What has been the most surprising observation that you’ve read so far in Barbara Ehrenreich’s account of her work as a waitress or a maid? What was surprising about it? How was Ehrenreich able to make this observation as a researcher? (As you respond, find a quotation from this passage and include it in your response.)
As you conclude your reflection, pose a question to the rest of class about today’s (or last Wednesday’s) reading that you think will help generate class discussion.
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I am most surprised by how low the minimum wage actually is. When Ehrenreich works for only $2.43 an hour plus tips, this proves the point in and of itself that she is not able to live off what she earns. I also think it is interesting that she learns to hate management and must stick with the “militant feminist” Joan. Joan says, “Men run everything. We don’t have a chance unless we stick together (Ehrenreich 21).” I think that the disrespect Ehrenreich is shown throughout her experience at Hearthside opens her eyes to what many employees face on a daily basis. Ehrenreich’s research comes from first hand experiences. Ehrenreich’s research is very extensive, and her type of research in my opinion, is the best type.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to copy and paste question!
ReplyDeleteWhat experiences throughout Ehrenreich's research are most eye-opening to you?
The most surprising observation I've read was the way that she gets treated at her jobs. She experiences harsh treatment as a server for the occasional mishap or a maid in Maine. It is clear that the people she is working for or serving make judgements on her character because of her job. She is looked down upon as being less than someone else. I found it surprising because people automatically assume because you are a maid that you are not very educated, whereas Barbara actually has a Ph.D. The quote that sticks out in my mind is, "Could you just scrub the floor in the entryway while you are at it?" The owner of the house is asking Barbara to continue to clean because she is at it. The owner shows no sign of respect, nor does she care what Barbara thinks. Just because you are paying someone to clean your house does not give you the right to treat them like less than you.
ReplyDeleteMy question is: How would you feel to do a job that you know will be undone almost immediately after you complete your task?
I think the most surprising observation for me is the fact that she is so surprised at how different the two lifestyles that she leads are. In much of what she writes her disdain and somewhat shock of the situation is so clear that i am left wondering what she thought life was like on the other side. It is surprising how one side of the population can be so understanding and knowledgeable of the other, while one side lives in complete oblivion to their less wealthy counterparts. She was able to make these observations because she lived the very lives that these women and men did, and had she just interviewed these people i don't think her deep understanding of it would be there.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think that it is important to understand the differences between rich and poor? Ignorance is bliss, why not just live in your bliss?
I think an interesting observation that Barbara Ehrenreich made was about the cost of a studio apartment per month in Minnesota and the amount she was getting paid at the time. People talk about how nice it would be, as I did in my own homelessness paper, to create more job opportunities so that we can help solve the issue of homelessness. But when these jobs don’t raise enough money to even pay the rent and utility expenses of a small apartment, how are they supposed to get themselves off the streets. She explains, “A half an hour or so of Web research revealed an agreeably tight labor market, with entry-level jobs advertised at $8 or more per hour, with studio apartments costing around $400 a month...I’ve got my map of the Twin Cities area, purchased for $10 at the airport” (Ehrenreich 122). It is crazy for an adult to only be making around $8/hour when even something as simple as a map costs more than an hours worth of work.
ReplyDeleteHer research was probably the best kind of research possible because she truly immersed herself in the living situations she was looking into. She knows first-hand the hard truths that these people have to face everyday because she experienced them along with the other workers. How would someone in her situation be able to afford food in addition to their living expenses? In Minnesota, she was able to see relatives there for a few days while trying to work out a job or living situation, but what would someone do if they didn’t happen to have family in the area?
Often times, people cannot understand how one becomes “homeless” (in the most literal sense of the word). The thought process basically boils down to, get a job, earn money, pay the rent. It should be that simple, and in many people’s minds it is. Yet some are not able to follow that basic pattern and there is little they can do to change it. I was truly surprised about Ehrenreich’s observation about how many people are working in jobs that do not have sufficient salaries to live off of. I cannot imagine working so hard and not getting appropriate compensation. A waiter or a member of a cleaning staff puts in more than the required effort for most jobs, and at the end of the day they walk away with little. In my mind it wouldn’t even be asking for a raise for good performance, they have been doing the work and in reality the company should owe them. They are not even at the break-even line. On page 28, she details her own personal salary plus tips and how that sum relates to her living expenses. Ehrenreich says, “with wages included, this amounts to about the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour… at the present rate of accumulation will be more than $100 short of my rent.” She is not just speculating in this case, she is finding these observations through actually personal experience. This makes the observation even sharper to me.
ReplyDeleteMy question for today would be,
Should full-time jobs that do not have salaries that one can live off of be considered true employment?
