew she couldn't because that would ruin everything. Barbara absolutely...
Words: 467 - Pages: 2
...The non-fiction book Nickel and Dimed, written by Barbara Ehrenreich, expressed the harsh reality of American poverty from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. The idea had begun as a discussion between her and an editor, who suggested the idea to her around the time that welfare reform was becoming set into place, yet, she was originally unsure, due to the fact that her own parents suffered from actual poverty. Also, she was unaware of whether or not she was capable enough to handle it too, yet she had soon managed to overcome the fear and venture towards the idea. The journalist attempted the life of a minimum-wage worker in order to uncover how these people managed their lives on such miserable accommodations and pay. She established parameters...
Words: 1526 - Pages: 7
...Andrew H. Nguyen 6-22-16 AP English AP English 3: Nickel and Dimed Notes Argument: Ehrenreich argues that working minimum wage jobs will make it difficult to sustain one’s basic needs. Ethos: Mentions how most of her family are minimum wage workers (miners, factory workers, warehouse worker) giving herself credibility of having knowledge of the lifestyles of impoverished workers. (p. 2). Also is shown credibility by having a Ph.D in Biology (p. 3). Pathos: Talks about her sister’s difficult life with various low-wage jobs and struggling with “the hopelessness of being a wage slave” (p. 2) Co-worker, Gail, is forced to live with an annoying roommate in order to be able to pay rent in for just a cheap hotel. (p. 25) Forced to move to Key West...
Words: 295 - Pages: 2
...The author of the book Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich argues that many people, like the rich want to buy more housing communities and for the poor it makes their days harder, it’s like the poor and rich are in competition with each other but obviously the rich is winning. She explains that do to the sock prices going up today, the rich have made it big time, running more businesses and the people who have low-income have to deal with expensive housing and its harder for them to get transportation around areas due to the prices and going to work is a challenge being that they live miles away from their homes and traveling wo work every day. Around the suburb areas, job growth is happening everywhere. When searching for a place to live the rent can be really high and many housing section are forced in the inner cities, this could be very hard on the poor do to their mobility needs....
Words: 1040 - Pages: 5
...Reflection of Nickel and Dimed This experiment was an interesting challenge for the author, Barbara Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich could have just written a book about poverty and the low wage work force by collecting research from other people but instead she got out there and did the work herself. At times, especially in the first chapter, Ehrenreich would seem like she was not working hard and giving up but she eventually got over these feelings. Ehrenreich was not too picky about her choice of jobs, food, or living arrangements. I can’t imagine eating only fast food or canned meat for months. I think that the results of this experiment are extremely volatile and could have been drastically different with little change of Ehrenreich’s plan. Ehrenreich claims that she had an advantage being white, English speaking, and not having children. It would be interesting to see an experiment done to compare the results to Ehrenreich’s experiment. It was good that Ehrenreich performed many different jobs to see different experiences while doing her research. Ehrenreich’s experiment also easily proved that low wage work can be very difficult and hard work. Ehrenreich also showed the poor treatment of the workers by management who feel that they are more powerful. It was interesting to see Ehrenreich’s feeling on invisibility while working at Wal-Mart where she was only one of the many workers at the store. She did not receive any praise for her work in any place. Ehrenreich also felt very...
Words: 826 - Pages: 4
...Written in 1984 by Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not Getting) Getting by in America is an exposé portraying how it is to live with a minimum wage job in America. This piece is a form of a report on an experiment, which she acted upon. Though it may seem like a mocking action to the financially impaired, it was a genuine effort to bring attention to the issue. In brief, she set out to live first-hand what it was like to live with minimum paying jobs in order to bring awareness to the issue of having a poor class in the economical culture. She writes about the almost deplorable conditions in three different cities, Key West, Maine, and Twin Cities. Throughout the series of events, she ends up working at hotels, restaurants, and Wal-Mart....
Words: 639 - Pages: 3
...There are many issues our country, the United States of America, is facing here in the 21st century. One of our major issues is our citizens suffering from poor housing or homelessness all together. This major issue is displayed in the book “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America” written by Barbara Ehrenreich. Within this book, Barbara writes about her journey to see if single mothers are able to survive financially on minimum to low paying jobs. Therefore, she decides to put her journalist career on hold in order to try out surviving on low wages in three different cities in America. Her first city is Key West. There, Barbara works at two different restaurants and once as a maid for a hotel. At that time, she lives in an efficiency and then at another point, a trailer park. She mentions one of her observations being that if you have only one room in a hotel, you can’t save money by making healthy, cheap food. Also, if you lack health insurance, you will wind up with significant, expensive health issues. After all of her realizations and a particularly tough day at work, she decides to walk out and...
