Nickel and Dimed and I Feel Short-Changed

Please note that my book reviews will be based on personal opinions only. I admit I frequently skim pages (I'm a busy girl who gets bored easily) and miss small details, so I don't want to argue specific points.

Book Review: Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by In America by Barbara Ehrenreich

After hearing good reviews, I decided to purchase this book for a quick read. A short paperback of 221 pages, it was the perfect companion for a business trip. The premise is fairly simple. The author, Barbara, accepts a writing assignment where she will work in unskilled positions to see if she can get by on her hourly salary. She chooses 3 cities, usually two jobs in each, and each city she spends 30 days.

I’ll pretty much read anything. I judge a book not by its outside cover but by the mood and the emotions it leaves me with. Can I relate to the characters? Do I become a character in the story? Does it invoke a reaction?

In this case, not really. I didn’t feel any compassion for Barbara at all. I felt her story lacked passion and that was the main problem. I’m not going to be too hard on her because I have a feeling a lot of her experience was lost in editing and trying to keep the story interesting which for the most part it was. Plus, she admits, it was a total artificial circumstance. She’s a good writer, the story flowed, and she does have an overall evaluation in the back that does express her feelings. I did feel compassion for many of her co-workers who were truly living in hotels and cars, supporting their families. Some of whom showed great pride in their “unskilled” jobs whether it was a waitress, housekeeper, maid or Wal-Mart employee. Truth be told, and the author knows this (I skimmed her blog) she couldn’t wholly be integrated into this other world. Without truly working multiple jobs just to have shelter (and some of her accommodations were downright crappy) and fast food (a main staple of the low income), one cannot possibly understand the disadvantages of lower income people.

Her rules of engagement for the project:
1. She could not fall back on any skills derived from her education or usual work.
2. She had to take the highest paying job offered to her and do her best to hold it.
3. She had to take the cheapest accommodations available (with an acceptable level of privacy and safety).

Here are some random thoughts about the book and hopefully I won’t spoil it for you or offend anyone.

1. I love passion. That’s why I love/d the Crocodile Hunter. I mentioned that I didn’t feel any passion for this story. Interestingly enough I’ve seen a television show on a similar topic. Morgan Spurlock is passionate. Maybe you’ve seen the crazy documentary, Super Size Me? He ate the red-headed clown’s food for 30 straight days, 3 meals a day. He took this experiment seriously and then he also did a television show where he and his fiancée spent 30 days living on minimum wage. (There was a series of 30-day ‘stunts’ although this is the only episode I ever saw.) Although artificial circumstances again, he truly made a real attempt to live the disadvantaged life. If I remember correctly, he took the bus, he walked to work, he sat on the floor because he didn’t have furniture, he ate ramen noodles, he had several jobs, he bargained with landlords for cheaper rent deposits, and when he got sick, he sat in urgent care with the rest of the people without insurance, concerned with how to pay the medical bill. I enjoy Morgan Spurlock’s work. He’s motivated, passionate, and when he sets out to prove a point, he succeeds.

2. Apparently most unskilled jobs require a drug test before hiring. I personally haven’t had to take a drug test, but I imagine many of you have. Barbara states in the book that “If it weren’t for the drug test, I might have stopped looking right then and there, but there has been a chemical indiscretion in recent weeks and I’m not at all sure I can pass.” It goes on to describe that marijuana is the one drug that usually shows up. I’ve read this paragraph twenty times wondering if I’ve missed the joke or it’s a piece of wise literary prose that goes over my head. She’s smoking weed during the experiment knowing that every job she is applying for has a required drug test? Maybe this is part of her experiment on the “other side.” This just bothers me.

3. When her waitressing job gets tough one day, she just walks out. Quits on the spot. This might just be a function of editing in that her 30 days was up. I can’t just quit when my project blows up, welcome to the real world. (I’m hoping this didn’t really happen and she went back in there to finish the day.)

4. Barbara has a rental car in each city. Her paychecks only have to pay for rent, food and gas I think. When she gets a rash on her arms (probably from the chemicals she uses as a maid) she calls her dermatologist at home to get a prescription. Granted, I don’t want her arms to fall off, but if she was true to character, she would have to miss a few hours at work and go to the doctor and then buy medication all without insurance probably. She admits (on her blog) that she took the easy road here.

5. The book does do a good job of outlining some of the “tricks” these companies perform to get you in the door as an employee without even a chance to negotiate pay, work schedules etc. These items which we all think about are really glossed over in many of the application processes of unskilled jobs, which is unfair.

It was an easy read, but as I mentioned I felt short changed. If you’d like to read it, I’ll let you borrow my copy.