Rating: 
Summary: A lie at least, a travesty at best
Review: Ehrenrich starts with a lie. Journalism isnot, as her editor suggests, going out and pretending to be someoneyou're not in order to imagine what it might really be like if oneonly weren't pretending. Journalism or even good, basic writing aboutlife, requires a better locating and understanding of the facts, andthen applying some consistent logic to the analysis.Worse,Ehrenreich doesn't even come close to approximating the realconditions of the people she is attempting to imitate. She owns acar. She stakes herself to start up funds. She picks where she wantsto go to work. She refuses to share a room with anyone. Her "reallife experience" is not real, not life and not much of anexperience. She declines to use public transportation because she'dhave too much material stemming from the time on the bus. She wouldhave been wise to reflect on the bus and to skip the self-indulgentauto.At work, she overlooks the obvious and goes for the gossip andher gut. She plays cute when she wants to, assumes management is outto get her (and all co-workers are innocent victims), seems surprisedand simply unable or unwilling to comprehend that poor lifestylechoices condemn some people to a downward spiral, and she does littleto really consider her lot in this assumed life.Many Americans --in fact, tens of millions of them -- have experienced the same workshe casually explores. But, most of those millions used this workexperience as a stepping stone to further work. These same people alsomade these same work sacrifices, postponed gratification, kept offdrugs, stayed out of jail, remained married, shared rooms, walked towork, studied on the side, and learned important lessons fromdemeaning jobs. Lessons like showing up for work on time, learningwork skills, putting in something extra to get ahead and, perhaps mostimportant, that a job is most often a dead end only if you let it beone.Her archival research, witnessed by scant footnotes, is attimes drawn from special interest groups. She uses these to reinforceher snide asides, not to illuminate or to expand upon anobservation. Better research and a much more enlightening andsatisfying read is the very well-documented and straightforward"The millionaire next door", a book that resulted from twoserious authors finding that their original assumptions did not standup to the data and to reality. Or read Cox and Alm's richly detailed1999 book, " Myths of rich and poor" (Basic).Yes, thereare bad jobs, bad companies, and bad people out there. But readingthis book will not even begin to help you to understand how to breakthe circle of poverty or to simply be a better person, employer orwork colleague.
Rating: 
Summary: Potentially important book, but falls short
Review: This book could have played an important role in educating readers about the struggles of daily life for America's lowest wage-earners, and how this relates to the larger context of the last two decades' drive towards "smaller government."Throughout the book, there are glimmers of great writing, true insight, and revealing experiences in her "investigative" stints as a minimum wage employee. Unfortunately these gems of information are sprinkled amidst a mass of misguided commentary with the simplistic, misguided theme that employers are the enemy of society, and workers should rise up and take what's owed them. Probably the low point is this comment on page 127 talking about interview questions at Wal-Mart -- "the truth is I don't much care if my fellow workers are getting high in the parking lot or even lifting the occasional retail item, and I certainly wouldn't snitch if I did." This adds up to a recipie for anarchy, economic breakdown, and a much lower quality of life for everyone, including the minimum wage workers which are the focus of this book. The last chapter titled "Evaluation" does finally provide some hints of insightful analysis, but ultimately misses the important points in thinking about working poor and what we as a society be doing in response. All these problems noted, I still found the book worth reading if only because the core premise -- providing insight into the struggles of surviving in modern America's minimum/low wage working world -- is extremely compelling, not delved into in any other book I've come across, and an important one to understand. I'm just frustrated because the book could have been so much more in the hands of someone more thoughtful and less angry. A funny note is the author expresses frustration that, in talking with "real" minimum wage co-workers, very few saw their situations (and any solutions) in terms of class warfare as the author did. Kinda frustrating for the author.
Rating: 
Summary: Are you a "Liberal" if you like this book, and is that so ba
Review: This book is funny. And it is a commentary on all those who joyously kicked the "welfare moms" into work. But even better it stands up to it's credit with a chin out to those who would rather believe working at substandard wages is somehow acceptable. Your first reviewer must live in a very different world, where I am rents of $600 would be impossible to find even the hotel herion would be more. It is just a pile of baloney to read of liberal "bias" in view of the outrageous excess and wealth building going on in this country. From where I sit, as a teacher of the students of people just like she describes, it's a damn shame poverty can even be thought of as "a liberal problem". It is a good book. In Christian thinking being in those shoes is a pretty good way to gain enough insight to discuss the problem.
