Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

As a waitress in Florida, where her name is suddenly transposed to "girl," trailer trash becomes a demographic category to aspire to with rent at $675 per month. In Maine, where she ends up working as both a cleaning woman and a nursing home assistant, she must first fill out endless pre-employment tests with trick questions such as "Some people work better when they're a little bit high." In Minnesota, she works at Wal-Mart under the repressive surveillance of men and women whose job it is to monitor her behavior for signs of sloth, theft, drug abuse, or worse. She even gets to experience the humiliation of the urine test.

So, do the poor have survival strategies unknown to the middle class? And did Ehrenreich feel the "bracing psychological effects of getting out of the house, as promised by the wonks who brought us welfare reform?" Nah. Even in her best-case scenario, with all the advantages of education, health, a car, and money for first month's rent, she has to work two jobs, seven days a week, and still almost winds up in a shelter. As Ehrenreich points out with her potent combination of humor and outrage, the laws of supply and demand have been reversed. Rental prices skyrocket, but wages never rise. Rather, jobs are so cheap as measured by the pay that workers are encouraged to take as many as they can. Behind those trademark Wal-Mart vests, it turns out, are the borderline homeless. With her characteristic wry wit and her unabashedly liberal bent, Ehrenreich brings the invisible poor out of hiding and, in the process, the world they inhabit--where civil liberties are often ignored and hard work fails to live up to its reputation as the ticket out of poverty. --Lesley Reed

Average Customer Rating:

Condescending much?

Customer Rating:

I'm glad this book was written and has been so widely read. People need to know this stuff. However, I didn't find it an enjoyable read, and not because of the depressing subject matter. Ehrenreich's attitude bugged me. The moment that disgusted me most? When she mentions casually how she allowed herself a handful of tapes, then lists the artists - just so we all admire her musical tastes. I bet if she listened to Celine Dion and Hanson, she wouldn't feel it was germane.

Easier Said Than Done

Customer Rating:

I had heard of this book for several years prior to finding it the thrift store. I'm very glad I didn't pay full price and I'm happy to see lots of cheap copies here so that you can read the book and get your curiosity satisfied. Basically a woman with a PhD sets out to see if and how she could earn a living and maintain herself with minimum wage jobs. Unfortunately, no matter what she did, she could never bypass the fact that she always had her 'real' life and bank account to fall back on. Unless you are truly in the position of having to make ends meet on minimum wage without any Plan B can you understand what it is like to live on minimum wage. I know as I have done it. It is possible to live on minimum wage, and actually enjoy your life. At the end of the month, she would pick up and head off to another part of the country and set herself up in another minimum wage job. Most people in these circumstance don't pull up stakes and move every month. They can't afford to. Moving is an expensive endeavor even for those with a 'normal' sized paycheck. She would complain in the book about not having adequate cooking facilities and so she was buying food at fast food joints on a daily basis instead of going to a grocery store and stocking up on items that could be used with an ice chest for refridgeration for sandwich supplies. Peanut butter and jelly are a whole lot cheaper and better for you than fried chicken every day. She even continued to smoke which of course was just burning up her money. Yes, it is extremely hard to live on minimum wage and even more so when the economy is in a nose dive like now, but it has always been hard for the very lowest of wage earners and always will be. But jumping into and out of jobs at will doesn't really give you an accurate view of these people's lives and that is where her experience and book failed.

A Small Peek into the world of minimum wage

Customer Rating:

I agree with most people who read this book in saying that Barbara only gave us a glimpse into the world of minimum wage and trying to *live* on it. Skimmed the surface, so to speak. Even though, I enjoyed the book and thought it was well put together. Was there a lot left out that should have been included, YES. Did that make this a horrible book, NO. But delving deeper would have made it a much better book and possibly more respected in the community. We get to see Barb take on 3 minimum wage jobs in 3 towns in the US. Technically it was more jobs because most times she had to take a second job to live. We get to meet her co-workers, but not very indepth. She makes a strong case that I think we all know anyway, which is that it's impossible to live on minimum wage in this country and that often these jobs are the hardest working jobs you may ever hold... Overall I'd recommend it. I'm sure there are some people, who like me, it might open your eyes a little wider and you might judge others less, or have more compassion/understanding for people in these situations. We read it in my book group and I thought it provided EXCELLENT discussion!

Oh please,	Customer Rating:
Talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill. The number of positive reviews for this book is really truly suprising. I'll spare you my rant. Buy it on the cheap if you must read..either that, or I'll GIVE you my copy.

Good book. Very interesting	Customer Rating:
Enjoying the book thus far. Really gives practical information about what it is like to try to live on minimum wage.