
When said vacation was over, you told your coworkers: "Surprise! I'm not a poor person after all! I'm going back now to my comfortable life!".and then you were surprised that those coworkers were mostly worried about the fact that they'd have to work the next shift with one less person.ģ. You are a wealthy, highly educated person who went on a half-assed, anthropological slumming vacation.Ģ. How do I resent thee? Let me count the ways:ġ. Instantly acclaimed for its insight, humor, and passion, this book is changing the way America perceives its working poor. Nickel and Dimed reveals low-wage America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity-a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate stratagems for survival.

And one job is not enough you need at least two if you intend to live indoors. She soon discovered that even the "lowliest" occupations require exhausting mental and physical efforts. But how can anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6-$7 an hour? To find out, Ehrenreich moved from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, taking the cheapest lodgings available and accepting work as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing home aide, and Wal-Mart salesperson. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that any job equals a better life. In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them.

Millions of Americans work full-time, year-round, for poverty-level wages.
