Customer Reviews

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

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In the last couple of years I've read many books by folks who abandoned their unsatisfying routine lives in search of fulfillment. These stalwart individuals embraced risk by leaving secure jobs to realize a long-buried passion. Some moved to a distant locale vastly different from their longtime home, others subjected themselves to some sort of extreme physical test like climbing a mountain or walking an ancient pilgrimage trail. In the end, most of them felt they made the right decision and were happier and better off as a result. However, Prioleau (pronounced Prew-Lowe) Alexander tells otherwise in this humorous and interesting look at the dark side of life renovation.

As part of the rite-of-passage that characterizes a middle-age existential crisis, Mr. Alexander decides that he has had enough of the advertising field. Despite a lucrative salary, a high-end position, and the misgivings of his wife, he quits. His next downwardly-mobile move is to embrace the simple life. Part of that strategy involves diving into the shallow end of the job pool. "You Want Fries With That?" documents his journey through the minimum-wage world of delivering pizza, jerking ice cream, doing clean-up at a home improvement project, sliding through icky bodily fluids as an ER technician, jockeying a fast-food cash register, and riding herd on a dude ranch.

Our idealistic hero figures that he'll find contentment doing an honest day of service-oriented work. But his dream gives way to disillusionment as he discovers the unromantic nature of these jobs. For example, after tallying up the costs of delivering pizza he finds that he's basically paying for the privilege of feeding his customers. Impolite and unhealthy shoppers make scooping ice cream an exercise in torment. Cleaning up patient leftovers in the ER grosses him out so bad that he finally flees in disgust. And riding a horse on a wagon trail day after day takes a harsh toll on his middle-aged body.

Despite these tribulations, the author manages to dredge humor out of each occupation. Sometimes the customers are his target, but often he pokes fun at himself, bad management, or the oddball workplace procedures he encounters. Indeed, I laughed out loud a couple of times while reading. Be advised that Mr. Alexander's a self-proclaimed "conservative-libertarian religious gun-nut wacko," so his humor has a refreshing lack of political correctness. But in the midst of the laughs, he shatters the myth that the simple life is a noble one. The hours are long, the work is mind-numbing, prestige is non-existent, and the pay sucks. In the end, he abandons ship and returns to the comforting familiarity of white-collar work - much to the relief of his longsuffering spouse and their deteriorating household financial situation. Looking back on his experience, he provides a thoughtful and non-judgmental analysis of why people wind up in these jobs for the long term.

"You Want Fries With That?" was a fun book to read. I'm the same age as the author, and that, along with a shared Marine background, helped me to identify with him. As an aside, I enjoyed how he wove his military experience into his adventures, such as using the SMEAC acronym to describe HVAC work and comparing riding horseback in boxers to getting jacked up by large Samoan dudes. As they say, once a Marine, always a Marine. Dogmatic liberals, the stridently politically-correct, and diehard fans of the book "How Starbucks Saved My Life" may not appreciate Mr. Alexander's take on things, but everyone else will appreciate his lighthearted insights. Recommended with an enthusiastic "Ooh-rah!"

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.

Mr. Alexander's book completely entertained me while making me realize what a gift it is to not have to go to work everyday in one of "those" jobs. A book that gave me a different perspective on life: I certainly treat Pizza delivery guys with a hell of a lot more respect, not to mention the burger guy, the ice cream guy, and the riding on the range guy. The fact that the book is non-fiction, is about this dudes real life experience, and written with unequivocal humor makes it the best book I've read in recent memory.
G. Walters

I can't figure out what the author's first name is, so I'll just use Mr. Alexander. Want Fries With That was a fantastic read; I've often thought of taking the same plunge, and it was a real eye-opener to read the experiences of someone with a gift for humor and perspective tell us what it is REALLY like. Funny, well-organized and ordered, flowing naturally, I just kept turning the pages and seeing the world through a new set of eyewear. Juxtaposing his white collar perspective and expectations against the realities of minimum wage, I thought Mr. Alexander's descriptions of his many co-workers down in the trenches was both sensitive and insightful; how often do we just look through those folks? They are our fellow humans, after all, not just Pizza Guy or Pool Guy or Burger Flipper. A curious, well-handled, and occasionally gut-laughing glimpse of modern American society through the eyes of a writer who has evidently seen all sides of the net and the talent to show it to us in detail. I think even minimum wage folks would get a kick out of reading something about their lives as seen by a writer who actually took the trouble to learn about them. I'd recommend Fries With That to anyone.

Nearly every job has some distasteful aspects. Alexander's book puts them in perspective with humor and, at times, biting satire. If you like P.J. O'Rourke's writing, you'll enjoy this. I recommend this book particularly for someone just starting his work life (e.g., a high school senior) or for someone who complains too much about his well-paying but really-not-so-bad job. Any reader with a decent sense of humor will laugh out loud many times. Not recommended for overly sensitive or politically correct folks.

