Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (Paperback)

"Nickel and Dimed" is not a book totally unworth reading. Yes, the author's attitude is sickening and hard to ignore, but there are tidbits of a real story hidden underneath the layers of self-serving drivel. Ehrenreich does, despite her efforts to the contrary, get a glimpse of the difficult conditions of low-wage workers, and some of the information she discovers about the practices of corporations is shocking. Nevertheless, you may be better off sticking to newspapers for reporting, because Ehrenreich's primary interest is her own image and book sales.

Ehrenreich decided to masquerade as a just-off-welfare woman returning to the work force. She did this by being a waitress in Florida, a maid and a nursing home worker in Maine, and a Wal-Mart employee in Minnesota. She ended up concluding that today's rents are too high, minimum wage is too low, and it's a miracle that the poor are able to survive today.

This was a great premise for a book. Unfortunately, Ehrenreich went about it completely wrong.

She barely put an effort into going undercover. After a few weeks of "slumming", which she viewed from an almost "glamorous" perspective ("Ooh! That looks INTERESTING!"), she would move on, claiming that the work was too hard. Most notably, when at Wal-Mart, she quit after a few days because bending over made her stiff at the end of the day.

I'm fortunate enough not to have relied on jobs like these for an income, but I HAVE recently worked at a variety of entry-level positions: retail, sales (lingerie and medical), office work, telemarketing, and now, waitressing. These jobs ARE hard. You don't quit because you get sore! You keep at it -- because there's NOTHING BETTER.

So, to conclude:

--The wages ARE too low and the rents ARE too high. You were correct in that, Ms. Ehrenreich.
--However, your reports were inaccurate, and your understanding of journalism was flawed beyond comprehension.

Would I recommend this book? Perhaps. If the subject interests you, then go for it -- but PLEASE don't take it as an accurate portrayal of the working-class world.

And don't buy it. Get it from the library. Don't do anything to further inflate Barbara Ehrenreich's massive ego.