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Ehrenreich's Serving In Florida

528 Words3 Pages

Throughout, “Serving in Florida,” Ehrenreich tells her life story by going into details not only about herself, but the ones she works with as well. She explains what is it like to work a low paying job and illustrates how much of a struggle it is to pay for meals, gas and rent. Ehrenreich includes many conversations with the individuals she worked and goes into detail on how they struggle to make a living as well. One of the people Ehrenreich talked with was Gail. Gail worked as a waitress and was sharing a room for $250 a month with a friend she didn’t get along with. Gail was told by her doctor that she needs to take estrogen supplements, which was not covered by the health care company. This added even more expense to Gail’s life. She ended up moving out and slept in her truck in a hotel parking lot because she couldn’t afford to pay rent. Ehrenreich is showing her audience how hard life is for people working low income jobs. It makes the readers feel the emotion of the situation. Another person Ehrenreich met was Annette. She was a 21- year old who was six months pregnant and abandoned by her boyfriend. She lives with her mother. Annette was left in the dust and forced to move in with her mom because she couldn’t afford living alone while pregnant. Ehrenreich meets a guy named Billy, who was one …show more content…

Tips normally covered meals and gas. The servers had to share 15% of the tips they earned with busboys and bartenders, which eliminated some of their earnings. On average, they only earned $5.15 an hour, and if their tips were low, then they may not have enough money to pay their monthly rent. Most of the people who worked with Ehrenreich had required expenses and were still struggling to make a living. This displays how low of a income they truly got, and it makes the audience of higher incomes realize how hard life can be with a lower paying

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Thesis: I believe that Ehrenreich’s thesis is that no matter how hard you work or how chipper you act, it is nearly impossible to make a living for oneself in minimum wage conditions such as those of her coworkers. Narration: Narration is present on page 765 where through the narrator we are told Gail’s story about how her husband died and her what has led up to her current situation. Report: Paragraph 2 is an example of report writing where she details the types of housing in the area and the possible houses she can afford because she is being illustrative and informational about the topic of real estate in Key West. Analysis: The section on pages 771-772 is an analysis because she is breaking down the housing situations of her coworkers based upon her prediction of their salaries.

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Pathos dominates the article when Ehrenreich allows her nephews mother in law, grandchildren, and daughter to move into her house. The situation focuses on pathos because in Ehrenreich’s personal story she includes that “Peg, was, like several million other Americans, about to lose her home to foreclosure” (338). She is effective in her writing by appealing to the readers’ emotions through visual concepts and personal experiences. When I read the article, I felt emotional because the working poor are not fortunate to know if they will have a house or food the next day. I agree with Ehrenreich in which the poor are as important as the wealthy group who get more recognition.

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The American Dream is almost purely run by structural forces, in her perspective, that are constantly attempting to impede the middle class’ ability for upward mobility. Those who are impoverished are there because of their surroundings, the institutions that shape their lives and therefore, they simply cannot find any way out of the poverty trap in which they have found themselves. While Ehrenreich was conducting her case study, she attempted to determine if the American Dream was by attempting to immerse herself in the culture of the poor. She only did so partially due to several stipulations that she set for the experiment as she stated that she would not live in a shelter (Shepard did), that she would not get rid of her vehicle and rely on public transportation (Shepard also did this); however, she did note that even for her, being partially immersed as she was, still found there to be not much difference between herself and those that worked around. She believed, from her experiences, that the social structure of the employment opportunities, was a systematic way to dehumanize the workers.

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Mantsios’ compares the profiles of different Americans lifestyles in his text and develops the idea that an individual’s class standing can affect their livelihood in detrimental ways, “The lower one’s class standing, the more difficult it is to secure appropriate housing, the more time is spent on routine tasks of everyday life, the greater is the percentage of income that goes to pay for food and other basic necessities, and the greater is the likelihood of crime victimization” (293). Mantsios explains that one’s class standing can affect the chances of survival and success. Ehrenreich describes her own housing experiences as a low income worker. To reduce her overall costs and to obtain a second job, Ehrenreich moves closer to Key West. Ehrenreich has just enough money to pay the rent and deposit on a tiny trailer at the Overseas Trailer Park.

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The two excerpts have many similarities and differences; they wanted to experience poverty, but one was picky about what job they acquired, and focused more on their current status than other individuals. In 30 Days and “Serving in Florida”, the individuals wanted to experience poverty first-hand. The individuals moved away from home with nothing but a few outfits and the shoes on their feet. The individual’s left their money at home and started out with zero dollars.

