Volunteering in Project Homeless Connect last week gave us a great opportunity to work with homeless people and get a better understanding of homelessness as well as the book we read, Nickel and Dimed. I believe each of you have got something to say about the book. Did your clients in PHC show you situations similar to those in the book Nickel and Dimed? For example, did you meet people that were working two jobs and couldn't afford to live in a descent place? In the book, Ehrenreich also talked about a lot of different people; those that felt as though life would get better and those that were upset about their difficult situations. Did your client remind you of some of these characters?
After being able to work with homeless people, do you believe that Ehrenreich’s book did a good job on portraying what low-wage workers are going through? Do you feel as though the book showed most cases of people and circumstances in the low-wage world? While we were reading the book, we often got stirred up in many emotions; whether that'd be anger towards the world that we live in, or surprise when we saw how people in WalMart are supposed to behave. Which brings us to wonder, were your emotions as you were reading the book similar to those that you felt at PHC? How so? Were there times throughout the afternoon in which you thought about what the book had talked about? In that case, do you believe that the book prepared you in any way to help out or understand your clients?
During my day at Project Homeless Connect, I will admit that I never connected anything back to Nickel and Dimed. Now however, I can see that my client was in very similar situations to several people described in Ehrenreich’s book. My client has worked two jobs and because of certain things that have happened in his life (getting hurt or paying child support) he was never able to make ends meet. Because of that he had stayed in almost every homeless shelter represented at PHC and knew the volunteers behind each table. Although he has never been able to make ends meet and has spent many nights on the streets, my client kept an upbeat manner and always talked about getting a better job and hopefully an apartment.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Ehrenreich’s story did justice when looking at what low-wage workers are going through every day. I never doubted it when reading the book but my day spent at PHC only further proved the hard times that she described. I honestly don’t think that my emotions were the same between reading the book and working at PHC. While reading the book I felt astonishment and angered but throughout PHC I only felt hope and excited for my client even though he didn’t get everything he needed to get done. However, just because my emotions weren’t the same doesn’t mean that the book didn’t help prepare me for the day. I just think that the book helped break apart the stereotypes that I believed which helped me look at PHC in a different way.
Looking back at Project Homeless connect I tried to make connections between my client and Nickel and Dimed but could not find as many similarities as i had hoped. The similarities that i found were that my client had a really tough time finding jobs and making enought money to get ahead. The differences were that he was not paying rent because he was staying with a friend and he did not have a steady job. He was only a little bit satisfied with his pay at $10 an hour which would have made a huge difference in Barbara's story.
ReplyDeleteBarbara did a great job i think in describing the life of a low wage worker. My client kept describing how ruff it was to live and get a head in life just has Barbara did. I often caught myself wanting to talk like i understood his situation because i read one book about it. I don't understand his situation but i didn't really have to to feel compassion. I always seem to get very frustrated after working PHC because i feel that there is so much more that people could do and not enough is being done. i know that it is harder than i think but i have been amazed both years after PHC how impatient the service providers are and sort of mean to the clients. if i were a service provider i would do whatever i could to help then and treat them with respect not like i was scolding a child because they asked a question twice.
I think that by reading the book i was more prepared for PHC this year than last year. i did not know what to expect last year and i did not know how to react to situations. after reading Barbara's book i was able to better understand what it is like to be in that situation which made me more determined to help the homeless.
After reading the book Nickel and Dimed, I had a a little bit better understanding of the situations homeless people face, which helped me understand my client better. My client was similar to Barbara's character and overall idea she seemed to put across, where people might have a job or even two, and still be unable to provide for themselves and make ends meets. Similarly, my client at PHC did have a job but was living in a shelter because he couldn't afford housing. Therefore, I do think Barabara conveyed low-wage workers appropriately and the hardships they all face. This year at PHC, after having read the book and afer a previous experience, I actually found myself less emotional. I understood the situation of my client and had remorse, but I actually felt more disconnected in ways. It was as though because I had heard his story through various mediums, multiple times, it was less impacting. It was simply the same matter that a great number of people face in our country, although a terrible one.
ReplyDeleteEhrenreich's reporting matched with what I observed at PHC. Both of my clients were in situations that were slightly different from Nickel, as they both were felons. I think this makes their situation even more difficult, as less places are likely to hire them. One client also has restitution to pay, which is going to keep her homeless for quite awhile longer, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteMy emotions at PHC were different than when reading Nickel. When Ehrenreich described her interview process, she made it seem like the easiest thing, and made fun of the personality test. I remeber when one my clients was interviewing for a construction job, the employer cautioned him about working sun up to sun down, many times in adverse weather conditions. Ehrenreich never described having such daunting conditions being described to her, questioing if she would be able to handle such a tough workload. The whole scene just had me a little taken aback. At the moment I was thinking how terrible it would be to have that construction job, while my client was desperate for the position.
