You Want Fries with That: A White-Collar Burnout Experiences Life at Minimum Wage

You Want Fries with That: A White-Collar Burnout Experiences Life at Minimum Wage | Prioleau Alexander | Side-splitting, thought provoking humor

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You Want Fries wit...

	You Want Fries with That: A White-Collar Burnout Experiences Life at Minimum Wage Prioleau Alexander Arcade Publishing, 2008 - 264 pages average customer review:based on 24 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The American Dream used to include a white picket fence, 2.2 kids, and a dog. In todayÕs frantic world, itÕs . . . well, letÕs be honestÑitÕs quite different. But what would happen if you did have the nerve to quit your white-collar job? Prioleau Alexander can tell you: He walked away from a lucrative career as an advertising executive, seeking a life Òlike that dude on Kung Fu.Ó Over the next year he worked minimum-wage jobs as a pizza deliveryman, ice cream scooper, construction worker, ER tech, fast food jockey, and even cowboy on a Montana dude ranch. In YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT?, Prioleau explores life at minimum wage and proves unequivocally that the grass is not always greener on the other side.

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A really funny read

This was a really funny book that got me in trouble on an early morning flight out of town. I save some things to read when traveling, and this seemed just the sort of book. I cracked it just after take-off and began having a tough time controlling my cackles of laughter; much to the annoyance of my neighbor. Prioleau's insights into the minimum wage workforce and the retail customer rang true for me. I have been in that world for more years than I care to remember and there is lots of humor to be had there! Prioleau found huge gobs of it and feed it to me one pink spoonful at a time, and I could not put the book down. I will be waiting for his next one.

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Side-splitting, thought provoking humor

Picked up a copy of this book for our beach trip, and couldn't put it down. Alexander's comedic look at America's white / blue collar societies will make you laugh out loud, while giving pause to reflect upon your own lives. Highly recommended.

A warning to others

I heard about this book when the author appeared on CSPAN-BookTV. I liked the author, loved his background as ad man and ex-marine, and wanted to learn more.

The book itself reminded me of Barbara Ehrenreich's ventures into minimum wage jobs. Ehrenreich gets serious about the injustices that force some people to remain in those jobs and really work.

On the other hand, it's a nice counterpoint to Gill's How Starbuck' Saved My Life, a euphoric ode to his service as helper and barista.

The best part of the book for me came at the very beginning, with Alexander's description of his life as in advertising. His description of clients and the lack of respect for marketing expertise were very accurate.

The second best part was getting behind the scenes of a pizza delivery company, an ice cream shop and more. I didn't realize it was so hard to get jobs at the Big Box store.

Of course, we don't know how typical the author's experiences are. Why would a pizza delivery person keep delivering pizza when he spends more for gas than he earns? Was the ice cream store a franchise, like a Baskin Robbins?

The hospital example seemed a little over the top. Apparently Alexander was assigned just one type of case, courtesy of his doctor friend who got him the job. I was disturbed when the doctor put a patient through an uncomfortable and unnecessary procedure because he didn't want to embarrass the nurse, who had set up the room.

I was sorely tempted to give this book just 3 stars for one reason. On television, Alexander was asked how he came to write the book. It turns out he didn't really try out the minimum wage life. He had a book contract and he was not living on the earnings from those jobs...ever.

Not a problem, but I believe Alexander should have disclosed his intentions up front, as Ehrenreich does in her books.

Still, every career coach talks to clients who fantasize about reducing stress by taking a lower level job. Usually it doesn't work. And now we can see why.

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Fun and entertaining

This is a quick, entertaining read, the author has a good sense of humor, and describes the various jobs he took in an amusing way. This really should be a four star review, but I deducted one star because in the chapter where he works at a burger joint, he continually refers to french fries as "freedom fries". I might have knocked it down to two stars because of that, but the chapter where he works at an ice cream parlor was one of the funniest things I've read in awhile.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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