Barbara Ehrenreich

Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of Nickel and Dimed On (Not) Getting By in America and eleven other books including the New York Times bestseller The Worst Years of Our Lives. Ehrenreich went to school to study biology, where she soon then got her Ph.D. in the subject. She is interested in finding out what it is like to live as a low waged woman in the world today. With quotes like, "Someone ought to do the old-fashioned kind of journalismÐ'--you know, go out there and try it for themselves." that's exactly what she does. She puts her self on the line, and finds out for herself.

The book is about her going out into the world and living as the average, low wage woman. She goes about doing so in Key West, Minneapolis, and Portland, Maine. In each environment, she was to find the cheapest places to stay while working as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, and nursing aide. Her major goal of the whole "experiment" was to find a place to stay for a month and see whether or not she could make the money to pay for the second month's rent. She ends up struggling through the whole process, but she is able to survive.

One of the critical elements in the story is finding herself a job, good housing, food to feed on, and clothing. When searching for a job, she would search for the highest paying job available. When searching for this job, she also had to keep in mind that she needed to find reliable transportation, and a house that was affordable. Also, with the jobs that she ends up getting, they come with no health benefits. Lucky for her she didn't have any children with her during this "experiment" because she also didn't receive childcare. She finds that there isn't really any affordable housing in all three places, and ends up spending her nights in hotels, which are not any better when it comes to being able to afford it.

Another critical element in the story is Ehrenreich's loss of free will with being a low-wage worker. She soon finds out that with each new job that she applies for, a drug test, personality test, or an aptitude test is required. She

Felt that it was an act of invading her privacy and it offended her. She says this for her opinion about the subject, "Mercifully, I got to keep my clothes on and shut the toilet stall door behind me, but even so, urination is a private act and it is degrading to have to perform it at the command of some powerful other."

Ehrenreich has done a good job with her experiment. She went out into the world as a low-wage worker, and she struggled, yet succeeded. Though successful with her experiment, she did end up cheating and dipped into her own money. She also jumped right into this lifestyle, where the true low-wage worker has most likely been living that lifestyle their whole life. Whether it was because their family was poor as they were growing up, or whether it was from something like them running away from home and never getting a good education. Ehrenreich has messed up in that one area. Even though she went into the experiment all wrong, she still ended up struggling. She even says,