Selected Book
A Working Stiff's Manifesto: A Memoir of Thirty Jobs I Quit, Nine That Fired Me, and Three I Can't Remember
- Paperback
- Author: Iain Levison
- Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
- Release Date: April 2003
- ISBN-10: 0812967941
- ISBN-13: 9780812967944
- List Price: $12.95
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryAll Iain Levison really wants is a steady paycheck, cable television, and the possibility of a date on Saturday night. But after blowing $40,000 on an English degree, he can’t find the first, can’t afford the second, and can’t even imagine what woman would consent to the third. So he embarks on a time-honored American tradition: scoring a few dead-end jobs until something better comes along. The problem is, it never does. |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Loved This Book!
Rating:
A working Stiff's Manifesto, by Iain Levison, was a terrific read. An college graduate with a degree in English, the jobs Levison take are not ones that a degree is necessary. However, Stints in Alaska processing fish,a grocery store, truck driver, heating oil delivery man...
The book is funny. It is also incredibly sad. Levison is obviously smart and wants a good job--he simply doesn't know how to do so. He is part of the working poor and simply cannot imagine how people "make it" in the work world. What it must be like to make real money.
I want to know what the author is up to now. I would love another memoir. If you liked Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, you will love this book.
awesome; never laughed so hard
Rating:
I loved this book!!! made me glad that i am a frustrated english major and not a real one; that i apparently made the correct choice in abandoning my english major. the last time i laughed this hard reading a book was 30 years ago reading Around the World with Auntie Mame. I was laughing so loudly and so long that my children came running upstairs to see what was going on. However, it also makes the point quite clearly re: colleges' lack of preparation of students for the working world-and what a tough world it is out there. the prose captures well the images and feelings the author is trying to convey. Another plus for me is that the author was a high school friend of my brother
Turning Lemons into Lemonade
Rating: 
Iain's funny memoir will strike a chord with anyone who's had to deal with the BS many of us have to deal with on a regular basis at our jobs. He moans about many of the jobs he takes on but not once does he decide to sit back and collect unemployment. I guess that degree in English paid off after all.
Gigs
Rating:
Memoir of a semi-employed American male in the 90's. It's the recollections of the many jobs he had, such as crab fisherman, fish cutter, mover, restaraunt associate manager, etc.
It's a funny book. Levison has a cynical/skeptical outlook on the business world. You might be familiar with the tone from Dilbert.
Having worked at some of these jobs also, his descriptions or temp, seasonal, low paying work struck me as accurate, with urine tests, unpaid overtime (at the restaraunt), dress codes, crazy bosses, unrealistic schedules, etc. He's kind of like the guy at the bar you can talk to about how screwed up your job is.
The Skinny on this book
Rating:
I love this type of book, I always get the feel that I am reading someones personal diary, but this book was okay, I liked Mr Instability better for the job stories and it was hilarious, I liked I hope they serve beer in hell because it was raw!
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