October 5, 2003

Hello,

I am a currently unemloyed female who lost my job due to recent economic conditions. While pondering my "options" at this time, my brother recommended the book, "Nickel and Dimed in America". Normally, as you well know, I do not have the luxury of sitting down to read a book, although I always have many good intentions to do so. However,as I am currently "available" for the luxury of reading, I obtained your book.

I am actually without the adequate words to describe my feelings, except to tell you that I am so very grateful that you took the time, and had the courage to do this. I can only pray for a "grass-roots" momentum,some kind of willingness on the part of the American people to take a hard look at the pathetic mess that has been created in the name of Capitalism.

I have been more fortunate than most of the case studies in your book, almost completely due to a certain inherent intelligence, and an upbringing that stressed personal dignity. Due to my lack of finances after high school, I actually tried many of the jobs that you describe, briefly, but something about my demeanor or possibly a lack of servile tendencies caused me to quit them fairly quickly. Often I would note a wistful expression of supressed admiration on the part of the "managers" and "supervisors" when I did so, as if they recognized a flash of spirit that they themselves no longer could dredge up. Kind of a "that's right, kid-get out while you can-you can do better than this" look.

Now that I am older, and have returned to the workplace after my children have grown up, I am astounded by the blatant sexism and incredible callousness in the workplace generally. As a child of the Sixties, I actually had a sense of optimism, a belief that humanity could learn and improve with simple knowledge. Now, to my sadness, I am coming to believe that there can be no improvement without constant activism. I pray to my god, not the perpetually dying Christ that you so poignantly describe in your book, the pathetic and humble "servant" that is constantly being pointed to as a role model for the rest of the slaves to follow, but to the "One" who creates and sustains, that a change is coming, that there may be true enlightenment.

Meanwhile, let me just close in saying, thank you again, your book made me weep in frustration and sympathy. While reading about the pathetic and pregnant "Holly", and how you tried in some way to lessen her burden, I recognized a kindred spirit, and felt compelled to write to you. I wish you all the grace and strenth you will need for this new journey.

Godspeed.

Denise

October 23, 2003

Dear Ms. Ehrenreich,

Thanks for confirming a lot of my suspicions about the way the corporate world avails itself of its employees. A while back I went through re-employment via a well-renowned outplacement firm. Everybody in the room was the college educated mid to upper-class types except one. She was an office assistant that had been downsized and had this class paid for by her ex-company. The instructor was lecturing on how to handle tough, and sometimes questionably legal questions asked by interviewers (e.g., implicitly racist, sexist, etc.). He went from person to person peppering them with tough questions and scoring them on their ability to maintain composure and respond without yelling an insult back. When he came to the assistant, who I later learned had made a career out of much of the same kinds of jobs you described in your book, he asked her, "What do you think about unions." She launched into a 2-3 minute tirade about how they were a drag on society, misrepresented their members etc.

People like her go through a lifetime of orientations similar to the one you described at Wal-Mart, explaining the supposed vile and evil nature of unions. So, much to the point that they honestly believe the corporate propaganda as true. I queried her later during a break about her beliefs to find out that she never had been a member of a union, had no relatives that had been members of a union and had no first-hand experiences to base her judgment on, only the passive learning about unions that she'd picked up over the years. I probed further to make sure that she hadn't just perfected that rant to curry favor with potential anti-union employers only to find out that she truly believed what she said. I might point out here that my previous job was as a marketing vice president for a publicly traded company - so just so you know, not all of us corporate leaders are swine looking to suck the blood out of our workers. Many MBAs like myself, actually are good people with the desire and ability to socially empower their employees!

The companies that bash unions to their low-wage earners carry on an inadvertent conspiracy to un-educate the working poor as eventually they take everything their employer says at face value. If only the low-wage earners would organize and rise up - they'd eventually be better off. While there has been plenty of graft and corruption in the UAW and at Teamsters over the years, look at the 50 yr old assembly-line worker that has paid health benefits, paid vacation and a modest 150K dollar home. Where Wal-Mart employees and their like are today is where the average autoworker was 100 years ago.

