Starving - Pregnant - Injured - Overworked

The hardest part for me to stomach in "Scrubbing in Maine" was how little the maids would eat and drink during a normal working shift. No food or water while they were cleaning the inside of homes. A half a bag of Doritos for lunch and nothing else during an eight hour work day. The hungrier maids had a sandwich to hold them over until five p.m. I know this is the middle-class, white-male coming out of me, but don't they realize that they need food to work - to survive?? I realize that they are poor, that they have children to cloth and feed. But a bag of Doritos? Why not just skip the bag of Doritos for two or three days and buy a loaf of bread that will last all week?

It just makes me so upset to see and hear about people who are hungry because I love to eat so much. I hate to see people starving, especially the maid who is pregnant during Ms. Ehrenreich's stay in Maine.