The author left her home to experience what it's like to eke out a living on poverty-level wages. She began as a waitress and then worked as a hotel maid, a cleaner in private homes with a maid service, and a salesclerk at Wal-Mart. Her jobs began in Key West, Florida, and then took her to Portland, Maine, and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Ehrenreich discovered the frustrations of earning just barely enough to cover the rent, while struggling to afford food, clothing, and transportation - never mind "extras" like health care or child care. Not only did she learn that many full-time low-wage workers need a second job, she quickly experienced the exhaustion of working two jobs.

She also discovered the dearth of housing for low-wage workers, so acute that some people rent motel rooms by the week, others live in their vans, and some on different shifts even share an apartment to rotate use of the bed. During stretches when she was unable to find work, she experienced the dilemma of having no money for a security deposit for an apartment.

But Ehrenreich also gained respect for the skills required by low-wage work and the physical toll these jobs exact. Perhaps her greatest insight came from observing the pride that low-wage workers take in their jobs.

Although she could, of course, have returned to her own comfortable life at any time, Ehrenreich "lived the life" of a low-wage worker in America. Her book offers a glimpse into the economically bleak lives of the workers whose services we rely on every day yet so often overlook.