Another aspect of your book that you should/could have considered is the 'drug testing' aspect. An additional reason as to why so many companies drug test is the 'keeping up with the Joneses' nature of their reasoning. Imagine yourself running a Wal-Mart sized store competing in the same market as Wal-Mart and others. If you chose to not require drug screening for economic OR altruistic reasons you'd end up attracting free-thinking individualists morally opposed to drug testing in the first place AND the people that know they won't pass the drug screening or some combination thereof. Besides the nature of subjugating employees mentally which you bring up in your book, I think that a lot of employers are afraid of the tons of drug addicts and/or casual drug users that would populate their payrolls, should they drop the expensive drug screening. Thus, all the potential employees that got rejected for failing their drug tests from Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Target would find their way into your orientation room. Furthermore, freethinkers tend to be more educated, and thus probably more inclined to initiate some union type of organizing. Thus, the drug testing and personality tests are a self-fulfilling prophecy for the company. They obviously won't hire somebody that flunks a test with 'no-brainer' questions. They obviously won't hire individualists, or at the least ones that admit to it. They obviously won't hire somebody dumb enough to show up for the urine test 1 hr after smoking a joint. They obviously won't hire somebody that has been convicted of stealing. However, they do hire poorly educated, easily malleable conformists that understand their surroundings and know that their employment status is as good as it gets. So sad, but true.

In summing up your book, you mentioned that in your low-wage journey you never ran into drug addicts and criminals. This likely had something to do with the fact that true low wage earners probably can't afford the luxury of a $60 bag of marijuana AND those with criminal backgrounds aren't offered the jobs to start with. On top of that, if there is a steady stream of 'clean' urinating low wage earners, then the ones that are in fact using drugs aren't going to qualify for places like Wal-Mart.

If you'd like to look into an even lower low-wage strata, look at the ex-cons who just came out of prison and see what kind of jobs they get offered, and why they resort to going back to crime to support themselves.

Luckily for me, I've now found some accounting work at UNC - Chapel Hill at $15/hour as a temp, which is just barely a living wage for me considering I used to have a 6 figure income. I used to scoff at the envelope that some hotels would leave in your room for a tip for the cleaning staff, I'll certainly tip my chambermaid from now on! I read your book, because of the stir it caused here on campus. I work for a division of the university that hires many of the low-wage earners that invited you to campus to speak at the 'teach-in'. Thus, understandably, please refrain from using my name if you publish this letter on your website. It was interesting to see the Chancellor squirm under the pressure of having to deal with the uncomfortable notion of paying low-wage earners, requiring incoming students to read your book and then sign off on a 600K pay package for the new basketball coach.

Thanks for your book. You've forced me squarely into an identity crisis, trying to balance my capitalistic instincts with my desire for socialism!

Regards,

(Name withheld by request.)

P.S. I received this book as a requested birthday present from my wife. Having read the book I now laugh at the fact and understand why she was surprised that she couldn't find it at Wal-Mart, considering how much it had been in the news lately!!!

November 1, 2003

Hi Barbara

How kind of you to reply, thank you! If you feel that my comments are worth repeating, please feel free.

Thank you again for your eye-opening book, and your intense personal observations. As an intelligent, self-educated woman who does not have the college background required in today's corporate environment, I have had many of the same experiences and personal observations that you revealed, but felt I had no voice. The sense of isolation and worthlessness can seem overpowering to a sensitive individual. Thanks for giving me a degree of hope that there might yet be a grassroots movement for change, and that a single person can make a difference.

Best wishes,

Denise

November 10, 2003

Dr. Ehrenreich,

I was writing to let you know how great Nickel and Dimed was to read. I had to choose a book for my Sociology class just about the same time as my English teacher required that we choose a research topic, and upon browsing the shelves at Borders, my eyes fell on your book. At first I was not sure as to the sociological substance, but chose it anyway, mainly because of the waitress on the front cover. I am a waitress myself, and am constantly amazed at others' behavior toward me.

