In: Social Issues
...History 1700 Nickel and Dimed Paper 13 November 2007 Nickel and Dimed Experience Have you ever been so poor that you didn’t know where your next meal was coming from? I have been this poor before and this book, “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America”, really shows the heart ache it takes sometimes to just get by. I was amazed that the author, Barbara Ehrenreich, was willing to put herself through this pain to write this book and show people how hard it can be for lower waged workers. This book shows how getting by in America for some is difficult and how important an education really is. Having experienced some of the same pains that the author went through in my early adulthood, I could feel what the author was going through in writing this book. I like the way that she used pathos to persuade her audience in “feeling” what she was going through. The way the book flowed from one location to another and low paying jobs to a bit higher paying low waged jobs was very well organized. The references and research she uses to convey her points are well placed and factual. She is seen as a credible source of information due to the fact that she uses personal experience and statistics from credible sources. When I first moved away from home, I too had a job that barely made ends meet. It was a hard learning experience. The main problem with having a low income job was the stress. I was always worried about how I was going to pay my rent, eat...
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...Is America truly the land of endless opportunities? People from all over the world come to the United States in high hopes of having a prosperous life with minimal efforts. They expect this glorious life in the United States not knowing what it really takes to get there. But can people really make this happen living on low wage jobs? In Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich goes undercover to find out if it is indeed possible. Starting from scratch she faces the everyday situations of a low wage worker. She has absolutely no idea how things will go, but she is determined to get good information for her research. Ehrenreich leaves her regular life to explore the experiences of a minimum wage worker. She travels to Florida, Maine, and Minnesota looking for jobs and places to live on a minimum wage salary. At one point she has to work two jobs just to make ends meet. Day by day, as she worked at these jobs, she began to discover many problems in the social world. Everything she went through during this experience was so different to her, she had never before been through any of these situations. It was hard for her because she was not used to living in environments of the poor. Ehrenreich worked as a waitress at two different restaurants, as a maid service cleaning houses, and as a Dietary aide at a nursing home. Ehrenreich had many days where she got very home sick and she just wanted to go back home. But she knew she couldn't because that would ruin everything. Barbara......
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...Reflection of Nickel and Dimed This experiment was an interesting challenge for the author, Barbara Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich could have just written a book about poverty and the low wage work force by collecting research from other people but instead she got out there and did the work herself. At times, especially in the first chapter, Ehrenreich would seem like she was not working hard and giving up but she eventually got over these feelings. Ehrenreich was not too picky about her choice of jobs, food, or living arrangements. I can’t imagine eating only fast food or canned meat for months. I think that the results of this experiment are extremely volatile and could have been drastically different with little change of Ehrenreich’s plan. Ehrenreich claims that she had an advantage being white, English speaking, and not having children. It would be interesting to see an experiment done to compare the results to Ehrenreich’s experiment. It was good that Ehrenreich performed many different jobs to see different experiences while doing her research. Ehrenreich’s experiment also easily proved that low wage work can be very difficult and hard work. Ehrenreich also showed the poor treatment of the workers by management who feel that they are more powerful. It was interesting to see Ehrenreich’s feeling on invisibility while working at Wal-Mart where she was only one of the many workers at the store. She did not receive any praise for her work in any place. Ehrenreich also felt very...
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...After reading Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich and watching the documentary Roger and Me, it’s easy to compare the desperation the people seem to have in both of these circumstances. Barbara Ehrenreich wrote Nickel and Dimed to demonstrate the desperation of the jobs that an unskilled worker has. Millions of Americans work for poverty-level wages, and one day Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that any job equals a better life. But how can anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 to $7 an hour? Erenbeich decided to find out by actually living the life that people would have under these circumstances. She traveled to three different cities in which to work. The first was Florida, the second Maine and the last Minnesota. To make everything realistic she spent only money from her wages and nothing from her savings. While there, she lived in the cheapest housing and accepted work as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing-home aide, and Wal-Mart salesperson. She also found out that even the humblest livelihoods require strenuous mental and physical effort.. In a capitalistic society, where "unskilled workers" struggle to make ends meet, big companies continue to exploit their labor. The idea of reification also plays well into this story, where the amount of money received in wages is not an equal representation of the worth produced by the laborer, and the laborers act as if......
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...Honors English 10 Independent Reading Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich Purpose: * To increase exposure to different types of literature * To understand how reading can have practical applications Expectations: * Read Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich * Write a one-page summary of one of Ehrenreich’s 3 experiences in the book (CCPS Summary Checklist/Rubric) * Write a 2-3 page reflection on how issues in the book affect our local area, including first-hand experience with community action and/or outside research *see note below (CCPS Narrative/Analytical Writing Rubric) Experiences: * Guest speaker from Human Services Programs (HSP) of Carroll County (Monday, December 9th during Mod 3A) * Class project **see note below * Volunteer to help with HSP Neighbors in Need Holiday Shop (http://www.hspinc.org/nin.help.php) *Students also receive Service Learning Hours * Volunteer to help organize WHS Food Pantry (dates/times will be provided) *Students also receive Service Learning Hours *Reflection paper: The reflection paper must include text-based evidence from Nickel and Dimed, connecting issues in the text to at least 2 other sources. These may be two experiences from the list above, two sources of outside research about local poverty and/or community action agencies, or a combination of the two. Please note that if you choose to include outside research, you must include citations in MLA format. **Class......