The most surprising observation I have read in Ehrenreich’s writing is her observations about being a maid. It was surprising to me that she was not able to handle the extra job of being a maid. It really made me think about how all jobs require skill no matter if they pay well or not. The part of the book that really grabbed my attention was when Ehrenreich decided it was time to leave after her day of two jobs. Ehrenreich writes, “I leave. I don’t walk out, I just leave. I don’t finish my side work or pick up my credit card tips, if any, at the cash register or, of course, as joy’s permission to go.”
ReplyDeleteTo see the anguish that she went through by taking on the extra job really made emotional involved in the story. When she took on the two jobs it was a shocker for her, as well. She had hit her limit and decided that it was time to leave the job, even if that meant failure.
Would you be able to handle a second job in that area of work? Would the fact that you would fail if you quit, stop you?
I really appreciate her bluntness when it comes to race. Her point of view as a white woman is very different from anything else I have encountered. At times I do find her ignorance towards the race factor annoying. Like most of America she too failed to notice the color of the people cleaning her homes and making her food were indeed anything but white:
ReplyDelete“I chose Main for its whiteness…Not only were the professors and students white, which is of course not uncommon; so were the hotel housekeepers, the panhandlers, and the cab drivers, who in addition to being white, also spoke English…it made it the perfect place for a blue-eyed, English-speaking Caucasian to infiltrate the low-wage work force, no questions asked” (51).
Her word choice of “infiltrate” shows the true reality of what she was trying to accomplish within her research. As a white woman in a minority fixed market she had to wrestle her way in. The clarity within her words and favoritism of showing some form people like her gives a very distinct message of the race factor within the low-wage work force.
Most homeless people do not own a car like Ehrenreich and are not able to just pick any city that fits their needs. How do you think this contributes to the reality of a less mobile homeless person?
The most surprising observation that I’ve read in Barbara Ehrenreich’s research is that the fact that many jobs exist in country that aren’t need, but these are the jobs that get paid the most, and it’s often the jobs that require the most labor to get terminated. This is utterly surprising because you would expect that mangers should be doing the same job as other workers because they can do it the best, but this isn’t the case. “ Managers can sit- for hours at a time if they want- but it’s their job to see that no one else ever does” (Ehrenreich 22). They may run the worksite, but they do not contribute to the actual amount labor being done. Ehrenreich was able to find out all of this information by working as low paying jobs and such as a waitress, and maid. “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 New York or Chicago” (Ehrenreich 22). My question to the class is since managers exist to make sure everyone is doing their job correctly shouldn’t they be doing the job as well ensure that everything is efficient as it should be?
ReplyDeleteI found it surprising that Barbara Ehrenreich did not stand up for George when he was accused of stealing something from the dry-storage room. It is understandable that she would want to keep her job secure by not involving herself in conflicts with Vic, the assistant manager. Still, there is an apparent shift in her values and priorities as she becomes more invested in her job at Jerry’s. She describes this change as “something new—something loathsome and servile—had infected [her].” Although she is unhappy with the change in her own values, she compares it to the extreme experience of a POW camp. While her job at Jerry’s is nothing like a POW camp, she is still a normally brave person who has “shed her courage.” Even though she had developed a friendship with George and wanted to stand up for him she instead decided to choose her job over personal relations. As she becomes more invested in her position as a low-wage worker, she is losing her own integrity but allows this to continue. I began to wonder whether she should take the initiative to make a difference in this industry by standing up for her co-workers. Even if she tries to portray people usually in this job situation, she could still make a change by overlooking the importance of her job security. Do you think she should have stood up for George and risked losing her job?
ReplyDeleteBarbara’s experience working as a waitress is an interesting account. In her observation of her co-workers and their status of living, surprised me when she left her deposit for Gail. This pay it forward idea originated when Gail use her tips to pay for one of the patron’s biscuit and gravy. Gail is practically homeless, she had been sleeping in her car for the past couple month. She is willing to use to whatever she had to help out an individual. Her co-workers living conditions are most surprising, because all of them had different situations and living in different lives. We as individuals don’t often thought of others lives.
ReplyDeleteWhether Ehrenreich’s actions of giving her deposit to Gail a privilege actions or an act of kindness?
