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Nickel and Dimed

            Hunger, homelessness and sickness are all things that most people would associate with a third world country. This is however the underground society of the U.S. There are hungry and homeless people here at home and the worst thing about it is they are not bums on the street. They are hard working people with full time jobs and quite often an extra part time job on top of that. To just get a glimpse of this is one thing but one girl decided to take it one step further and she joined the life of these people for a short time and then she wrote a book about it. After a thorough reading of her book Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich very clearly conveys the sad state that these minimum wage workers are living in. .
             There are many hardships on these people working minimum wage jobs. First there is the problem of getting a job. Take applying at Wal-Mart for example. When Barbara went undercover in Minnesota she applied at Wal-Mart. The application process is overly painstaking. They first make you go through the application process which includes an aptitude test. Then you are given an interview in which your "unacceptable" answers are inquired about. After that you must wait a week for a drug test which takes around an hour and forty minutes. And after all of this you still might not even get the job as was the case for Barbara. She was solely put on a waiting list after all the time and money (gas is two dollars a gallon she say's) she put into the application process. .
             The second problem that they face is getting a place to live. Housing is hard to find as it is. Add to it the fact that you cannot get enough money together to put a down payment on an apartment. All the money you make goes to where you are staying from day to day, perhaps a motel, and food. If you can even manage to get a job and a place to stay the quality of living is unbelievably low. The places that Barbara was able to afford were so small and dilapidated that they should be considered unlivable.


Essays Related to Nickel and Dimed

1. Women and poverty as related to

... individuals encounter poor working conditions that lead to sickness, they are unable to receive adequate treatment because of the lack of health insurance. This unsettling thought can be seen in Nickel and Dimed as, " fiftyish Lucy limps toward the end of the shift because of something that has gone wrong with her leg, the exact nature of which cannot be determined without health ... impossible to adequately support oneself. Minimum wage does not necessarily represent a living wage. A living wage is one that covers the basics, such as food, shelter and transportation. In Nickel and Dime...

  • Word Count: 1140
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. Nickle and Dimed- chapter #1

Nickel and Dimed Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich, is a well written but frightening book that looks into the real lives of invisible, low wage, hard working Americans. Ehrenreich brings up many topics that are rarely spoken about in our society and decides to go back to "old-fashioned" journalism to find out how women, who are pushed in the labor market after leaving welfare and ... women who still maintains her sense of humor even after she lowers her lifestyle to that of a underpaid unskilled worker. Nickel and Dimed is a well written book that provides the truth to many unspoken to...

  • Word Count: 531
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

... Ehrenreich's occupation as a house cleaner which is not only spiritually, but physically draining as well. It is true that low wage jobs can cause damages physically and spiritually just like what Ehrenreich experienced in her journey. 5. Nickel and Dimed was written in a very momentous time for the nation's poor people. During this time the Welfare reform was enacted by the U.S. in the 1990's. This ... reform was supposed to increase employment and it did but it was not as successful as it was thought to be. As Ehrenreich searches for jobs she encounters ... those who could not get on...

  • Word Count: 1216
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Nickel & Dimed

Nickel & Dimed By Barbara Ehrenreich Barbara Ehrenreich is a journalist who posed as an unskilled worker in 1998 to highlight the struggles encountered every day by Americans attempting to ... laws enacted in 1997. As the result of the new law, people would be expected to leave welfare and get jobs. Sounds good. Unfortunately, the jobs they were able to get really didn't pay enough to live on. Nickel & Dimed is about her ecperiences as the traveled around america trying to make ends meet just like millions of Americans ... do everyday. The overall message of the book is that wages in America...

  • Word Count: 717
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Nickel and Dimed

Nickel And Dimed Nickel and Dimed The United States of America is the richest nation in the world. Very poor countries look to us for help. We give them clothes, food, and housing. I understand as a rich nation we should help out some of the less fortunate people in the world, but what ... if they do not keep it Although financial problems are a major problem for people in this low-income/working class, psychological problems are also there. Stress and depression are very common. These employees work hard long shifts, which take a toll on a person's body, not just physically but mentally. At ...

  • Word Count: 1114
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Nickel and Dimed

... the book needed to be written to address female inequalities in society. The reaction from the Feminine Mystique closely paralleled some people's reactions to the book Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. Many felt that Ehrenreich was judgmental and should not have written the book. They felt that the author did not have a "true" low-wage working experience. I agree that Ehrenreich could have done ... to live a low-wage workers life. I feel that this book needed to be written. Despite her sarcasm and human errors the book she wrote raised the awareness on the misunderstood class and ...

  • Word Count: 1209
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Nickel and dimed

Nickel and Dimed Frederick Taylor, known as the father of scientific management, takes responsibility for the change in the American workplace organization throughout the twentieth century. Taylor believes that power must be redistributed within the workplace by dumbing down the work and shifting those with intelligence from the work shop to a higher level, leading to mass production. This principle opens the doors for ... employed workers must go through the difficulties of living on a low- wage of six to seven dollars an hour, while being treated harshly and scrutinized for their every mov...

  • Word Count: 1581
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Nickel and Dimed book report

... this country. She could have also simply had some bills to pay and wrote this book, whatever her true intention was, Ehrenreich has definitely gained attention and maybe changes are on the way. Questions I/1 After reading Nickel and Dimed I felt very differently about the average Blue-collar Americans who work ... for very low wages. Before reading this book I was not aware the problem was this bad, I thought that if someone had a job they were able to buy an apartment and the essential things ... try to leave a little larger tip than usual because that is about all they earn while work...

  • Word Count: 2617
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Nickel and Dimed

The employee in the book Nickel and Dimed was without trust ,ill treated and without praise. This type of treatment lower the employee self estemm. Molly Maid is prime example to show how they work their employee to the limit without any reconition. The ... maid sevice did not care about their health. Theft is a concern in the maid busness also. Ehrenreich express "our garnish uniforms and bright green and yellow cars, for example, are probably designed to distinguish us from the average crew of burgulars, and I suspect that the reason there are no pockect in our slacks is to discourage us ...

  • Word Count: 363
  • Approx Pages: 1
  • Grade Level: High School

10. Nickel & Dimed

Nickel & Dimed Evaluation Q: Considering the evidence reported by Ehrerich- which paradigm, theories and or concepts from the stratification chapters are supported in her research findings? Cite the excerpts, quotes and pages to show how they support or refute the paradigms and concepts from the text. A: After reading the evaluation chapter I had to ask myself, what paradigm, theories and or concepts from the stratification chapters are supported in ... Ehrerich's research? One of the first things I found was that Ehrerich spoke about minimum wage in 1996 and it in 1999. She had said she " we...

  • Word Count: 362
  • Approx Pages: 1
  • Grade Level: High School

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