Reply #2: Oh yeah, she never made more than $6 or $7 an hour in the two years [View All]

[Bouncy Ball]

she did it (I believe it was two years). She meant to only do it for a month or so, but kept going. It's absolutely fascinating reading (and like I said, surprisingly, DARKLY funny).

She learned how hard it is to get a job when you are living in a hotel, how hard it is to get an apartment when you don't have a job (catch-22), she learned it's impossible to live on just one low-wage job (and she was alone! No kids!) and she learned how crappy low-wage workers get treated.

She experienced sexual harrassment, being accused of doing things she didn't do (stealing from her employer, doing drugs), etc. Pretty bad. Lived on very little food and what she ate was mostly crap.

Her own parents were pretty poor, so it's not like she was comfortable her whole life, but she did this in her early 50s and it was somewhat of a shock.

She's a big advocate for raising the minimum wage and paying more attention to helping the working poor. It's a fantastic book.