Nickel and Dimed

On (Not) Getting By in America

By: Barbara Ehrenreich

Narrated by: Cristine McMurdo-Wallis

Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

This engrossing piece of undercover reportage has been a fixture on the New York Times best seller list since its publication. With nearly a million copies in print, Nickel and Dimed is a modern classic that deftly portrays the plight of America's working-class poor.

A successful author, Barbara Ehrenreich decides to see if she can scratch out a comfortable living in a blue-collar America obsessed with welfare "reform". Her first job is waitressing, which pulls in a measly $2.43 an hour plus tips. She moves around the country, trying her hand as a maid, a nursing home assistant, and a Wal-Mart salesperson. What she discovers is a culture of desperation, where workers take multiple thankless jobs just to keep a roof overhead.

Often humorous and always illuminating, Nickel and Dimed is a remarkable expose of the ugly flip side of the American dream.

©2001 Barbara Ehrenreich (P)2004 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

• Book Sense Book of the Year Award Finalist, Adult Non-Fiction, 2002
• Alex Award Winner, 2002

"One of today's most original writers." (The New York Times)
"A close observer and astute analyzer of American life, Ehrenreich turns her attention to what it is like trying to subsist while working in low-paying jobs....Her narrative is candid, often moving, and very revealing." (Library Journal)
"Delivering a fast read that's both sobering and sassy, she [Ehrenreich] gives readers pause about those caught in the economy's undertow, even in good times." (Publishers Weekly)

A Primer on Poverty in the United States

Nickeled and Dimed, On (Not) Getting By in America, is a first-person reflective work documenting the author’s attempts to make a sustainable living on minimum wage jobs. The book is structured around the locations where Barbara Ehrenreich gained her live-bodied experience, first in Florida, then in Maine, and finally in Minnesota. Ehrenreich balances descriptive narrative, third-person perspective, and scientific and economic research, painting a detailed picture of life at minimum wage. While the book is not comprehensive or thorough in its assessment of the problems of poverty and contributing factors, she does not portray it as such. Rather, she outlines her process and objectives clearly enough such that readers should not be disappointed in her final scope.

At the beginning of the book, Ehrenreich sets up the guidelines for her field experimentation. She draws from her background as a scientist to set the parameters of her time “under cover.” From there, she attempts to work and live off of minimum wage jobs in Key West, Florida where she works at a waitress. She portrays the sullen lifestyle of people, mostly women, trapped in the vicious cycle of living paycheck to paycheck. And her descriptions of the people she served (food to) were profoundly thought provoking. As a person of faith, I was particularly sobered into reflection by her description of Christians, writing:

The worst, for some reason, are Visible Christians—like the ten-person table, all jolly and sanctified after Sunday night service, who run me mercilessly and then leave me $1 on a $92 bill. Or the guy with the crucifixion T-Shirt (SOMEONE TO LOOK UP TO) who complains that his baked potato is too hard and his iced tea too icy (I cheerfully fix both) and leaves no tip at all. As a general rule, people wearing crosses or WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) buttons look at us disapprovingly no matter what we do, as if they were confusing waitressing with Mary Magdalene's original profession. (36)

In the next section of the book, Ehrenreich details her life in Maine working as a maid. Readers are forced to consider the exuberance of financial excess employed in such a way as to benefit the owner and only the owner. Ehrenreich reflects:

There seems to be a vicious cycle at work here, making ours not just an economy but a culture of extreme inequality. Corporate decision makers, and even some two-bit entrepreneurs like my boss at The Maids, occupy an economic position miles above that of the underpaid people whose labor they depend on. For reasons that have more to do with class—and often racial—prejudice than with actual experience, they tend to fear and distrust the category of people from which they recruit their workers. Hence the perceived need for repressive management and intrusive measures like drug and personality testing…. It is a tragic cycle, condemning us to ever deeper inequality, and in the long run, almost no one benefits but the agents of repression themselves. (212)

In the third working section of the book, Ehrenreich moves to Minnesota and takes up work at the local Wal-Mart. She conveys the litany of evaluations, assessments, tests, and training she and other new employees are subjected to. Recounting the often passive-aggressive or, more often, outright aggressive attitude of managers, she concludes:

Any dictatorship takes a psychological toll on its subjects. If you were treated as an untrustworthy person, a potential slacker, drug-addict or thief, you may begin to feel less trustworthy yourself. If you were constantly reminded of your lowly position in the social hierarchy, whether by individual managers or by a plethora of impersonal rules, you begin to accept that unfortunate status. (210)

Ehrenreich is thoughtful if not always fully informed. There is enough substance to force engaged readers to reflect on their own role in perpetuating cycles of poverty. If her research is dated, that is the result of time and not effort. Where she is perhaps over-dependent on research and reports from the Economic Policy Institute, to the neglect of other sources like the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or the Bureau of Economic Analysis, one may conclude this is intention: calling into question the legitimacy of governmental reporting standards. If her opinions are sharp, well, frankly, that’s her prerogative as a writer.

