About book A Working Stiff's Manifesto: A Memoir Of Thirty Jobs I Quit, Nine That Fired Me, And Three I Can't Remember (2003)
As someone who just finished doing their taxes--and had to explain to an accountant why they worked 5 taxable jobs in one tax year--I really enjoyed this book. Because of some "self-employment 1099-form" situation, I had to create a business on the spot; then I had to find an appropriate title to encompass someone who both teaches poetry to the elderly and facilitates large corporate-group ticket sales for a local science center. This book is certainly an extreme example of someone who works extreme jobs-- Alaskan fisherman, truck-driver, moving man, etc. Levison's stories were fascinating, moving, dark, and pretty accurate: if you get health insurance on your 100th day, you will be fired on your 99th. The stories are sprinkled with the tiny human cruelties that make up the American workforce, and every once and awhile, there was a kindness that really moved me.I also now feel incredible informed (which is the natural result of working a ton of jobs for short periods of time): it was full of helpful hints on which jobs to jockey for should you ever be employed on certain fishing boats in Alaska, how to do these jobs (when to wear gloves and when not to, etc), what not to fall for in a classified ad vs. what to always look for, and other things like that.My only complaint about this book is the angle that it was Levison's decision to major in English that led him to his unemployability, and doomed him to be pricked by fish-spines and lift boxes his whole life. Half of this is a marketing decision, I think, but he does have some lines in the book alluding to the fact that his English degree has been a hinderance to finding employment. He has said that it has made him a liability at some jobs (English majors "analyze" too much)-- like being an exterminator or fisherman-- and too impatient with other jobs-- like being a moving man. But what it really boils down to is a conversation he had while working on a fishing boat in Alaska, when a young man asks him what he's gonna do with all the money he earns, and he says "I have no idea."Levison's decision to major in English came from a love of literature and writing, but he didn't, beyond that, have a plan for it. As an English major myself (and probably hence the immediate defensiveness) the reaction I have usually gotten on interviews has been excitement on behalf of the employers-- but I haven't been looking at Alaskan fishing boats or trucking companies. I have been looking at jobs doing write-ups for arts and science companies, at teaching writing, editing, and most of Americans can't form or edit sentences, or don't feel comfortable doing so. Levison says over and over that his dream is to work in a building with a coffee maker; that's pretty much your minor if you major in English. The only thing Levison didn't have was a plan for what he wanted to do after college, and he admits this time and time again, whether he wants to or not. That can get a little irritating page after page.The ultimate irony, of course, is that for all his complaining about being an English major, "wasting" $40,000 on a degree he "can't use" and all of that, was that he ended up writing a book. And a very interesting one, even if not a great piece of literature. And now he may not have to work as much of those shitty jobs, unless he wants to, of course.
A co-worker of mine once described a movie he had seen as "alternately hilarious and horrifying." I find that to be an apt description for this book as well.Iain Levinson tells a series of mildly disconnected stories about a sequence of dead-end jobs he held somewhere during the late 90's or early 00's. Levinson had an English degree but found that he could not get a single worthwhile job, despite his liberal arts education, a fact which causes him to subsequently treat his education with a fair amount of scorn and derision. He takes jobs working in restaurants, delivering heating oil, as a gofer on a movie set, as a long-distance trucker's assistant, and finally, for an extended portion of the book, on a couple of fishing and crabbing boats in Alaska.Oddly, Levinson rarely looks for work in corporate America, which I find peculiar. Many employers would have loved to have had a creative employee with his evident intelligence and communication skills. He opts instead for manual labor and customer service jobs time and time again. On the other hand, it seems clear that Levinson doesn't really WANT to work for anyone or be on a "career path" of some sort. He likes living his laid-back, single lifestyle and doesn't want to be told what to do by anyone. His goal is to have a job that simply pays the bills and allows him some spare time to drink, date and work on the Great American Novel.Levinson's slacker memoir is filled with truly embarrassing, disturbing and even downright horrifying moments. Many of these episodes are hilarious, but others are just jaw-droppingly scary. Watching someone get the crap beat out of them in a bar in Alaska? No thanks. These anecdotes are compulsively readable however, due in no small part to the quality of Levinson's writing. It is like reading "Nickel and Dimed" as translated by comedian Dave Barry.Every so often, Levinson drops into commentary about the plight of the working man (or woman) and considers why all of his jobs are so bad and how "the Man" or "the pursuit of profits" or some other faceless entity or concept is screwing everyone over. Although some of his observations are fairly keen, he doesn't spend too much time on these subjects and that's probably just as well. Although I often felt bad for the situations Levinson found himself in, I also had a sense that he brought at least some of this on himself. A paragon of moral virtue - or good sense - he is not.And it is just these foibles which make for a hilarious - and horrifying - ride.
