I haven’t read the book or the article JD linked

…then why comment on it? The post was not about how lucrative entry-level work is. It’s about a book discussing how hard it is to really make a living at those kinds of jobs and Platt’s attempt to respond to what he saw as a pinko-commie attack on the Free Market.

They are called entry level because that is where you start. Living with a roommate ISN’T fun, but if you abide by some basic rules of work (show up, be on time, etc) it usually isn’t long until entry level becomes something else, and I see nothing wrong with expecting a big of super frugality (via roommates, ramen, etc) for a bit.

In my experience people who work at low level retail and service jobs are either 1) not supporting a household, 2) promoted or have a better job within six months, or 3) are sabotaging advancement via irresponsibility and/or sloppy work behavior.

I know there are exceptions and sob stories (though I haven’t personally met any), but I am uncomfortable with a lot of proposals to throw a wide net to pick up that handful of people.

Platt’s piece was interesting, but not at all in the way he intended. I think his evasiveness in, and eventual disappearance from, the follow-up discussion makes that pretty clear.

Austin @10: Secular Calvinism substituting the Market in place of God. People who are moral and virtuous can be discerned by their financial success; those who are not financially successful, are poor or struggling because they are immoral and undeserving. Because good deeds and virtue lead to opportunity and wealth, clearly those who do not have wealth lack virtue and fail to do good deeds.

One of my main problems was that she didn’t get roommates, no one to split costs with. Guess what: If you’re working retail wages, especially LOW ones (with no work history, since she had to lie to get these jobs [which makes sense: given her real background, they would never hire her, but it stilled made her look like she had no work history]) you can not afford to live on your own. it’s too expensive. you need someone to split heat, food, &c. with.

The sort of people who obsessively seek to debunk Nickled and Dimed are also the same sorts of people who b***h and moan about the immigrant neighbors who live 10 people to a 3-bedroom. So if you’re Barbara Ehrenreich writing about the working poor, you’re supposed to live like a sardine. If you’re actually real-life poor, you’re supposed to allow one bathroom per person. Uh huh…

Platt also compliments the fine work of Adam Shepard, author of Scratch Beginnings, who managed to take the temporary inconvenience of a college education, great health, whiteness, and credit cards with high limits and turn them, miraculously, into a comfortable lifestyle. It’s the exact kind of sociological observation that’s at work with Platt, where he attempts to prove that working at Wal-Mart while being a reporter with, likely, a large amount of savings, a safe job to go back to, the ability to quit whenever he’d like, the option to end the job and a journalist hat that lets him step back and hear whatever suits his preconceived notions and then declare it the gospel truth.

There’s nothing like being lectured about how to live life by someone who came very close to almost doing it…sort of.

The digs at mom and pop shops really turned me off. Mom and pop shops actually have to compete. Walmart just has to bulldoze. I’ve negotiated on price in mom and pop shops because they actually want my business. I haven’t given a dollar to Walmart in over 10 years because I don’t like them or their business practices.

I had to read this for one of my Sociology classes, and i was the _ONLY_ person who pointed out some of the flaws in the ENTIRE class! I almost got a bad grade in there, becuase i disagreed with the Proffesor (but then again, i did go to the “left coast” of wisconsin, in Madison).

One of my main problems was that she didn’t get roommates, no one to split costs with. Guess what: If you’re working retail wages, especially LOW ones (with no work history, since she had to lie to get these jobs [which makes sense: given her real background, they would never hire her, but it stilled made her look like she had no work history]) you can not afford to live on your own. it’s too expensive. you need someone to split heat, food, &c. with.

Grrr… i’m STILL bitter about that book. haha. Mind you, I do belive that most of those jobs are horrible, and that being stuck in those cycles are horrible, I just don’t think she needed to distort the facts. She definitly felt like she had an ax to grind for that book.

J.D., did you read most of the comments following Platt’s piece? Whatever one’s feelings about unions, WalMart or the free market, he wrote an astonishingly bad op-ed diguised as journalism, and his responses in the comments carefully dodged that point until he finally slunk away.

One of the things I like about this blog is that it avoids secular Calvinism. I hope that isn’t changing.

No joke. That Platt piece is a joke. Scratch Beginnings, while also a joke, at least had a bit of follow-through…

(I’ve been reading The Wordy Shipmates, so feel well-versed in religious Calvinism, and it’s Not My Thing.)

I didn’t read all (or even most) of the comments on that piece, but I did read a sampling throughout. I thought the entire discussion was interesting…

Well done on the upgrade, it’s different but nice!

It’s great to hear you are enjoying your work experience. Can’t wait to see what happens to this place for the new year.

@ mythago
What in the world is “secular Calvinism”? o_o

One of the things I like about this blog is that it avoids secular Calvinism. I hope that isn’t changing.

And, great links! I’ve been doing my own money tracking. It’s great to have a partner – now I can follow Mrs Micah.

I’m glad you’re back in the swing of things.

And thanks for mentioning my money challenge. Reader response has been quite exciting so far.

Its awesome you’re getting such great productivity. I’m getting the opposite =(