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What lies within the depths of a minimum wage job? In this investigative journal, A Nickle and Dimed, our protagonist and author Barbara Ehrenreich explores the worst when it comes to low-wage jobs in America in the late 1900s and early 2000s. In the book she goes undercover through different jobs across the country and explains the complications as well as the people she comes across in a low-class setting. In this report we will look at a brief summary of Barbara’s journey, the theme of labor, and the theme of shame and unity.
In the book Barbara explores and experiences the hardships of low-class low income Americans. Barbara starts her journey near her home in Key West, Florida she attempts to find a place to live so she finds a trailer home getting a job as a waitress and as a hotel maid as one job was not enough for rent. Failing the first month of her investigation Barbra moves onto the next city Portland, Maine getting a job at a nursing home and with The Maids, other jobs prove to be physically and mentally exhausting. Lastly, she travels to Minnesota getting a job at Wal-Mart. At the end of each city she tells trustworthy coworkers about her reasons for finding these jobs and shockingly the coworkers show no shock.
In the story the theme of labor is linked to pain. Barbra portrays low wage labor as hard and unbearable, often hurting the workers rather than helping them. In chapter 1 page 22 Barbara concludes that ”Cooks want to prepare tasty meals, servers want to serve them graciously, but managers are there for only one reason — to make sure that money is made for some theoretical entity, the corporation, which exists far away in Chicago or New York, if a corporation can be said to have a physical existence at all.” At Hearthside Barbara witnesses the complete disconnect between workers and the higher ups. It appears to her the farther you climb the ladder the more disconnected you become with your employees, caring more about making money than the well being of the employees. Furthermore, In chapter 3 page 193 Barbara states ”The first thing I discovered is that no job, no matter how lowly, is truly ‘unskilled’.” By the end of her journey Barbra realizes that any job no matter how little dignity or how low the pay always requires some skill, whether it be hands on experience or, with more relevance to the theme, the ability to withstand hardships. In her experiences Barbara recognizes how important it is to be able to withstand pressure and pain as you only truly have your own back.
Tying in to the theme of pain, Barbara shows how low-wage workers are made to feel both invisible and shameful. In page 59 Barbara states “What these tests tell employers about potential employees is hard to imagine, since the “right” answers should be obvious to anyone who has ever encountered the principle of hierarchy and subordination.” Barbara sees that the lack of right or wrong answers is a sham. The survey she took at the job fair can be seen as a way to keep employees in their place below the bosses. Additionally on page 163 while working at Wal-Mart Barbara shares an experience with one of her coworkers: “Today seems embarrassed when she sees me: ‘I probably shouldn’t have done this and you’re going to think it’s really silly…’ but she’s brought me a sandwich for lunch. This is because I’d told her I was living in a motel almost entirely on fast food, and she felt sorry for me. Now I’m embarrassed, and beyond that overwhelmed to discover a covert stream of generosity running counter to the dominant corporate miserliness.” In this moment Barbra realizes that the low-class does not care much for economic stability, at the state their in camaraderie is more important as it acts as a counter the overwhelming corporate cheapness and pain. Barbara shows that despite the suffering and unfair conditions, low wage workers still support each other and band together to make the situation all the more bearable by putting aside the shame they bare.
A Nickle and Dimed is an interesting piece it brings a new perspective on the lives of those who aren’t so fortunate and the different methods used to cope with their situations. The themes of pain and shame in the story show how these American cope with their lives. But you can only gather so much from someone else’s perspective, the question remains how would you survive in their shoes?
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