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I stumbled across this book because my girlfriend works with the author's sister. The premise seemed right up my alley... a fairly intelligent, educated guy without any particularly marketable skills who wanders from one job to another. His degree is in English and mine is in philosophy, but we both crave variety and enjoy physical work. Clearly we share some common ground.The book can basically be broken down into three sections. The first section details about two dozen of Levison's jobs, and is fantastic. It is well written, and his sense of humor had me laughing out loud several times. I could definitely see myself in a number of the situations, but he does the things that I only think about doing (which is probably why he gets fired from jobs and I don't). The first third of the book would have gotten a 5 star review from me without breaking a sweat.The second section is all about him living up in Alaska while working on fishing boats. It was interesting for the most part, but not written with the same sense of humor. The work sounded like living hell, and I don't think Levison could find the humor in it. Because of that, it dragged on a little bit.The last section, which was shorter than the first two, was about life after returning to the continental United States and getting back on the job merry-go-round. But instead of having the sense of humor found in the beginning of the book, there was bitterness and cynicism. He was resigned to a life where he would hate an infinite series of meaningless jobs, and you could tell he found it to be depressing.Even with the end being a downer, I'm glad I read this book and I would recommend it to anyone who has had similar life experiences. It's a nice afternoon's diversion.
—Mike
This is about work and literally nothing else. He mentions friends, he mentions "I took a girl on a date", so you know there's other stuff happening in his life, but it isn't addressed in this book. This is all about the jobs. At first I was kind of disgusted, he whines that he just can't get anywhere, and that people who have good, high-paying jobs are lucky and nothing else. He won't take a better-paying management job because it involves overtime, he steals from the places he works at. Come on.But then you keep reading and realize that this guy IS willing to work, he takes almost any job available. The only thing holding him back, his only demand, is that he wants around 40 hours a week and a day off now and then. Those aren't crazy demands, but job after job turns into crazy, unreasonable nightmares, because these jobs are at the low end of the food chain, and nobody cares enough to make them liveable. Fire the guy who doesn't want to work 80-hour weeks and bring in someone else, there's an endless supply of those willing to take the position. No benefits, no insurance, no problem.You see the rejected interviews, the unlucky circumstances in which he goes to work in the morning and is unemployed that night.The prose isn't mind-blowing, but it gets the job done, and several of the insights are great. Definitely (unfortunately) a snapshot of our times.
—Erica
This was a light read about a dude sort of in my situation. He worked his way through college to get an English degree and a load of debt and when he was done he had trouble finding a job that utilized his skills. So he bounced around America working a variety of strange jobs. The book is kind of like that show "Dirty Jobs" on paper — he ends up doing various crab fishing jobs in Alaska (one of the jobs, sitting in a room and getting fish dropped on him and having to push them through a hole onto a conveyor belt, he lists as the worst job in the world), driving a truck across America and helping people move house, cutting fish in a deli, etc. He makes a few good points about the working situation in America and on higher education, but most of the page space is dedicated to details about the jobs. It's quite entertaining at times and I learned a lot about delivering oil (for warming homes) and doing gross manual labor in Alaska. He's got a decent voice in his writing, but it's a solid three just because it was a little entertaining and a little informative but not like groundbreaking or life-altering. Still, a fun little read here.
—Justin de la Cruz
