Michael Tigges - Nickled and Dimed

In Nickled and Dimed, the author and narrator, Barbara Ehrenreich gives up a live of mediocre luxury to explore the life of a minimum wage employee. My perceptions of the blue-collar Americans were transformed in this book due to the fact that I always thought they lived a decent life. I was unable to relate to this, as I've always lived in a sort of luxury, but it made me feel sympathetic toward the blue collar minimum wage workers. My notations of poverty have transformed drastically, as before reading Nickled and Dimed, poverty to me was literally just not having a place to sleep at night. I've never had to give a tip, but this book has made me believe that that could make a waiter's day, and that you should put thought into the tip you give your waiter. In terms of sales people and maids, I think this book increased the respect I have for them in regards to line of work. It's a hectic job with it's perks that must all be learned to thrive in the job.

In terms of the writing style, I didn't enjoy Ehrenreich's style of writing. I think she struggled to use sophisticated language when regarding her life as opposed to the minimum wage life, in an attempt to contrast the two. I feel this was not beneficial to the book, and that the word choice did not effectively contrast the two worlds.