1. I held a low-wage job when I was in high school. I used to babysit three kids (ages 2, 4, and 7) for only six dollars an hour. Not only did I care for the kids, out of my own generosity I also cleaned the homeowner’s dishes and vacuumed her house routinely. She was not my relative but just a neighbor down the street whom I did not know prior to caring for her children. Let me also inform you that she and her husband were well off and owned their own company. I would say it was definitely a struggle just to take care of three siblings who did not always get along. It was also a hassle to keep them happy and at the same time try to prevent them from accidentally causing themselves any bodily harm in terms of lacerations since kids are so prone to accidents. The only benefit to the job was that the money was not taxed and I was paid in cash. I finally put my foot on the ground and asked for a raise but was denied it so I quit and have not made contact with her since.
2. I think Ehrenreich claims that most well-off people in the U.S. are dependent on low-wage workers because they are the ones who care for their children, keep their houses clean, serve their meals, etc. In other words, the low-wage workers do the manual, tedious labor that the wealthy often do not want to do.
3. To be honest, I do not think that most people with jobs at fast-food chains or Wal-Mart have a real chance to enroll in college and to work towards a different career. Of course, it is not impossible but it would be very difficult. The cost of living is expensive in the U.S. and once a person is employed in such places, they find it hard to get out of that line of work. I hate to generalize but typically the people who work in those areas usually do not have a high school diploma, speak little English, and/or have children to support. Thus, it is difficult for those new to the States to go to school just to become fluent in English, let alone earn GED and attend college. The latter group cannot afford to support their children financially and pursue their own education at the same time because of time constraints or monetary issues.
It is interesting to note that Adam Shepard wrote the book Scratch Beginnings as a rebuttal to Ehrenreich’s book Nickel and Dimed. In his book he sets out to prove that hard work and discipline do payoff. He started out on his adventure with only a sleeping bag and $25 dollars in his pocket. After ten months, he was able to rent an apartment, owned a truck, and had $5,000 in savings. However, I wonder if it was easier for him to accomplish this because he was a man and the steady job he landed in the end was with a moving company. You can find information on his book at http://www.scratchbeginnings.com/.
At the Department of Labor's website, I learned that the federal minimum wage is $5.15 per hour. I was surprised to learn that white women are twice as likely as white men to earn minimum wage. The ratio of men and women sixteen years and older who earn below the minimum wage is 421 to 861! These numbers startled me. The site supported Ehrenreich’s experience that most leisure and hospitably industry were the areas with employees earning at or less than the minimum wage, such as a waitress.