I certainly understand how you felt when you were calculating your financial needs versus your actual income. Sometimes I feel as though I make so much money, but still have no way to make ends meet. The housing crisis that you touched on is so real. I live in Montgomery County, Maryland where I pay $1200 in rent plus utilities/per month for a one bedroom apartment. Every one is trying to obtain higher paying jobs. I am trying to earn my Associates in Nursing, but even with a 3.6 GPA, the nursing programs won't accept me, because limited enrollment is hiking the mandatory GPA up to a 4.0. On my income I can not afford to attend school anywhere other than community colleges, and only then can I attend part-time with tuition assistance from my parents. Am I ever going to graduate from waiting tables? I have a doctor that comes into my café regularly who only tips 5%! Too bad that you'll always have a shortage of nurses, jackass. I can wait until these business men that tip me $5 on a $60 check look up from their hospital bed begging me not to give them a catheter. And what is it about people that when you walk up to their table, they will not even make eye contact. Maybe in one of your columns, you could inform people that waitresses only make $2.38/hour, tips should be 18-25% and they should have the decency not to talk at their menu!!

Anyway, I really just wanted to say thanks for the great read,the laughs and insight. When I am finished with all of my papers, I'll pass around your book to some of my more pretentious acquaintances. Thanks again!

Melissa L.
Maryland

November 14, 2003

Dear Barbara:

A article in the News and Observer around the 1st of September suggested that the living wage estimate for the State is $10.60 per hour. The organization that provided this estimate was the N.C. Justice and Community Development Center. I am a state employee with six year of service. My grade is at the low end of the scale for state workers..four grades below that of a Correctional Officer, for example. Hourly I am a little above this estimate by maybe .50, so it's difficult to even to have afforded this computer as well as the internet service for it's online use. The sad fact is too that after eight years of trying to work to support of family here in eastern North Carolina, for the last three, the State of North Carolina has not been able to increase the wages of the state work force, and prior to my working for a agency in the State's Department of Health and Human Services, every other job obtained through traditional means, the local job service office or a employment agency, offered far less than what is suppose to be the living wage.

Greg

November 30, 2003

Dear Ms. Ehrenreich,

Your book is a hit here among those residents who read at the YWCA, albeit courtesy of the public library. You mention the Minneapolis YWCA in passing in your book.I can only urge you to make the YWCA - its past, its evolution, and its present - a topic of future research and reportage. You would need to live in several of them.

When I first returned to Columbus after 25 years elsewhere in the world, I applied at the Y as a backup - in case the job search and housing search proved difficult. They were, and I ended up moving in here even though the woman who adopted my cat warned against it. Her parish priest had even juggled some books to get her the funding necessary at one point to keep her OUT of the Columbus, Ohio, YWCA. It wasn't sectarian prejudice that moved him!

I should have heeded the warning. Since moving in less than a year ago, I have seen water flowing out of electrical ceiling fixtures, multiple toilet backups, stoves that never have worked and never will work properly, etc., ad nauseum.

But that doesn begin to cover the local fauna. This Y at least has become a happy hunting ground for active addicts who deal in broad daylight under the very noses of the women who are supposed to be overseeing their recovery. The psychiatric cases wander about. The abused on the lamm scurry about. Out of 102 resident rooms for single women, 40% are empty adn only 10-15 of the women occupying the remaining 62 hold down a regular job. (I myself have struggled with a parttime job in a company going bankrupt. Now I'm working for another company almost fulltime and with no benefits - and trying desperately to save enough to get OUT of the YMCA. But guess what - a first in my life, I am literally allergic to the new job.)

Even in this economy (Columbus has permanently lost 19,000 jobs in the past 2-3 years), the Y cannot fill its rooms due to its shitty reputation on the street. The place is "off the hook" in ghetto parlance. Management has a case of denial unlike any other I have ever seen.

In terms of affordable housing for women on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale, another group to look into is the National Church Alliance. They have studio apartments here in Columbus, and I'm looking into them.

The Y puts out some slick literature, but what I have witnessed here is very discouraging. I believe the conditions here are tolerated because otherwise - heaven forbid - where would Columbus house its down and out women? Certainly not in residential neighborhoods...

Sincerely,

Charlotte Miller