I'd give my Nickel and Dimes to Barbara Ehrenreich

[maxwellsearcy]

With Nickel and Dimed, On (Not) Getting by in America in their hands, many readers begin to appreciate the dedication and difficulty inherent in a minimum wage worker’s life, the struggle common to so many underprivileged members of society, and the terrible conditions so many suffer through to maintain the American standard of living for others and to keep themselves alive. I didn’t really get that out of it.

While I love the style of the novel and the tact with which Ehrenreich communicated the ideas, I was underwhelmed by how difficult her experience was. I never considered minimum wage work simple, easy or worth the labour. I’ve never been enamoured by the lifestyle of the average Wal-Mart employee, and I’ve never contemplated the “good fortune” of the young lady taking my order at Denny’s. I’ve always appreciated the lot of those less fortunate than I am in life.

Instead, I found myself fascinated by the dedication of this educated journalist and her creative, if old-fashioned work in the area of exposé journalism. Over and over again, I found myself marveling at the ways in which Ehrenreich displayed the flexibility and cunning of the impoverished peers she worked with. The one aspect of the presentation of the lower class I appreciated was their unwavering ability to do what they needed to survive. Ehrenreich, though, outshone all of them with her willingness to jump onto a metaphorical chute space in the economic game of chutes and ladders while restraining herself from using her education and resources as leverage.

Barbara Ehrenreich’s dedication to producing a piece of literature that communicated her message while at the same time drawing on personal experience and sticking to the most first hand experience possible is staggering. Overall, the author used her natural good fortune and the hard work of her father as a platform to help those she identified with— the underrepresented. The fact that many of the obstacles in her life were larger than is typical and that she had no history or friends or family to share the experience with at the time is even more of a testament to her ability, dedication, and all-around positive nature. Nothing in the realm of reporting could be more admirable than Ehrenreich’s thrusting herself into a drastically more difficult station in life just to tell the story.

Truly, the author is the greatest inspiration in this tale, and with a cast so laden with tear-jerking instances of humanity (I’m thinking of Barbara’s awful experience with Merry Maids and the inhumanity of her overseers in several of her positions,), that’s a serious compliment. While Nickel and Dimed didn’t leave me with a newfound appreciation for the underprivileged, it did leave me with an appreciation for women like Barbara Ehrenreich who go out of their way to do what they can for people they care about with what they have.

[phoebeross]

While I initially read your response because of the clever title, I was really blown away with what you had to say. Like you, I already had a solid appreciation and understanding of the difficulties of living on minimum wage. And, like you, I began my own response in the same way. However, whereas mine went on to delineate the experiences of corporate cleaning, which I had never given much thought to, yours went on to commend Barbara Ehrenreich.
When I read Nickel and Dimed, , the only thing I thought of was Barbara Ehrenreich complaining and occasional lack of tact when discussing race, her dedication never really crossed my mind. However, immersing herself into the world of the minimum wage worker was laudable, and she does deserve credit. Though her writing may have gotten a bit dull, I did not fully appreciate how she maintained my interests throughout mundane accounts of working, especiall the story of her experience at the Merry Maids.
Like other readers with Nickel and Dimed in their hands learning to appreciate and understand struggling workers, reading your own take on Barbara Ehrenreich’s writing made me appreciate her, and look at it in a new way. So, thanks Max.

[rachelnewcomb]

I read this post because there was a smiley face next to it. Like Pheobe said the clever title helped too. Regardless I'm glad I chose to read it. It is interesting because we had pretty much opposite reactions to the book. It's not that I didn't think it was difficult to be poor before reading the book, but I do tend to be naive when it comes to a lot of things. Before reading the book I pretty much thought if you work hard, you can support yourself. I thought if you put your mind to it you can have a place to sleep and food to eat; that attaining the bare necessities, at least in America, was a matter of will power. You, however, were not under this false assumption, so you didn't get the whole eye-opening experience I did. Also unlike you, Ms. Ehrenreich really annoyed me. I'm not entirely sure why. I guess part of it was I thought it was offensive for her to take on someone's life as a challenge. Yet after reading your post I do have a greater appreciation for her willingness to undertake such a project. It's not such a common writing endeavor and she really did try to take on the task as fully as possible. I had never really considered the selflessness of her project until reading your post. It is admirable to think that she chose to live that way to help draw attention to the plight of these underprivileged people.

