As the chapter unfolds you can get a good sense of the author’s voice and opinions before she starts the experiment. This is important because over the course of the chapter her morals and opinions start to change as she begins to feel the pressures of working for her food and living arrangement. The author’s attitude is very expressive and she goes into detail on several occasions of how she is starting to feel about the conditions of the lower class and their labor, and also the physical strain it is putting on herself.…
Were your perceptions of the blue collar Americans transformed or reinforced by nickel and dimmed? Have your notions of poverty and prosperity changed since reading the book? What about your own treatments of waiters, maids, salespeople?…
After reading Nickel and Dimed and reviewing the NASW Code of Ethics I found a few parts of the code of ethics Ehrenreich did not follow. I believe she was in breach of privacy and confidentiality, dishonesty, fraud, and deception, and integrity.…
Choose one of the following prompts to write an effective 2 full page double spaced 12” font AP level essay.…
In reading the excerpt from Barbara Ehrenriech’s book, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) getting by in America, I can certainly agree with the observations that she made regarding the treatment of people with lower paying jobs by society. Through personal experiences that I have seen first hand, the poor truly have a difficult time with trying to make a better life for themselves because of how society stacks the deck against them.…
In Barbara Ehrenreich's book "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by In America" we read about a middle aged journalist undertaking a social experiment of the greatest magnitude. The journalist is Ehrenreich herself and the experiment was to find out how a woman, recently removed from welfare, due to policy reform, would make it on a six or seven dollar an hour wage. The experiment itself started out as just a question in the middle of lunch with one of Ehrenreich's editors, it soon turned into a job assignment. Before starting the experiment, Ehrenreich laid out some ground rules for her to follow during the duration of the assignment. First she could never use her college degree, or other work experience to land a job. Second, she had to take the highest paying job that was offered to her, and do whatever she could to hold it. This means not quitting a job, no matter how grueling the work place environment was. Third, she had to find the cheapest living conditions she could find, with reasonable respect paid to personal safety, and basic privacy. Also before starting out Ehrenreich was sure to point out that while she did try to adhere to the rules as best she could, there was minor rule bending and occasionally rule breaking. The final problem Ehrenreich worked out before embarking on this journey, is how to market herself to the people she was about to work for and with. She decided to go with a cover story that was more of a succinct version of who she really is. While it is true that she is a divorced wife, it is untrue that she has not been employed over the past few years. This was required to keep from receiving preferential treatment, and to prevent her test environment from becoming tainted. Ehrenreich decided that since she already lived in Florida she might as well start there with her experiment, moving to nearby Key West, Florida. She shares in the opening that she…
Whether made in business, politics, science, or sports, most decisions are judged as either right or wrong, ethical or unethical. Regardless of what an individual believes about a particular action, if society judges it to be unethical or wrong, whether correctly or not, that judgment directly affects the organization's ability to achieve its business goals. For this reason alone, it is important to understand business ethics and recognize ethical issues.…
In Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, Ehrenreich goes undercover as a low-wage worker, when she is really a reporter for New York Times. In Barbara’s journey, it explains all of the hardships workers have with low-wage jobs and makes your think: Does the accumulation of money and power inevitably lead to a loss of spirituality? Ehrenreich states that workers work long and stressful hours for almost no pay whatsoever but many people believe that these certain jobs are too easy and SHOULD receive the low wages that they’re currently receiving. Do companies that give their workers low wages for the accumulation of money and power inevitably lead to a loss of their ethics and do it also lead to a loss of workers? I believe this is true as I completely agree with Ehrenreich that those certain workers’ wages should be raised and companies are able to do it.…
The use of pennies is steadily declining. Most people don’t even keep track of the amount of coins they have, so it’s more than likely that they’ll think it’s useless, and dispose of it. People would throw away the pennies they have, without a second glance. Bit if we all save up our loose change, there’s a chance we’d be able to save up to hundreds, or possibly even millions of pennies.…
The idea you have presented about money in an excerpt from “On the Want of Money” is quite relevant to the experiment I once conducted. Throughout my research, I came to the same conclusion as you did: Money causes one to undergo dreadful things such as embarrassment, harassment, and degrading.…
Although authors Barbara Ehrenreich and Matthew B. Crawford both obtain a higher degree from a university, both continue to work low-income jobs for different reasons. Ehrenreich believes minimum wage work is challenging in all aspects of the employment. She has the option to remove herself from this lifestyle but continues to stay in order to gain experience for her book "Nickel and Dimed". Crawford on the other hand finds a deeper appreciation for the working class, and even though he has an option to pursue a higher education career with his college degree he chooses to work as a mechanic for the love he has for the work. With both authors coming from similar backgrounds it's interesting to analyze how their ideas continue to differ dramatically.…
It's a well known fact that everything in America is over priced, so with everything being over priced and citizens being under paid how are we supposed to expect citizens to survive in this rigged economy? Our economy is set up to benefit the middle-upper class and to take away from the lower class. As we stand by and say to the lower class citizens “get a job”, “work harder and longer”. In Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich proves that minimum wage cannot sustain the quality of life that is perceived as the American Dream let alone provide for a livable life at all. No matter how hard you work or how determined you are it just isn't possible to live and prosper off of minimum wage.…
Ehrenreich begins to explain her personal experiences in poverty: “I took jobs as a waitress, nursing-home aide, hotel housekeeper, Wal-Mart associate, and a maid with a house-cleaning service” which contrasts to the article and her credibility. She understands first hand having to take on these entry-level jobs especially being a woman. Besides the financial consequences these people face, they also endure physical pain from their back, to their knees and…
According to Ehrenreich, people who work jobs that are subsidized almost entirely by tips should be either paid more to begin with or offered more services such as housing and food like European countries do. For example, the typical 10% tip is considered borderline excessive at table service restaurants because waiters and waitresses are already paid substantially. Also, it is common especially in Mediterranean countries for the 10-15% service charge to already be included in the prices displayed on the menu. As it becomes harder for someone to sustain a comfortable lifestyle off of tipping in America, this may be something the government will look into adopting.…
By reading “Nickel and Dimed” by Barbara Ehrenreich, I learned being a minimum wage worker is extremely difficult. I wouldn’t recommend it.…