After working two jobs for a while, Barbara quits one job so that she can make more money at another fast food chain called Jerry’s where she meets George who helps her cope with the stress from both jobs by being friendly towards her when no one else will be nice to her because of how hard it is for them not only living but also working there as well. Barbara finds that even though they are all struggling together, people don’t help each other out much because everyone’s too busy trying to survive on what little they have. Everyone else in this world lives paycheck to paycheck, and many of them live out of their cars or vans. She makes less money than she had expected and has trouble making ends meet. Barbara applies for dozens of positions advertised in newspapers however, most ads are not open or they’re seeking service workers rather than housekeepers who speak English fluently like Barbara does.īarbara is sent to work at the Hearthside, a restaurant connected with her hotel. She wants to get hotel housekeeping jobs since waitressing made her tired as a teenager and she thinks she’d be good at it after years of cleaning at home. After searching for weeks, she finally finds an affordable trailer that’s 45 minutes from the city center.
Her first goal is to find a place to live, but it’s difficult because she has a budget of $500 per month and needs to stay close to her job. Although this isn’t an accurate representation of what it’s like to be poor, she recognizes that this experiment will help give insight into how people survive when they don’t have much money or access to resources.īarbara starts in Key West, Florida. She values the flexibility of her job because hardship has always been present in her life. Barbara grew up in an environment where money was plentiful, but her family came from generations of miners who were poor. She’s going to live below the poverty line for a month in each of three cities, and see if she can meet her basic needs while living on government assistance. The author is writing a book about poverty. The editor says she should do it herself and write an article about it.
She usually writes articles about poverty in the United States, but lately she’s been thinking that someone should try living on minimum wage as millions of Americans are being kicked off welfare by new legislation.
She’s talking to her editor about ideas for an article. The book Nickel and Dimed opens with Barbara Ehrenreich, a writer from Key West, Florida. 1-Page Summary of Nickel and Dimed Overall Summary
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