Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs at the Turn of the Millennium

by Marisa Bowe (Editor), John Bowe (Editor), Sabin Streeter (Editor)

More than 150 people in common and unusual occupations talk about their lives and work in the new economy, encompassing the human experience from a labor-support doula to a funeral home director.

For the last several years, the editors of Word, the pioneering Web magazine, have been sending interviewers—nearly forty in all—across America to talk to people about their jobs. They wanted to document reality, not to advance any overarching thesis or political agenda. Their sole position on work was that it's a fascinating topic and an elemental part of nearly everyone's life. They were certainly not disappointed with what they found; this wide-ranging survey of the American economy at the turn of the millennium is stunning, surprising, and always entertaining. It gives us an unflinching view of the fabric of this country from the point of view of the people who keep it all moving.

Recalling Studs Terkel's 1972 classic best-seller, Working, the more than 120 roughly textured monologues that make up Gig beautifully capture the voices of our fast-paced and diverse economy. The selections demonstrate how much our world has changed—and stayed the same—in the last three decades. If you think things have speeded up, become more complicated and more technological, you're right.

But people's attitudes about their jobs, their hopes and goals and disappointments, endure. Gig's soul isn't sociological—it's emotional. The wholehearted diligence that people bring to their work is deeply, inexplicably moving. People speak in these pages of the constant and complex stresses nearly all of them confront on the job, but, nearly universally, they throw themselves without reservation into coping with them. Instead of resisting work, we seem to adapt to it. Some of us love our jobs, some of us don't, but almost all of us are not quite sure what we would do without one.

With all the hallmarks of another classic on this subject, Gig is a fabulous read, filled with indelible voices from coast to coast. After hearing them, you'll never again feel quite the same about how we work.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology, Business, Essays, Economics, Biography, History

588 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Marissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book really fascinating for reasons I did not expect. It is a book composed of condensed 3 or 4 page interviews with people in a fairly comprehensive range of jobs. I checked it out because I thought it might give me some guidance about types of jobs or careers that might be interesting to me. What I took away from it was more of a nuanced insight into how different people think of their work, what they like and don't like about the jobs they do, the casual, sociological knowledge they gain from their work experiences, and how they manage to justify it all to themselves at the end of the day.

After reading so many substance-less anti-work, anarchist screeds against work through my college years, it was really great to read this book about the pluses and minuses of having to make a living that is more complex and ambivalent. The book gives you a snapshot portrait of the make-up of our modern lives in a way few other books I've read do. It is very interesting to see the effects of class disparity in a more subtle, inside-out way.

Just in general, it is nice to read something that kind of zooms out, giving you a broader picture of the working world. Especially when it is so easy to zoom in on your own job with all it's little hassles and satisfactions, without a clear sense of what else might be out there. While reading the book, it's interesting to think about how remotely aware many of these people are of the work experiences of others around them, the alternate lives that exist even in related industries. A lot of us live weirdly compartmentalized lives, both in the sense of the separation between our professional and personal lives and in the sense of how dimly we are aware of other people's basic, day-to-day realities. In a weird way, American's obsession with the extraordinary has created a culture where really mundane stuff is very mysterious and obscure.

This book also had the bonus of making me reflect on my current job and what my feelings are about it in comparison to other jobs I've had. It helped me sort of re-frame my thought processes about it. Overall a really engrossing, affecting read.

[Natsu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up at a point when I was a little bored of the fictional characters in the novel that I was reading. Because the characters were pretty unrealistic and unrelatable, I was looking for something more authentic, more vivid, more true to life.

This is a compilation of interviews of over 120 Americans talking candidly about their jobs. An insider‘s views on occupations like slaughterhouse human resources director, crime scene cleaner, palm reader etc. were very intriguing, and I was completely engrossed throughout.

Each person explains what an average workday is like, advantages/disadvantages of their jobs, and their prospects for the future. By reading their stories, I was totally amazed at the diversity of the world we live in, and was reminded that there is a captivating story behind every person on the face of this earth.

