Serving in Florida
Why does Ehrenreich take on this type of research? Does it carry more weight than other types of information gathering? Does it make you think differently about this sector of our society? How relevant is this essay in 2014?
In the essay, Serving in Florida by Barbara Ehrenreich, the author talks about how low-income employment can affect people emotionally and physically. Ehrenreich talks about the low class of employees and customers that she experienced while she worked at Jerry’s. At the same time she talks about making friends with the customers and employees.
She had a hard time believing how many people were able to survive with such low paying jobs. She wanted to uncover their methods and understand how they were about to get by with so little money. When Ehrenreich conducts her research by taking a job in the restraint industry she expects to get first-hand knowledge and experience. She hopes this will give her a better understanding of the issues and challenges of low income workers. …show more content…
Ehrenreich realized that she would never truly know what poverty was since this was only an experiment for her. This essay displays how employees are scared of losing their jobs even when they are forced to work in poor conditions, work long hours, or have no breaks between shifts. The essay also indicates how managers take advantage of their employees’ situations, for example, paying minimum salary rates, offering poor work conditions, and upsetting employees in front of other co-workers. The lesson I took from this story is there are people that struggle every day to survive with low income jobs. They are offered poor work conditions and are forced to work for wages that will never allow them to get ahead. This seems to be common in restaurants and hotel jobs, causing employees to suffer physical and mental
Why does Ehrenreich take on this type of research? Does it carry more weight than other types of information gathering? Does it make you think differently about this sector of our society? How relevant is this essay in 2014?
In the essay, Serving in Florida by Barbara Ehrenreich, the author talks about how low-income employment can affect people emotionally and physically. Ehrenreich talks about the low class of employees and customers that she experienced while she worked at Jerry’s. At the same time she talks about making friends with the customers and employees.
She had a hard time believing how many people were able to survive with such low paying jobs. She wanted to uncover their methods and understand how they were about to get by with so little money. When Ehrenreich conducts her research by taking a job in the restraint industry she expects to get first-hand knowledge and experience. She hopes this will give her a better understanding of the issues and challenges of low income workers. …show more content…
Ehrenreich realized that she would never truly know what poverty was since this was only an experiment for her. This essay displays how employees are scared of losing their jobs even when they are forced to work in poor conditions, work long hours, or have no breaks between shifts. The essay also indicates how managers take advantage of their employees’ situations, for example, paying minimum salary rates, offering poor work conditions, and upsetting employees in front of other co-workers. The lesson I took from this story is there are people that struggle every day to survive with low income jobs. They are offered poor work conditions and are forced to work for wages that will never allow them to get ahead. This seems to be common in restaurants and hotel jobs, causing employees to suffer physical and mental