Category: Nonfiction
Guide Created By: Lorrie Gorg
Discussion Leader(s): Lorrie Gorg
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Guide Description

Background Information

"Where have the poor disappeared to?" the occasional journalist of conscience wonders. Officially, they amount to 13 percent of the population, although--since this number derives from an almost-forty-year-old definition of poverty (before rents went through the roof)--it may be a serious undercount. Yet we seldom see the poor in the media--unless they've managed to commit a particularly flamboyant crime -- or hear them mentioned in the political rhetoric of either party. If any other comparably sized chunk of the population--college students, for example--were to vanish from public view, their faces would be appearing on milk cartons.     Progressive

Critical Reviews

“Written with humor, scorn and passion, this book is an exemplar of old-fashioned, honest, participatory journalism. The author does not pretend that grinding out a living in the world of low-wage work has ennobled her in any way; she knows she can get out of it at any time and go back to her comfortable life. What she gives us is a sobering glimpse of what life could be like if we suddenly find ourselves cleaning the toilets of the smug and well-to-do. Suddenly a tax cut that benefits the wealthy while giving the needy almost nothing seems grossly obscene.” ................. Henry Kisor, Book Editor, Chicago Sun Times

Questions

Have you ever, at some time in your life, had to take a job that paid only minimum wage, or lower? Do you remember how you felt about this? Did you find it demeaning, or did you feel a sense of satisfaction in doing a job well, regardless of its profits? What were the attitudes of your co-workers? Have you ever had to work at a minimum wage job? I have, several of them, and I found some of the working conditions just as deplorable as the author says, in some cases even more so. In my particular case, what I found to be most horrendous was the attitude that employers seemed to have for their employees, a genuine lack of respect. Anyone else?

How do you feel about the required pre-employment drug testing? It seems a bit futile, in my opinion, because all any potential hirees have to do is stay clean until their urine is tested, and in a few day go right back to smoking marijuana or whatever it is they do. Health-testing for disease is another story entirely. After all, they are handling food. Incidentally, whatever happened to the mandatory chest x-ray and test for venereal diseases that used to be required? At one time a worker in an eating establishment could not report for work without a proper form from the Board of Health. In those days, it was the threat of TB that the authorities worried about.

Re housing: consider the shelter-seeking drain on the time of Nickel and Dimers, time they need for rest between shifts?

Does the lack of good judgment of how money is spent (ie, buying lottery tickets/beer/cigarettes/prepared grocery items/dog food)when money is apparently tight (given other grocery items are being purchased with food stamps) indicate overall poor decision making that extends to all aspects of life...ie, preparing oneself for jobs, etc.?

Does anyone else feel the author is being a little too patronizing here? What is your opinion of some of Ehrenreich's fellow workers? Can you relate to them in any way? Does her experience remind you at all of your own personal employment history?

Are what we call "the mind-numbing jobs" all that some people wish to have/are capable of doing? Is that why they don't work to "improve" their job talents themselves, by working to get new skills? We are all different..with different levels of intelligence, skills, creativity, etc., I think. What someone else is capable of may not be what I can do.

Did you get the feel of the author's shock at not being treated as a fully cognizant human being while being HIRED for a job? They get called in for orientation, rules are discussed and their taking the job seems to be taken for granted, but never voiced. No one says, okay, you passed all of our tests and we are prepared to offer you X$ per hour for xx hours per week doing ---------. Will you accept this and come to work for us?

As we move on toward the end of Ehrenreich's experience as a waitress in Florida, do you think, like some, that she wasn't really on the job long enough to make the comparisons she did? She talked a lot about the point of view of the management, but I felt there was more she could have said about the other employees. Was their behavior always exemplary? Surely there were instances where job termination was the only answer, but we didn't hear too much about that.