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...According to Raise the Minimum Wage, “In no state can a minimum wage worker afford a two-bedroom unit at Fair Market Rent, working a standard 40-hour work week.” All minimum wage workers cannot afford to live in a standard living space, much less when supporting other people. The living wage is much higher than the minimum wage. In the book Nickel and Dimed, the author Barbara Ehrenreich does an experiment to see if a person could live on minimum wage. She concludes that minimum wage is not able to support a person. That argument is still as relevant today as in 2001. In the first place, Barbara stated in the Evaluation, which is after she had done her experiment, that the minimum wage was not able to support a person. In the evaluation, she mostly used logos to convince the reader that in her experience, minimum wage was just not enough. She expresses that, “You would come across news of a study showing that the percentage of Wisconsin food-stamp families in ‘extreme poverty’ – defined as less than 50 percent of the federal poverty line – has tripled in the last decade to more than 30 percent” (Ehrenreich 219). This shows that in 1999, there was a growing number of people have a harder time surviving and have to go to the government for help. Barbara uses facts to show that minimum wage is clearly not able to support a person or their families. Overall, the living wage situation in 1999 was not going well. ...
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...Sudhir M. Parikh Date: 10/15/2012 617 79th St Patient Name: Magaly Cid North Bergen, NJ 07047 Insured’s Id# 700003273000 [pic] Claim# 0112271166305 Adm/ Svc Date: 11/19/2011 Dear Provider/Billing Manager: We have concluded our investigation of the attached inquiry requesting status information and have determined that: ❑ Claim was approved on____________________ in the amount of $___________________ on check#. ❑ Other ______________________________________________________ ❑ Claim was denied on ____________ because: ❑ Service(s) were not authorized ❑ No clinical review was provided ❑ Continued stay not medically necessary ❑ Late submission √ Other: ____maximum paid by other carrier__________ ❑ The patient is not enrolled under the name or identification number you provided. ❑ We have no record of receiving a claim based upon the information provided, please submit a completed UB-92 or HCFA-1500 claim form as appropriate to: HealthFirst, Inc. PO Box 5196 New York, NY 10274-5196. (888) 801-1660 All requests for review or reconsideration must be submitted within sixty (60) days of the receipt date of the explanation of payment (EOP). Failure to submit a request for review or reconsideration within sixty......
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...Real Life Experiment The timeless struggle between the cost of living and the income for low-wage work has made millions of working families unable to meet their basic needs. Barbara Ehrenreich investigates this struggle in her book, Nickel and Dimed. Working low-wage jobs in Florida, Maine and Minnesota as an undercover journalist, Ehrenreich gives a lively and interesting account of a low-wage worker’s life. She used first hand experiences, the lives of her co-workers, and added in facts (as footnotes). The research she did for this book was extensive. She collected the data and materials like a scientist and carefully compiled a book that shows the reader the unflattering realities that low-wage workers are faced with. She also struggled with some areas of the project and allowed her own opinions and choices to cloud her objective mind set. This project began during a lunch meeting between Ehrenreich and Lewis Lapham, the editor of Harper’s Magazine. After being told that she should be the one to go into the field and research whether it is possible to sustain a living on little to no income, she thinks about it and then reluctantly says she will. (5) She explains in the first section that she was aware of the advantages she would have over the real people in her project. She had numerous advantages over her co-workers including a completed education, a car, good health, health insurance, and money to get her started. (7) This had to be the first step that she took......
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...|Becker College | |FLSA | |Class V, Essay | |Jennifer Macduff | |12/15/2015 | The employee working at the upscale coffee shop was promoted from Barista to Manager. The manager was reclassified as exempt and will not be receiving overtime pay. The Manager, in addition to being responsible for managing and making sure the store runs smoothly, performed non-management type work; waiting on customers, checking supplies and cleaning bathrooms. The manager feels that although they are involved in interviewing that ultimately the District Manager makes the decision. The manager is thinking that they should be considered non-exempt and be paid for overtime work. Would this company be able to document that the store managers are exempt from the FLSA (not to mention similar state laws)? If the employer has not adequately maintained records the court could accept the Managers claim and give the employer the burden of disproving the allegations. Under FLSA......
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...LBS 3001: Introduction to Labor Studies (Section RXLA-55242) Summer A 2013 Instructor: Professor Alí R. Bustamante Schedule: Mondays and Wednesdays / 11:00am – 1:40pm Credits: 3 Location: PC 439 Office Hours: LC 315, one hour before class or by appointment. E-mail: albustam@fiu.edu Department Phone: (305) 348-1519 Course Description: This course will introduce you to the challenges and struggles of working people in the United States. In our readings and classroom discussions, we will pay close attention to the conditions faced by low-wage workers in industrial, agricultural, and service jobs, as well as the impact of globalization on labor markets in the U.S. and abroad. We will also look at some of the hidden dimensions of working-class life through the lens of slavery, immigration, and global economic competition. By the end of the course, you will understand and be able to analyze: 1. What class is and how it operates in American society; 2. What it is like to work at a various low-wage jobs while trying to sustain yourself; 3. The impact of race, ethnicity, and gender on conditions in the American workplace; 4. How management exerts control over industrial, agricultural, and service workers; 5. The impact of large retailers and other consumer-oriented industries in determining conditions in the modern American workplace; 6. The role of immigration and the immigrant experience in the American workplace; 7. The evolution of and......