Here's Briana's comment:
ReplyDeleteEhrenreich says, “ I am dazzled by the two- and - three hundred figure sums owed to outfits like Club Body Tech and Amazon.com”, while paying bills one night. I believe that this statement is a simple one, however Ehnreich’s statement addresses something that the middle and upper class often lose sight of. That is that once a person and their family is comfortably situated, they are likely to become more lavish in their spending, and their money becomes relative only to the amount they have. When people in the upper class and wealthier stratospheres start spending triple digit sums on shoes and phones and dress shirts, the forget that that is what much of America gets by on for a month. Some people in our society are able to realize that, but very few people are selfless enough to life on only what they need and use the rest of their income for other endeavors. Ehnreich is able to observe her disparity in personal money value. I find this very interesting, because in Ehnreic h’s case, she is have these two feelings in tandem. Most people only experience these feelings when they have changed from one income bracket to another.
How does the disparity between personal value laced on money drive the economy and how people with lower incomes function within it?
For me, the most surprising observation Barbara has made about her work has been the disadvantages she identifies for herself. I find it ironic that she sees her race and education to be a disadvantage in a low-wage market place. She tries to land jobs as a housekeeper but is instead referred to waitressing. I thought this concept goes against social norms – surely, on the whole, someone who is white and well-educated has the advantage? A second look into the matter made me realize that there is truth to her words. Without previous experience in such jobs, she is not in a better position than everyone else. And being a white female, she is disadvantaged in getting some of these jobs that are generally occupied by other races. As a researcher, Ehrenreich is able to make these observations because she is denied certain jobs. She also realizes it when she is directed to the waitressing job instead of the housekeeping job. “I chose Maine for its whiteness… This might not make Maine an ideal setting in which to hunker down for the long haul, but it made it the perfect place for a blue-eyed, English-speaking Caucasian to infiltrate the low-wage work force, no questions asked,” (pg. 51).
ReplyDeleteMy question:
Would Ehrenreich’s experience have been different if she represented a different race? If she had not been so educated? Does the fact that she has experienced a world outside of this depressing low-wage marketplace make her experience more or less credible, for the purposes of comparing the two?
I was surprised at the overall work environment that Barbara attested to. At the end of chapter 1, Barbara walks out from a job because the manager throws a tray at a fellow employee. For some reason I assumed that everyone in these jobs would be pleasant and friendly instead of paranoid and backstabbing. Thinking back to the Horatio Alger myth, when I was younger I always contemplated the idea of fate and what kind of person I would be if I were dealt a different hand of circumstances. Probably because of the Horatio Alger myth, I always thought that if I worked hard enough, had enough determination, thought positively enough, I could still find a way to attend quality educational institutions and pursue other opportunities. Through different experiences and through this book, I have come to realize again and again that this would not be the case. Barbara, despite trying to work two jobs, cannot make enough to pay for her living expenses. By immersing herself in the role of a minimum wage worker Barbara collects all of her qualitative data she uses to write Nickel and Dimed.
ReplyDeleteQuestions about minimum wage and living wages come to my mind. As citizens what can and should we do about the minimum wage? How is it that basketball stars get paid so much for an hour or two of game time and practices when people work two or three jobs and receive so little?
The most surprising thing that I read in Barbara Ehrenreich’s book, is that she says, “there is no such thing as unskilled labor.” It’s not that I don’t agree with the statement, but I think that people often overlook the hard work and skills required to do jobs that we often think of as “easy,” “trivial,” or “mundane.” I’m sure that if I got a job as a waitress, there would be many things that would take time to learn and become efficient at. She learned this through personal experience and mistakes. Most people who have never done “unskilled labor” or who look down upon it, may not understand her observation because of their lack of experience with what she is describing.
ReplyDeleteUnskilled labor is a term that is relative to jobs that require more training or education, but there is no fine line that separates “skilled” from “unskilled.” Can people perform “unskilled labor” with skill because they are performing it with high quality? Does commitment to a task make you more efficient, and therefore skilled? Can someone be “skilled” but inefficient? Does “skilled labor” guarantee high quality?
So far there have been a few surprising things to me in the book Nickel and Dimed. One thing is all of the invisible people that are never really thought about in every day life. When Barbara is cleaning one person's house she notices how every detail of this person's house was made by a person who is working just as hard as anyone else, but they are never seen, talked about, or even recognized. Even people that work behind counters are almost invisible to people as they move through their everyday lives. But, one question that I have is do the people who are "invisible" see more than everyone else? I almost certainly say yes because they see their own world and they see the world of those that they serve. So do they have a better understanding of the world and the way that it works? Another thin that surprised me is how there is such a fixed system for how they clean the houses that they are assigned to, and according to Barbara the methods are not even that good. Barbara says that it is this "primal posture of submission-and of what is ultimately anal accessibility- that seems to gratify customers of the maid services" (84). A question I would raise here is, is this really true? Do customers hire maids for the "power complex" or is it just because they are too lazy, or simply to busy to do it themselves?
ReplyDelete