Nickel and Dimed Free Essays

Nickel Dimed In the novel Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, we see the true story of what is going on in most of America. Better yet, we see the every-day realities of the 35% of the people in our country who are struggling financially. Today, many people deal with homelessness, unemployment, and low paying jobs just the way Ehrenreich did for this experiment. We will write a custom essay sample on Nickel and Dimed or any similar topic only for you Order Now The goal was to see if the money she made monthly would be enough to get her by with the next months rent. Although she was educated with a Ph. D in Biology, she set her real life aside to take a step into the lives of those in poverty. She opens the readers eyes to the fact that many Americans are making far less money than they deserve: â€Å"No one ever said that you could work hard—harder even than you ever thought possible—and still find yourself sinking ever deeper into poverty and debt. † Ehrenreich’s novel proves the point that despite ones hard work, our not-so-fast economy can still lead to countless amounts of struggles. Ehrenreich’s experiment begins in Key West, Florida. She is under the identity of a newly divorced housewife fresh into the work industry. She first learns her way about the application process of low wage jobs. She discovers that they entail a survey of questions, along with a urine test. After three days of not hearing back from the jobs she had applied for, she begins to feel desperate and applies for a waitressing job at very low pay. She earned $2. 43 an hour, with grueling hours beginning at 2 P. M. and ending at 10 P. M. daily. She soon realizes this one job will not get her by, and applies for a second waitressing job. At this time she is living in a hotel room, and takes a job as a hotel housekeeper as well. Ehrenreich leaves the second waitressing job due to unbearable work conditions, and continues her journey in Portland, Maine hoping for better luck. Soon enough, though, she is forced with the reality that decent paying jobs are not so easy to take hold of. Eventually, she moves into a cottage for $120 dollars a week. Throughout this time, Ehrenreich serves as an employee of the typical low wage American jobs: as a waitress, a store clerk, and a housekeeper. Towards the end of the novel, she decides to finally open up to her most trusted coworkers about the experiment. Unfortunately, though, she received not one reaction of interest. Throughout the novel, Ehrenreich displays how not only can poverty effect your way of living, but it can also effect your psychological status. She went into her new life in Maine believing things would be far easier, as though her $6/7 dollar pay in Florida was so out of the ordinary. She felt as though if the supply in labor was as low as demand, the prices would rise. Unfortunately, our economy did not work in her favor. Supply and demand is used as an economic model for Americans. It serves as a price determination of a market, and ultimately results in an economic equilibrium for price and quantity. There are four common rules of Supply and Demand, which are as follows: 1) If demand increases and supply remains unchanged, a shortage occurs, leading to a higher equilibrium price. 2) If demand decreases and supply remains unchanged, a surplus occurs, leading to a lower equilibrium price. 3) If demand remains unchanged and supply increases, a surplus occurs, leading to a lower equilibrium price 4) If demand remains unchanged and supply decreases, a shortage occurs, leading to a higher equilibrium price. Overall, Ehrenreich’s confidence before joining the work force led her to failure. She did not expect the difficulties she was forced to face, and in turn, was only capable of landing uncomfortable, unfair, and grueling jobs. The places Ehrenreich chose to conduct this experiment had plenty to do with the outcome of her results. Job growth typically occurs in suburban cities. Consequently, where rents are high, which leaves the last bits of affordable housing to the inner city people. For some less fortunate people, it forces them to travel long distances to work, which in turn costs them more money. For Ehrenreich, though, the answer to her financial issues throughout the novel would be to pick up her things and try out a new place to live. She believed it was not the housing crisis that made one poor, but the need for food and health care to stay alive. She continues on to say that food is â€Å"relatively inflation-proof†, although the poverty rate is mainly based on this. The value, need, and price of food will always rise, although the money one makes to support themselves is no guaranteed. How to cite Nickel and Dimed, Essay examples Nickel and Dimed Free Essays Nickel and Dimed, written by Barbara Ehrenreich has been published in 2001 for the first time. This book explains and describes the condition of the working poor in United States in the 21st century. To write this book the author who is a well-known journalist at the New York Times decides to experience being a low-wage worker for a few months. We will write a custom essay sample on Nickel and Dimed or any similar topic only for you Order Now She gives up her middle class life to become and live as a working poor. The author establishes a few rules at the beginning of her challenge such as not to go hungry or always having a car. But, except for those few exceptions she decides to go through the same life as her new coworkers. She starts her experience in Florida then she goes to Maine and finally to Minnesota. Therefore, Nickel and Dimed describes the experiment and the troubles Ehrenreich had to go through while she was a working poor. She particularly accentuates on how humiliated and how ashamed people are of being poor. Shame and humiliation are essential themes of this book