Also, I felt so indebted to everyone for what they do as their jobs, because without their efforts, either directly or indirectly, I probably won’t be where I am now. By simply giving a thought to the people involved in bringing meat to my dinner table, and what each and every one of them have gone through to make that possible, a feeling of gratitude swept over me, and made me think that the world isn’t such a bad place after all.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

People talking candidly about their jobs, that's what this book is all about. Some of the interviews are a bit dated (copyright 2001), like all the people in the tech sector talking about how their businesses are taking off, but overall, the people interviewed are interesting and you get a good survey of the fundamental questions about other people's jobs--how they got into it, why they're doing it, how they feel about it, etc. The book is especially good because it covers a diverse array of careers (temp to CEO, telephone pot dealer to police officer, pornstar to minister), an array of people (men and women in jobs traditionally for the other sex, different races and ethnicities), and from different parts of the US (I won't say all 50 states, but at least half).

Overall, the book reinforced a lot of common sense about jobs: nobody's job is perfect; everyone has special problems to deal with; for some people, that's a deal-breaker, but most adapt; plenty of people would rather be doing something else; for people that are lucky and driven, they get to that something else. And as for the funniest? The cake goes to the UPS Delivery Man (those brown shorts get him a lot of dates), the Housewife (the single funniest line is her talking about the teletubbies), and the Congressman (Barney Frank, any questions?).

[Christopher Litsinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is interesting to me on a lot of levels. It is essentially a series of interviews about what people do for a living. It may very well be the first book developed from a website; I'd be curious if anyone is aware of an earlier one. Unlike the current craze of personal memoir (blog) books, or coffee table LOLz books, this is actually very journalistic in nature. These stories seem like they were collected by audio interviews, and it's hard to imagine any website doing that today. The fact that it was collected during the dotcom craze influences the interviews, and increases the value of the book as a sociological commentary. I'm curious now to read Studs Terkel's Working, which was the inspiration for this book. Simply fascinating.

[Evin Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

At 700 pages, I hit a wall at 400 -- I began to bemoan how it seemed unending, though each individual story was interesting. Overall, it's a great series of vignettes stringing together a wholesome narrative of 2000's Americana. I'd love to see it revised to today's 2016, as a great deal has changed in our professional landscape, particularly in terms of AI.

Gig's editors certainly had a hand to play in that "wholesome" aura -- but I continue to muse on whether it's a general human attitude towards work that emanates this aura, or whether it is something rooted in American culture. Either way, it was a charming and candid portrayal of all sorts of people. I was often surprised at how candid certain worker bees were; either they felt secure enough in their jobs to name names and list grievances, or their interviewers were particularly adept at ferreting out true opinions.

A couple passages towards the end made me laugh:

Sailor, Jonny (p.561): "I've been all over the States, all over the world. I like mostly in the States. Florida, California, New York -- they're great. Because I can understand it. Other places are awkward. I like 'em, but they're awkward. Different cultures, different customs, beliefs. Turkey, you know?"

City Planner, Deborah Rouse (p.594): "There's a lot of attacking. [Laughs] My days are made up of a lot of potentially confrontational gatherings. It's funny, because when I was an architect, I once had a very aggressive boss. She was very talented and very tough, and she used to tell me I was a marshmallow."

Then, the most beautiful:

Psychiatric Rehabilitation Therapist, Jonathan Brown (p.648): "What really interests me is how people react in enclosed spaces. Because, in an enclosed space, when you put two people together, that's where the soul is made. That's my belief. When I'm dealing with someone who has no defenses -- where all of the subterranean stuff in their brain is exhibited, it's like being on the shore of the ocean, seeing everything get washed up. New things keep being brought to shore every minute. It's like all these shells that are in the brain that get smoothed and sanded by their journey from underneath to the surface of the shore. They just keep washing up. You can just examine them and you don't know exactly where they've been completely. All you have is an echo of a former self."

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was fascinating to read - it's a bunch of people talking candidly about their jobs. Some of them are shocking, some uplifting, some downright depressing. But all of them were very interesting. My favorites were the florist (because I've always had a secret desire to be florist), the software engineer (because he had fabulous insights on the differences in lifestyle between socialist nations and capitalist ones), and the McDonald's crew member (her uplifting spirit and sense of self is infectious). The scariest one was the Wal Mart greeter - why? Because he's a retired teacher and I kept thinking - oh god. I'm a teacher, is that what's going to happen to me?

