In Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Barbara Ehrenreich examines the impact of the 1996 welfare reform act on the class in America. The investigative report uncovers the difficulties that low-income workers uniquely face. For example, if a low-income worker cannot afford the upfront payment to rent an apartment (typically a security deposit plus a few months’ worth of rent money), they are forced to live in hotels, which have less upfront cost but will end up costing them a higher daily rate.

Ehrenreich conducted this investigative reporting by working at minimum wage jobs. Her first rule was to only take jobs that people with no writing skills and a lack of education would be able to take. She did not want to fall back on her previous education or skillset. She followed this rule successfully.

Her second rule was to accept the highest-paying job available and treat the work seriously, as she reasoned this is what a serious job seeker would do. She followed this rule for the most part, although she did accept a job with a lower gauge because it would be the highest paying in the long run.

Her third rule was that she would pay the least amount in rent as possible, as she also reasoned that this is what a serious job seeker would do. She tried to follow this rule, but felt incredibly unsafe after staying in a run-down hotel. From there she revised the rule to pay as little in rent while still feeling safe in the residence.

Ehrenreich sets the following three rules for herself as she sets out to live on the wages of an unskilled worker: first, she will not "fall back" on her education or skills she acquired on prior jobs in order to get work. Second, she will accept the highest-paying job offered to her and do it to the best of her ability: she will not, as she puts it, engage in "Marxist rants" or reading novels in the restroom. Third, she will find the cheapest living space possible that offers privacy and safety. 

Ehrenreich says herself that she breaks or bends her rules during her project. She notes, for example, that in Key West, she falls back briefly on her education, saying as she interviews for a waitressing job that she could greet customers with Bonjour or Guten Tag. However, I would not tend to count this, as people with little education might well know these very common words in French or German. She also mentions that in Minneapolis she doesn't take the highest-paying job offered. This is a $10-an-hour job at Menards that she turns down after she has already started at Wal-Mart at $7 an hour because Wal-Mart "has already sunk its talons into me." She thinks about doing a second shift at Menards, but decides it would be too exhausting. In this case, she really is breaking her rule: to be true to it she should have quit at Wal-Mart and gone to Menards. I think she stays at Wal-Mart because the whole situation of getting oriented to a new job is exhausting and she doesn't want to go through it again. In addition,  Menards wants her to work 11-hour shifts.

Finally, she says she rants, but only outside of the hearing of management. I would mention as well that she rants directly at her manager, Ted, when she works at The Maids, telling him he should send her coworker, Holly, home for hurting her knee. "I blow. ... I tell him he can't keep putting money above his employee's health and ...this girl [Holly] is in really bad shape." In this case, she is annoyed at Holly's willingness to take abuse, knows Holly's health isn't good to begin with and that she might be pregnant, and she is fed up enough to want to take a stand. All through the book, we can feel how Ehrenreich is worn down by the jobs she holds and the grueling nature of trying to live on very low wages.