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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Barbara will keep driving a beat up ____________ car, though she knows many minimum wage workers can not.

2. The author also doesn't want to live in an _____________ building when she is off on her assignment.

3. What is the name Barbara uses for the family restaurant where she chooses to work first in Florida?

4. As Barbara downs coffee who does she notice is looking haggard when she shows up for her next job?

5. Barbara does not want to live a life of _________ or discomfort when it comes to this new assignment.

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Barbara feel she is compelled to do with the patrons at Hearthside, where she works as a waitress?

2. When Stu says that drugs have been found at the restaurant, what do the employees speculate about this action?

3. How long a period of time will the author spend in each location?

4. What does Barbara think, at the start of the experiment, will be the biggest challenge during this assignment?

5. If things get too rough during this experiment, what does Barbara say she will do in order to feel herself or to support herself?

6. Why do people end up living with others or in conditions they don't want to live in, according to Barbara?

7. What will Barbara drive when she is a part of this experiment in working for minimum wage?

8. What is surprising to Barbara about the many places to which she has applied for a job?

9. Why does Barbara want to take on the assignment she actually suggested be done?

10. What does the interviewer at a grocery store warn Barbara about when she puts in her application?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The working conditions in which you work might change you, according to Barbara.

Part 1: Why might the working conditions in which you are placed change the person you are?

Part 2: How do companies attempt to reshape and to mold the employees they have hired?

Part 3: What do you think happens when some people refuse to change for the job in which they have been hired? Why?

Essay Topic 2

Barbara begins to recognize that her thinking is shifting when she becomes upset over the littlest things.

Part 1: Why do you think Barbara is beginning to get upset over the littlest things are her jobs?

Part 2: In what ways do some of the places of employment try to make the employees feel responsible for their work?

Part 3: Do you think it's healthy for an employee to become stressed out about the work they have done? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

While at times it seems that coworkers band together to help each other out, at other times, they treat each other as though they were unaware of the other's existence.

Part 1: Why do you think coworkers band together at some points of a minimum wage job?

Part 2: Why do you think coworkers can also turn their backs on their coworkers so easily?

Part 3: Do you think the management tries to influence the bonds between coworkers? If so, why? If not, why not?

(see the answer keys)

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