-Steve Parker, M.D., author of The Advanced Mediterranean Diet: Lose Weight, Feel Better, Live Longer

Auburn University is probably best known for its football team. While that is nice, they count among their alumni author Tim Dorsey, who writes some of the most twisted, hilarious, and entertaining books concerning a serial killer running around the state of Florida. Another writer has emerged from Auburn, Prioleau Alexander, and his first novel is You Want Fries With That: A White-Collar Burnout Experiences Life at Minimum Wage, a novel as twisted and hilarious as the best Dorsey. But while Dorsey works the fiction aisle with success, this novel is an extremely fun non-fiction book.

Contents:
Acknowledgements
Prologue: White Collar, Short Leash
The Pizza Man Cometh
We All Scream, Eventually
Why the Roofer Wants to Kick Your Ass
Good Things Come in Big Boxes
10 ccs of Sanity, Stat . . .
You Want Fries With That?
Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys
Epilogue

At age forty-one, Prioleau Alexander left a highly lucrative job in advertising and marketing. While thinking about all of things that his wife needed him to do, Alexander decided that he needed a job to get out of the house. But he didn't want to get back into advertising and marketing. With no other skills, he decides that minimum wage jobs give him the best opportunity for employment and to stay out of management. Each chapter begins with a little history of the position, provided by Google searches. How much ice cream, pizza, or hamburgers does the average American consume in a year? How did the Bog Box stores get started? Through the magic of Google, Alexander provides you with those answers. And then he launches into his job hunting and interview processes. Finally, we experience him scooping ice cream, delivering pizza, working a construction site as a laborer, and more. All delivered with keen insight, pithy commentary, and, quite often, a large dose of humor.

The premise, alone, lends itself to hilarious shenanigans; a 41 year old attempts to find work at a minimum wage job. Imagine such a person walking into a fast-food restaurant and asking the person behind the counter for an application. Or walking into a local ice cream store. You get the idea. One chapter that really hit home for me, and provided the most laughs, is the dealing with the Big Box stores. I was assisting my son with a job search when we rolled into a well known Big Box. Sitting at the job kiosk, I had similar thoughts as Alexander as we slogged through 30-some pages of on-line employment application. And the results for my son were the same as for Alexander; No job offer. In addition to the actual job search and work, Alexander provides some keen insight into the people that work at minimum wage jobs. Though rife with humor, there are areas where he shows the human side of these jobs. They are not heavy handed, but do lend a nice balance to the comedy. Further, you may actually regard the person behind the counter in a new light. His Epilogue wraps the book up nicely; I think that Alexander has found what he was looking for. An excellent novel from a first time writer; it moves quickly, is edited very well, and leaves the reader looking forward to another book from this excellent writer.

My wife gave me this book and I read the entire thing last night! I could not put it down because of the sense of humor expressed in the author's excellent writing style. As a white collar worker today and a former ice cream scooper in the past it reminds of those simple days scooping the scream and offering over 5,000 taste tests.

Prioleau Alexander's book is a funny, often brutal look into the world of the minimum paying jobs that make our economy move. We have all thought about quitting the "race" to pursue less stressful work--this book should be read before you take that leap. Whether its delivering pizzas, dishing ice cream or working the ER, Alexander provides poignant, yet humorous real-world insight experiences that are a pleasure to read. There will be plenty of times where you will chuckle out loud and snicker at the dialogue shared between 'Lowe and his partners in minimum-wage hell. Think: a more conservative P.J. O'Rourke. Moral of the story? Treat those service employees with plenty of respect unless you enjoy finding surprises inside your pizza.

I just finished reading this book and it is a must read! Alexander is so very funny in his attempt to encourage readers to appreciate their jobs and to show respect to those who do work at minimum wage service jobs that we so often take for granted. I will from now on appreciate my fellow men more and try to treat all people with more respect and compassion! READ THIS BOOK! It will make you a better person!

I absolutely LOVED this book! I was not sure what to expect initially. I was mainly interested in the author because he had on an Auburn cap in his picture on the back inside cover. So I was pleasantly surprised to find myself reading a book I did not want to put down. I have not laughed this hard reading a book in years, possibly since Lewis Grizzard's last one. Prioleau Alexander's writing style was not only consistently hilarious, it was real and charming. Most everyone regardless of age could relate to much of what he writes about - but there was a particular appeal to me as I am also in my forties. Who hasn't thought about leaving the rat race at some time or another? Well, this guy does just that, and I am glad he chose to share his unusual journey with us. And if you think he is funny, just think of his wife - she has got to have the best sense of humor of all. God bless her.