Throughout Ehrenreich's attempts to work at unskilled labor jobs at Jerry's, Merry Maids, or Wal-Mart; she continually finds herself struggling to keep up with her coworkers regardless of the fact that she is very well educated. There are vocabulary words, slang, and unspoken societal rules that she doesn't fit neatly into. I liked her quote in her evaluation (page 192) that "no job, no matter how lowly is truly unskilled." This helped me to have a more understanding, if not respectful, attitude toward my "uneducated" parents and even the waitresses, store clerks, and attendents that may help me in life. I have decided during career week lessons to have a class discussion about the skills (like reading, math, physical strength, etc) that are needed for factory jobs, waitress jobs, store clerks, etc. Since some of my students will go to college and the majority of others will end up in places like Ehrenreich, I want them to feel good about what they're doing. I was thinking the other day of a school custodian job (you know this is a constant source of aggravation for me) and thinking what kind of skills a really good custodian would need. The skills would include: measuring cleaning products and mixing them appropriately and knowing when to order new product; and how to fill out the order requests; how to read the clock to stick to your schedule; people skills to handle situations/emergencies; how to operate equipment (lawn mowers, floor buffers); organization to put away furniture and supplies in small storage spaces; and other similar problem solving. Even what appears to be the "lowliest" job at our school is quite mentally demanding; not to mention the physical demands (if ours really did all those things
). I respect Ehrenreich for conducting this research...I don't know if I could cut it.