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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 realizes she will need ____________ in order to pay for her apartment.

2. What are they listening to at full volume as they are cleaning each of the hotel rooms?

3. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, in 1998, the hourly wage necessary to afford a one bedroom apartment was _________.

4. Barbara begins to realize that minimum wage workers are no less ____________ or intelligent than she is.

5. Barbara admits that at the end of the project, she did break down and ____________, stealthily, though, and never within hearing of management.

Short Essay Questions

1. What will Barbara not rely on in order to get a job and to support herself, as one of the rules of her experiment?

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

3. What happens if Barbara thinks she will have to go homeless, even for one night during this experiment?

4. What is Barbara's fear about working in the area where she currently lives, Key West?

5. What are some of the other reasons why Barbara doesn't really want to take on the assignment of working for minimum wage?

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

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

8. What do the managers do to Barbara when she is an employee at Hearthside, she realizes as she continues to work there?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

While it might be no surprise that Wal-Mart doesn't want to have labor unions in their store, it's more surprising that workers aren't more motivated to get involved

Part 1: Why do you think Wal-Mart doesn't want to have labor unions and organizations in their stores?

Part 2: Why do you think employees at Wal-Mart are scared to begin talks for labor union support in their stores?

Part 3: Is the risk of losing one's job worth it in order to get a labor organization in a store? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

When Barbara goes back and tells her coworkers what she was doing and who she is, the coworkers don't seem to have a reaction.

Part 1: Why do you think Barbara's coworkers didn't really notice Barbara as anyone different or special?

Part 2: Why do you think Barbara expected to be seen as different in some way?

Part 3: Were you surprised that the other coworkers didn't have a bigger reaction? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

The author herself is white and someone who is certainly in the middle class, even if she's not working as though she was.

Part 1: In what ways might her 'white-ness' have affected the way her experience turned out?

Part 2: In what ways might her experience have been different had she been a man?

Part 3: In what ways might her experience have been different had she been of a different class or race?

(see the answer keys)

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