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

2. Who is the tiny busy woman who teaches Barbara the rules of the next job she takes on at the hotel adjacent to the restaurant?

3. What does Ehrenreich discover about her uniform when she is heading over to her second job?

4. 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.

5. When Barbara walks out of the restaurant, she feels _______ instead of feeling enraged, as she expects to.

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8. What does the bad tempered cook like to do sometimes back in the kitchen, according to Barbara?

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

10. What does Barbara find out about Gail and what she has to do when her boyfriend suddenly dies?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The costs of housing seem to be higher than one might expect, even for the year in which the author attempted this study.

Part 1: Why do you think housing costs are so high for such horrible apartments?

Part 2: Why do you think society and the government doesn't seem to recognize how exorbitant the housing prices are?

Part 3: Do you think housing prices can ever be completely fair? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Many times, the workers Barbara is with seem resigned to the life in which they have been a part.

Part 1: Why do you think the workers Barbara meets don't really understand that things could be better?

Part 2: Why do you think the workers around Barbara don't know their rights and don't believe them when Barbara tells them what they should expect?

Part 3: Why do you think the workers aren't motivated to do more for themselves?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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