In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich, an essayist with a Ph.D. in biology, was encouraged to go out and try hands on and investigating journalism. This then developed into the idea of Barbara going out and living the life of an unskilled worker, with the conversation having drifted to how those who make minimum wage live. Skeptical at first, Barbara accepted and decided upon three rules for herself to follow through the process. First, she would not use any previously acquired skills to secure a job. Second, she must take the highest paying job offers and give her best attempt at holding it. Lastly, she would find and use the cheapest accommodations she could find suitable for living. In case of emergency, Barbara always has a safety net of a secure
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Barbara is able to find a small living accommodation for $120 a week. Her first job, a server and dishwasher at an assisted living home, which proves to be quite simple and easy and she even manages to befriend the cook. The next morning she begins her other job, a traveling maid who cleans the houses of those who are wealthy. On the job she is under the supervision of Ted, the man who assigns her group of two other women, Holly and Marge, to houses to clean. Barbara quickly finds distaste for Ted as he is authoritative and rude. When she developed rashes on her arms from cleaning she was told to “work through it”. Once, Holly, who is likely pregnant, falls and hears something snap. She calls Ted to explain and is told the same as Barbara. Barbara picks up the phone and gives Ted an earful, yet he surprisingly does not fire her and even offers a raise. Barbara soon quits and reveals who she really is to her coworkers. Barbara moves on to Minnesota, but the expensive housing leaves her in a hotel and with a job at Wal-Mart making $7 an hour. Realizing how unstable her situation has become, she ends her experiment here.
Through her final evaluation, Barbara notes that the rich are getting richer while the poor suffer; unemployment is not the issue because people are
Barbara is able to find a small living accommodation for $120 a week. Her first job, a server and dishwasher at an assisted living home, which proves to be quite simple and easy and she even manages to befriend the cook. The next morning she begins her other job, a traveling maid who cleans the houses of those who are wealthy. On the job she is under the supervision of Ted, the man who assigns her group of two other women, Holly and Marge, to houses to clean. Barbara quickly finds distaste for Ted as he is authoritative and rude. When she developed rashes on her arms from cleaning she was told to “work through it”. Once, Holly, who is likely pregnant, falls and hears something snap. She calls Ted to explain and is told the same as Barbara. Barbara picks up the phone and gives Ted an earful, yet he surprisingly does not fire her and even offers a raise. Barbara soon quits and reveals who she really is to her coworkers. Barbara moves on to Minnesota, but the expensive housing leaves her in a hotel and with a job at Wal-Mart making $7 an hour. Realizing how unstable her situation has become, she ends her experiment here.
Through her final evaluation, Barbara notes that the rich are getting richer while the poor suffer; unemployment is not the issue because people are