Customer Reviews

Job Hopper: The Checkered Career of a Down-Market Dilettante

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Ayun Halliday's newest book is about her Ms. adventures in the semi-unskilled job market while in her twenties. Funny, frenetic and sometimes fastidious, she gives the details of roughly fifteen work situations: the highs and lows - mostly lows. Workers are indifferent, bosses are incapable and customers are incorrigible.

In all fairness, I should state that I am in this book as one of Ayun's former employers, which is like appearing as a rabbi in a book about the Spanish Inquisition written by Torquemada. I'm not quite sure that everything Ayun says about me is the truth but more importantly, I'm not quite sure if everything she says about herself is exactly true. Mostly, she implies that she is incompetent, lazy and goofy. She is just the opposite.

I worked with her over fifteen years ago and even back then when she was in and then just out of college, she appeared to be the perfect everywoman. A good and conscientious waitress, she was alive and fascinated with everything. She seemed like the perfect student/ actress/ literature nut/ politically sensitive party girl. Perhaps it was this perfection which sent her cascading from job to job in search of the ideal situation.

When she finally does find a position that gives her happiness, she finds it in her heart to lambaste the employer who saved her and several of her clients. Well, maybe she's not so perfect after all but she is wonderful and has written a book that's fun to read which concludes on a positive if coprophagous note.

This book hits ever so close to home and the "what if" thoughts that flash through my mind once in a while when I fall into crazy reveries while slogging through the slower parts of my, albeit awesome, job.

I too was a theatre nerd (but, you know, the cool kind) and spent a short period after college exploring the same path as Ayun: half-heartedly working crap jobs by day, and doing experimental theatre [......] Fortunately, my low tolerance for audition rejections and the sickening appeal of paid vacations, forced me to bail on "the life" a mere 18 months later and I became a willing tool of the Man for nine surprisingly swift years (now I'm a used car salesman in Little Rock, jealous?).

Seriously, I loved (and deeply commiserated with) this book. You just can't make this stuff up. Believe me, I tried. Even if you didn't come a whisker away from this lifestyle like I did, the stories will draw you in, make you shake your head and wonder how some people get through the day without being arrested or accidentally killing themselves. These are sociological findings that college professors pay good money for, not to mention being hilarious. Ayun is a wizard at taking all forms of misery, and the jackholes that play supporting roles, and making it funny. This is something I'm put in the position of doing all too often, so I know it ain't easy.

Good one Ayun.

Ayun Halliday is one of my favorite writers. I've been a fan ever since reading her East Village Inky zine years ago, which she continues to publish. I've also gotten to see her read live, and she is one of the most lively readers I have ever seen. Anyway, this excellent collection of stories about her various jobs is charming, honest, eye-opening, touching (especially the story of her job at Dave's Italian Kitchen), and most importantly, hilarious. The picture of Ayun at the end of her introduction is a perfect represenation of how great this book is: It's nostalgic, a bit-crazed, and funny. My favorite story is the last one, about Ayun's experiences as a massage therapist. Very revealing about the nature of the job, about customers, and about one particualar boss... Quite a character. I highly recommend this book.

Ayun Halliday returns to neighborhood bookshelves with her third book, and her best-written to date. Her characteristic wit and keen observational skills give this book the perfect combination of hilarity and readability. Written in short vignettes, we follow the many odd jobs of a highly-skilled but underrecognized actress as she wends her way through young adulthood. This book has appeal for nearly everyone, not just the struggling artists who can identify with her plight. Halliday manages to balance self-deprication with self-determination in this unconventional coming-of-age tale. I recommend it highly for your favorite graduate this year, or for anyone who needs a good side-splitting laugh!

Ayun Halliday scores again with this funny and thought provoking book about her 20's (+ some 30's!) which seem to ominously echo my own (artist not actor although the money scrambling looks a little too familiar). I was introduced to her writing by The Big Rumpus which is a must have for any formerly "cool" person who looks in the mirror one day to discover that they are indeed the Mommy, and "cool" is a distant memory. There have been so many bad jobs in my past and Job Hopper was at times so realistic I could almost smell the bad sour bar smell when I was the opening bartender and remember how the shift stretched before me and seemed unikely ever to end. Everyone has had a temp/restaurant/other (the scariest)job that we have tried to forget but the best thing about this book is that she is able to remind you, in her trademark hilarious way, that those days that we remember as being carefree and easy were sometimes just awful! But it is so funny to remember! I laughed and I cringed and most of all I enjoyed my trip down my own memory lane and remembered all the things I may have never recalled but for reading this book.It made me really appreciate not only the good old days but the current "much easier even with three kids" ones-sans crazy kitchen help and rent worries. Life is crazy and so are its phases but Ayun sure can help us see the humor in it!

The premise in Ayun Halliday's "Job Hopper" is an interesting one; that few people mourn the loss of those arduous, sometimes disgusting or incredibly boring jobs with tyrants among both the employer/manager as well as the coworkers.

Her fond memories are of the camaraderie with her fellow, often unappreciated workers. Whether someone is a rebel and not career-minded, or an artist, unable to make ends meet with the income they make in their own field -- those who resist "career-like" jobs often do so because they cannot relate to the office atmosphere, and the "costume" required to fit in.

Ms. Halliday's telling of her various "day jobs" is terrifically funny and often, cringe worthy. So why would she miss that stage of her life? Because there's something to be said for variety and being "the help" (for lack of a better term.) It symbolizes youth, a rejection of the mainstream, and allows her to bond with the other shleps. Together, they look down on those who look down on them -- generally those who are mean or impossible to please, and think their positions in life automatically make them better than those who choose a different path.

If you've ever had a job that was ridiculously bizarre or infinitely frustrating, you will love this book!

What a fun idea for a book! I love the comedic tour through various jobs, some of which I have held (and in the same area, since I graduated from the same University, albeit a decade or so later.) Classic Ayun Halliday style is applied to her adventures through the world of the classic jobs of youth. Humor, honesty, candor, fun, rollicking storytelling; all that you'd expect from this author.

Reading Ayun Halliday's books is a lot like listening to a story being told to you by your best friend. Her writing style is easy to follow and spares nothing to give you the story just as if she were saying it directly to you. Job Hopper is something with which everyone can identify. Ayun owns up to her flaws and tells the whole thing without sparing even the grimiest of details. This way, you are left with no questions but are also nodding your head in agreement with her "adventures" in the job world. Whether you are thanking God you were spared jobs like these or you are feeling her pain, this book is a fantastic read.

Some of these are the jobs we've all had at some point in our lives: temp, telemarketer (ok, I've had these jobs). Others are jobs we've only thought about: larger-than-life department store Bert and Ernie, failed costume maker.

Wherever life takes Ayun Halliday, antics are sure to follow. Romping with us through these fictionalized reflections on her somewhat checkered career past, Halliday sheds a light reminiscent of Barbara Ehrenreich's on serious issues like poor wages and working conditions... without ever crossing over into self-pity or depression.

Halliday's book, we know, has a happy ending - her regular readers will know she's gone on to become a successful mama, zine publisher, author, wife and more. So this chapter - this series of chapters - reads like a funny preface to Halliday's REAL life, the life that began when all this job hopping ended.

A light, quick and insightful read. Brava!

As an aspiring actress author Ayun Halliday wished to keep her business commitments and work life flexible: her Job Hopper: The Checkered Career Of A Down-market Dilettante provides both a funny and thought-provoking review of these many jobs which avoided regular paychecks, hard work, and a dress code. This could have appeared under 'humor', but any involved in business and the work world will especially appreciate Halliday's humor, and will find Job Hopper packed with funny realism.