<P> The events related in the book took place between spring 1998 and summer 2000 . The book was first published in 2001 by Metropolitan Books . An earlier version appeared as an article in the January 1999 issue of Harper's magazine . Ehrenreich later wrote a companion book, Bait and Switch (published September 2005), which discusses her attempt to find a white - collar job . </P> <P> Ehrenreich investigates many of the difficulties low wage workers face, including the hidden costs involved in such necessities as shelter (the poor often have to spend much more on daily hotel costs than they would pay to rent an apartment if they could afford the security deposit and first - and - last month fees) and food (e.g., the poor have to buy food that is both more expensive and less healthy than they would if they had access to refrigeration and appliances needed to cook). </P> <P> Foremost, Ehrenreich attacks the notion that low - wage jobs require only unskilled labor . A journalist with a Ph. D. in cell biology, she found that manual labor required incredible feats of stamina, focus, memory, quick thinking, and fast learning . Constant and repeated movement creates a risk of repetitive stress injury; pain must often be worked through to hold a job in a market with constant turnover; and the days are filled with degrading and uninteresting tasks (e.g. toilet - cleaning and mopping). She also details several individuals in management roles who served mainly to interfere with worker productivity, to force employees to undertake pointless tasks, and to make the entire low - wage work experience even more miserable . Additionally, she describes her managers changing her shift schedule from week to week without notifying her . </P> <P> Ehrenreich describes personality tests, questionnaires designed to weed out incompatible potential employees, and urine drug tests, increasingly common in the low wage market, arguing that they deter potential applicants and violate liberties while having little tangible positive effect on work performance . She also comments that she believes they are a way for an employer to relay to an employee what is expected of them conduct wise . </P>

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