I caught myself ranting about the problems with the minimum wage today as I rode in the car with my father. I've always had problems with the minimum wage, being a good bleeding heart liberal, but for a variety of reasons the issue has been on my mind a lot lately, and Barbara Ehrenreich just reinforced my sense of injustice when it comes to how much we1 pay people to do the work that we think of as beneath us: maids, customer service clerks, waiters. These are people who exist to take care of our basic needs when we can't (or don't want to) do it ourselves. They're paid to clean our homes, to make us feel important, to be nice to us, to feed us — and essentially, their careers often impede their own ability to meet those needs for themselves and their families.
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America was released in 2001 and received a fair amount of fanfare for its examinations of these issues. The basic premise sends Barbara Ehrenreich, a PhD-holding professional writer, to spend a month in each of three different cities, where she would work the kind of job that people entering the workforce post-welfare reform would be likely to get. The book chronicles the difficulties and demeaning moments in the jobs themselves, in finding affordable housing and in generally trying to exist on minimum wage.
Ehrenreich winds up working as a maid, a waitress, a housekeeper and a Wal-Mart associate. At one point, she is working seven days a week; at another, she briefly works two consecutive shifts in the course of a day. Whether these choices would be something that could be maintained for longer than a month is an unspoken question.
If you hump away at menial jobs 360-plus days a year, does some kind of repetitive injury of the spirit set in?
Ehrenreich herself doesn't manage to keep up with the double shifts, but the people whose lives she is emulating don't necessarily have the luxury of choice. We are reminded of the advantages Ehrenreich has that simply don't exist for her temporary colleagues. After a particularly bad day at work near the end of a month's stint, for example, Ehrenreich simply walks out.
And the surprising thing is that you can walk out without permission, that the door opens, that the thick tropical night air parts to let me pass, that my car is still parked where I left it...I had gone into this venture in the spirit of science, to test a mathematical proposition, but somewhere along the line, in the tunnel vision imposed by long shifts and relentless concentration, it became a test of myself, and clearly I have failed.
Of course, if walking out means that your children and you will have no home, the opening of the door, the parting of the air, are not going to be the items that you worry about.
Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
Excellent first post, thanks Bonnie. It left me thinking that what is really needed is someone writing from within the underclass. I can think of some historical examples of the genre, but not any recent ones. Can anyone supply any suggestions?
2 - Dave Nalle
There's something creepy about an elitist pretending to be poor so that she can write about how hard the poor have it. I agree with Natalie that it would be nice to see someone who was actually living a minimum-wage lifestyle (not that anyone actually earns minimum wage) writing about their experiences - I bet their attitude would be a hell of a lot more positive.
Dave
3 - Aaman
Excellent post, Bonnie
Dave, there have been numerous examples of people writing 'from experience' - a Dickens-style perspective. I assume you mean a specific, updated view of 'How the Other Half Lives' The attitude might be positive (or not), but the daily struggle to pay tomorrow night's bill, or the week's food costs, grinds one down to make creative writing somewhat of a challenge, I think.
4 - Bruce Joyner
I read this book..and being poor...literally
(this computer I am on belongs to a friend)..I felt left out ...You don't need to be a liberal to
believe that a living wage should be in place for the people who work to provide us with the essentials of life.Our looks,shapes,eating habits,and attitudes have nothing to do with the fact we need to be treated like human beings.This book reflects the society we live in and in our society people today we blame the poor for being poor...That makes me angry...Maybe I'll write a book...I am a cripple with one eye,in a wheelchair
at times when i cannot walk with my canes...and the only money i get is a disability check..so i guess i'm poor..but better off than the people in this book working for minimum wage..
5 - Cass
I liked this book, but the author gave up too easily. She quit when it got too tough for her. I did think the book was eye-opening. Even in poor rural areas where jobs are scarce, you can't get by on minimum wage. It takes at least two incomes, and sometimes three jobs to make ends meet.
6 - michelle
Id like to know what Dave meant by (nobody actually earns minimum wage) were you being serious when you wrote that? I hope not. There are MANY people working for minimum wage. Shameful!!