This is the sort of book you can pick up and read and put down again, and a great one to have around if you just need someone short to pass the time. (Not that it's short, it's very long, but each story is brief). And note to self: don't let the UPS guys use your bathroom.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books like this need to be required high school reading. Seriously. I would make this required Senior year reading. Everyone has to pick five(5) jobs that sound interesting, and another five(5) that would be the least interesting to them. Final project would be a short (5-10 pages) essay and what the students feel are the pros and cons of each of their choices, and maybe describe what they think a typical day might be like (for them) in their most interested and least interested career picks. The point would be to get young adults a basic comprehension of what a typical working day is, from real working people, in a wide array of career fields. In the book, most of the interviews have what each interviewee feels are the good and bad of their chosen careers. If I had read this book 30 years ago, I think I would have had a much better understanding of what moms and dads are actually all day; the amount of hard work and hours some people (especially self-employed) put into their jobs.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book of unstructured interviews with Americans, about their jobs. It is transcribed in their own words (though with all the annoying um’s and uh’s helpful edited out), so it preserves the diversity of regional accents, educational levels, and idiosyncratic speech patterns for a down-to-earth flavor.

At first glance, you would think this was a book about employment, about the ways we make money. But it is really about how we live, and what we live for.

The book is organized by profession, so you hear from a Walmart greeter about purpose, from a record executive about selling out, from a trans prostitute about what it means to be loved and lovable. You learn about how to run a successful business from a drug dealer, read with morbid fascination about the difficulty in separating fiction from reality, as discussed by an FBI agent pretending to be a child to catch pedophiles. You hear about what makes people happy from a taxidermist and about morals from a paparazzi photographer. Most of the stories bring up money, and they all talk about time.

It’s a very important book for anyone to read, and absolutely, can’t-look-away fascinating. But what surprised me is that the more stories I read, the more I realized work isn’t about making a living. It’s about making meaning.

Jobs are the part of our lives where we are the most objectively valued. We are given our score in dollars, in promotions, in compliments and reprimands. In stockholder values and customer satisfaction surveys. And we need that.

In every single story throughout the book, I was shocked (and frequently horrified) at the number of hours a day and days a week that people were working. America is not on the 40 hour a week plan anymore, folks. That is obvious. But the further I read, the more I realized it wasn’t really because the bosses were forcing their workers into these hours. I mean, yes, in some cases it was, but even in those cases the workers were complicit, for one simple reason:
We need to be needed.

Work is a place where we can be useful, where we can do something we are good at, and do our part to keep society functioning.

And now I hope you’re sitting down, because this is the part where I’m going to get really revolutionary and offensive.

I found that to the vast majority of the people in this book, the satisfaction they got from work was more necessary to them than time with their families. The love, support and companionship they got from their families, hobbies, friends and personal life just couldn’t compete with the rush of being indispensible. Of providing a service no one else could provide.

Most of the interviewees didn’t say as much in words, but their actions spoke clearly and in direct contrast to what I suspect most of them believe their values to be. In the end, they chose to spend more of their time working than at home. Over and over and over again.

Now, to most of us, this is a hard conclusion to swallow.

To someone like me, who has made serious sacrifices to have the freedom to work only when I please, it sounds flat-out crazy.

But maybe it’s not that they’re choosing work over love.

Maybe they’re simply choosing purpose over pleasure.

Considered that way, it’s easier to sympathize, and perhaps painfully easy to see the parallels in our own lives.

However, since this is a book about jobs, we should probably also look at the day to day, not just the philosophical. Having gobbled my way through 126 interviews from people in different professions, I have drawn a few overall lessons about how to choose a “good” vs. “bad” career, whether you’re sweeping the floors at McDonalds or managing a hedge fund.

So here it is, folks, the bulleted list you should give your kids when they start debating fireman vs. ballerina. The list you should look at when you come home on that one particular Wednesday and you just know you cannot go back to that place for even one more day, but you don’t know where you should send your resume next. In the world of work, pay matters, benefits matter, schedule definitely matters, but these things matter more.

When you have a good job, you should have:
-A sense that even if you are not the only one doing this job, there are ways in which you are particularly suited for it. Ways in which you do the job better because of who you are.
-An understanding of the overall importance of the job, and why it needs to be done.
-Visible, measurable results of your labor, whether it is the smile of a customer, one less person in prison, a profit and loss statement, an embalmed corpse, a healthy baby, or a buffalo.
-A boss that treats you with respect and measures your performance with fair, objective standards.
-An acceptable level of physical danger. Many people get hurt at work. Choose a job where the possibilities for getting hurt are only as high as you feel comfortable with. No, really.
-A sense that your job makes you more proud of who you are, not less.

