Nickel and Dimed is a work of investigative journalism. In the book, author Barbara Ehrenheich takes a series of jobs that pay minimum wage to discover how people who earn a low income make ends meet. She learns that surviving on minimum wage is so difficult that most workers can't afford to rent apartments or live on their own. She also learns that the work is degrading and that the people who are meant to provide assistance to the poor aren't always helpful.
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, Ehrenreich spends more time looking for a place to live than in the other cities. The vacancy rate in Minneapolis was less than 1%, and Ehrenreich was unable to find an apartment. Hotels renting by the week or month were also hard to come by. She decides to find what she can and keep looking later. The only affordable place she can find is a rundown motel with no bolts on the door and no screen on the window. She has trouble sleeping and she is worried about her safety and the safety of her belongings. She keeps her laptop computer locked in the trunk of her car rather than leave it at the hotel.
She is able to find a job at the local Wal-Mart. Her job is in ladies clothing, picking up dropped clothing and taking clothing from the dressing rooms and put them back on the racks. The job is extremely low paying and she is unable to afford much of anything outside her house in payment. She cannot buy any kitchen items and is unable to cook anything on her own, living instead on fast food that she can find nearby. Still unable to sleep because of the condition of her hotel room, she eventually finds a nicer room at an extended stay hotel with bolts on the door and he screened window. Her sleeping problems ceased and she feels much better during the day at work.
She finds her work at Wal-Mart repetitive and monotonous, and begins to believe that the employees are working part too hard for the wages they are given. She decides to try to plant the idea of the union into the other employee's minds. She begins discussing unions and what they could do for the employees.
Howard, the assistant manager, is a person Ehrenreich finds difficult work for and an enemy of the employees. His regular meetings seem pointless to her, and only feed into the monotony. The one bright spot of her days is Melissa, who works alongside her in ladies department. She and Melissa think up new jobs to do so that they can do them together. When Ehrenreich eventually leaves at the end of the month, Melissa decides to quit to rather than work at the Wal-Mart without her.
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