Months of working as a waitress and a housekeeper taught author Barbara Ehrenreich about more than waiting tables and dusting, she told about 110 people Monday afternoon in Fisk Hall.

“I learned never to call any job unskilled,” Ehrenreich said, repeating a line from her latest book, “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.”

She spoke to the audience about her hands-on research for the book: working low-wage jobs in Florida, Maine and Minnesota for a month at a time.

Ehrenreich, a freelance contributor to Time, The Nation and Harper’s Magazine as well as author of 12 books, said “Nickel and Dimed” began as a piece for Harper’s in 1998.

When looking for jobs, Ehrenreich said she did not use her professional credentials but instead told employers she was a divorced homemaker re-entering the workplace.

“I never saw a help-wanted ad for a political essayist,” she said.

Ehrenreich said she began her study in Key West, Fla., where she waited tables. In Maine, she worked as a house cleaner for Merry Maids on weekdays and as a dietary aide in a nursing home on weekends.

“At first I was sort of excited about the breaking-and-entering aspect of housecleaning,” Ehrenreich said. “But I found it deeply, deeply infuriating. The women I worked with were so poor in contrast to the expensive houses we cleaned.”

In the book Ehrenreich explores whether welfare programs actually help lift people above poverty lines.

“About 50 to 70 percent of women who have gotten off welfare since 1996 have found jobs,” she said. “But they average $7 an hour.”

Ehrenreich said it is difficult to live on such low wages, adding that she made about that much during her months of research.

Although she experienced some of the hardships of being poor – such as living in motel rooms without kitchens and dealing with demanding customers – Ehrenreich said she still had advantages over many lower-class workers. For instance, she said she didn’t have to support a family on her meager wages and she had her own car.

“If I didn’t have (a car), it would have been a book about waiting for buses,” she said.

Ehrenreich also spoke about being subjected to personality tests, drug tests and absurd rules while working in low-wage jobs. When she worked at Wal-Mart, for example, employees were forbidden to talk to each other while working, she said.

Through her research Ehrenreich said she developed a deeper understanding of the role of the working poor.

“They’re the real philanthropists,” she said, explaining that the upper classes are dependent on the working class to clean their houses, care for their children and cook their food.

Some audience members said Ehrenreich’s work sparked their interest.

Education sophomore Tresca Meiling said she was intrigued by Ehrenreich’s book when she read it in a gender studies class last quarter.

“This should be a book that every high-schooler should read,” Meiling said. “It exposes so many truths about the reality of the wages everyone thinks people are getting by on.”

But some observers said they were disappointed Ehrenreich did not focused more on issues such as welfare reform.

“She didn’t talk as much about the political points,” said Matthew Kaplan, a 46-year-old Roger’s Park resident.

Nevertheless, Ehrenreich’s experiences did speak to some audience members.

“I think it was very interesting to look at the issues from a first-hand reporter’s point of view,” said Alan Appelbaum, 61, of Wilmette. “I’m looking forward to reading the book.”