are explained and described through different ways such as the fact that poor people are invisible or not respected in their jobs or not able to talk freely, or mistreated by their manager even if they are sick. First of all, the author explains that the poor are invisible and how they feel about it. â€Å"Maids as an occupational group, are not visible, and when we are seen we are often sorry for it† (99). The feeling of invisibility is normally one of the worst feelings that a human being should feel. But according to Ehrenreich, the maids feel relieved when they are not seen. Other people are looking at them as stupid people. They do not fit in the society. In fact, nowadays a person who does not use their brain in their work is not respected by others or by the upper classes. Holly, Ehrenreich’s coworker and friend, describes in chapter two the mean and negative remarks people did to her when they know that she is a maid. She said, â€Å" We’re nothing to these people† (100). Therefore, the poor are invisible in this society where the intellectual skills are valuable. They feel better when they are not noticed because they prefer to avoid the mean remarks from other. But, feeling invisible in their everyday life is a shame. They are human beings who need to be considered by others and integrated in a group to socialize as everyone else. Second of all, readers understand that low-wage workers are not respected in their job and this starts at the hiring process. While Ehrenreich tries to be hired at Wal-Mart in chapter three she explains that she has to go through psychological and drug tests. The first test is not supposed to affect the decision of the managers but in fact it does. Roberta, her coworker â€Å"takes it off to another room where, she says a computer will ‘score it’. After about ten minutes, she’s back with alarming news: I’ve gotten three answers wrong† (240). Corporations start to lie to their employees before hiring them. Low wage people as B. Ehrenreich are not hired because of their quality or personality. The relation between the employees and them is a computer. The corporation does not consider them. Working poor could be compared as animals that pass or fail a test before being bought. Those workers lose their self-esteem because of the lack of consideration they receive in their jobs. It is a perpetual humiliation to feel ignore by everyone. Third of all, Ehrenreich describes how employees are not allowed to talk to the customers. For example, when the author works at Hearthside her manager tells her, â€Å"No chatting for you, girl. No fancy service ethic allowed for the serfs. Chatting with customers is for the good-looking young college-educated servers in the downtown capriccio and ceviche joints, the kids who can make $70-$100 a night† (35). And Ehrenreich explains that she was not also allowed to talk to her coworkers while she was at Wal-Mart of certain subjects. And if she did, she could be fired. But, forbidding people to talk about certain subjects or to discuss with some of their coworkers is a violation of the fundamental rights. In the author’s experiences, readers understand that she has lost her humanity because freedom of speech is one of the fundamental rights that is expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was established in 1945 by the United Nations. Speaking is an advantage of men because we are the only species who can communicate. Losing this advantage makes the person feel like she is not even human anymore. He loses all his self-esteem and feels humiliated. Finally, Ehrenreich shows how the health of people is not respected in the low wage class. While the author works at The Maids we have the perfect description of this kind of humiliation because her manager â€Å" Ted doesn’t have much sympathy for illness, though; one of our morning meeting was on the subject of ‘ working through it’ †(87). He mistreats the author’s friend and coworker, Holly who is pregnant and has to work to survive because she does not have any money. But Ted forces her to work in terrible conditions. Holly cannot take a real lunch break or a few days of vacation to rest even if she is extremely sick and tired because of her pregnancy. And if she takes her break without her manager’s approval she could be fired. She appears like a slave who is forced to do every task her manager assigns her even if Ted does not pay attention to the fact that she is sick. Therefore, Ehrenreich has to stand up and fight for her friend to have the permission to take a day off. But Ted would let a woman works even if he knows that she is about to be taken to the ER. I believe that a person who is sick cannot be forced to fight against her body. Unhealthy people should be helped and not used as slaves. Therefore, this episode underlines how humiliating it is for a sick person to be forced to work. Holly in this episode becomes an animal who has to work even if she is physically unable to. Working poor are not only having money problems they also have to go through humiliation and shame in their everyday life. Trying to modify their social status is almost impossible when we understand how they are treated. They lose their self-esteem and do not trust themselves anymore. Therefore, they will not even try to change jobs. They are stuck in their own conditions. They are not considered as humans in their job. The low-wage workers are unsocialized because of their wages and are mentally destroyed by their managers. Barbara Ehrenreich describes their situation in this book through her own experience to inform the world of their situation. In the 21st century in a country like United States, which is supposed to be the most powerful nation in the world, citizens cannot accept that others are treated like that. Low-wage workers need to be respected. How to cite Nickel and Dimed, Papers Nickel and Dimed Free