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Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America! |
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Written by googirama
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Wednesday, 12 October 2005 |
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Awesome book if you haven't checked it out - I generally don't read
anything on the best seller lists (as it's very rarely European history
or politics) but this is a good exception. Since it's been out a while,
and a lot of people already know about it - I'll just post a blurb from
Amazon:
From Publishers Weekly
In contrast to recent books by Michael Lewis
and Dinesh D'Souza that explore the lives and psyches of the New
Economy's millionares, Ehrenreich (Fear of Falling: The Inner Life of
the Middle Class, etc.) turns her gimlet eye on the view from the
workforce's bottom rung. Determined to find out how anyone could make
ends meet on $7 an hour, she left behind her middle class life as a
journalist except for $1000 in start-up funds, a car and her laptop
computer to try to sustain herself as a low-skilled worker for a month
at a time. In 1999 and 2000, Ehrenreich worked as a waitress in Key
West, Fla., as a cleaning woman and a nursing home aide in Portland,
Maine, and in a Wal-Mart in Minneapolis, Minn. During the application
process, she faced routine drug tests and spurious "personality tests";
once on the job, she endured constant surveillance and numbing
harangues over infractions like serving a second roll and butter. Beset
by transportation costs and high rents, she learned the tricks of the
trade from her co-workers, some of whom sleep in their cars, and many
of whom work when they're vexed by arthritis, back pain or worse, yet
still manage small gestures of kindness. Despite the advantages of her
race, education, good health and lack of children, Ehrenreich's income
barely covered her month's expenses in only one instance, when she
worked seven days a week at two jobs (one of which provided free meals)
during the off-season in a vacation town. Delivering a fast read that's
both sobering and sassy, she gives readers pause about those caught in
the economy's undertow, even in good times. |
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