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 Nickel and Dimed: The invisible poor 
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One of the greatest disturbances in the book for me struck me at the core. During Barbara's time as a maid, one of the other maids made the comment that "We are nothing to these people." The working poor in our country have become invisible to the population around them. They work in the lowest paying jobs and struggle every day to meek out a living and we pay them little attention. Is this how "we" actually appear to those who work at the bottom of the salary scale? It certainly will make me think about my actions in the future. We all would like to think that we are not snobs or not "too good" to treat those around us with human decency and respect, but how does the other side see our actions? This is very eye-opening for me.

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Ken Robbins


Tue Feb 22, 2005 8:53 pm
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I agree Ken. I am astounded daily by the snobbery of some of the teachers in my school towards our custodians. They act if the custodians are merely there to serve them. We have a very hard working custodial staff who take pride in their work. Without them it wouldn't take but a matter of hours for everything to deteriorate. The same goes for every employee oin the services field. When I drive up to Burger King I am thankful that someone is there to serve me and hopefully is taking pride in their work. I have had my share of jobs where people looked down on me. My father told me that something(anything) worth doing is worth doing right. We all need to think of others as doing us a service, not "serving" us.

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Kristine Kelley


Tue Feb 22, 2005 9:57 pm
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How many times have we heard, or maybe even said, "There are jobs out there, people just won't work!" In this book, and in a lot instances probably, that is not the case. How easy would it have been for these people to say forget it and to have gotten welfare and other assistance? Many of their problems would have been solved. Instead, many were working two and three jobs, working through physical pain and hunger, and living with roommates, family, or even out of their vehicle. Even with all of this, they still couldn't make it every month. Pride and determination are the things that kept them working. Something is wrong with humanity and our society in general when people who are working like this cannot get ahead and make ends meet. The sad thing for me is that I see and know people who live this life everyday. This book really brought it home and made me think about the way I talk to and treat others. I truly hope that I have never come across as a snob or better than anyone else!

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Sandra Burchette


Wed Feb 23, 2005 8:27 pm
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Barbara's experience as a Wal-Mart employee made me take a closer look at my own frequent trips to Wal-mart. The next time I visit, I will see each of these employees in a new light. It's hard to imagine doing the same task over and over again all day long (with such little pay.) Barbara talks about how customers will just toss items down and she must constantly replace them. I'm not sure that I completely agree with the ideas and concepts Wal-mart places on its employees. Yet, like Barabara I'm not sure things will change either.
I was so moved by this book I shared the ideas with my coworker. She is now reading the book.

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Kathy Wagoner


Thu Feb 24, 2005 8:48 pm
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I object, on principle, to having to tip at restaurants because I feel that it is the owners's way of having us pay their employees' salaries. At the same time I am compelled to tip and tip well because I know that the waiter's/waitress's livelyhood depends on me. When I am serving my reserve drill weekend in Asheville, the Army pays for our lunch at a resturant similar to Golden Corral. I do not typically carry my wallet while in uniform. One Saturday after lunch as I was leaving, I realized that I had no money on me to leave a tip so I walked out to my car and got $5.00 out of my wallet and brought it back into the restaurant. As I was walking up I heard the waitress complaining that all the soldiers at my table had left without leaving a tip and she was telling some nearby diners that people don't realize that they only make a couple dollars an hour and they depend on the tips. I made a joke with the waitress and gave her the $5.00. This book brings to mind those that work hard to serve us and are often, as Ken was elluding to, are consistantly overlooked.

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Phil Thompson


Last edited by Phil Thompson on Sun Feb 27, 2005 3:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.



