How does an individual live on a wage of six to eight dollars an hour? Can this actually be done? Barbara Enrenreich, author and journalist, was determined to find answers to these very questions. Her mission was to attain a low waged job or jobs, and pay rent for housing at the end of the month. Enrenreich acquired employment as a waitress, a maid, a dietary aid, a hotel cleaner, and a Wal-Mart employee. She lived in dingy apartments, motels, and trailers. In the end, she was never able to successfully pay the rent.
             "...[N]o job, no mater how lowly, is truly 'unskilled,'" states Enrenreich in her evaluation. These jobs call for indelibly physical and metal labor. Low-wage jobs demand low-skilled duties. In Key West, Florida, Enrenreich worked as a waitress. She was on her feet every minute of her shift. There were too many tables assigned to each waitress. If there weren't too many customers, she would often have the entire restaurant to herself. If she was not waiting on tables, she was in the back cleaning or preparing utensils for the customers. The manager always made sure every employee was doing something, anything. When the manager observes an employee just sitting around or talking to another employer, he (the manager is often a white male) will assign that employee any ridiculous task that comes to mind. Hence employees are always undertaking some chore, even if it is as mindless and unnecessary as readjusting the pastries on display. As a maid, employees were scrubbing floors on their hands and knees. The company had them use archaic, backbreaking utilities to perform their tasks with. They failed to warn or protect employers from bacterial occurrences that often lead to infection and disease. Low-wage jobs have their employers do everything they can with the least expensive method. In the hiring process, a personality test is often required to ensure that the employee is not...