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

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

pamv June 3, 2005
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Read Time:1 Minute, 46 Second

Nickel and Dimed is the incredible story of

writer Barbara Ehrenreich and her journey into the world of unskilled labor. She

performs three experiments, each as fascinating as the next. Ehrenreich moves to a town

and tries to secure low rent housing and find a job or two that she can live on.




First, she goes to Key West, Florida, and becomes a waitress. The

stories she tells of co-workers who live out of their cars and pay-by-the-week motels are

fascinating. She describes the job, the never-ending and always-pointless employee

meetings, the typical wait staff side work, and the grueling existence of a bottom-feeder

waitress. She cannot pay the rent with one job, so she gets a second one cleaning hotel

rooms, and she gives in after three weeks.



Next is Portland, Maine, where

she works as a housecleaner for a cleaning service five days a week, followed by two days

as a nursing home dietary aid. I volunteer at a nursing home myself, so the stories had

me laughing so hard I woke the house up. But the housekeeping job isn’t funny at all.

In fact, it’s sad.
Ehrenreich brings out the invisible existence of a

housekeeper—somebody who’s ignored and poor, who lives a wretched existence. Again, the

author cannot live on the wages she’s paid.



Lastly, in Minnesota, she

takes a job at Wal-Mart, in the ladies’ clothing
department. Unable to secure a

second job around her sporadic schedule at
the store, she‘s forced to try to live on

those wages alone. After a month, she gives up trying and returns to her home to write

the book.



I laughed, I got mad, and I read this book in one day. I felt

lucky for the
first time in years, and I vowed never to work at Wal-Mart, no matter

how
hard things are. Nickel and Dimed is entertaining, enlightening, and

well-written. This book is simply a must-read for every American—especially anyone who

isn’t planning an education past high school. I highly recommend it.

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pamv

pamelaveselinovic@yahoo.com
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