Sat Feb 26, 2005 3:34 pm
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Reading this book reinforced my belief that many people somehow grow up without good "life skills". Students need to be taught how to manage money and need to realize how expensive it is to rent an apartment, pay utilities, operate a vehicle, etc. I tell my students all the time that if they will just invest a few years in their education, it will give them more choices throughout their lives. It also disturbed me that many of the people that Barbara encountered seemed to have no hope or aspirations to find less grueling employment - if I found myself having to scrub toilets due to financial difficulties, I would do what I had to do, but I sure would be working on Plan B!! Sandi Johnson


Sun Feb 27, 2005 12:11 pm
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Sandi.....I wondered about the childhoods of many of the people in this book. Did they have encouraging parents or teachers? Were they behavior problems in school and the teachers were ready to get rid of them? Did they have learning disabilities? Hopefully not, but was this life better than what they had as a child? And finally, how much had life knocked them around?

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Shawn Clemons
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Mon Feb 28, 2005 10:40 am
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i couldn't help but think the whole time I was reading how many times I have thought about how lazy people were and did not want to work. If we go by this book alone, and it seems to be a good reference. Most people cant afford to work low paying jobs. There better off to ask for government assistance.


Mon Feb 28, 2005 2:04 pm
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I understand that plan B may be in order if you were facing such dire situations -but many people do not know how to get to plan B. It seems so hard to leave the assumed security of what they have when they have never experienced success elsewhere. Plan B may be a big dream - too difficult to achieve or impossible to reach from where they are. The resources may be so tied up in red tape as to make it too hard to attempt.

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Val Myers


Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:44 pm
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I think we are in much the same position as Barbara in the book. We are observing another world and have our opinions about what we would do in this situation, but really, do we know any more about the truely poor than Barbara did? It certainly makes you wonder, doesn't it?
Ken

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Ken Robbins


Fri Mar 04, 2005 11:31 am
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We don’t pay attention to the working poor. They do their job and go about their business. I wonder if people who are truly rich think the same of us. The teachers and administrators are of a lower class and are there to do nothing more but serve them. Maybe the class idea is a mind set. We as teachers and administrators don’t think we are poor. Do the poor believe that they are the poor?

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Andy Palmer


Fri Mar 04, 2005 7:10 pm
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Your reply is very interesting Andy! I have never stopped to think about what you suggested. I don't consider myself poor, but I am sure there are people, even in Wilkes County, who would say that I am. The idea of being or not being poor is all relative.

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Sandra Burchette


Sun Mar 06, 2005 9:53 pm
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Ken,
I agree that everyone deserves the respect worthy of any human being. What I would really like to see is how many of these working poor are there by choice. Are they in their condition because of bad breaks, low intelligence, lack of ambition, or whatever? Are they satisfied with their condition? I know there are individuals who are working hard in order to better themselves but I also know there are individuals who are "happy" (maybe a bad choice of words) in their condition and don't want the headaches involved with increased salary and responsibilities.

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John Parsons


Mon Mar 07, 2005 6:57 am
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John,
I am sure that there are many people in each situation you mentioned. Both of us have worked in an alternative school and many times I pray that my students will just be able to find a job. And I mean any job. Every month we have an old student in the paper for doing something wrong. It seems that no matter what you try to do, you have no hope of ever being a "light" for all. I suppose at this point, I have to settle for being a guide for just a few. Can some of the successes really succeed? Of course, but there will always be those among us who will/can not.

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Ken Robbins


Tue Mar 08, 2005 3:07 pm
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John,

That is a good question. And of course there are the ones who are just playing the system. Generation after generation they just use tax dollars as if they deserve them. Those are the ones that should be made to work. The question is, how do we get those people to work?

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Andy Palmer


Tue Mar 08, 2005 7:01 pm
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Andy-

I don't think we will ever "get those people to work." In the cases I know about, it is like you said, it is a way of life passed from generation to generation. I certainly don't understand and wish I could be more optimistic, but that is a reality I see in the lives' of children everyday.

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Sandra Burchette


Wed Mar 09, 2005 9:49 am
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Sandra,

You are right! What a sad situation this country has created for the poor.

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Andy Palmer


Fri Mar 11, 2005 8:01 am
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