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Sure, her back hurt a little and she may have been "offended" by drug tests, but it is not even remotely a taste of what it is like to work 2 jobs and not have a house to go home too. I doubt she came back to her real life and stopped hiring maids or even fought her change. This book was a waste of my time. She wanted to go rescue her co-workers from low paying jobs, but she worked and spoke with the mindset of a well off White woman who is in these situations only temporarily. Poor book, her experience was quite superficial and I am surprised so many people liked it. The time she spent working on this book gave her BARELY a superficial knowledge of what it is like to live on or below minimum wage. She started out with a chunk of money to help her through hard times and constantly dipped into it yet acting like she had to work hard every hour to earn it all back.
Its a good book; took a little long to get the book to me, but it was a good product
Take Ehrenreich pregnant coworker at Merry Maids who ate only a bag of Doritos for breakfast and lunch while her lazy boyfriend sat on his but at home with his hand out. Throughout the book, Ehrenreich was pretty forthcoming when she could have cut corner's to save money but instead choose comfort over bargain. The average man has 3x the upper body strength of a woman who is of the same height and weight.Overall, I would say this is a very good book. Two, there are still jobs in America in which you can make a decent salary without a high school diploma but they require brute strength.
Nickel and DimedI read this book after reading Dishwasher Pete, a very lightweight read. However, she also mentioned how employers take advantage of workers i.e. Ehrenreich lives and works among the poor and mentions how the poor are sometimes the cause or at least play a role in their own suffering. Unlike Dishwasher Pete, Nickel and Dimed takes a hard look at how Americas low wage earners live and/or survive on such low wages.
Brute strength is an area where most women are lacking. Wallmart low level health insurance for its' workers and pay wages so low that they don't allow one to eat a healthy diet and live in a decent apartment.Barbara Ehrenreich Nickel and Dimed is heavily footnoted, with anecdotal information and studies to support Ehrenreich's claims. Had this book been written by a man I can imagine he would have been able to live at or below Ehrenreich's budget because most women don't feel comfortable sleeping in homeless shelters or around men whom they don't "know".
She sets her own rules (having a car and an allowance) real poor people dont have these choices and she cant say that she really experienced desperation. Overall, the book was very predictable and sometimes the author seemed elitist and her opinions were also simply thrown into the text and taken for granted. Ehrenreich has a very interesting and worthwhile research question on the working poor in this country who are being severely mistreated. However, her undercover reporting did put her into contact with real day laborers and gave her a better appreciation for where they come from. However, still a good look into the world of day laborers. I also loved her in text Marxist references. However, her methodology is somewhat flawed.
With a good attitude, hard work, and a little bit of good decision making he excelled where Barbara failed. A guy named Adan Shepard wrote a book called Scratch Beginnings and he basically did the same thing. It just goes to show you how far some hard work and perseverance will go. This book is a scham. Barbara has no work ethic, chooses poorly, and gave herself no chance at success.
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