By Margaret Quinlan, Manager, Information & Research Center, Illinois CPA Society

A personal crisis happens, like a disabling illness, and a family crosses a thin line between solvency and homelessness. This scenario, repeated millions of times, paints a picture of the U.S. today depicted in Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America by Barbara Ehrenreich.

The Book Club dug into Nickel and Dimed at our May 24 meeting at Ceres Café in the Loop. The publisher's description sums it up well: "Millions of Americans work for poverty-level wages, and one day Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that any job equals a better life. But how can anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 to $7 an hour?"

Barbara Ehrenreich's angering and troubling journey through a succession of low-wage jobs (albeit cushioned with a car and credit card) ranging from toilet scrubbing to waitressing reminds us that a constant companion to such work is injury and exertion leading to unending and deadening physical exhaustion–unlike the work of professionals such as librarians which, more likely, leads to occasional bouts of exhaustion on a rewarding mental level.

Nearly all of us have worked, often early in our careers or while still in school, at the minimum wage. For most of us this was a temporary situation, we had other resources, and/or we were not supporting families. The SLA members and friends who gathered to discuss this book agreed that it was a grim reminder that many people exist on the minimum wage with no end in sight and no resources. And it generally reinforced any inclinations toward generously tipping waitresses.

In our experiences, we have seen how illness and unexpected expenses can derail an otherwise economical life. A support system of friends or family can help in emergencies, and seems to be the key to survival on minimum wage–for sharing housing expenses, child care or transportation. Those of us who have relocated and moved away from such a network have felt how important this can be.

We discussed Wal-Mart’s notoriously stingy lack of health care benefits for the vast majority of their workers, and how other companies are not much better but seem to avoid the same notoriety. We agreed that we vote with our dollars, and some of us already refuse to shop at certain places because of their corporate policies. 

The author found a surprising sense of solidarity and generosity among her co-workers in these low-pay and low-respect jobs, and was touched when they would cover for her or bring her food.

Among several of us, we experienced this too, but we also discussed how management can use competitive evaluations to drive out any camaraderie and pit everyone against each other. This naturally led to an entertaining account of the worst jobs and bosses we'd ever had, a contest that no one really wants to win.