The Stanleys are living on the edge in the 1990’s. This is clearly shown after Keith Stanley explains the fear of coming home, “Like I say, always coming home, and then there's a bill on the door saying the water's cut off. Or there's a— the guy just called saying he's going to cut off the phone. Or the electricity's off. And you have to wait for a couple of days until Mom and Dad can get enough money to put it back on.” This clearly shows that they are living on the edge after Claude Stanley lost his job at Briggs. They try to recover by having Jackie Stanley, the mother of the Stanley family, work in real estate. This doesn't work and the don't return to their former stable position in the middle class. Her deal’s tendency to fall through
