Natalia Vasco - Rice University



Natalia Vasco

BIOE 301

Nickel and Dimed

By: Barbara Ehrenreich

Barbara Ehrenreich writes an insightful yet humorous story that details her experiences as a low-wage American worker. However, Ehrenreich is not a part of this world; she makes her living as a writer. So why did she decide to undertake such a task, might you ask? This experiment, as she liked to call it, began as an idea for an article. She wanted to know how people, including those leaving welfare, lived on the wages available to the unskilled. She wanted to see for herself how some Americans survived on minimum wage.

To begin the experiment, she decided to set certain rules for herself. The first was that while searching for jobs, she would not fall back on the skills she gained from her education and usual work. The next rule was that she had to take the highest-paying job offered to her, and the final rule was that she had to find the cheapest living accommodations.

This experiment took place in three different states: Florida, Maine, and Minnesota. Nonetheless, her experiences were very similar in all three places. At first, she had difficulty finding a job and discovered that it was best to apply in numerous locations. However, the job of her choice, housekeeping in hotels, was not the one always offered to her. Throughout her experiment, she accepted work as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing home aid, and Wal-Mart salesperson. Finding living accommodations, as she found, was also difficult since she had to have enough money for a deposit and, most of the time, two months rent.

One of the main things she learned from this experience is that for the most part, more than one job is necessary for survival. However, even having only one job requires both physical and mental exhaustion. She learned this from the very beginning while she worked as a waitress. Since I also have worked as a waitress, I understand and empathize with many of her experiences. As she discovered, having an unstable income, which is dependent on daily tips, can be very frustrating. One never knows how much money will be earned during the shift. One’s earnings are left in the hands of the customers and in the hands of lady luck. Unfortunately, waitressing many times relies on pure luck: good customers, good tips, etc. As mentioned before, these low-paying jobs can be extremely tiring. Ehrenreich realized this on many occasions, especially during the times she had to clean floors on her hands and knees as a house cleaner.

This book relates in particular to one of the topics discussed in class: health insurance. Unfortunately, it takes a while for new workers to be placed under the company health plan. In one particular case, a co-worker by the name of Gail was unable to continue purchasing estrogen pills, due to a lack of funds and health insurance, since the company claimed to have lost her application form for a health plan. Nonetheless, Gail was not the only co-worker encountered by Ehrenreich who lacked health insurance. Lucy, another co-worker, had a chronic limp since the exact cause of the limp could not be determined without health insurance. It was both sad and surprising to read about the number of people who lacked the means of obtaining routine medical care or prescription drugs at prices more affordable through heath insurance. Since they eventually ran out of the money to support these costs, they just had to go without medical care or prescription drugs.

Overall, this book was enjoyable to read. I highly recommend this book, not only because it was a New York Times bestseller, but because it reveals many aspects of low-wage working America. From this book, one gains insight into this world, and one’s perception of low-wage working America is both challenged and changed.

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