Pros: Brings up a lot of great points that most people don't consider.
Cons: Perhaps Ehrenreich is not the best judge.
The Bottom Line: America is no longer in a Boom-Time, so most of us probably know a little bit more about what it's like not to "get by". Read the book anyway.
knotheadusc's Full Review: Barbara Ehrenreich - Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Ge...
I picked this book up when it first came out, in May 2000. It was sitting out prominently on a shelf in a Barnes & Noble and I thought it looked interesting, although I had never heard of its author, Barbara Ehrenreich. As someone who, at the time, was about to start my second year of graduate school and my first year of my social work program, I thought it would be a great addition to my library. I wasn't disappointed. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America is a book about an intriguing experiment undertaken by Dr. Barbara Ehrenreich. The idea came about one day in 1998 when Ehrenreich, along with her editor, were having lunch in a fancy French restaurant and Ehrenreich posed the question "How do people get by on making $6 or $7 an hour?" The editor challenged her to find out.
What followed is Ehrenreich's experiment. She set out, taking the cheapest lodgings she could find and accepted whatever jobs she was offered, listing on her job applications that she was a divorced homemaker, inexperienced and coming back to the workforce after a long absence. She omitted her impressive educational pedigree, leading her would be employers to believe that she was a high school graduate. Working in Florida, Maine, and Minnesota, Ehreneich waited tables, worked in a nursing home, folded clothes at Wal-Mart, was a hotel maid, and cleaned houses for Merry Maids. She learned that there is no such thing as "unskilled labor" and that even the lowliest jobs require effort. She also learned that if one is only making $6 or $7 an hour, it is necessary to have two jobs in order to make ends meet-- a tough deal for single parents. Ehrenreich met quite a few single parents during her tenure as a "poor" person.
I enjoyed reading this book, mainly because I have waited tables and although I have an education, I've had to struggle to get by. Sometimes even when you have an education and skills, you still wind up in a lowly job just because of the way the economy is. In fact, we're in one of those times right now. Because I'm a social worker, this book is valuable to me because it serves as a reminder that not everyone is fortunate enough to have the choices I have. It also was the first book to open my eyes to the evils of Wal-Mart and its unfair labor practices. I've since done more research on this company, and that research, coupled with my own negative experiences with shopping at the place, have made me decide not to shop there anymore.
That said, there are a couple of things about the book that strike me as annoying. First and foremost, Ehrenreich is not really a poor person, so her experience doesn't come off as genuine. She's getting a taste of what poor people deal with, but she can leave that lifestyle at any time and go back to her real life. She knows it and the reader knows it. Why? Because she keeps bringing it up by discussing her "real" life. The people she works with, however, can't do that. They have to face being poor every day. Ehrenreich has a release date from the prison of poverty.
Secondly, Ehrenreich's tone is somewhat smug and condescending. She looks at the people she works with and seems to think to herself, "I don't want to give my 'real identity' away. I don't belong with these people." It's as if she thinks of herself as better than them. But when I read those words, I think of the expression, "There but by the grace of God go I." On another day, she could have ended up just like them. She was lucky enough not to. Just because she ended up with money and an education doesn't necessarily mean that in all cases she's smarter or more talented or even a harder worker. She just might have been more fortunate than some of her co-workers.
Still, the book is funny and for the most part, does a fine job of pointing out the fact that people really can't get by on "minimum wage". Minimum wage is a joke. I especially enjoyed Ehrenreich's description of how to properly clean toilets. Since this site has a rule about profanity, I will leave out the actual text. Suffice it to say, her text is very succinct and acerbic and it really does make a point about the potential lack of dignity when one is in the lowly position of being a maid employed with an outfit like Merry Maids. I'm sure that as she was cleaning the toilets in peoples' homes, she was wondering how in the world she ended up in such a place, especially after investing so much time and effort in her education.
But again, she never lets the reader forget that she is educated and this "poverty thing" is just a temporary experiment. She is not one of "those" people. And that attitude becomes off-putting after awhile. For that reason, I can't give it a five star rating. I still say it's worth a read, though, if you have the time and the means.
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