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In living with the Byrne’s she becomes more unwanted because she is shown no care and forced to sleep on the floor in hallway in there house. She also has to adapt to the working life because if she does not work hard enough Mrs. Byrne’s threatens to send her back to child aid society. As Mrs. Byrnes says “if you are a respectful and hardworking, you will be treated fairly”(Kline71). While she works for the Byrne’s its mainly her worker phase and her starting move father away from her positive outlook at finding a loving family. Then the stock market crashes and she is moved to the Grote’s household where she begins her motherly phase.

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Everyone knows that tipping is an act of kindness that I put towards those who provide service beyond the expectation. Michael Lewis, a convincing author that addressed the pros and cons of tipping. Whether the workers were an excellent server or a poor server determines the amount of the tips that is given. In “The Case Against Tipping,” Michael Lewis created an arguable topic that can in truth get people thinking, but his essay lacks the evidence of logic. Michael Lewis’ first point was valid.

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Ellen knows that she is not going to live with her abusive father forever, she believes that she will find a loving family that will take her in and a place to call home. When Ellen goes to Church she notices a foster mother with many children. “I went to church and figured that the woman with all the girls lined up by her had to be the new mama for me and then I looked up and thanked the lord for sending me that dress. I said I look like I am worth something today and she will notice the dress first and then me inside it and say to herself I sure would like to have a girl like her”.

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Janie’s first place of residence was West Florida with her grandmother. Her grandmother moved here so they can have a better life. “Ah got with some good white people and come down here in West Florida to work and make de sun shine both sides of de street for Leafy,”(19). This led to Janie

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What explanation would the Classical school of criminology use to explain the reasons for Buffalo Bills criminal behaviour? Response must include detailed explanation of the concept of Hedonist Calculus. 
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Jasmine along with her three brothers and parents lived in a homeless shelter at the Salvation Army. She often felt sad when they drove past houses and saw people entering their homes, she wished that was her sometimes. Her brother Jonny shared how difficult it is living in a shelter and how that 's something you don 't want anyone finding out about it. If people found out you would lose your friends and others would make fun of you. Their family was considered middle class before the recession hit.

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“Serving in Florida” is a piece of literature that comes from Nickel and Dimed, written by Barbara Ehrenreich that discusses her experience in as an undercover journalist trying to live a life working low-paying jobs. In 1941, Barbara Ehrenreich was born in Butte, Montana, a blue-collar mining town where her father used to work before he earned a degree in the Butte School of Mines and moved the family. Ehrenreich became a part of a middle-class family and attended Rockefeller University where she graduated with a doctorate in biology. However, throughout the years she became more involved with politics, such as advocating for the women’s health movement in the 1970’s and wrote Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers. Eventually, she quit her teaching job at State University to become a full-time writer to create pieces relating to the

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Ehrenreich mentions “The regulation poster in the single unisex rest room admonishes us to wash our hands thoroughly,” in her essay; However, there is almost no one following the instruction because “there is always some vital substance missing—soap, paper towels, toilet paper”. Although workers may want to follow the instructions, it is impossible for them to do so because they “never found all three at once ”. The effect of describing the deficient rest room is to highlight the fact that the owner of the restaurant is so stingy to the workers that the owner refuses to provide enough substance. Thus, the readers can better understand the terrible environment that the workers live in. In short, with mention the dreadful environment of the kitchen and the rest room, the audiences are able to know that lower workers work in a grubby environment and how they have been treated by the upper class.

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No Nickels or Dimes To Spare In the book, Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich writes the story, “Serving in Florida.” She describes her experience living as an undercover waitress when in reality she’s a journalist for culture and politics with a doctorate in biology. Ehrenreich experiences trying to survive on multiple low income jobs to understand what it is like to be in their shoes instead of being apart of the higher middle class.

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She effectively describes the problems of being homeless accurately and was able to use her story to account their struggles and how those struggles made her who is. Homelessness is a widespread problem throughout the world. A lot of individuals fall into homelessness and become helpless. But Jeanette’s circumstance fueled her desire to explore opportunities that would afford her a future better than her current situation. Although her family was poor and lacked essential necessities, her parents were able to instill values like the importance of literature and education; that eventually lead to Jeanette’s love for journalism and her career than bettered her

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