This editor also did another book called Us: Americans Talk About Love, in which he asked Americans aged 5 to 85 one question: “Tell me about the love of your life.”

After reading both, I have to say that Us and Gig are two books so relevant to the contemporary human condition that they should both grace every bookshelf in America.

[Raewyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a good time, what more can you ask for

[Dennies Chung · Rating 5 out of 5]

“When you work for ten or twelve hours a day, there is not much left for real life, you know? There is talk about free markets, but somehow I think it is just for big companies, not for the people that are working for them.” (Pg. 24)

“ whatever you do, I’ve always taught my kids, you’re not doing it for them, you’re doing it for yourself. You have to respect your work, not who you’re doing it for. This job is no more meaningful than any other job except that means something to me. I think that’s the case with a lot of people here.” (Pg. 42)

Amazing book with very interesting stories told by people from all walks of life: people working in the corporate grind to those working in your not-so-usual jobs. There were themes of hard work and resilience which I loved. Everybody had their reasons for their choice of career: some loved their job, some were indifferent about their jobs, and - as you could imagine - others hated their jobs, but what got them through it all was their goals: their inspirations and their aspirations (e.g. provide for their families, buy a bigger house, greed, etc.).

What I loved most about this book was the editors' choice of honesty and transparency with their interviewees' responses. These interviews were done in a different era (pre-to-early 2000s), but it's still no excuse. There were obvious signs of ignorance, racism, and bigotry but at the same time this level of openness and honesty - I think - really elevated the book. It made the interviews and the book feel genuine. No one held back and they gave an honest and full assessment of their life and job no matter how good or bad it might seem.

I think this book really tells the story of what it means to be human and what it means to work. It's a story of greed, love, desperation, hate, and the importance of craft.

The most powerful stories were those where you could really connect with the interviewee: they may have had a job to provide for their family and others for the pure love of their craft no matter how complex or simple their craft may seem.

[Ana-Maria Bujor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book and found out quite a lot of things about all sorts of jobs. Maybe your Walmart greeter is a retired teacher with a PhD in education (who also loves his job), maybe the finance and stock exchange specialist at a fancy firm fears getting shot like one of his colleagues, maybe the grumpy and sketchy guy selling guns in a small store is one of the most ethical folks when it comes to gun use. There are a lot of stories like this, ranging from your regular UPS delivery guy to famous actors and movie producers. And surprisingly, the "famous" chapter was one of the most boring to me. The HR at the meat processing company, the call center team leader and the mortician had a lot better stories to tell.

And all of them together create a very strong book about people's search for meaning. The outdoor fruit seller and the temp who spent his entire life as a temp appreciate the meaning they get from the job together with the FBI agent and the surgeon. People mention money, but barely for the most part. All of them need it, but the rest is way more important. All told through dozens, of funny, grueling and inspiring stories.

The only things that kept this book from getting a higher score from me are some of the less interesting stories and the year it was written in. Some of the problems and technologies no longer exist now.

PS: the palm reader had to be Romanian, of course

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This book was an Experience™. If you're like me and you love seeing a window into strangers' lives and gaining insight on the world as a whole, I definitely recommend.

With the scope of professions and people interviewed, it opened my eyes to a lot of different perspectives and experiences in America and all these nuances to social issues. I live in a very liberal bubble and like many other youths of today, I'm passionate about social justice. And there are so many small things that I saw that are just so unfair and frustrating but there really is nothing to make it all change because of all these different aspects and complexities of each situation.

Another thing I enjoyed was just the blatant honesty and opinions in each interview. It wasn't a bunch of boring essays just describing only the job, but rather like somebody was just talking to you in a conversation. There were no filters, and while there were definitely people for whom I was dismayed at their casual bigotry, it definitely showed that this was a true representation of America and nobody was lying to convince people to join the job.

All in all, I'm very grateful I was recommended this book and if it's remotely interesting to you, I encourage you to try it out.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a lot of fun!

It's basically, people just talking about their various jobs around the country. You get to read about everything from someone at Kinko's (yeah, this was written a while back) to a movie producer, to a doula. I got to learn about jobs I'd never thought about before, and a few, I may have paged through, as I'd worked that job or it wasn't as interesting as some of the other ones. Let me tell you, though, the job title didn't necessarily dictate which jobs were the most interesting to read about.

This isn't really a book you read for the writing, as it really is the transcription of what these people are saying about what they do. I think this book is one that many of us should read. So often, we live in our little bubbles, and we know all these things about our own industries, but we never venture out and meet people in other industries. This book, allows you to do that.

[Rachel Smalter Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine that you're reading transcript after transcript from Ira Glass' This American Life. This will give you a little bit of an idea what's in store for you as you curl up with Gig.

My sis gave me this book for Christmas, and it got me through some cold, dark, lonely winter days. These were my friends: the Wal-Mart Greeter, the Slaughterhouse HR Rep, the Hat-Store Owner, the Film Director. The most fascinating tales often came from the people with the most dull-sounding jobs, like the University IT Security guy.

Some of these people were really sweet, some were really boring, and some were just plain awful, soulless, money-grubbing jerks. And of course, some were actually happy while some probably never will be. But, as I read, I found it comforting that we're all just out there, trying to make it all work out.

[Nadia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This type of book should be printed every ten years or so. I originally picked this book up because of the title, "Gig." I assumed that Gig would mean it was printed recently, as in the gig economy. However, this book is from 1999 and already a lot of it is out of date. As a time piece, it is really interesting. Maybe not the best title, I can see the authors wanted to use a term that is a call back to Studs Terkel's Working but the term Gig alludes more to part time/contractor/not necessarily permanent position.

Overall, a fascinating collection of people and their relation to their jobs. Collections like these are necessary because it puts into perspective the types of jobs out there and the realities of work.

[Morganelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fascinating to me; it illustrated that the reasons why people choose the kind of work they do and how they feel towards it are as numerous and unique as the people themselves. The book covers the occupations you'd expect, but also sheds light on lesser-known occupations like moving huge pieces of art, or supervising workers at a chicken slaughtering facility, to give two examples.

After I read this book, I felt I had learned more about the US's economy, demography, regional differences, and people in general.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great escape. Hardly short of reading mini-documentaries on the lives of people you pass on the street. It truly defines the idea that everybody has a story. Embarrassingly enough, I think this book really brought to life the fact that someone has to clean up a crime scene. Why I had never thought of that before? I don't know! But it's a fantastic book--you'll find yourself anxious to read more and more.

[Santos · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading the Interview of the teacher I realized that this book did not accurately represent the typical experience of people in their jobs. I found some of the interviews ridiculous and appalling. I just couldn't get past some of it.

[Kris Dersch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been on my mind lately because I find myself wondering how well it would hold up in the gig economy. Wonderful voices of real live working Americans from across the spectrum of profession, class, gender, etc. Characters come screaming to life off its pages.

[John Stepper · Rating 4 out of 5]

HR Director of a Slaughterhouse.
High School Math Teacher.
Flight Attendant.
Nurse.
UPS Driver.
…

How much do we really know about what people do for work? And how they feel about it?

This book is modeled after the 1972 classic, “Working”, by Studs Terkel. “The selections demonstrate how much our world has changed - and stayed the same - since then.”

The 120 stories, told in first person, evoke empathy and consideration for human beings we might otherwise overlook.

Poignant and compelling, the book inspires me to try and truly see the individual behind the job, whatever that job might be.

[Apricity · Rating 4 out of 5]

BOOK SCOUTS
You can't speed-read literature, but most of what I'm looking at is commercial fiction where you're basically reading for plot. It's not like the language is so intricate

Fortunately, scouts are salaried, so we don't have a pecuniary interest in any particular book. We're on retainer—we get a flat fee every month from our clients by contract and our income is steady. That means we just report on any book we think will be of interest to our clients. We learn their taste and they learn ours. It's kind of an ideal situation. The downside is that it's a ton of work. I read two or three manuscripts a week on my own time.

Eighty percent of our information comes from open sources—like newspapers and magazines—but the other twenty comes from our ability to get stuff that other people can't—stuff that depends on your relationships in the industry and your moles. A lot of what makes a good scout is just having incredible social skills. [...] Also, as a scout, the book world dominates your social world. You go to parties all the time within a small gossipy community. Your friends are the people in publishing you talk shop to all day long. The only thing I ever hear is, “This just sold to so-and-so.” It would be nice to break out and have friends with other interests, but I work so much I don't see that happening anytime soon. Likewise, a vacation seems kind of out of the question right now. I mean, it's really hard to go away in scouting because if you leave for a week you've missed, like, thirty books.


DATING SHOW
We have a hotline, but the people that call into the show are the worst. They're usually singles, and they come in like fat with no teeth and they want to get an interview to try and find their ideal mate. They think they can date some hot sexy chick or some stud with money. They're really bad. We hardly ever use any of them.
The number one thing with guys is they play Playstation too much. Or, they do the thing at the beginning of the relationship where they open up the doors and, after a while, they're lounging around the couch and watching television and they don't give a shit. They're lazy and the girls get tired of that. With the girls, it's a lot of: “She's too flirty. She dresses too sexy.” Basically, kind of jealousy issues around the guy.


DRUG SALES
I'll get a call from a doctor and they've got a model. Or there's somebody in politics. There's somebody who's too famous to have their name put on any insurance form for taking an antidepressant. So what happens? They want them to have samples. They want them to be given the product without anybody knowing that they're having the product. That happens at least once a month. I don't always give them the samples. I mean, I have to prioritize my—I'm only given so many resources. Resources for myself are samples and my budget. And I have to allocate them to grow my business. So if some doctor calls me up who I don't know because they primarily do psychotherapy and they don't write a lot of prescriptions, I'm not gonna give them samples, no matter who they're for. Because I need to save my samples for my best clients.

We have performance appraisals once a year, and we're expected—they want about a twenty percent increase in sales every year. Roughly. Meaning the doctors in my territory have to write twenty percent more prescriptions for Eli Lilly drugs this year than they did last year. That's the target. It's not easy.

LOBBYIST
To use a very eighties term, a lot of what I do is called networking. I network like a dog. I mean, if I just went to the office and went to my appointments and did my job and did not incorporate extracurricular activities, I know for a fact that I wouldn't be as successful in achieving the goals I have achieved for the tribe—or, for that matter, my own personal and political goals. Outside-of-work activities are definitely important in getting ahead. I've served as a national committee man for Young Republicans, which is an auxiliary of the Republican National Committee; I served on the board of directors for the Florida State Society and now I'm the incoming president—it's a social/professional group here, which is a boon because it gives me direct access to the political and business leaders in the state; also, the Masons, which is where I do all of my volunteer work; and I'm president of the Toys for Tots Benefit Gala—not the president of the organization, just the benefits; as well as other social stuff, like I'm on the bachelor committee for the National Debutante Cotillion. And all of these things have helped me with my job. They've brought me myriad contacts and I can't imagine not doing them.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book follows a very simple formula. People across a wide variety of jobs were asked to talk about their work and the interviews are presented, with minimal editing. Thus, the structure mimics that of Studs Terkel's 1972 classic "Working" Although there are a couple of famous names (Jerry Bruckheimer, Heidi Klum), the great majority of the contributions are from 'ordinary people'.

It’s remarkable how well things turned out. The book is wide-ranging, consistently interesting, fun to read, and the contributions ring true. Almost every interview contained something that was surprising, funny, touching, or downright fascinating – many combined all these elements. I think the book’s success rests on two factors: the editors’ broadly inclusive, imaginative approach to the selection of ‘jobs’ to include, and their wisdom in adopting a relatively ‘hands-off’ editing style, allowing the contributors’ distinctive voices to come through.

There is an appealing wit to the book’s organization as well. In the opening essay, the reader is welcomed by a Walmart’s ‘greeter’. Almost 700 pages later, Beverly Valentine, a funeral director from Mount Vernon, NY, offers us some closure in the final essay. There are very few duds among the 120 or so contributions in between.

