This summer I read this book called Nickel and Dimed on (not) Getting by in America, by Barbara Enrenreich. It offered an insight on what it was like to be a poor person working tough jobs. She ended up not really liking being poor, it was no fun, and she had to put out effort. It turned out to be a highly undesirable affair.

While Barbara was working and all, she liked to complain about her low wages, and poor living conditions. But what I think what really made her sad was that she was lonely. Nobody else was living with her, and she moved jobs a lot and did not make a whole lot of good friends. She was always by herself which made her sad, so I think that this affected the way Barbara wrote the book. She didn’t have any good laughs ever, nor did she share fun times with her coworkers. Most likely because she was depressed and didn’t feel like smiling. If she was a happy person this would have been a way better experience, she might have even had fun and made good memories. But Barbara felt sorry for herself and needed a pity party. Don’t get me wrong, obviously it was a hard experience but her attitude made it much worse. Like Captain Jack Sparrow once said “The problem is not the problem, the problem is your attitude about the problem.”- Captain Jack Sparrow

So if you like to read sad books, you might like this book. But I think she over exaggerated the details of her journey. I feel think she went in with the mind set of this is going to be bad, and difficult no matter what. Because there was really nothing positive. Take Stu (manager at the Hearthside restaurant) for an example, Barbara really hated Stu. According to her description of him, Stu would definitely be on the naughty list to say the least. She got mad when he asked her to clean the dining room when no customers were there. Which seems like a reasonable request, but she did not like it at all.

Overall it was a nice book, it deserves a 6 out of 10. I just really didn’t like that Barbara character. But if you like her, you would probably give this book a 9. Some parts were very interesting and the book itself is a good idea.