Preview

Barbara Ehrenreich Lower Class Jobs

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
627 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Barbara Ehrenreich Lower Class Jobs
Matthew Crawford and Barbara Ehrenreich both obtained a higher education; Crawford with a PhD in political philosophy and Ehrenreich in biology. The two are very educated individuals who were now experiencing, "lower class jobs" yet they have very different attitudes toward the line of work that they pursue. Barbara enrolls in working at a restaurant named Jerry's, she tells the reader all about her horrid experience. She applied to work at a restaurant like Jerry's as an experiment, to see how others live, the brutal conditions they undergo. She speaks negatively about the job, expressing the terrifyingly horrible conditions employees face on the daily. While Barbara experiences a nightmare, Mathew Crawford dips into the line of mechanics, …show more content…
He speaks about his experience having known what its like to work both types of jobs. He simply prefers the 'hands on job' over his office job. He talks highly of 'hands on working job' and expresses his passion for the line of work. Although both Crawford and Ehrenreich both have a high degree of education, Crawford explains hands on work in a more positive attitude than Ehrenreich who talks negatively about her experience with a low class job.
Both writers' write on their 'hands on job' that they took part in, with contrasting experiences while on the job it drives different tones to be carried through the writers work. Ehrenreich had a unpleasant experience while working at the restaurant. Which results in Ehrenreich's writing to exude a negative attitude toward the work in the restaurant. The negativity is perceived through her personal experiences and her thoughts as an employee while working at Jerry's. Her interaction with the manager, customers, and other workers is rough. Stu, the manager, hisses "No eating!" Followed by, "Barbara, didn’t you see you’ve got another table out there? Come on, girl!" Trailed by, the thought "I'm going to quit" As a writer Ehrenreich pulls the harsh details from the experience at Jerry's and spills them onto the paper for the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the Shoes of a Server

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The clattering of plates and the clicking of heels on a tile floor are the white noise of the restaurant. Kitchen partners rush to get the next salad ready, the next steak cooking. The expeditors keep the restaurant working smoothly, the source of communication between the front of the house and the kitchen. A business partner shouts “Corner!” as she rounds the bend between the kitchen and the hallway leading to the general area of the restaurant. Two servers see each other for the first time during their shift and exchange a quick “How are you?” without stopping long enough to hear the reply of their co-worker. A manager explains the goals of the evening to a group of distracted employees in the pass-through, watching a rush of customers enter through the double glass doors. The restaurant lifestyle is a unique discourse with success resulting from the quality of customer service and understanding the value of time-saving efficiency.…

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In example number nine were Mary Davis is seeking another job, the reality is contrary to what one typically believes when someone is seeking employment. Mary Davis is not considered unemployed; she is fully employed and desires a better job. Mary Davis wishes to have a better job where she can use her skills and expertise. Following the reading assignment and Mary Davis wants "Having a job takes precedence over looking for work."…

    • 266 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Lead and Manage

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Sue Ward is worried, because the head chef’s offensive manners have negative effects on the other members on the staff. And she thinks that good staff relations are nor less important than the customer’s satisfaction.…

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    First off, she would go to the restaurant with her friends to try out the food and get their opinions. She would then write notes about the opinions they give, and this would be template she would use to write these reviews. Later on when she would sit down to start writing and she describes this experience by saying, ‘I’d try to write a lead, but instead I would write a couple of dreadful sentences, XX everything out, and then feel despair and worry settle on my chest like an x-ray apron’. It wasn’t at all easy for her bearing in mind that she had done this for a long time. After beating herself up for a while, she would always come to the conclusion that all she had to do is to write the shitty draft and the writing process would…

    • 594 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich plunges into the world of minimum wage workers. In her immersion, Ehrenreich attempts various types of minimum wage jobs such as those that would be categorized as service work like a waitress or a house cleaner. Ehrenreich expresses not only the difficulty of these jobs, but the behavior in which people acted towards her. She explains that once she entered the world other service work she was seen as lower standard of human, if she was “seen” at all, since many times Ehrenreich would feel invisible to the rest of the world. In addition, sometimes she was not even seen as a human at all, but instead an animal or machine. This was seen most prominently with her time spent as a maid.…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    This is short and personal story about Zoellner’s experience with an elderly snobbish couple in the restaurant. This story begins with the author is trying to have a happy and normal breakfast in a restaurant. He is a…

    • 1224 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    With the majority of the people being white, she suspected that it would be easier for her to assimilate into the working poor. She becomes a dietary aid at a nearby Residential Facility and also a maid for a large corporation. With her days starting at around 4:45 am and her unexceptional pay, her days are filled with no more than work and little sleep. Unable to find cheap enough housing, she has to lodge in nearby hotels that end up being overpriced and many times unacceptable. During her employment at The Maids, Ehrenreich soon becomes taken advantage of when her breaks are even taken from her. "In my interview I has been promised a thirty-minute lunch break, but this turns out to be a five-minute pit stop at a convenience store" (77). With such an inadequate amount of nourishment, many of the other employees found it hard to carry out a nine hour day full of strenuous activity. Many of these minimum wage jobs do not include proper benefits such as health care. During her work here, many of Ehrenreichs fellow co-workers are hurt on the job, yet are disregarded by the boss. With help from Ehrenreich, one employee was actually able to go home after hurting her ankle on the job. "Ted sent me home" as if this were some arbitrary injustice" (114). Although sent home, any compensation for this injury would be not be given. Many of the employees receive inadequate treatment and are taken advantage of…

    • 1809 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Angle of Repose - Summary

