Serving in Florida

I think that we can learn a lot from Ehrenreich’s experiment, especially as college students. I work at a restaurant part time right now, and on several occasions I have thought to myself, I could just drop out of college and work two full time jobs. My thinking is that as a part time employee, not even as a server but just a host, I make enough money to pay for my groceries, utilities, car repairs and plenty of shopping. I figure if I have enough money to do that just working part-time, imagine how much money I would have with the two full time jobs. The only set back is that I would lose the perks of being a college student whose parents pay her rent, school fees, half of her car, medical and dental insurance, car insurance and the occasional shopping trips. Also after reading this story I realize that working two jobs would be exhausting. The effect of George on this story is a little bit unclear to me. I understand that she felt bad for this young kid and that she wanted to help him out, but I don’t’ really see his relevance on her as a working woman. Another thing is that if she really cared for this kid then why would she leave her shift without even picking up her tips to help him out. Was hard labor really such a burden on this woman that she couldn’t even finish her shift especially when she knew that this was only a temporary experiment for her? Most people who are living this life are not just in a temporary situation but a permanent one. I just feel like she couldn’t even humble herself enough to stay and help George out when she expressed such a true concern for him in the beginning.