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...Thaisa Ribeiro de Miranda 10/06/2014 EN 131E – Composition Essay 1 The World Goes Round Is it possible to live earning just a minimum wage? Is it fair to pay workers a low wage? Throughout the United States it is possible to see workers earning just a minimum wage. The working class that receives this low wage is bigger than people can imagine, such as waitresses, hotel receptionists, ambulance drivers, and others. It is right paying these workers low wages; therefore, the value of the minimum wage is wrong. The current minimum wage is not following the inflation in the country. As quality of life is directly linked to inflation, low-wage workers are subject to greater difficulties. The minimum wage is the lowest wage that employers may legally pay their employees for time and effort spent in producing goods and services. It is also the lowest value at which a person can sell their labor power. In the United States, the minimum wage is regulated by the government of each state; therefore, it cannot be less than the value stipulated by the federal government. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the current minimum wage provided by the federal government is $7.25. Although some states have established their own minimum wages, often higher than the stated by the federal government. Over the years, people seek to improve their skills in order to have a better understanding; therefore, it will increase their chances of getting a job with a better......
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...According to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), all employers must abide by the minimum wage policy which states that they must not pay their employees a wage below the set minimum wage. It is often believed that it serves as a protection for the citizens. Though the minimum wage law benefits employees because employers cannot pay them below the minimum wage, the minimum wage, however, does not "protect" them from the struggles and hardships they will most likely encounter. Rather, as millions of Americans work in full-time minimum wage jobs, several of them discover that their wages are insufficient to survive in today's society. In the book Nickel and Dimed, the author Barbara Ehrenreich, a journalist with a PH.D, does undercover reporting about low wage workers by obtaining minimum wage jobs in three areas of the United States--Florida, Maine, and Minnesota. As she journeys through the hardships and struggles of becoming a minimum wage worker, Ehrenreich claims that it is impossible to survive as a minimum wage worker. In the chapter "Scrubbing in Maine," Ehrenreich provides massive evidence that it is difficult to survive even though she has 2 jobs. Through successfully incorporating examples of her struggles and hardships in her minimum wage jobs in Maine, Ehrenreich is able to convey an important message to the readers: Low wage workers are never truly appreciated. They suffer financially, physically, and socially, just to satisfy the rest of society. These......
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...Cleaning Services, Good or Evil? Cleaning properly can be a hard thing to do. Some people can't clean for themselves or don't have enough time to clean. That's where some people hire maids to clean for them. You pay them to clean your house, and you should expect it to be pretty clean. It should also be germ free. The problem is that some cleaning services don't do their jobs good enough for the money they are given. To hire someone can cost a lot of money, and if they don't do the job right you will lose money. In Ehrenreich's “Nickel and Dimed”, it shows how bad a cleaning crew can be. Sometimes the methods employed to clean aren't the most sanitary things ever. A floor should be cleaned with hot, soapy water, not a plastic scouring pad. A scouring pad would not kill all the germs on the floor, whereas hot water would be more likely to do so. Germs need to be ridden of because they can cause illness. Some cleaning service groups do the job right though. They work hard for the money given to them. Their job is to make a customer happy with the cleanliness of the house, not to just get rid of any visible dirtiness. Individual cleaners can sometimes lose business because people will not expect them to be able to clean well as a company with cleaners. It all comes down to someone's opinion on how good a cleaner is. People will want their house to be clean to their eye, whether that means very clean or adequately clean. That doesn't mean that the cleaners......
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...Jack Yau Ms. Kenney-Quinn AP English Language and Composition May 29, 2012 When people feel helpless, they turn to god and others for help but what do you do when you have nobody to turn, nobody to help you. What do you do then? I imagine that is what people stricken with poverty go through every day. Yet they can’t turn to anyone. Could you imagine going through that every day, worrying where you are going to live and what you are going to eat tomorrow? There are people that try to fulfill their greed. It is in the bible, one of the six sins, greed. Corporate America is practicing this sin, stuffing their bags with cash until it’s full, and feeding on the poor until they cannot physically eat anymore. Therefore, we need to raise the minimum wage in order to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor. When you are rich, it’s easy for you to get richer, but for someone in poverty, it is very difficult just to get by. It’s the same principal as the game, monopoly. When you own hotels, ultities and railroads, you will be at a great advantage. That is the point of the game, to monopolize. But that’s just a game. However, CEOs are treating real life as a round of monopoly, and taking whatever they want and not leaving anything for the others. It is understandable that when we play the game, we try everything in our power to watch the others hand over every last cent they have, but when CEOs do that in real life, there are consequences. If the CEOs would open their eyes......
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