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Bait And Switch |
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Ehrenreich's follow-up to her bestselling look at minimum wage earners "Nickel And Dimed" finds her turning her attention to highly-educated and experienced white collar workers who are finding it increasingly difficult to find and keep employment.
Metropolitan, 256 pages
09/06/2005
$24.00
ISBN: 0805076069
Nonfiction
Current Events & Politics
Social Sciences
All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...
The average user rating for this book is 4.6 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Leo J gave it a0:
Five-page article sold as a book If you are looking to pass time with an author who is gifted in communicating strong emotions, you found your book. If you are hoping to learn about corporate bait and switch or getting a job, this book is void of that. The book jacket and introduction tells readers the author sets out to get a job, work in corporate America and then write a book about her presumed struggles. Barbara Ehrenreich admits she lied (p.9) to employers about her job history and got friends, with similar values, to substantiate her lies. It didn't work. She never got a job and wrote a book about it anyway. The content basically is a five-page article that Barbara Ehrenreich sold as a 237 page book that is slow paced. Monotonous details are ubiquitous (e.g. itemizing the food in buffet lines and what strangers put on their lunch plates). If you are discouraged about your job search, don't get this book. It will not lift you up, it will not help you get a job and it has serious potential to put you in a depressing downward spiral. Barbara Ehrenreich is unbalanced against capitalism and corporate America. While it is well known they are not perfect, Barbara Ehrenreich never mentions the positive aspects of capitalism and corporate America. Nor does she give comparative statistics on the amount of people who live well in capitalist economies verses other economies. The book is a constant flow of vocational pessimism. Although the author uses the first half of the book to set herself up as a well-reasoned, balanced and unprejudiced person, one does sense there is some bias to her writing. Not until page 139 does Barbara Ehrenreich reveal she is an atheist. Thus, one would think she would avoid churches. Yet she unashamedly goes to churches hoping to secure a job while lying about her background. She then grumbles that she wasted her time there. She mercilessly mocks common church-going people and those who don't accept her anticapitalist views. It is hard to conclude Ehrenreich walked into the church meetings and wrote about them without prejudice. While it is true that bait and switch is going on in numerous HR departments, this book has nothing about that.
Paula G gave it a2:
I was totally disappointed in this book. I loved Nickel and Dimed. This book is not about working or even interviewing, but instead is mostly about networking with other unemployed professionals. Totally boring..... Read Nickel and Dimed instead!
Irene V gave it an8:
BE accurately describes the frustration of the job seeker who has no conveniently placed friends to hire him/her and so must try answering ads, posting resumes, getting job-hunting training, and networking, all to no avail. Many well-educated and experienced people are desperately searching for work that engages more than their ability to ring a cash register. They aren't finding it, which is a terrible waste of human capital. BE's idea that these people should become a political movement is not germane to the problem. Still, she has documented the torturous world of the job hunter and that is a valuable thing. If just one person reads this book and realizes he/she isn't a personal failure or crazy, that this situation is now pervasive in our country, then BE will have rendered an important service.
Bob S gave it a3:
Unlike "Nickeled & Dimed," the tone of the book is curiously mean-spirited --- not only toward the "transition" industry but also toward the long-term unemployed. This is a very disappointing outing....
Kirstjen L gave it a6:
Interesting, but not nearly as good as Nickel & Dimed.
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