[2] 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).

A journalist with a Ph.D. in cell biology, she found that manual labor required highly demanding feats of stamina, focus, memory, quick thinking, and fast learning.

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.

Ehrenreich concludes with the argument that all low-wage workers, recipients of government or charitable services like welfare, food, and health care, are not simply living off the generosity of others.

To be a member of the working poor is to be an anonymous donor, a nameless benefactor, to everyone.The author concludes that someday, low-wage workers will rise up and demand to be treated fairly, and when that day comes everyone will be better off.