    • 976 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Born and raised in New York, Susan was well educated, a fine writer, and a good painter. On the other hand, Oliver was stalwart, gifted, stoic, but most importantly, was worthy as a husband and provider. Leaving New York to pioneer the New Frontier, Susan was hoping that they would someday return as successes to reunite with her old friends. Beginning their journey in New Almaden, Oliver successfully acquired a job as a mine engineer. Also, Susan was getting a chance to be a writer for Scribner’s magazine. Lyman tells it was a time of true happiness. When an incident occurred between a fellow employee, Tregoning, and their boss, Mr. Kendall, Oliver was asked to perform a job that went against his principles and thus quit. Although he quit, Susan was delighted that he left his job than to keep it and do something immoral. While Oliver was out of work, Susan offered to use her freelance earnings to support them while he searched for a job. Refusing, he sent her to stay with friends in Santa Cruz…

    • 976 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Considering that there are assortments of books, narratives, and articles written on practically every subject on earth, it is always up to an author to make their work worth reading. This is achievable through the use of literary devices and the clever use of structural elements as depicted by Barbara Ehrenreich in her excerpt “Serving in Florida”. As displayed by Ehrenreich, authors of articles use these devices to display their effectiveness. Ehrenreich has successfully employed a variety of structural elements to depict the horrid situations of laborers all over America.…

    • 1637 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Greasy Lake vs a&P

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the short story “A&P”, it is very important that the reader visualize the setting because it leads to the theme of the story, which is in life one must take major risk in order to be successful. The setting isn't as obvious in “A&P” because you have to read in between the lines, but once you start realizing all the little details, you realize how much Sammy hates his job. This story takes place in a small town grocery store. Since it was a small town, there probably were not a lot of job opportunities out there. Sammy, the main character, was lucky enough to have a job at such a young age. Although he hated everything about his job, his manager, Lengel thought he should have been grateful for the opportunity to work and make money. You can tell Sammy hated his job by the way he described the customers. For example, he described one of the old ladies as “a witch about fifty with rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows”. When he finally builds up the courage to quit, Lengel questions him trying to convince him that it is going to big make a mistake. Lengel says, “I don't think you know what you’re saying,” and “Sammy, you don't want to do this to your Mom and Dad.” He wanted to quit his job because there was no excitement where he worked, and nothing ever changed. The most exciting thing about his job was when “three girls in nothing but bathing suits” walked in.…

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In my opinion it was very bold of her to try and see how the “other” half-lives and in doing so helped every reader either connect with or simply understand the lives of the working class. Looking back at Ehrenreich’s experiment it’s easy to say she learned a lot and definitely helped the readers relate to a different world they may or may not be in. The use of both facts and personal observation showed how Low-wage job are very demanding, often degrading with strict rules and regulations. One example she uses is how most of the places she worked had policies against the employees speaking to one another, which she thought was an attempt to keep employees from airing their dissatisfaction and attempting to be against the…

    • 1179 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The writer’s description of George as he ‘exploded’ defines the irritability felt toward Lennie’s lack of social awareness and compatibility. Throughout this extract it becomes progressively more evident that the ‘ketchup’ functions a trigger, which Steinbeck uses to initiate George’s explosive outburst. In turn, the character’s language is crafted to expose various aspects of grievance and dissatisfaction. The repetitive use of the word ‘an’ demonstrates the fast pace and emotional release which is used as George charges Lennie with the responsibility of being a hindrance. References to “I could live so easy”, “get a job an’ work” and “eat any place I want” present a strong antithesis to the reality of George’s reaction.…

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Updike’s “A&P” is a story of a young boy Sammy, a cashier at A&P supermarket who allows his romantic desires and his anger overcome him and in the end winds up quitting his job. John Updike shows how Sammy goes from an immature young boy with lots of imaginary ideas and fantasies, to a young man who about to realize how life altering the choices he makes can be. Updike teaches us that actions and decision that we make in life have consequences and that either we like it or not we are responsible for our own actions. Sammy is simply an immature young man, not a person of principle. Sammy’s immaturity can be seen through his reactions, interaction and attitudes toward its customers, the three girls visiting the store, the “A&P” establishment, and the staff. The immaturity led him to quit his job as a cashier without thinking it through or realize the consequence.…

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Between the years of 1776 and 1876, a key change came about in America over the women. Before these dates, women were not considered to be very important to the community. The only major role they played was raising children and bringing food to the table. Since the years of the Revolution and the Constitutional Convention, however, the nation nearly doubled its geographic boundaries and its population. When the Market Revolution hit America, many people felt isolated and cut off from traditional sources of comfort and community.…

    • 936 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Serving in Florida

    • 946 Words
    • 4 Pages

    I could drift along like this, in some dreamy proletarian idyll, except for two things. One is management. If I have kept this subject on the margins thus far it is because I still flinch to think that I spent all those weeks under the surveillance of men (and later women) whose job it was to monitor my behavior for signs of sloth, theft, drug abuse, or worse. Not that managers and especially "assistant managers" in low-wage settings like this are exactly the class enemy. In the restaurant business, they are mostly former cooks or servers, still capable of pinch-hitting in the kitchen or on the floor, just as in hotels they are likely to be former clerks, and paid a salary of only about $400 a week. But everyone knows they have crossed over to the other side, which is, crudely put, corporate as opposed to human. Cooks want to prepare tasty meals; servers want to serve them graciously; but managers are there for only one reason - to make sure that money is made for some theoretical entity that exists far away in Chicago or New York, if a corporation can be said to have a physical existence at all. Reflecting on her career, Gail tells me ruefully that she had sworn, years ago, never to work for a corporation again. "They don 't cut you no slack. You give and you give, and they take."…

    • 946 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays