Rating: 
Summary: Can Barbara Get By?
Review: Overall, I found this book to be one of the best reads I have had to do for college. By attempting to grasp what life is like for America's "working poor," Barbara Ehrenreich delves into a world that most middle-upper class Americans have not seen before on this level. Sure, we interact with these people when they serve us our food in a restaurant or check out our purchases at a store, but what little do we know of what goes on in the daily life of these hard working people. By reading this book, one will get that detailed personal point of view that is so imperative to understand what it is like to slave away at a physically exhausting job for meager wages that barely pay for enough food and rent. Of course there are practical aspects to keep in mind, such as Barbara's "emergency" fund, the fact that she is supporting only herself and not children as well, and the car that she drives. On the whole, I would have to say that this book is an interesting read, kept my attention throughout, and provided a collection of knowledge, undestanding, and compassion that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. If you enjoy reading such first-hand accounts and have a love for humanity, Nickel and Dimed is an excellent choice.
Rating:
Summary: recommended read
Review: This book obtained great reviews in the press. After reading it
the reviews seemed appropiate. The author has done a great job of
summarizing life of the working poor. One could accuse the author
of trivilizing poverty, but do not think that is appropiate. The author did a job as best as she could.
Rating:
Summary: Nickel and Dimed--an interesting perspective
Review: I am just finishing up this book and I am impressed that the author at least tried to see what it is like to be a member of the working poor. She acknowledges that she can't truly emulate all of the circumstances that the working poor would encounter, but I give her an "A" for effort in trying to bring the topic out into the public spotlight.
Rating: 
Summary: Provocative but flimsy
Review: I can't see how it matters whether Ehrenreich is a liberal, a socialist, a communist, or a Whig. Either she's right about the causes of and solutions to the problem of the working poor, or she isn't. The problem is that her book - an anecdotal narrative hoping to pass itself off as serious analysis - is far too shallow to settle the question one way or the other. However, if she wants to persuade me that American economic mobility is a myth, she's going to have to explain why some people - many of whom face more discrimination for being non-Caucasian than she ever will for being female - do in fact rise into the middle class and beyond. (Are their hard work, thrift, and commitment to education "cheating" somehow?) And if she thinks she has learned what poverty is, she might want to speak to a few of the immigrants who literally risk their lives to come here and work at the jobs she found so demeaning. They might be able to expand her definition of under-nourishment beyond that of eating convenience-store burritos.
Rating: 
Summary: Personal research and stories as social commentary
Review: Ms. Ehrenreich has done what many people would fear to do--she participated in her own social research. She wanted to find out how people manage to get by (or don't) in low-wage jobs in the United States. To do this, she spent several months finding and working low wage jobs while living on the budgets those jobs allowed.The story of her experiences in three different cities is very well told, approachable, and (in my view) without significant recrimination at "corporate greed" or "social injustice" in the politically correct, abstract sense. Where she offers critique, it is from personal experience and in specific examples. I live in one of the cities Ms. Ehrenreich tried to get by in. While I realized the difficulty that the shortage of affordable housing in my area causes, this book gave my a much better picture of what a "housing shortage" really means to people trying to live in low wage jobs. I strongly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Grim Realities of Our Society
Review: I will never look at a Wal Mart Clerk, Housekeeper, or inexpensive restaurant waitress the same way again. Those of us who are comfortably middle class or above, are truly unaware of the struggles that so many people in our society experience. Without secure housing and a substantially above minimum wage job, it is truly hard to feel safe and secure. Ehrenreich's book personalizes this struggle.
Rating:
Summary: Made me appreciate the work done by so many Americans
Review: Read NICKEL AND DIMED by Barbara Ehrenreich, the heart-wrenching story of a woman who attempts to live on the meager wages paid for such jobs as folding clothes at Wal-Mart, waitressing, washing dishes in a nursing home, and scrubbing floors . . . it certainly made me aware of the important but underappreciated work done by so many Americans--and the fact that what they are paid is enough not enough to survive. Six or seven dollars per hour just doesn't cut it, especially given the fact that housing costs are rising at a much quicker rate than hourly pay rates . . . so it is not surprising that for many, one job is not enough . . . at least two are needed if indoor living is the desired accommodation. There were many memorable passages; among them:
[At a restaurant she worked at] Sinks everywhere are clogged with scraps of lettuce, decomposing lemon wedges, water-logged toast crumbs. Put your hand down on any counter and you risk being stuck to it by the film of ancient syrup spills, and this is unfortunate because hands are utensils here, used for scooping up lettuce onto the salad plates, lifting out pie slices, and even moving hash browns from one plate to another. The regulation poster in the simple unisex rest room admonishes us to wash our hands thoroughly, and even offers instructions for doing so, but there is always some vital substance missing--soap, paper towel, toilet paper--and I never found all three at once. You learn to stuff your pockets with napkins before going in there, and too bad about the customers who must eat, although they don't realize it, almost literally out of our hands. In the office Ted thanks me for my "concern" and says he's taken my advice about Holly and sent her home. But--there has to be a "but"--you know you can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped. I guess it's the mother in me, is my lame response. To which he says, testily, "Well, I'm a parent too, and that doesn't make me less of a person." Very calmly, I am proud to report, I tell him, "It's supposed to make your more of a person." As Louis Uchitelle has reported in THE NEW YORK TIMES, many employers will offer almost anything--free meals, subsidized transportation, store discounts--rather than raise wages. The reason for this, in the words of one employer, is that such extras "can be shed more easily" than wage increases when changes in the market seem to make them unnecessary. In the same spirit, automobile manufacturers would rather offer their customer cash rebates than reduced prices; the advantage of the rebate is that it seems like a gift and can be withdrawn without explanation.
Rating:
Summary: The Gratuity Is Not Included
Review: If you spend your time at Harry Winston's, Tiffany & Co. or Cartier, maybe this isn't the book for you; or then again, maybe it is. If you ever eat at chain restaurants, stay in budget motels, use public restrooms or shop at Wal Mart, then read this book for sure. In Nickel and Dimed, author Barbara Ehrenreich leaves her ivory tower existence as a writer in Key West and takes a succession of minimum wage jobs in Florida, Maine and Minnesota to chronicle life from the position of the working poor. She works as a waitress, a maid and a retail clerk. She lives in "affordable" housing - trailers and weekly budget motels; she drives a Rent A Wreck; and she eats dinner at convenience stores. She doesn't do this to see if it's possible, rather she does it to show how millions of proud Americans live every day. As you read this book you hear the anthem of the working poor in the recesses of your consciousness, "another day older and deeper in debt." The criticism of this book by other reviewers is too harsh. This is a short book and an easy read filled with humorous episodes. You'll be surprised to learn that someone in corporate America has even gone so far to deem talking to a coworker on the job as "time theft." Ehrenreich hasn't written the definitive treatise about the working poor; I don't think she ever intended to. Whether you're a supply-sider or a socialist, you can at least agree that she presents her point of view through her writing effectively. When many are talking of bull markets, stock splits and the dot.com revolution, she is unafraid to be the voice talking about the conditions faced by the working poor in the USA: low wages, no housing, no health insurance, no sick time, no benefits, no 401(k), no credit, no phones, no tenure, no vacations - a whole lot of nothing every day. Just show up, do your job and smile for the customers. Whether management reads it; whether business schools require it; or whether parents make their high school age children read it, neither this book nor its topic will go away. Read it if you've forgotten how the other half lives. What's that old expression? You're only a paycheck away from the poor house? Since it's a safe bet that an amazon.com reader probably is a little more affluent than the average bear, leave a little extra for your waitress the next time; you'll be glad you did.
Rating:
Summary: Wake up and smell the coffee!
Review: I am very suprised by all the negative reviews of "Nickel and Dimed" here! Has anybody who wrote a review on this site ever actualy had to deal with truly being in a position where they must survive from one of these jobs? You think she is being "whiny"? Well let's see how your yuppie butt feels after serving customers much like yourself for 8 hours strait in some diner! First and foremost, everyone who posted a review of this book speaks and writes in an obviously educated way. People who end up stuck in these jobs can't write this way...they are also very unlikely to be online in the first place, or to have read this book. Even if you are someone who had to work in high school or college, it's not the same- you are treated differently by bosses, co-workers, etc. and you have a bright future to look forward to which colors your existence. You simply don't grasp the enormity of the hopelessness of these people's lives. Their parents teach them all the wrong things by example, like it's OK to have kids when you're 15 or 16, or do drugs(their parents probably had THEM at 15). Most never recieved the proper nutrition in utero and while growing up- their average IQ is 100! They don't even have the brainpower to understand how to go out and get an education, and have probably never even spoken for 5 minutes in a row to somebody who has. These people don't have the means to explain their experiences to others in a way that can be understood, especialy by hoity-toity yuppies who collect online to bash someone who has actually peered into their dismal world. What you dismiss as "poor choices", which you think could be easily avoided, is a WAY OF LIFE. These people who reproduce in thier teens have three generations to the middle and upper class two. To them, it's NORMAL, and it's how everybody they know lives. Have you ever lived around these people? And also, show me the person who can live on $250 a week, and I'll show you somebody who either doesn't have to pay rent, is living partialy off of school loans or grants, their parents are able to give them a little money, or SOMETHING. Because Aint Nobody Living of $250 per week, unless they're some kind of recluse, martyr or other odd personality type. Not around here. Attempting to do so is setting yourself up for a disaster. And that thing about shared housing? YOU try being the one renting the room from the person holding the lease. That is one misarable way to live. Unless, of course, you are all yuppie kids doing a "share" situation while going to school, it's all of your first experiences with sharing, and the insidious habits of habitual sharers have not set in yet. Shares do not work for women in most cases because both male and female leaseholders have a way of taking out all their horrible personality traits on the person renting the room. Women are in an especialy vulnerable position if the leaseholder is a man, because her private life and belongings are constantly observable. If there is a room available, you can be sure that none of the person's friends considered them a person who can be lived with. Anyone who has been sharing for more than 2 or 3 years is probably incapable in some way of forming a family and has social problems, and is a horrific person to live with. Ocasionaly there are exceptions, but for the most part I have found that if there is a room available, there is something wrong. Also, when you have no lease, there is no guarantee that you can stay in the room, making you vulnerable to the whims and fluctuations of the leaseholders life. It is no way to have a liveable existance. There is an old saying...before you judge someone, try walking a mile in thier shoes.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging and well written
Review: The myth that hard work will bring success is very ingrained in Americans. It is used to allay our guilt about widespread poverty in our country. That myth is challenged by Barbara Ehrenreich in this excellent read.
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