Good for this journalist.
Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: Ehrenreich's book is a must read in contemporary America. She does an experiment where she attempts to survive on low wage jobs, which include a maid service, Wal-Mart, and a chain restarant. She takes on burning issues such as low-wage work, the housing market, and welfare reform. In this book, she makes the poor visible. In our highly stratified, segregated society, the increasingly marginalized low wage worker can be invisible: you don't always really see the person who makes your hotel rooms clean or your restarant meals appetizing. It is all too easy to look right past them. Some of us are not always aware of the humiliation of the drug and personality tests we are forced to take to get even the most humble of jobs. You do not always understand the pride one can take in his or her work, whether it is serving you another iced tea or neatening the clothes rack at your favorite store. Ehrenreich also points out bitter social ironies--such as wealthy homeowners who pay big bucks to take Buddhists retreats at which they do humbling tasks, yet pay low wage maid services to clean their own houses. She makes the startling point that low wage employees are the actual philanthropists in our society, often working unpaid overtime and facing various other hardships so that higher-income people may enjoy cheaper goods, faster meals, cleaner houses. I must admit, though I have always tried to respect anyone who tries to make an honest living, I came to the end of this book appreciating low wage workers even more. That is because Ehrenreich really humanized the people she worked with at these undesirable jobs. She went out of her way to show that they are people who are just as good as anyone else. Ironically enough, the very day I started this book, I saw a man who bags groceries at the grocery store where my husband works: he was reading one of Victor Hugo's novels over his lunch break. It really struck me that I could walk into any white collar break room and be amazed to see anyone reading Hugo. Finally, the best part of Ehrenreich's book is that she does not merely prove the fact that poverty is an increasingly vicious cycle, she also offers current information and would-be solutions. With 30% of Americans working in low wage jobs, I think this is a book that is too important to miss.
Rating:
Summary: First I was sad. Then I was angry
Review: I wanted to read this book because I heard Barbara on several interviews. I, too, had some problems with her brief trial of living poor, when for so many it is not a choice; however, I believe her intent was to point out the truth about poverty: hard work does not equal success in this country. Success is mainly a product of rich parents, a college education, good breaks, and an ability to sell oneself due to a good self-image and some smarts. When you start at the bottom, in most cases it is nearly impossible to break free of that. Middle class is not what I am talking about. I am talking about kids who start out malnourished, abused, without proper health care, in inner city schools, and with single/split and less than interested parents. It is okay to "make wrong choices" when rich, because money can fix alot of things. If you are poor, it means the door not only closes but locks.
It is time for America to stop believing the Horatio Alger myth, and find out why thousands of children go without proper nourishment, education, safety, housing, and opportunity in this land.
It is also time to remember the middle class is a buffer from revolution. When it is forced to the lower class, we all will pay.
Also remember that there is no us & "them". What will you do when you get your lay off papers?
Bravo, Barbara!
Rating:
Summary: try it yourself
Review: This is a great book, not that it is perfect, or even always right. It is great because it is a subject that everyone needs to face.
As a white, educated male who has been able, through advantage, cleverness and luck, to succeed reasonably well in this culture and economy, I cannot vouch for those who are stuck in the Hell of low wages, unpaid bills, and lost dreams.
But I have had some of the types of jobs that Ms. Ehrenreich speaks of, for the years when I was just out of college and didn't want to live at home, and didn't know what I wanted. I know what it is like to bus tables, dig ditches, clean up construction sites, do field work, work the night shift in a flea-bag hotel, and be a gardener for the wealthy.. Those memories stay with me forever, and I will always have respect and compassion for the people who do those tasks. For me it wasn't demeaning or hopeless, really, because I, like Ms. Ehrenreich, knew it was temporary. If a customer or a boss treated me like dirt, I could insult them right back. I could quit on the spot (which I did more than once), and laugh about it, because I had no fear at 23 yrs old and a B.A. I had the luxury of being able to strike back against snobbery, racism, and sexism (normally directly at my fellow workers). But what about those who fear losing their job, who have to take such abuse, who lack hope? Some of can't really know what that is like... The people in power who treated us workers with respect, generosity, and humor made our days go so much more easily.
