Analysis Of Ehrenreich's Nickel And Dimed

In Nickel and Dimed Ehrenreich is going into different areas of the country to see if she can survive by being a low waged worker. A low-wage job is where you struggle to live off the money you make. Ehrenreich is doing this experiment because she is a journalist and is wanting to see what type of lifestyle workers have that are making minimum wage. While Ehrenreich limits may be unfair, her rules are fair because they lead her into living a low-wage worker’s lifestyle. Ehrenreich points out her first rule for the experiment is to not tell her employers that she is a writer with several college degrees (4). The first rule is fair because fellow employees might think that she should be working at a more prestigious job or live a lifestyle of what she is attempting to experience in her experiment. My mom took a …show more content…
This leaves the experiment incomplete which is unfair. The reason for it being unfair is because being homeless is part of the experience. I know of a man that works at Martians Supermarkets and technically he is homeless. He works full time, buys food in the store, cooks it in the break room and eats it, washes up in the bathroom, and sleeps in his car. When he was not sleeping in his car he would spend his time in the lounge area watching TV waiting for the next opportunity to work. Ehrenreich quits too soon to experience the low age worker that is homeless. Ehrenreich rejects going hungry and would give into using her credit card to purchase meals (6). Sometimes being homeless means not being able to have three meals a day. A worker for my grandfather did not always eat every day. He simply could not afford it. He would eat the leftovers that my grandparents would leave for him in the walk in cooler. Without my grandparents he would not be able to have a meal each day. As a man who is homeless he is lucky to have generous employers like my