Serving in Florida

In "Serving in Florida", Barbara Ehrenreich lowers herself to poverty level in an attempt to fully understand and experience working-class life. While employed in waitressing and housekeeping jobs, she is barely able to keep her financial head above water, and finds herself exhausted and beaten down in the process.

I thought the premise of this experiment was interesting, to say the least. I think she got a good feel for how the working-class live; however, I don't think she could fully appreciate the stress and struggle these people really faced. It is one thing to "pretend" poverty and have a sufficient bank account and a comfortable life just 30 days away, and quite another thing to actually wonder if you will have a place to live next week, or if you will have food to feed your family. I know she did her best to live on the income she earned during that time, and she was physically and mentally exhausted from her work ("I start tossing back drugstore-brand ibuprofen as if they were vitamin C."), but I didn't feel like she actually felt the emotional stress that is present in a real-life situation. I do give her an "A" for effort, though, and admired her willingness to actually immerse herself in this lifestyle.

I could really relate with Ehrenreich's experience with waitressing. In college, I also worked as a waitress for a time, and found it a very stressful experience. I used to literally have nightmares that I had an endless sea of tables waiting for service and I could only move at the pace of a snail. It was kind of like those dreams you have where you trying to run somewhere and can only run in slow-motion--it's really frustrating. I loved reading her experience of her last day on the "job". "...table 24 is the meteorological event of the century: ten British tourists who seem to have made the decision to absorb the American experience entirely by mouth." I had a couple of those nightmarish days myself, only I had to come back the next day and do it all over again. I was envious that she was able to walk out and leave it all behind.

Many people are willing to analyze the problems associated with poverty and they can think of all kinds of solutions, but unless they have actually been there and experienced this dead-end road, their credibility and understanding are somewhat lacking. Ehrenreich's actions reminded me of Judy Root Aulette's essay, "Changing American Families", in which Carol Stack, an anthropologist, researched the "Flats" and immersed herself in this culture for two years. She was able to really get a feel for how these people lived and made ends meet. This method of research really gives these women the ability to walk in another's shoes, and also gives them immense credibility in diagnosing the problems associated with these "systems". I think Ehrenreich was able to effectively portray the conditions that working-class people endure, and I applaud her efforts to bring them to light.