It is easy for some of us to say, "Look at those who have risen above all that, in spite of the sexism, racism, and classism that exist. How did they do it?" Well, some people are just exceptional, and will thrive no matter what, but they are not the norm. Exceptional people can be good models for patterns of behavior, etc. But exceptional intelligence, strength, and patience are often inborn. And then there is luck.
What about the rest of us? If we lack some of the obvious advantages, we need help, respect, better opportunity, a break...
What can we do personally? Say thank you and mean it. Give a big tip. Remember who picked the lettuce and tomatoes for your salad, and thank them, even silently. Treat those who serve you with respect, even when they make mistakes; they are your equals, not your inferiors. Support legislation that raises the minimum wage.
If you are a person of means and have a son or daughter of college age, make them get a job anyway, even just for the Summer. She should be a waitress, and he should load and unload trucks. They won't forget it, will make important friendships, and will take nothing for granted after that. Maybe they will grow to be happy, compassionate adults dedicated to helping others, rather than like so many of the unhappy, isolated, unfulfilled, young professionals who think they have everything but somehow feel that something is missing.
Rating:
Summary: Great Holiday Book
Review: Being a sociology major at Michigan State University, one of my professors recommended that I read this book, and I absolutely loved it. Ehrenreich is an amazing writer, bringing humor to the not so humorous topic of minimum wage. She takes you to expericance first hand low income occupations such as waitressing in Florida, housecleaning in Maine, and working at Wal-mart in Minnesota. I quickly became attached to Ehrenreich and her quest to expose the back-breaking monotony of these low-class jobs. Through reading Nickle and Dimed, I realized how fortunate I am, and how affordable housing and minimum wage is a very real and serious problem in America today.
Rating: 
Summary: issue with "poverty"
Review: i take issue with the nearly hysterical "christine" below talking about how she knows the score on the poverty line. it may be impossible to live on $250 a week if you want cable, two phone lines, booze and cigarettes every day, and to live near a major city. i lived on less than six dollars per hour and 350 dollars per month for a couple of years in a small city in the southwest. sometimes working 4 part time jobs and generally having a good time with it. when i got fed up with it, i moved to where there were better jobs. if your situation is impossible, change it. criminey. americans are so spoiled, on the way to being a nation of victims where no one is responsible for where they end up in life. whether the leviathan owes anyone a second chance or is obliged to hold a gun to the heads of corporate america to raise salaries, there are *few* people who genuinely couldn't improve their situations by taking responsibility; even with everything that is wrong with american society. this book solidifies the new american definition of responsibility: confession. just cry out and somehow that is taking responsibility.
Rating:
Summary: Where's my book?
Review: I'd like to rate this book but I haven't received it. The website says it was shipped apparently on December 1 but seven days later it hasn't arrived. I'm worried that it has been lost in the mail. Let me know that it will arrive!
Rating:
Summary: Ehrenreich Insults Readers
Review: In this book, the author, Barbara Ehrenreich, took time out of her busy upper-class life as a writer/journalist to see if she could make ends meet in the unskilled job market. It was no surprise to find out that she could not. Ehrenreich is trying to make an important point about the needs of the working poor in this country, but her approach may hurt her cause more than it helps. While reading this book, I was continually distracted by an ever-increasing dislike for its author. The author was incredibly self-aggrandizing. In her "evaluation" section, where I assumed she would be evaluating the ability of a low-income worker to survive, she spends the first several pages patting herself on the back for being such a hard worker. Although Ehrenreich is a well-received author with a PhD in biology, the author seems like a bored socialite who for whom the poor are a "hobby." Ehrenreich gives lips service to the traditional liberal ideals, but doesn't seem at all kind-hearted or giving. For example, she admits that while working at Wal-Mart she planted seeds of discontent with her co-workers not in a serious attempt to unionize, but was rather, "just amusing myself." Perhaps more importantly, the author doesn't seem to consider her audience with anything other than contempt. Who does she think is reading the book? To whom is she selling her message? Only others like her? Her insensitivity insults and alienates a large portion of the populace, and potentially clouds her message. To name a few examples, the author criticizes or ridicules Christians, midwesterners, fat people, short people, people who live in trailers, fraternity members, people who hire maids, teachers, the elderly, and my personal favorite, the mentally ill. I am amazed that the author (who has a PhD, you know) wasn't smart enough to upholster her arguments in better-smelling cloth. I myself am an ardent liberal, and agree with most of her conclusions. But my dislike for the author and her approach made me feel defensive even of Sam Walton!
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