Essays As the main objective of this experiment was to determine that it is practically impossible for a low skilled and low-wage female worker and a single mother to earn enough money in order to get proper lodging, fulfill necessary needs and support her children, the outcome of her experiment in her own perspective was quite positive and satisfactory. Ehrenreich spend one month in three different cities of the United States to determine the workplace conditions, wages, behavior of the employers regarding the low-wage and low skilled employees and she was successful in finding out with a nearly real life experience that’s why she was satisfied with her experience and find herself as an above average low skilled worker. The experiment undertaken by Ehrenreich was extremely successful in her own perspective because she eventually found out what she intended to. We will write a custom essay sample on Nickel and Dimed or any similar topic only for you Order Now As she has discussed in her last chapter â€Å"The Evaluation† that all the three case studies explicitly reveal that it is extremely difficult for a low-wage worker to find proper lodgings with the current level of wages in the country. She also found out that a single job is never enough for a low skilled worker to earn enough money in order to meet his/her end meets. Moreover the employers behavior is also highly disparaging. The employers use wicked techniques to keep the wages as low as possible and keep the employees in constant pressure so that they never get organized against their unfair treatment. (Ehrenreich) All these things make the life of a low-wage worker extremely difficult and demanding. According to her evaluation in all the three cities the rate of housing surpassed the wages of the low-income employees making it virtually impossible to get proper lodgings. (Ehrenreich) So by keeping in mind that her objective was to finding out that it is impossible for a low-income wageworker to get proper lodgings and meet end meets, her experiment was extremely successful in her own perspective also. She can certainly said that she has met the objectives of her experiment as she has found out that lowest 20% of the workforce of the U.S. economy is in extremely difficult condition and their problems are so severe, so complex that it is also extremely difficult for them to overcome these problems or find better jobs even if they exist in their surroundings. (Ehrenreich) Her main objective was to determine the difference between the lives of the high paid and low-wage workers, and that most of the needs of the high paid labor is met by the low paid and unskilled labor. In my own perspective the experiment carried out by Ehrenreich was highly successful. She presented us the true picture of the low-income Americans’ lives and helps us realize the severity of the problems the low-income labor force faces during their jobs and in their workplace. She gives the living proof of the reality that it is virtually impossible for a low-wage worker to survive in these conditions and find a shelter for himself, especially if the worker is a single mother and she has to provide food and support to her siblings also. Thus the outcome of this experiment clearly indicates of its success. She proved that the employers’ exploit is so extreme in nature that even the shortage of the labor does not compel them to raise the wage, i.e. universal economic rules do not apply for these low-income labor. (Ehrenreich) As a learned member of society I can use the knowledge of this book by making people realize that the so-called claim of a prosper and welfare America is just a bluff and a slogan which only depicts the external shine and wealth of the corporate America. While in the deep there are certain levels of the American economy and workforce, which suffers as much as any other workforce in a third world and developing country. We can use this book and the outcome of this research in order to find the solution, which will help us to eradicate the deprivation of the low-income workforce at the bottom of the U.S. economy. We can use this book to increase the awareness of the people about the sufferings of the low-income workers. We can use this knowledge to disclose the persecution of the corporate sector of their low-income employees and to persuade the employers to behave more humane with their low-income employees and make the workplace a better place for them and raise their wages to a level which would practically make it possible for them to meet their end needs, but also to go ahead. The overall output of the experiment of Ehrenreich and the tone of the language of last chapter evaluation clearly indicates that the experiment was a complete success in the view of the author and she thinks that she has finally determined what she has sought through out her 3-month expedition. She finally came with the living proof of what she initially claimed that it is virtually impossible for a low-skilled and low-income wageworker to earn enough money, by which they can get proper housing and meet their end meets and support their dependants like siblings or get medical treatment even when their lives and health is at stake. The book is a complete success in a reader’s perspective become it creates awareness of this unfair practice of the employers of the corporate America, who continue to insist on exploiting the low-wage workers and deprive them not only of their end needs but also from any prospect of getting ahead. Thus this book and the research in it is an important and helpful knowledge regarding the unfair class structure in the American Society. Works Cited Ehrenreich, Barbara. â€Å"Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.† Holt Paperbacks. May 1, 2002.                                                                      How to cite Nickel and Dimed, Essay examples