Post by niastallworth on Jul 15, 2011 22:10:53 GMT -5
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich, is a novel based around the author's discovery of the difficulties of life outside of middle-class after welfare reform in 1998. Ehrenreich seemed to have a genuine interest in learning about the problems people with minimal paying jobs experienced daily. During her journey Ehrenreich learned of the struggles many employees faced daily in and out of the workplace.
In Florida, Ehrenreich took a job as a waitress in a family restaurant. When taking the job she thought it would be easy to handle because of her intelligence, but soon found her self confused and feeling incompetent. After the first day she learned of the hard labor and the need for emotional and verbal control needed by any waitress to handle managers and customers daily. The labor was not the worst part of the job when compared to the wages and the management's attitude. The managers of the restaurant were inconsiderate, lazy and very oppressive towards their staff members. For example Stu, the assistant manager sat around watching and waiting for an employee to start relaxing, so he could give them more work. For example, "When, on a particularly dead afternoon, Stu finds me glancing at a USA Today a customer has left behind, he assigns me to vacuum the entire floor with the broken vacuum cleaner".The treatment by people who take advantage of their authority is not worth the meager check they receive weekly. Unfortunately, the employees seemed to have no other choice, ergo a minimum wage job is better than no job at all. A majority of Ehrenreich's co-workers had housing issues due to the low wage. Many lived with people they hardly knew such as, Gail had to share a room with a man who constantly hit on her because the rent was $250 a week. Whereas another employee was living in a van behind the hotel.
In Portland, Maine Ehrenreich was able to find a job paying $6.65 per hour at a cleaning service. During her time there it became obvious it was less about actually cleaning but more about making the houses show the illusion of cleanliness. For example, on page 45 to 46 in the footnotes Ehrenheich wrote about the cleaning style at her former employers saying, "A rag moistened with disinfectant will not get a countertop clean, she told me, because most disinfectants are inactivated by contact with organic matter - i.e., dirt - so their effectiveness declines with each swipe of the rag. What you need is a detergent and hot water, followed by a rinse." Meaning that the cleaning never truly cleaned anything, but just pushed the dirt and germs around until it was aesthetically pleasing to the homeowners. Similar to the management in Florida, the owner was nothing more than a Tyrant set out to making money off desperate people. On the other hand it seemed as if the her co-workers were worst off than the ones in Florida. One maid was constantly will but kept "working through it" like Ted would people who were noticeably ill.This man used these women to make more money by playing on their unfortunate circumstances which in turn ensued their loyalty to his company, like Ehrenheich said Ted was nothing more than a pimp.
These issues that Ehrenheich encountered during her time as a minimum wage employee were nothing compared to the problems over 15 million citizens faced in 1998. According to the United States Census Bureau, the only way a family is in poverty is if a family's total income is less than the family's threshold. With the minimum wage during 1998 being around $5-$6 per hour as reported by the United States Department of Labor. Which means the government considers a two person household with or without a child over the poverty threshold if they earn at least $5.70 per hour or around $11,000 a year.
In Florida, Ehrenreich took a job as a waitress in a family restaurant. When taking the job she thought it would be easy to handle because of her intelligence, but soon found her self confused and feeling incompetent. After the first day she learned of the hard labor and the need for emotional and verbal control needed by any waitress to handle managers and customers daily. The labor was not the worst part of the job when compared to the wages and the management's attitude. The managers of the restaurant were inconsiderate, lazy and very oppressive towards their staff members. For example Stu, the assistant manager sat around watching and waiting for an employee to start relaxing, so he could give them more work. For example, "When, on a particularly dead afternoon, Stu finds me glancing at a USA Today a customer has left behind, he assigns me to vacuum the entire floor with the broken vacuum cleaner".The treatment by people who take advantage of their authority is not worth the meager check they receive weekly. Unfortunately, the employees seemed to have no other choice, ergo a minimum wage job is better than no job at all. A majority of Ehrenreich's co-workers had housing issues due to the low wage. Many lived with people they hardly knew such as, Gail had to share a room with a man who constantly hit on her because the rent was $250 a week. Whereas another employee was living in a van behind the hotel.
In Portland, Maine Ehrenreich was able to find a job paying $6.65 per hour at a cleaning service. During her time there it became obvious it was less about actually cleaning but more about making the houses show the illusion of cleanliness. For example, on page 45 to 46 in the footnotes Ehrenheich wrote about the cleaning style at her former employers saying, "A rag moistened with disinfectant will not get a countertop clean, she told me, because most disinfectants are inactivated by contact with organic matter - i.e., dirt - so their effectiveness declines with each swipe of the rag. What you need is a detergent and hot water, followed by a rinse." Meaning that the cleaning never truly cleaned anything, but just pushed the dirt and germs around until it was aesthetically pleasing to the homeowners. Similar to the management in Florida, the owner was nothing more than a Tyrant set out to making money off desperate people. On the other hand it seemed as if the her co-workers were worst off than the ones in Florida. One maid was constantly will but kept "working through it" like Ted would people who were noticeably ill.This man used these women to make more money by playing on their unfortunate circumstances which in turn ensued their loyalty to his company, like Ehrenheich said Ted was nothing more than a pimp.
These issues that Ehrenheich encountered during her time as a minimum wage employee were nothing compared to the problems over 15 million citizens faced in 1998. According to the United States Census Bureau, the only way a family is in poverty is if a family's total income is less than the family's threshold. With the minimum wage during 1998 being around $5-$6 per hour as reported by the United States Department of Labor. Which means the government considers a two person household with or without a child over the poverty threshold if they earn at least $5.70 per hour or around $11,000 a year.