Timecards characterize the experience of those working on the lowest rungs of the American food system, and they’re seldom accompanied by good news. Despite the air of formality that timecards give to field labor, they’re subject to reinterpretation by employers, and timecards and paychecks often depict a different reality: a timecard that shows a nine-hour day at a piece rate equivalent to $16 for that day will end up as a paycheck of two hours at minimum wage. This “curious accounting” isn’t simply exploitative but also obscures how poorly paid agricultural work is, precluding a serious investigation of the fairness of the system. Before McMillan embarks on her investigation, she assumes many of these exploitive practices—such as employers rounding down the weight of buckets of harvested produce—have stopped, an ignorance that points to the broader lack of knowledge about food production.

Throughout the book, timecards emerge as the dividing line between stability and catastrophe. At one point, McMillan receives a paycheck that’s six hours fewer than expected; the difference is enough to leave her unable to pay basic expenses, and she takes the costly step of taking out a cash advance on her credit card. Later, that experience is repeated while working for Applebee’s, where her low salary—which she realizes is lower than the rate she’d been promised—combined with a fraudulent withdrawal from her bank account prompts her to take out another advance.