Before long she is struggling to stay awake and mobile. Ehrenreich must work from 8:00am to 2:00pm at Jerry’s, then from 2:10pm to 10:00pm at Hearthside. Jerry’s is an exhausting workplace, and soon the primary problem becomes fatigue. Hoping to find work as a housekeeper, she winds up in yet another waitressing outfit-this time at Jerry’s, attached to a budget hotel and more crowded and popular than Hearthside. The latter problem is a deal-breaker: Ehrenreich must find a second job to supplement her income. Second, the job doesn’t pay enough for Ehrenreich to cover her costs. Phillip, the top manager, lectures employees as though they were third graders, demeaning them with threats of unannounced locker searches and railing against employee “gossiping”. Stu, the restaurant’s assistant manager, watches for any evidence of relaxation and is constantly on employees’ cases, assigning trivial duties and making sure everyone is working-even when the place is nearly void of customers. The job is from 2:00 to 10:00pm for $2.43 plus tips.Īfter only a few days on the job, major problems arise. Though she tries to steer clear of waitressing, that is exactly where she winds up-serving tables at a restaurant called Hearthside, attached to a big discount chain hotel. She settles in a $500-a-month “efficiency” and starts scouring the want ads.
“How, in particular, the roughly four million women about to booted into the labor market by welfare reform going to make it on $6 or $7 an hour?” In the vein of a scientist conducting an experiment, Ehrenreich resolves to find out for herself, adopting a few rules and limitations-no hunger, no homelessness, no relying on skills derived from her usual work, access to a car, whether her own or a Rent-a-Wreck paid for by her credit card-and beginning her journey in Key West, Florida.
“How does anyone live on the wages available to the unskilled?” Ehrenreich asks. The idea is to enter the low-wage workforce for a period of time as a way of investigating poverty in the age of welfare reform. Ehrenreich begins her book by discussing her preparations for her endeavor.
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