I recommend Ehrenreich’s Nickeled and Dimed, not as an expert treaties or a model of slow, deep journalism, but as a text that brings poverty in the United States into focus. By marrying real data, verified research, and personal experience she avoids the ubiquitous anecdotal sob-story that such stories . Instead, she invites each of her readers to consider and then act on behalf of those enslaved by our economic practices and policies.

Great Body of Work

Barbara takes the relatively unusual stance of literally putting herself into someone else's shoes, the shoes od the working poor. While most, including myself, would not consider this to be a scientific study, I think it is even more in debt and validating than a clinical and sterile scientific study. It not only takes into account real life situations, but it also forces Barbara to grapple with real time and real life situations, something that a clinical study would find hard to replicate. This book is recommended for every psychology and Sociology class in the world.

Necessary read for all Americans

Deeply researched and humbled look at the reality of the “working poor” in America. A must read for all Americans. I’m so grateful for this book. As someone that was able to jump from one socioeconomic class to another of higher status, I have seen firsthand the systems of inequality that perpetuate the hierarchy. The imposter syndrome I face is nothing compared to the health crisis, shorter lifespan, and difficulties of those who by no fault of their own, live this way. We must do better to support a living wage among our people to ensure the future is better and break the cycles of poverty.

A Classic must Read!

Was she spying on me in my early 20’s while getting through college.
Lots of laughs and Wisdom

A human exploration of a systemic problem

Excellent narration and writing of a selfless woman's journey into the soul-crushing poverty experienced by millions daily.

Finally read/listened to this book

Would you consider the audio edition of Nickel and Dimed to be better than the print version?

Don't think I am qualified to answer this question as I have not got the print version.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Nickel and Dimed?

When one of the people she worked with was my namesake. Yes, I know those were fake names, but still.

Which scene was your favorite?

Not really a scene, but when Ehrenreich wrote that all the people she met in the course of writing this book took pride in what their job, no one was a slob or a slacker. That really moved me.

Are things better today?

Interesting book. Well written, and well read. Provides perspective to those that think that people are poor because they want to.

Interesting but outdated

There are many improvements to the welfare system such as The working poor now receive I-phones from the government and children receive breakfast and weekend meals from schools. This does not mean there is no working poor; oh contrary! But the book does not address the current situation. It is an extraordinary insight into the struggles of the poor. The same dilemmas are in fact true today to balance expenses of food and shelter, but food is now an inflationary indicator that was not the case at the time of the writing of this book. There are different issues now for the poor not addressed in this book.

Eye opening, at times funny, but a bit dated/offensive

Maybe it’s the partly the narrator, but Ehrenreich at times comes across as condescending, fat-phobic, and vaguely racist, which is disappointing considering how well-written, funny, sad, and engaging as the book is. I recommend it with these reservations. I would edit a few things out for a new edition (referring to Alzheimer’s patients as “demented,” not once but multiple times; asserting that because cashiers show her disdain while wearing a maid’s uniform, she has a small idea of what it’s like to be Black; multiple snide, demeaning remarks about people who aren’t as physically lean as she is; etc.)

Very limited point of view here

This book about America's working poor is interesting but is only a small window into the lives of these people. The author, naturally, has many advantages over her co-workers and this shows through loud and clear during her experiment. She also has a somewhat elitist attitude towards those she works with and constantly reminds us of her Phd and how "over-qualified" she is for many of these jobs.

No doubt, it will surely be an eye opening book for those who've never had the experience of growing up in this sort of situation (or never getting the opportunity to get out of it). For me it was an all too painful a reminder of my teen years and the horrible job at a fast food joint where I worked double shifts, was often called a peon by management and went home smelling and feeling like I'd been dipped in the fry-o-later all for a measly pittance. Finishing school and taking a few college courses changed the course of my life but many don't have this option (or realize it too late). It's difficult to advance past an entry level job when one needs such luxuries as food and shelter and then if you throw children into the mix things are pretty glum. This book mainly made me sad but there were a few moments of light and genuine human kindness.

However, in the end this book turns out to be just one woman's very limited experiences. I completely agree with her that it is very difficult (near impossible) to get out of the entry level job once you're knee deep in debt or have children and are no longer collecting (or never have) welfare. But I do have issues with her Welfare Reform rants and it is painfully obvious that she is looking at this from an outsiders point of view. She rants at length about the evils of Welfare Reform (and I agree with some points ~ some people just can't make it on their own) but she doesn't once state that some positives can and DO come out of it.

Overall, I didn't think this was a very balanced look at the "working poor".