Serving in Florida

In "Serving in Florida", Barbara Ehrenreich strives to prove "low wage life" about working minimum wage jobs; thus, she selects jobs at restaurants, even though her true profession is a journalist. To establish her credibility, Ehrenreich explains to the reader her tough work schedule, "working the breakfast/ lunch shift at Jerry's from 8:00 till 2:00, arriving at the Hearthside a few minutes late, at 2:10, and attempting to hold out until 10:00"(269). Readers might understand the preceding quote and agree that she has a tough work schedule. Ehrenreich establishes great credibility to the reader by working two jobs and putting herself physically in the shoes of a low wage life. It makes the reader want to believe what she's going through is real and not easy.

Additionally, Ehrenreich strives to gain the importance of earing her readers respect. Again, she convinces her readers she has proved her mettle when she introduces her living conditions, "Number 46 is about eight feet in width and shaped like a barbell inside with a narrow region..."(274). Ehrenreich shows us now that she's not only working a low wage life but also physically living it. She uses the money that she makes from the two jobs to afford a place in her price range.

However, Ehrenreich struggles to maintain her credibility when goes back to her real life. She still endeavors to distance herself by claiming she feels different about her former life. "The e-mails and phone messages addressed to my former self come from a distant race of people with exotic concerns and far too much time on their hands"(270). Her research is making her realize the important things in life but the fact that she still takes "frequent trips" to her real life makes her credibility go down. Just the fact that she can leave her "low wage life" whenever she feels like it doesn't seem fair, people that really have that type of lifestyle cannot.

Furthermore, Ehrenreich's readers might be somewhat convinced that Ehrenreich understood the struggle of a minimum wage working person. Their skepticism may stem from her quitting her jobs. She explains "I had gone in to this venture in the spirit of science, to test a mathematical proposition, but somewhere along the line in the tunnel vision imposed by long shifts and relentless concentration, it became a test to myself, and clearly I have failed"(279).