A Working Stiff's Manifesto: A Memoir of Thirty Jobs I Quit, Nine That Fired Me,

Description: A Working Stiff's Manifesto by Iain Levison Over the course of ten years Levison worked 42 odd jobs across six states. A vivid and striking tour of wage labor in America, this book is perfect reading for anyone who has raced against the tick of a time clock. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description All 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 cant find the first, cant afford the second, and cant 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.A Working Stiffs Manifesto is a laugh-out-loud memoir of one mans quest to stay afloat. From the North Carolina piedmont to the Alaskan waters, Levisons odyssey takes him on a cross-country tour of wage labor: gofer, oil deliveryman, mover, fish cutter, restaurant manager, cable thief, each job more mind-numbing than the last. A Working Stiffs Manifesto will resonate with anyone who has ever suffered a demeaning job, worn a name badge, or felt the tyranny of the time clock. Author Biography Iain Levison is the author of A Working Stiffs Manifesto, an account of his post-collegiate work experience, consisting of forty-two jobs in ten years, and two novels, Since the Layoffs and Dog Eats Dog. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. Review "Bracing, hilarious and dead on." —The New York Times Book Review"[Levisons] slacker ethos and deadpan delivery make reading Manifesto a job well worth taking."—Entertainment Weekly"There is a naked, pitiless power in [Levisons] work that makes [Manifesto] more valuable than the usual journal of the down-and-out in America."—USA Today"Levison writes tight, punchy prose, with deadpan humor and a mixture of savvy about and sympathy for his fellow working stiffs."—The Wall Street Journal Review Quote "Bracing, hilarious and dead on." -The New York Times Book Review "[Levisons] slacker ethos and deadpan delivery make readingManifestoa job well worth taking."-Entertainment Weekly "There is a naked, pitiless power in [Levisons] work that makes [Manifesto] more valuable than the usual journal of the down-and-out in America."-USA Today "Levison writes tight, punchy prose, with deadpan humor and a mixture of savvy about and sympathy for his fellow working stiffs."-The Wall Street Journal Excerpt from Book Becoming an Associate Its Sunday morning and I am scanning the classifieds. There are two types of jobs in herejobs Im not qualified for and jobs I dont want. Im considering both. There are pages and pages of the first typejobs I will never get. Must know this, must know that. Must be experienced in this and that, for at least six years, and be fluent in Chinese, and be able to fly a jet through antiaircraft fire, and have SIX YEAS experience in open-heart surgery. Starting salary $32,000. Fax your resume to Beverly. Who is Beverly, I wonder, and what does she know that I dont? She knows shes getting a paycheck, for starters. She cant do any of the things required for the job, Im sure, or she would be doing them, instead of fielding phone calls. If I knew Beverly on a personal level, could I get a job doing something at her company? Is that why they dont put Beverlys last name in there, to discourage would-be stalker like me from schmoozing up to her in a bar? From finding out details of her personal life and bumping into her on the subway, after waiting or four hours, then asking her out for a drink; then, after a night of passionate sex, offhandedly wonder if they were hiring for anything down at her firm? I continue on down the column, earning more and more about skills I dont have, about training I will never get, about jobs needed in fields I never even knew existed. Sometimes the Jobs-I-Cant-Do sections contain a hidden morsel, thought. The words "WILL TRAIN" always trigger a Pavlovian slobbering in any qualified bullshit artist. If theyre going to train you, what difference does it make what you used to do? "COMPUTER PROGRAMMER, WILL TRAIN." I know what a computer is. Its one of those TV things with a typewriter attached by a cord. If they want to train me to program it, fine. Then I keep reading. This is an ad for a computer school, where they teach you all about computers for $2,500, then get you a job data processing, also known as typing, for nine dollars an hour. I keep looking. Today, all the WILL TRAINS are for jobs I dont want. "MOVERS NEEDED, $8/hr. to start. WILL TRAIN. Guaranteed overtime." This ad is of the second type. Moving furniture isnt so bad. Its hard work but it has its perks, one of which is you never need to work out when youre doing it because your muscles are torn to shit at the end of everyday. Eight dollars an hour is low for New York. After taxes thatll leave about six. Still, I can deal with that. The problem is the guaranteed overtime. They are obviously understaffed and are trying to make it look like keeping me at work for fourteen hours a day will be doing me a favor. Theyll think because I answered this ad that Im going to be enthusiastic about showing up on Sundays and holidays. "You wanted overtime," theyll crow, "Isnt that why you answered the ad?" I move on down the page. "FISH CUTTERS NEEDED, $12/hr. to start." This is a combination of both types of jobsa job I dont want and a job I cant do-all wrapped up in one neat little package. I worked for two years as a fish processor in Alaska, so I know a thing or two about fish, but I cant cut them and I dont want to. But I can talk fish with anybody. I can bullshit my way through an interview no problem, and by the time they realize I cant cut, Im already on the payroll. Then theyll either have to teach me or fire me, and firing me will involved admitting a mistake, so teaching me it will be. Twelve dollars an hour? Im set. Rent will be paid. Theres a definite trick to applying for jobs for which you are not qualified. Knowing something is key, even if it is just one little fact that you can throw out. You can usually get these facts by listening to boring people. I once spent five hours on a train down to Florida listening to the guy in the next seat ramble on about the woes of house painting, and two days later I was painting houses in Miami after wowing the interviewer with a verbatim rendition of the speech I had just heard. So, with fish, Im set. Just a few mentions of salmon fishing in Alaska, and Im in. Another fact about interviewers is that most interviewers just want to hear themselves talk. In the average job interview, Im usually lucky if I can get a word in edgewise. Interviewers have a captive audience who want something from them, so they can babble away uninterrupted about their restaurant, their business, their life, their opinion of the president, or any subject on their mind. Whos going to disagree with them? Its the perfect dictators forum. "No, sir, actually I think the Presidents doing a fine job," and my application is ripped to shreds the minute Im gone. Ive sat quietly while interviewers tell me facts about their wives, their careers, their golf handicaps, even their first sexual experiences. And they rarely ask anything about me. I go down to the fish stores and we talk fish. This is a high-end fish store, catering to the eclectic needs of housewives from the best areas of New York, I am told. The manager, John, needs someone with a "good attitude," who is "presentable." An ass-kisser with a good haircut. Its the same thing everyone wants, every business from IBM to the local transmission shop. I happen to have a good haircut, and I am relentlessly polite, at least for the first five minutes I meet someone. He tells me to come back tomorrow for orientation, wearing khaki pants and a blue shirt. No questions about fish cutting ability are ever asked. I have a job. Here we go again. Details ISBN0812967941 Author Iain Levison Short Title WORKING STIFFS MANIFESTO Language English ISBN-10 0812967941 ISBN-13 9780812967944 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY B Year 2003 Imprint Random House USA Inc Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States Residence Philadelphia, PA, US Edition 2003rd Subtitle A Memoir of Thirty Jobs I Quit, Nine That Fired Me, and Three I Cant Remember DOI 10.1604/9780812967944 AU Release Date 2003-04-08 NZ Release Date 2003-04-08 US Release Date 2003-04-08 UK Release Date 2003-04-08 Pages 176 Publisher Random House USA Inc Publication Date 2003-04-08 Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:9297213;

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