[nathanjohnson]

Barbara Ehrenreich certainly took on a task which I would probably never be able to accomplish in my life. She attempted to take on the life of the underprivileged in America, and she did it with, at most times, gusto. Ehrenreich certainly attempted the expose journalism which Maxwell refers to.
Yet she left me empty. After all, she only attempted this lifestyle. Did she succeed? No. In several cases, Barbara took many actions which she would not have been able to do if she did not have the satisfaction of knowing that a better, more affluent life awaited her at the end of the project. For example, at the end of her tenure in the food-service industry, she up and quit. This simply would NOT have worked if she had had many of the burdens which her coworkers had; children, families, illnesses, addictions and many other factors are present in the lower classes which Barbara could easily ignore. Her attempt at expose journalism was a complete failure because, while she certainly jumped in the water of the poverty, she did not dive into the depths of its causes.
Max, I have to disagree with you because I feel as though Ms. Ehrenreich missed a major part of expose journalism, in that she hardly suggested solutions. Many of the more famous expose artists, such as Muckrakers like Upton Sinclair actually led to solutions in the fields which they studied. Had Barbara done this, I would have been much more satisfied with her novel.
I will agree that it was a great read though!

[Jacob Winkler]

As much as I love to criticize, I have a very hard time justly doing so for Barbara Ehrenreich. Me being someone who spends his days lurking behind a 23 inch LCD monitor, contemplating which video game I'm going to spend the next few hours owning, the thought of going out and working a minimum wage job while taking care of actual responsibilities is terrifying. Therefor, I strongly agree with Max when he says, "I found myself fascinated by the dedication of this educated journalist". Yes, her story was quite fascinating, however Nathaniel makes a very good point in his response, stating "I feel as though Ms. Ehrenreich missed a major part of expose journalism, in that she hardly suggested solutions." Essentially turning Ehrenreich's story into a "fascinating recollection of events about things we already knew without a resolution." While many people say they found it eye-opening, I just don't see anything new here. I understand how terrible the media is with their coverage of things that actually matter, and most others seem to as well. And with that understanding, I've brought my self to seek news elsewhere online, and naturally I thought others would too. However, I must be wrong seeing as people still find this story shocking.

[dylantooflycrow]

I agree with you Max, I don’t think I ever thought that leading a life on minimum wage was certainly anywhere near an easy one. You say, “I never considered minimum wage work simple, easy or worth the labour. I’ve never been enamoured by the lifestyle of the average Wal-Mart employee, and I’ve never contemplated the “good fortune” of the young lady taking my order at Denny’s.” Obviously those people don’t have it easy. However, what I failed to realize was the poor housing conditions and extreme difficulty of working your way up. I did not realize that housing was so expensive, even for cheap, sometimes dangerous places. But mainly I think the reason that I didn’t realize this is that I don’t pay much attention to it. Most of us live pretty easy lives, especially right now with our parents taking care of most expenses and such, we don’t realize how truly difficult some people’s situations are. I liked this book because, like you said, it was an interesting if not old fashioned way of journalism, and presented important information in understanding the trials of a life lead on minimum wage. I also liked the book because it helped me learn specific information on a topic I was only vaguely aware of.

[jacobwinkler]

As much as I love to criticize, I have a very hard time justly doing so for Barbara Ehrenreich. Me being someone who spends his days lurking behind a 23 inch LCD monitor, contemplating which video game I'm going to spend the next few hours owning, the thought of going out and working a minimum wage job while taking care of actual responsibilities is terrifying. Therefor, I strongly agree with Max when he says, "I found myself fascinated by the dedication of this educated journalist". Yes, her story was quite fascinating, however Nathaniel makes a very good point in his response, stating "I feel as though Ms. Ehrenreich missed a major part of expose journalism, in that she hardly suggested solutions." Essentially turning Ehrenreich's story into a "fascinating recollection of events about things we already knew without a resolution." While many people say they found it eye-opening, I just don't see anything new here. I understand how terrible the media is with their coverage of things that actually matter, and most others seem to as well. And with that understanding, I've brought my self to seek news elsewhere online, and naturally I thought others would too. However, I must be wrong seeing as people still find this story shocking.

*Reposted from my actual account