Hardships and Challenges of the Minimum Wage in Modern Day America

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English 100
April 2013
Hardships and Challenges of the Minimum Wage in Modern Day America
Have you ever experienced having no money in your pockets and yet having so many needs? Has it occurred to you that there are many people who are spending only one-fourth of your daily spending? This article is about working conditions of the minimum wage earner in America. The author, Barbara Ehrenreich, is a political activits and feminist who has written a lot of books and essays on a variety of themes. Nickel and Dimed is her most famous work where she related her personal experiences as a waitress, house cleaner, hotel maid, among others where she advocates about minimum wage, decent housing and working conditions. This was a result of her three months direct experiences so that she could gain insight on the plight of the working class CITATION Bar89 \p 3 \l 1033 (Ehrenreich, Fear of Falling: The Inner Life of the Middle Class: Barbara Ehrenreich Interview Transcript 3). It is a given fact of life that all people need to work in order to live but this does not mean that we cannot improve the working conditions.
We need to understand the working conditions of the minimum wage earner. She describes Jerry`s, the restaurant as a place that never stops its employees from working. There is no break room provided for the employees, but there are some chairs which are hardly ever sat on because the work is so continuous that no one seems to have the time to relax. The work rules can always make you pissed off but you should always just let it be CITATION Bar01 \p 169 \l 1033 (Ehrenreich, Serving in Florida 169). When Barbara Ehrenreich was working in the restaurant, she experienced the "me first" attitude of almost everything or everyone around her. Some people she interacted with had goals for self advancement and everyone knows that if you are on the top, chances are, you make more money, and do less work, therefore will achieve it in any means for their purpose. She looked upon the customers as the obstacle or enemy that needs to be defeated in order to earn money CITATION Bar01 \p 168 \l 1033 (Ehrenreich, Serving in Florida 168). The world was her enemy. Everything was an obstacle and a hardship that needs to be passed in order to gain the money that she needs to live or continue her lifestyle. I also experienced working for a wage and my employers simply thought that I was just there for the money. Although this is partly true, this does not mean that I am less human that people can just trample on my dignity. The point I am raising is this: people should be more conscious of treating workers humanely especially if they are low wag...