During Project Homeless connect I actually made some connections to Nickel and Dimed. The couple I got paired with were having a lot of legal trouble concerning custody with their kids. While the husband tried to deal with that I was with the wife and we went to the job fair. She ended up telling me about how she was fired from her old job at the convenience store. She was fired because she had to take a few days off to stay with her mom in the hospital. When she came back to her job she was fired because she was gone. It just showed me how unforgiving managers can be in certain jobs. It reminded me of nickel and dimed and how some of the people were nervous about missing working because they would loose their jobs even if they were hurt and were miserable working.
ReplyDeleteMy emotions were about the same. I was mad because the person I was with wasn't able to get anything done at the legal services and I was sad when the lady I was with was telling me about how she lost her job. I also realized that part of being homeless was their fault because they got hooked on drugs. I never felt that when I was reading the book.
I learned a lot after finish the reading of Nickel and Dimed, and after complete the PHC that I realize the fathom of being homeless. It’s impressed me a lot when I see the homeless people come from different areas of Denver. My client was another version character from the book Nickel and Dimed. He was fired for no reasons, or maybe just because the manager did not like him much.
ReplyDeleteBecause I had read the some books and articles about the homeless so that I have a better understanding when I service my client. My client had moved to many different locations around the Colorado just seeking for jobs. Barbara covered the poor working class citizens had to face the hardships.
My client did not have any drug use, no bad habits, or just bad luck.
My client on the day of Project Homeless Connect was an 18-year-old girl, so she doesn’t have any working experiences. From what I got from her, she was trying to finding a job, but everywhere she applied job for, need ID and Social Security Card, which she doesn’t have. So there are no any connection between my client and the characters in Ehrenreich’s book. I think Ehrenreich was doing a good job of portraying the low-wage workers are going through, but her findings were kind of biased. I think she just pick the worst experiences to write about and put into her book. She only talks about three experiences in different locations, I bet she had done like ten experiences and pick the worst ones among these experiences to write about, so she can prove her points of how low-wage world. I feel the book did showed some cases of people and circumstances in the low-wage world. Some other people would have some family members who work also to support the family.
ReplyDeleteMy client on the day of Project Homeless Connect was an 18-year-old girl, so she doesn’t have any working experiences. From what I got from her, she was trying to finding a job, but everywhere she applied job for, need ID and Social Security Card, which she doesn’t have. So there are no any connection between my client and the characters in Ehrenreich’s book. I think Ehrenreich was doing a good job of portraying the low-wage workers are going through, but her findings were kind of biased. I think she just pick the worst experiences to write about and put into her book. She only talks about three experiences in different locations, I bet she had done like ten experiences and pick the worst ones among these experiences to write about, so she can prove her points of how low-wage world. I feel the book did showed some cases of people and circumstances in the low-wage world. Some other people would have some family members who work also to support the family.
ReplyDeleteMy client at Project Homeless Connect didn’t really remind me of the book Nickel and Dimed. I never made a connection between the two, but going back and thinking back on it, it can relate. My client’s boyfriend worked at one job to support both of them since she did not have an ID. She was getting an ID to work and help support them. They lived with friends and kept switching places, but never really could relate fully to Nickel and Dimed. My client felt that life could get better once she had an ID and was able to work and support herself. Without working she would not be able to better her situation.
ReplyDeleteI think Nickel and Dimed did a great job at showing what low wage workers go through. Before reading this book, I would have never known about what they are really going through. When reading the book, my emotions were not the same as they were when I was at PHC. At PHC it seemed more real and it was harder on the people than in the book. Barbara made it seem easy to get a job, but at PHC many people couldn’t because they were missing important things like IDs and addresses. The book prepared me for PHC, but not completely. The book mainly talked about the workers and how they struggled, but many of them had a place to stay and at PHC they had nowhere to go permanently.
My interactions with my client didn't seem to reflect much about what happened in Nickel and Dimed. My client had some advantages to his situation, that being he was a veteran and had been living with friends for the past couple of years. That right there shows that he is living for free and has benefits towards his life for being a veteran. My client's main goal was to get a better job, which of course is very hard for anyone in this economy, and to try to get a place of his own in the near future. That being said, my client definitely showed signs of an individual who believed life could get better. He was definitely hard working and determined, especially as he took the time to come out to PHC to make his life better; right after PHC he had another job interview he had to catch the bus for. The main problem I see tying my experience at PHC with Nickel and Dimed is I only experienced the homeless with one individual client. On top of that, my client was definitely a unique individual in a unique situation, not the typical low-wage worker from Nickel and Dimed. The book drove different feelings out of me than PHC did and I believe that is do to the fact that the client I interacted with was distinct from the majority.
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