All I can say about this chapter is damn. This women gave up her whole life for 1 month to see what it’s like for welfare recipients and single mothers will survive in the low wage work force. She worked a number ours amount of jobs and struggled almost every single day. She met lots of people who also had it very bad and were living with people who they no longer wished to live with. She had trouble find jobs for a long time. She filled out 20 applications and none of them had accepted her until she got one job 4 days after applying for jobs. This wasn’t her only job. She ended up working 3 jobs all together and this is the life she has now. Going to one job, going back to her 500$ rent apartment to shower & get ready for the next which keeps repeating. She is struggling hard. Not to mention she needs money for food, gas, laundry, and the rent she has to pay at the end of the month. She is definitely one tough cookie for putting up with all of that.
Personally I don’t feel like I would even remotely try to do this. I would be miserable. Living by myself no one to talk to, not eating enough basically starving, putting up with jobs and people that don’t care about me and just being tired through it all. There would be no rest at all. If I had to live with that and it came down to working numerous jobs then I would have to do it. Just to survive. Living would be a pain in the a** but it would have to work out. Nowadays even with minimum wage and working 3 jobs you’re not even able to pay a months rent. Rents are so expensive now it’s insane unless you find a friend to rent a room with. I give this mom major props for changing her lifestyle and giving it everything she had to try and meet the end expectations that she wanted to. Congratulations.
Jocelynn's Sociology blog 