View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The author most dislikes the visible __________ at the restaurant where she works since they complain and never leave good tips.
(a) Christians
(b) Tourists
(c) Republicans
(d) Elite

2. What does Ehrenreich discover about her uniform when she is heading over to her second job?
(a) It is too small
(b) It is ripped
(c) It is at home
(d) It is stained

3. What does Barbara not want to mention when she is out in her new working life?
(a) Her daughters
(b) Her husband
(c) PhD
(d) Her hometown

4. The management at the restaurant try to keep Barbara __________ at every moment of her shift, even when it's slow.
(a) Bored
(b) Angry
(c) Happy
(d) Busy

5. What are they listening to at full volume as they are cleaning each of the hotel rooms?
(a) Soap operas
(b) Local news
(c) Rap music
(d) Their headphones

6. Barbara makes the common that the ____________ is too low and that someone used to more should try to live with it.
(a) Minimum wage
(b) Health benefit package
(c) Break schedule
(d) Worker hour restriction

7. Barbara begins to realize that when she is a maid, she is not ____________ to be a maid. She really is a maid.
(a) Desiring
(b) Pretending
(c) Training
(d) Trying

8. Barbara does not want to live a life of _________ or discomfort when it comes to this new assignment.
(a) Poverty
(b) Risk
(c) Inauthenticity
(d) Pain

9. When the going gets too rough for Barbara, she admits she will use ____________ to get by.
(a) Begging
(b) Checks
(c) Credit cards
(d) Her resume

10. What is Barbara punished with when she points out that a manager is calling one of his employees by the incorrect name?
(a) Reduced wages
(b) Extra work
(c) Being sent home early
(d) Loss of tips

11. Some of the coworkers have to pay $60 a night for a hotel room because they can not save up the ___________ for a first and last month rent payment.
(a) $100
(b) $1000
(c) $500
(d) $2000

12. Barbara lets a sewer repairman spend a few minutes cooling off with a ________________ before taking his order.
(a) Glass of ice water
(b) Newspaper fan
(c) Iced tea
(d) Fan

13. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, in 1998, the hourly wage necessary to afford a one bedroom apartment was _________.
(a) $6.50
(b) $10.00
(c) $8.89
(d) $7.50

14. Barbara notes that her sister constantly complained about the hopelessness of being a ____________.
(a) Minimum wage worker
(b) Woman
(c) Waitress
(d) Wage slave

15. Who is Barbara Ehrenreich's editor, the one who assigns her the story that became this book?
(a) Stu Manshet
(b) Joseph Truman
(c) Louis Lanston
(d) Lewis Lapham

Short Answer Questions

1. Barbara is also not willing to make up a _____________ in order to pad her resume as she is going off to find jobs.

2. Barbara states, "Someone ought to do the old-fashioned kind of ________ - you know, go out there and try it for themselves."

3. When a manager sees Barbara having a little __________ during her shift, she is scolded, but instead of fighting it, she walks out.

4. The businesses place ads in the paper so they can always have a pool of __________ from which to hire at any time.

5. Gail reveals that she had to live in _______ and pee into a plastic bottle after her boyfriend she lives with suddenly dies.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 520 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample