Nickel and Dimed
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America | March 29
2009
A riveting tale about the world of low class workers, Ehrenreich puts into words what most are don’t acknowledge or are afraid to acknowledge. Through first-hand experience, Ehrenreich successfully navigates her way through the low wage work by working such common low wage jobs as waitressing, housecleaning, and sales. While along the way discovering that each job encompasses their own organizational structure, culture, and identity that she is focused to discover and conform with while being paid no more than $7.00 an hour and even at some points as little as $2.43 (plus tips). Ehrenreich persuasively forces us to realize that the American dream is slowly slipping away. No longer is America the land of opportunity where hard work pays off, instead millions are suffering in route to servicing to their rich counterparts. The tale begins in Key West, which outsiders describe as a “real treat” and a “vacation you’re still talking about” (Key West website, 2009, para 1), but as soon to be learned turns out to be a struggle and anything but a treat for anyone wishing to obtain who what others consider “unspecialized work” and live in non-moving lodging. Barbara starts her low wage job at a place called the Hearthside, where she works as a waitress. She quickly learns about the organizational structure accompanying this position. As described in Organizational Communication in an Age of Globalization, a hierarchy “refers to the vertical levels of an organization. It represents the distribution of authority among organizational roles or positions” (Cheney, Christensen, Zorn, Ganesh, pg. 21) It is here at Hearthside, Barbara gets a taste of the real word application of this structure. Hearthside is composed a hierarchy. There are several employees, which remain on a lower vertical level, like Gail and Barbara. These employees are superseded and monitored by an assistant manager, Stu
2009
A riveting tale about the world of low class workers, Ehrenreich puts into words what most are don’t acknowledge or are afraid to acknowledge. Through first-hand experience, Ehrenreich successfully navigates her way through the low wage work by working such common low wage jobs as waitressing, housecleaning, and sales. While along the way discovering that each job encompasses their own organizational structure, culture, and identity that she is focused to discover and conform with while being paid no more than $7.00 an hour and even at some points as little as $2.43 (plus tips). Ehrenreich persuasively forces us to realize that the American dream is slowly slipping away. No longer is America the land of opportunity where hard work pays off, instead millions are suffering in route to servicing to their rich counterparts. The tale begins in Key West, which outsiders describe as a “real treat” and a “vacation you’re still talking about” (Key West website, 2009, para 1), but as soon to be learned turns out to be a struggle and anything but a treat for anyone wishing to obtain who what others consider “unspecialized work” and live in non-moving lodging. Barbara starts her low wage job at a place called the Hearthside, where she works as a waitress. She quickly learns about the organizational structure accompanying this position. As described in Organizational Communication in an Age of Globalization, a hierarchy “refers to the vertical levels of an organization. It represents the distribution of authority among organizational roles or positions” (Cheney, Christensen, Zorn, Ganesh, pg. 21) It is here at Hearthside, Barbara gets a taste of the real word application of this structure. Hearthside is composed a hierarchy. There are several employees, which remain on a lower vertical level, like Gail and Barbara. These employees are superseded and monitored by an assistant manager, Stu
Cited: Banner, D., & Gagne, T. (1995). Designing Effective Organizations Cheney, G., Christensen, L., Zorn, T., & Ganesh, S. (2004). Organizational Communication in an Age of Globalization Ehrenreich, B. (2001). Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America City of Minneapolis, (2009). Doing Business in Minneapolis. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from Minneapolis: City of Lakes Web site: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/business/ City Of Portland, (2009). About Portland. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from Portland, Maine Web site: http://www.portlandmaine.gov/ Day, David (2009) 25, 2009, from The Maids Home Service Web site: http://www.maids.com/ Floridakeys & Keywest, (2005). Welcome to Key West Paradise. Retrieved March 22, 2009, from Keywest Paradise Web site: Retrieved March 23, 2009, from Dayton Business Journal Web site: http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2002/10/14/smallb3.html McNamara, C