Super Size Me

Super Size Me definitely opened my eyes when I saw it. Morgan Spurlock made this documentary to show everyone in the United States how much fast food is controlling us and how most people in the U.S are obese. The documentary shows how dangerous fast food can be when not properly eating them. There's many Americans that will go to McDonalds and buy a Big Mac one or even three times a week. That is a problem!

Another problem with fast food is how cheap they are. Most Americans can afford to buy a cheeseburger from McDonalds or any fast food restaurant. They are just a dollar (plus tax) and the calories it contains is very high! Poor people and people that want to save money buy fast good all the time and that is a problem!

Fast food restaurants need to be careful with what they put into their food. McDonald's cheeseburgers contain saturated fat, which is fat that KILLS us by clogging our veins if you eat too much of it. There's always ways for fast food restaurants to make healthy food but they don't care... They only care about the money. If their cheeseburgers are making money, why should they even bother to change it?

Nickel and Dimed Questions

1. What’s the biggest expense Ehrenreich needs to contend with from the start?

The biggest expense that Ehrenreich needed to contend with from the start was being ready to handle the work that she will experience in her experiment and also the risk of not being able to pay for her rent.

2. Where has she decided to run her experiment?

She decided to run her experiment in Key West, Florida.

3. What are the special challenges of a location like this one?

Key West is a big city and locating a good job is difficult.

4. Using other sources (like the Internet) if necessary, briefly define welfare reform.

Welfare reform is “a movement to change the federal government's social welfare policy which shifted responsibility to the states and cut benefits”.

5. What special costs make minimum wage especially challenging support a person?

Most of the time, minimum wage jobs are not enough to help pay the house bills or any other bills at that matter. Most people that have a minimum wage job also has two jobs just so they can work more and make more money.

6. What are the rules by which Ehrenreich runs her experiment?

The rules that Ehrenreich had to follow in her experiment is that she had to work full time in a minimum-wage job and see if she can live off the money she makes from these jobs.

7. Why are want ads not a good measure of available jobs?

8. Who is Gail? Why is she included in the essay?

Gail is a rich powerful person. She is a good example of someone in the higher class.

9. What’s particularly tough about being a server/waiter?

Ehrenreich noticed how physically demanding the job as a server/waitress was needed so she left the job.

10. What is work ethic? Does Ehrenreich show she has a strong work ethic? How?

Work ethic is “a belief in the moral benefit and importance of work and its inherent ability to strengthen character”. In a way, Ehrenreich does show she has a strong work ethic (after all, she decided to work minimum-wage jobs as an experiment) but it was just to difficult for her because of all the problems she was dealing with. Her boss, the physical demanding work, the drama, overall… it was really difficult to work with all these problems.

11. What problems does Ehrenreich have with management? Do you agree? Have you had similar problems in your work history?

The manager, a.k.a B. J., was a problem to work with. The whole “someone was stealing items from the restaurant” drama was making it even worse for her. They thought it was George who was stealing these items and they planned to fire him once his week of work is over. I agree that these problems could stress any worker and I actually started to feel sorry for Ehrenreich because the management she had to deal with in Jerry’s was really brutal. I have never experienced any problems with the management I’ve worked with.

12. What is one issue that prevents workers from getting an apartment, rather than renting a hotel room or remaining homeless?

That one issue is money. With the minimum wage jobs she’s been working for, she can’t afford to get an apartment to live in, so instead she rented a trailer, which was cheaper (but she wouldn’t be able to pay the rent with the Jerry’s minimum wage job she was in).

13. Describe Jerry’s. How is it different from the Hearthside?

Jerry’s is a restaurant that Ehrenreich worked for. The difference between Jerry’s and the new job she got in Hearthside was the management. Jerry’s management was brutal while the management in Hearthside was mediocre. The drama she had to deal with in Jerry’s got the best of her and she decided to walk out and quit her job.

14. Ehrenreich decides to take on a second job and then to move. Why?

Ehrenreich needed the second job to pay the rent for her trailer. She couldn’t afford to pay off the rent just working a minimum wage job at Jerry’s.

15. Do you think many people need to find a second job to survive?

If I had a minimum-wage job, yes. Nowadays, minimum-wage jobs are just not enough for people to live off from so they have to find a second job to help support themselves and their family.

16. After reading the article, do you think the minimum wage is fair? Do you see any problems with her experiment?

I do not think minimum-wage is fair just because people can’t live off doing hard work and getting paid so little. Ehrenreich had to work two jobs but she just couldn’t handle the physical labor and she felt extremely exhausted. It’s sad to see that there are people out there working two jobs and not being paid enough to help support themselves.

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My name is Alex and this is my blog. Welcome!