Nickel and Dimed

The jinx has been broken. I have finished a book - Nickel and Dimed: On (not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich (Amazon link)

Over last 4 months, i have started atleast 4 books and not finished a single one of them. But this time, as part of this month's Politically inspired book club, i have finished this one. Although it was a very small book and that helped a lot.

Barbara got curious once that how people who earn the minimum wage in America, how do they live, what is their lifestyle and how it is to be them. She decided to answer these questions by going to three different cities and living their life - meaning taking a job which pays close to minimum wage, trying to live with that much money and surviving using none of her previous knowledge. Her journey is eye opening and quite shocking.

Middle class is totally unaware of how lower class work and high class even have lesser idea. But whenever someone like Barbara does the class jump, so many assumptions are broken. And there is one feeling which just lingers on my head - the feeling of gratefulness, the feeling of thankfulness, to whom? may be destiny. And the very next feeling is frustration, helplessness. We all should do something.

Somehow this is all more relevant now that i am part of Wmart, it is interesting to compare the internal opinion, the corporate side and the public side :). Barbara's third job is in Walmart which makes the story more interesting to read. When i joined Trilogy, my common idea of life was "Escaping Corporatization", it is all coming back again. The rebel in me is kicking me everywhere. But leaving my ego for the moment, i think it is screwed up here, yes even in the most developed nation of the world, it is screwed up. And the middle/upper class has very little idea about it.

About Barbara's writing - it is very interesting. Since she knows that it is only her temp job, she knows that after a month she will be away from here, she has the luxury of having a detached attitude when she wants, she can easily cover the third person perspective. But at the same time she is also able to give first hand knowledge by living their lives. Workwise, she is very professional and gives her 100%. The ability to mix both these narratives makes the reading definitely a light one because the contents in its true seriousness are very heavy.