Nickel and Dimed Ch.2

Chapter 2 in Nickel and Dimed begins in Maine as she tells of moving to Maine for its whiteness. At the beginning of the chapter she explains of how many of the truly poor can lose anything their job, car, babysitter, or even their home during this she tells of how she is now clueless and alone as she has ever been in her grown-up life. She tells of how in the maid service she works for in the beginning will pay her 200-250 dollars a week for an average 40 hour work. Her boss warns her of how she will be put under heavy labor and high risk and repetitive-stress injuries constantly only to be paid five to six dollars an hour. Pete a man she meets in the nursing home she works at tells her of all the people in the home will make anything she says public knowledge in a matter of hours and to basically trust no one in the home. She moves to a place named blue haven only to find it is very restricted on space it is basically as she says the toolshed for motel owners but a home for her. At her maid job she tells of how if they are locked out of the place where they must clean by the owners they will search for alternative routes of entry so that they can still clean to obtain the money that they would receive. Barbara tells of her rash that she obtains during her maid job and how she has to fight thru it but in all attempts fails to and calls her doctor for medicine taking up thirty dollars of her money she has. Barbara tells of her seek of approval from Ted and explains how getting reamed out by Ted can ruin your whole day but a morsel of praise can be savored for weeks. She says on page 117 of how work is suppose to save you from being an outcast but the jobs she does is an outcast’s work, invisible and disgusting.

Nickel and Dimed Ch. 1

In Nickel and Dimed it tells of a woman Barbara Ehrenreich who is the author of how she would try to make it in life with a poverty level job making only about 6 to 7 dollars an hour. It begins with the experiment which is to survive on a poverty level job. But she had to set some limits with this experiment to fully be useful to her. She could not use any of her previous knowledge that she had acquired. But she would not go without a car, would not become homeless, and would not go without food. She would spend a month in a setting and try to find a job and attempt to earn the money to pay for that month’s rent. In this experiment she starts with advantages as she is of Caucasian descent and can speak English unlike most low-wage workers. Also she had no kids to care for which helps in expenses she had to pay and she also was in better health than all normal low-wage workers.
Her experiment began in Key West, Florida. In the book as she searches for a house she tells of how she was shocked that “trailer trash” has become something to aspire to. In this book it tells of the trouble it is in finding a job as many places of business leave wanted ads up to keep applicants so they might be able to replace any workers that drift away or are fired making it harder to obtain a job anywhere. Also it tells about some of the living conditions of the coworkers, Gail and Claude want to escape the confines of their homes like Gail’s roommate who hits on her but she cannot do anything because she cannot pay the rent alone. Claude lives with two others and his girlfriend and is attempting to leave but is struggling with money at the time so is forced to stay. What is shocking is what is considered the wealthiest of them only makes ten dollars an hour which shows how much a couple dollars can change a life in poverty.