Nickle and Dimed

The readings this week that stuck out to me most were called:  Nickled and Dimed and The Working Mind. Nickled and Dimed which is a story about a woman trying to learn how some families surive on only minimum wage jobs. Truth is, they hardly do. It's nearly impossible for a family to solely live comfortably off of only minimum wage jobs. As the daughter of a fisheman and paraprofessional I can understand how people worry about living when it comes to saving money. My parents both work seasonal jobs, for three months in the summer my mother can't bring home a paycheck and in the winter my father can't fish, lobster or captain the whale watching boats. Our winter salary depends heavily on his job plowing the highways for the state, and so it depends on the snow falling enough for him to get some hours in. Living on a minimum wage sucks. I work hard all summer for it, plus great tips at Woods Seafood and even at 19 I know that no matter how good the pay seems now, I can never survive off of it. I've always lived a comfortable life, but that is because both my parents, hard working individuals with no college degree which brings me to The Working Mind. My father works very hard, can repair anything, read the weather patterns and has some degree of electrical wiring knowledge. He spent one semester at college and was a struggling student all his life for he suffered from dyslexia. My mother also did not even attend college but works to help several students daily in grade K-5. So both these readings I could easily connect to and understand.