"Introduction: Getting Ready" Summary and Analysis

The author, Barbara Ehrenreich, works for the prestigious New Yorker magazine. One day over lunch with a famous editor discussing possible stories to write, she comments that the minimum wage is too low. She thinks someone used to more money should try to live on this pittance. The editor, Lewis Lapham, assigns her the story.

This is not good news for Ehrenreich. Having spent her childhood with middle class struggling people, she does not want to live a life of risk or discomfort. Also, she's older and doesn't want to do hard physical labor or live in an inferior building. Therefore, the author makes some rules for herself on this assignment. She won't rely on her superior education or the skills she normally uses to support herself, but she won't make up a false life...