FC NOW: The Fast Company Weblog
July 25, 2005
Readers Choice: New Books!
Our August issue of Readers Choice pits "Nickel and Dimed" author Barbara Ehrenreich's new book on getting whitewashed in the out-of-work, white-collar world, "Bait and Switch," against "Social Intelligence," a book on boosting your social skills in the name of a better career, and "Integrity Service," which looks at improving your company's customer service through employee incentives (and more).
Ready, aim, vote!
Posted by Lucas Conley at July 25, 2005 4:39 PM | Category: |
3 Comments
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I had a real problem with "Nickled and Dimed". Fairly early in the book, the author clearly shows bias, acting as if all restaurant managers are lazy, good-for-nothing folks who care about nothing but sitting on fat asses in the back office, counting up profits and guarding against employee theft and laziness.
According to the author, the corporate owners of these restaurants are also concerned about nothing but profit at the expense of the employees.
Certainly, this is an accurate view of some restaurant managers and some corporations. But I would have expected someone with this woman's stated credentials to have looked a little more widely before discussing stereotypes. I would also have expected her to look at both sides of the story prior to forming her opinions. I have a hard time believing she did either.
I'd like to ask her one question: where will the jobs come from if the corporations creating them don't make a profit in the process?
I'm tired of "corporate profits" being a dirty word. Without corporate profits, there's no corporation. Say "hello" to welfare lines instead.
I agree that she probably went in with a bias.
However, the issue is not corporate profits that are reasonable. The issue is when the top few people are making billions and the people at the bottom are not making enough to live on.
Many of today's social service clients *are* working, but the low paying jobs for which they are qualified do not pay a living wage.
As far as perceptions of managers and bosses; my read was that these were the types of people she encountered in that world. I've had all kinds of bosses over the years in various environments. I have to say that bad bosses exist everywhere on every level. However, it gets worse if the manager's pay is *solely* based upon employee performance. Worse still when employee performance is a quantity measure w/o the balance of quality.
Nickled and Dimed isn't even a new book. It came out a while ago.