Nickel and Dimed (2001) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

show spoilers

Characters/People edit see section history

• Holly: Add a description of this character.
• Marge
• Gail
• Melissa
• Jerry
• Roberta
• Sam Walton
• Pete
• George
• Stu
• Caroline
• Denise
• Ellie
• Isabelle
• Maddy
• Linda
• Kathie Lee
• Barbara Ehrenreich: Author
• Rosalie
• Ted
• Carlie
• Todd
• Liza
• Phillip
• Hildy
• Joan
• Tammy
• Cory
• Irene
• Budgie: A white cockatiel, Barbara's roommate for a spell during her stay in Maine.
• Paul
• Lori

Quotes edit see section history

• “barely support herself by the sweat of her brow”

• “the stronger the economy, the stronger the upward pressure on rents”

• “... a lot of what we experience as strength comes from knowing what to do with weakness.”

• “If you hump away at menial jobs 360-plus days a year, does some kind of repetitive injury of the spirit set in?”

  Barbara, on people who work two or more jobs never getting a day off

• “But warnings about the heat and the allergies put me off, not to mention that the Latinos might be hogging all the crap jobs and substandard housing for themselves, as they so often do.”

  Barbara, on the reasons she selected Minneapolis and not the Central Valley of CA for her "experiment"

• “...67% of the adults requesting emergency food aid are people with jobs."”

  from a survey conducted by the US Conference for Mayors

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• What you don’t necessarily realize when you start selling your time by the hour is that what you’re actually selling is your life.

  Highlighted by 42 Kindle customers

• The “working poor,” as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our society.

  Highlighted by 41 Kindle customers

• “If you seek happiness for yourself you will never find it. Only when you seek happiness for others will it come to you,”

  Highlighted by 36 Kindle customers

• The first thing I discovered is that no job, no matter how lowly, is truly “unskilled.”

  Highlighted by 34 Kindle customers

• Maybe, it occurs to me, I’m getting a tiny glimpse of what it would be like to be black.

  Highlighted by 33 Kindle customers

• Something is wrong, very wrong, when a single person in good health, a person who in addition possesses a working car, can barely support herself by the sweat of her brow. You don’t need a degree in economics to see that wages are too low and rents too high.

  Highlighted by 32 Kindle customers

• Each job presents a self-contained social world, with its own personalities, hierarchy, customs, and standards.

  Highlighted by 30 Kindle customers

• I had gone into this venture in the spirit of science, to test a mathematical proposition, but somewhere along the line, in the tunnel vision imposed by long shifts and relentless concentration, it became a test of myself, and clearly I have failed.

  Highlighted by 28 Kindle customers

• This is the answer from Lori, who at twenty-four has a serious disk problem and an $8,000 credit card debt: “All I can think of is like, wow, I’d like to have this stuff someday. It motivates me and I don’t feel the slightest resentment because, you know, it’s my goal to get to where they are.”

  Highlighted by 26 Kindle customers

• So if low-wage workers do not always behave in an economically rational way, that is, as free agents within a capitalist democracy, it is because they dwell in a place that is neither free nor in any way democratic.

  Highlighted by 24 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Key West, Flordia
• Maine
• Minneapolis
• Portland
• Minnesota
• New York
• Woodcrest
• White Stag
• Menards

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• glossolalia: The speaking of unintelligible sounds, esp. in religious worship
• soteriological: The theological doctrine of salvation as effected by Jesus

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Barbara Ehrenreich (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Alex Awards (2002)
• Los Angeles Times Book Prize (2001: Current Interest)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: HD4918 .E375 2008
• Dewey: 305.569092

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Add a note to help parents select a book for a child.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Nonfiction › Current Events › Poverty
• Books › Nonfiction › Politics › Labor & Industrial Relations
• Books › Nonfiction › Social Sciences › Sociology
• Books › Business & Investing › International › Economic Conditions
• Books › Business & Investing › Economics › Economic Conditions
• Books › Business & Investing › Popular Economics › Labor Policy
• Books › Business & Investing › Economics › Labor & Industrial Relations

More Books Like This edit see section history