Barbara Ehrenreich Benefits

Barbara Ehrenreich decided to see how her life would be if she had to work for low wages. Ehrenreich, first, decided she was going live near Key West, Florida. Next, Ehrenreich tried to find a job with the ads she had acquired. She then went to the hotels and supermarkets, which were in the ads, in order to get a job. Ehrenreich obtained a job, as a waitress, at a place she supposedly called Hearthside. Barbara Ehrenreich discussed the various people that she worked with at Hearthside, and how she kept herself busy in order to avoid getting more work from the manger. While Ehrenreich worked a Hearthside there were some drug related problems that occurred, and the employees were subjected to random drug test. She also explained how housing was a topic that caused a disturbance in the lives of the people working at Hearthside. …show more content…
At her next job Barbara Ehrenreich worked at a restaurant called Jerry’s. She wrote about how much food was available at Jerry’s; however, employees’ break time was not existent. Since Ehrenreich was living on a low income, she decided to move closer to her job because this would save her money on gas. After a month of living on minimum wage, Ehrenreich continued her experiment and was offered a job as a housekeeper. She spoke about how much work she and another worker were required to complete. Also, this job was physically challenging because they had to spend long hours cleaning. Although Ehrenreich had met numerous obstacles in her low income jobs, she could no longer handle the treatment she was receiving working at Jerry’s. She was yelled at for not knowing the correct name for the food was on an order plate. In the end, Barbara Ehrenreich felt she had failed the test, she had created for herself. (Ehrenreich,