Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America | Barbara Ehrenreich

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America | Barbara Ehrenreich | Good book; both interesting and informative

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Nickel and Dimed: ...

	Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Barbara Ehrenreich Metropolitan Books, 2001 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 1079 reviews view larger image
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A Libertarian-Conservative's review.

This book is both informative and hilarious! Having worked as an entry-level factory worker among other low-paying jobs in the past, this book was reminiscent of those times. Although I may sometimes characterize myself as "to the right of Attila the Hun" in jest, after having read Barbara Ehrenreich's book I found a renewed sympathy for America's low-wage working class--who, along with others--toil under the often times tone-deaf, out-of-touch upper echelons of management in Corporate America.

Good book; both interesting and informative

This book is easy to read because the author tells her story of her experience with working in low paying jobs and trying to get by on such a low salary. It is a must read for anyone who wants a better understanding of the working poor people in the US.

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Informative

Definitely realistic in depicting the blue collar or vested working world. Since I've worked jobs like these before I wasn't shocked by too much. It just confirmed and put into more intelligent detail what I already knew...

What can I add as the 1,053rd reviewer of this book?

Probably not a lot - there's too many here and political bias and ignorance of what it is like to hold a $5-7/hour job runs deep throughout many of the reviews. I've had this book read for nearly a month now and I just haven't had the faintest idea about what I should say about it. It is remarkably good and remarkably bad all at the same time.

So, let's start with the positives:

-This is a well-written and entertaining book.

-The workload at her different jobs is accurately described, especially the work at Wal-Mart (I know since I worked at one of their national competitors stocking shelves, unloading trucks and working the 'back room' for 5 years as a second job when my wife lost her white-collar job and the bills started to pile up).

-I give Ms. Ehrenreich credit for going out there and trying the jobs rather than studying them like a sociology experiment.

Negatives:

-Ms. Ehrenreich keeps on mentioning that she is "middle class" but her unfamiliarity with the rigors of the $5-7/hour job market shows me that she's had a pretty pampered work life. She claims on page 201 that she writes off more than $20,000 a year in mortgage deductions alone on her taxes - this is not the middle class that I know and understand. She did little research about where to buy her clothes, find her cheapest rents or buy the cheapest food. $40 for a pair of work pants? No visits to Goodwill or yard sales? She rents by the week and picks two super-touristy spots to start her experiment? All of these things add up to invalidate big chunks of her experiment in my mind.

-She spends an inordinate amount of time discussing Wal-Mart's policy of having employees take a drug test (at least 25 pages). She even claims it might violate her 4th Amendment rights on p. 209 even though those Constitutional restrictions only apply to government, not private employers. She does not grasp the concept that those drug screens don't catch many drug users because they don't even bother to apply. She also fails to grasp that some employees need to be drug free when at work - I worked with a forklift every day at my $7.25/hour 2nd job - it was dangerous enough without throwing drugs into the mix. Many employees are cross-trained and may cashier, use a forklift, collect carts and stock shelves in a single shift.

-I'm truly surprised that she was able to get 40 hours/week at Wal-Mart - their reputation is to work people 25-30 hours/week to avoid overtime at any cost. That rang very false to me.

So, to sum up: well-written but flawed because the author had not done the simple research ahead of time (and in my mind showed disrespect to the very people she was supposed to be learning about). So, these strong positives and strong negatives add up to a 3 star average.

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okay

i heard so many good things about this book, but in the end, i was a bit disappointed with it. yes, it gave me a glimpse into the world of the working poor, but i was already aware of how unfair it is. i think it is a good book for someone who has never had to work pay-check-to pay-check, so they can understand why people just don't "change their situation if they don't like it". i respect barbara ehrenerich for sharing her story and wish more people would be brave enough to conduct further experiments like this one.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, page 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

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