Nickel and Dimed
When Barbara Ehrenreich published Nickel and Dimed in 2001 she was met by praise and criticism. Nickel and Dimed has engendered suppport and comtemnation depending on one's perspective.
Based on your reading of the book so far, post your thoughts and reactions to Ehrenreich's mission and message.
13 comments:
I think Barbara's experiment is very accurate I really enjoy this book and her purpose for it. I like how she is putting her self in their shoes and not just gathering information. My favorite part is when she takes extra croutons and puts them in her salad. I really can't wait to finish this book, I love putting my self into another world that I’m not used to.
I don’t like this book very much because I think it’s boring and I can not relate to it at all. What she did was very interesting but it is not really at the top of my "What i want to read about before i die list" I know she is trying to make people understand how someone on minimum wage lives day to day but, she cant really tell us exactly because she doesn’t totally commit. The part i really enjoyed in this book was the very end of chapter 2 when she is talking with Colleen. Although I don’t like the book I think it's funny when she uses cuss words. It’s not everyday you can read a book in school where we are not yelled at for saying or reading a cuss word now and then.
I really don’t like the book. She could of done something else to get her experiment. She could of followed a person around and looked at her paycheck and all her bills .Just to see if an average person can get by on an average paying job. I really don’t have a favorite part of the book but I did like the part where she leaves the trailer to Gail and changes everything over in her name and gives her the rest of her money so that she gets a head start on the rent.
This book is interesting. Her experiment is kind of crazy but also a good way for her to express herself as she has. One of my favorite scenes is when Barbara is in the Nursing Home and one of the old residences asks for a glass of milk. She takes it and pours it on Barbara's pants. The old women says "You wet your pants" and laughs.
So far everything in this book is just like the real world. I work at McDonalds and see these types of things everyday in my life. People struggle and have no place to live and they stay with one another or they have no transportation to get to work. We (minimum wage workers) get the shit end of jobs. We get the dirtiest and hardest jobs that no one else will take and get paid next to nothing for our work. She hits the pay wage right on the nose when she states that it is next to impossible to get by on one job by itself. So far my favorite part of the book is the "shit stain" part. I once had to clean a similar toilet that someone left a monster of a creation on the seat. It was horrible and not in my job description and they still made me do it.
From what I have heard so far, she is putting a point out. It's not just a worthless experiment. It's something i would do. I have always talk about living on the streets as a homeless guy just to see how hard they got it.
This book is interesting. Her experiment is kind of crazy but also a good way for her to express herself as she has. One of my favorite scenes is when Barbara is in the Nursing Home and one of the old residences asks for a glass of milk. She takes it and pours it on Barbara's pants. The old women says "You wet your pants" and laughs.
The book was a little boring at first, and then it became interesting about half way through the 1st chapter. This experiment is worth while because it helps us learn about the working class and the economically poor. It helps us understand and make us capable of working in minimum wage jobs if we have to, which some of us will. The book also tells us how many different people are in America and how different a person’s life can be from the person next to them. Economic class matters, but just because your poor doesn't mean you will stay poor. My favorite scene in this book is when she is working in the restaurant in Key West, Florida. The scene where Joy is yelling at her, then a customer comes in and yells about their table, where Joy then yells at the customer, forgets about Barbara, turns to yell at the cook, and throws a tray across the kitchen. It may have seemed scary to them, but it seemed hilarious to me. This is a great book to read even if you do get offended about her views on the world, working class, religion, etc. I was surprised when she just left her job one day in Florida because it became so hectic, but people tend to surprise you.
This book is interesting because it shows how minimum wage is supposed to have you get by in america. But in reality minimum wage normally only cuts it if you work 2 minimum wage jobs.
My favorite part of the story is when she has the story of the 3 type of shit stains on a toilet. She describes this in detail in all 3 and tells how this makes her feel on the low end of the totem pole. pg.92
this book is not turning out to be a good book at all. She is trying to understand what it is like to be poor but she isn't poor. She can just quit when things get too far in, a real poor person could not do that. her experiment is neither relevant nor does actually show what a real poor person's daily life would really be like.
My opinion on this book so far is, it's a good read. My favorite part so far is when Barb says "If Tykenol doesn't want to work for more than four hours, you just fire its ass and switch to Aleve." I think that is a great quot for describing how workers don't have that much freedom in the workplace. I think this is a great idea. And I'm pumped we are reading it dude.
c/b
This book is a pretty accurate desription of minimum wage workers. The way I see it, minimum wage workers, although they have to work harder for what they have, they are no different from everyone else. However, they are treated like scum by their bosses and their customers. For example, when someone was ordering drugs at the Hearthside restaurant in Florida, Stu treated all of his employees with total disrespect.
In some cases, though, that disrespect comes back to bite them, like when Stu was cught dipping in the cash register to pay for the crack that he ordered, and was fired. The most intersting moment in the book so far was when George was accused of stealing. Now, first of all, what was there to steal in the kitchen?
I think that Barbara is doing a good thing when she did this to let everyone know how minimum wage life is because it sucks and I don't even make minimum wage and I have bills to pay so I know it sucks. I enjoy reading this book and can't wait to finish it. My favorite part is at the end of Chapter 2 when she reveals that she is doing an experimint. I would of loved to see thier shocked reactions.
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