Words: 520 - Pages: 3
...Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of Nickel and Dimed, is very straightforward and clear throughout her personal account of life as a low-class citizen in the United States. First off, she incorporates statistics, data, and research during her story to back up her point. This technique allows her to successfully make a credible argument and be transparent with her audience. Additionally, the reader does not have to infer what Ehrenreich means by a statement as she continuously writes what she is thinking about. In particular, the author elucidates, “Today the answer seems both more modest and more challenging: If we want to reduce poverty, we have to stop doing the things that make people poor and keep them that way. Stop underpaying people for...
Words: 291 - Pages: 2
...“The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. A full-time minimum wage employee earns $15,080 annually. In 2012, the poverty threshold for a single person was $11,945. For a family of four with two children, it was $22,283” -University of California-Davis. In Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, Barbara Ehrenreich tells a powerful and tenacious story of the day to day survival of low-income workers in America. Her story transcends the disparity that exists between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat society and uncovers the dark truths that lie hidden beyond the popular portrayal of the “American dream”. The book gives the reader an insiders’ view into the world of the proletariat society, a peculiar place to which majority...
Words: 1438 - Pages: 6
...“All roads that lead to success have to pass through hard work boulevard at some point.” (Eric Thomas) This quote states that no matter with road you chose to take, at some point you can be success if you work at it. We all have to work hard to get there. In the book Nickel and Dimed, author Barbara Ehrenreich goes through many road to see how others get to success. She puts herself in the shoes of others by taking various jobs in different locations. All of this helps her understand the motivation that people need to live, the unfairness of many work conditions and the struggle to get by. In the book, one of the elements that keeps popping up is the unfairness of many work places. People have to endure this because the almost have no choice if they want a paycheck. “They don’t cut you no slack. You give and you give, and they tale.” (Ehrenreich, 22) No matter how hard you try and work, it doesn't seem to help. They will use you for more than what you're entitled to do. And they still won't pay the employee what is deserved. Thats why some never show what they can really do in the work place. While Ehrenreich was in Minnesota,...
Words: 725 - Pages: 3
...Nowadays, there is an idea of poverty of ambition, people want to drive fancy cars and live a luxurious lifestyle but don't want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize his or her full potential. Throughout Barbara Ehrenreich’s book, Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America, she sets herself up for failure. Most people, no matter what the job of the moment, see it as a way to get ahead later. By starting the experiment with the intention to fail, hence the name “on not getting by in America”, Ehrenreich sets herself up with a self-fulfilling prophecy. This self-fulfilling prophecy/bias is present throughout her whole experience causing her experiment to become tainted with flaws. Ehrenreich did not try...
Words: 582 - Pages: 3
...In the year 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich began her project where she wants to know whether working a minimum wage job is enough to provide basic needs for one’s self. She participated in her own project, and in her book “Nickel and Dimed” she shares her experiences working on low wage jobs. The jobs she was able to obtain varied from serving, scrubbing, and selling. In the end, Ehrenreich comes to the conclusion that the poor is poor because they can’t escape from it. Ehrenreich was able to experience the difficulties the poor live. Her first encounter was when she realized that it is difficult to get a job. When she applied to many stores in Florida, she noticed how difficult and unnecessary some of the processes were. She claims...
Words: 610 - Pages: 3
...In Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Nickel and Dimed” on pages 395-402 in the Suffolk Common Reader she discusses the jobs women are more likely to get and the wages of those jobs. In this article she describes how the Maid is treated and what the job consists of and how and what they get paid. The main points of this article is the struggle to get to the American dream. I agree with what Ehrenreich is saying because the American dream isn’t just handed on a platter for most people. I agree with the main point of the struggle of the American Dream because I believe things aren’t handed to you on a silver platter. The person has to work and strive to become what they want to become. For example, “How poop are they, my coworkers? The fact that anyone is...
Words: 301 - Pages: 2
...After reading about Barbara Ehrenreigh’s plight in Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, living as a low-wage worker is almost impossible, especially if issues are present that will impact work. For the amount of money earned, a bare bones lifestyle was extremely difficult to meet. Her standard of living, or “the level of wealth available to acquire material goods and comforts to maintain a particular socioeconomic style” (Griffiths et al., 2015, p. 202), decreased notably from her former occupation, especially when she was working with the maids, suffering rashes and pains. In addition, her income, defined as “the money a person earns from work or investments” (Griffiths et al., 2015, p. 201) left her with a strict budget that left her at the brink of disaster. Throughout all of her jobs, she encountered troubles with management, as they often mistreated their employees, especially in Jerry’s through a manager called B.J. and also in The Maids by a manager named Ted. When she completed her investigation, she realized that living costs were becoming too high relative to wages. Also, she found that the economic boom of the 1990s had little effect on the wages of low-wage...
Words: 429 - Pages: 2