The scope is far-ranging. Contributions are grouped under the following broad headings:

• Workers and Managers
• Goods and Services
• Buyers and Sellers
• Transportation
• Plants and Animals
• Food
• Media
• Artists and Entertainers
• Sports and Gambling
• Sex
• Children and Teachers
• Lawyers and the Law
• Government and Military
• Bodies and Souls

The relatively bland nature of these headings doesn’t do justice to the quirkiness of the individual essays. Kudos to the editors for having the imagination to invite representation from the following ‘professions’:

• corporate headhunter
• corporate identity consultant
• clutter consultant
• crime scene cleaner
• drug dealer
• dog trainer
• food stylist
• paparazzo
• television guest coordinator
• heavy metal roadie
• Elvis interpreter
• bookie
• porn star
• adult webmistress
• transvestite prostitute
• doula
• FBI agent
• prisoner
• army psych ops specialist
• lobbyist
• psychiatric rehabilitation therapist
• telephone psychic

Unlike, for example, in Susan Orlean’s ‘The Bullfighter Checks her Makeup’, which focuses on the unusual, more standard professions (autoworker, sales rep, waitress, journalist, high school basketball coach, teacher, trial lawyer, nurse, minister) are well-represented among the profiles in this book. It is heartening (and maybe a little surprising) that the great majority of people interviewed are passionate about their work. Though not all, by any means – one of the funniest profiles is the UPS driver (‘usually, when I’m out there, I just do everything I can to not actually work. .... on my stops I watch TV, make phone calls, flirt with secretaries, call my friends, go shopping, read the newspaper, go swimming in the summer at a motel pool’ – and that’s when he’s not checking out the porn and donuts at his favorite delivery sites).

If I had to pick a favorite, it would be the florist: ‘it’s like people come to me at the important occasions in their lives .... I think what I do brings beauty into people’s lives’.

But the great majority of profiles in this book held my interest, and a surprising number were quite moving. I highly recommend this collection.

[Shaan Amin · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the most fascinating, moving, and thought-provoking books I've read in my life. a marvel of sociological research. the total lack of moral judgment that the interviewers interject into this (in fact, the interviewers' questions aren't even included inside) make people shockingly honest about their work and relationship to work. there's a few considerations:

(a) this was written at the turn of the century, so quite a bit of the material is dated. I think this makes the book more interesting rather than less...there's seeds of industrial developments people recognize, that lend a tragic feel, like the collapse of American manufacturing. people also don't speak with pseudotherapeutic truisms---the language is shockingly direct, even poetic. but also...some of the terms people use are now widely considered slurs.

(b) there are no trigger warnings, at all. this is something I'm normally rather neutral about, but material in here includes a man describing raping a minor, a white man using the n-word to describe black people, an undocumented immigrant describing torturous conditions in a poultry factory, and so on, a Border Patrol agent talking proudly about being violent towards border-crossers. It's not all this dark, but readers should know that before reading this

[Barry Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A compilation of over 120 interviews with Americans talking about their jobs. These interviews, conducted by nearly 40 interviewers, are patterned after Stud Terkel’s book Working, written in 1972. Over 600 pages long, Gig has an incredibly diverse collection of frank, first-person discussions on a wide range of occupations, from Wal-Mart greeter and crime scene cleaner to a poultry factory worker and a member of Congress. As a result, the book provides an interesting way to get a sense of what diverse types of jobs are like from the inside out.
Some caveats are necessary in reading this book, however. For one, the editors decided to include a collection of articles from the sex “industry,” one area I would have preferred they omit. Also, since these are verbatim, unexpurgated interviews, a good number of the individuals use coarse and profane language quite freely in telling their tales. With these concerns stated, Gig can still provide some fascinating insights. So, if you are considering becoming a bookie, turn to page 421. Or, if you fancy becoming a supermodel, start on page 292. You get the idea.

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really interesting and I'm glad that I randomly picked it up at Powell's. It is short, candid stories of people talking about what their jobs are all about. It covers ALL jobs, this thing is 700 pages long. But it's great, because it's all short, non sequitur stories so you can spread it out over a long period of time. Some of the stories are starting to become a little out of date. In one of them, the guy explains in great detail what this newfangled Powerpoint thing is that he uses at his job! This just adds to the entertainment factor. Another underlying theme that I'm not sure the authors even intended, is what it's like for women to work in jobs that aren't traditionally filled by women. There are tons of stories that happen to be women surrounded by men at work that I found really interesting (probably because I'm one of them). Would be a good read for people coming out of college or high school who want to know what some careers are really like.

[Catherine Welker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. There's a story about a Russian bartender in NYC who my friend and I visited back in 2006. Good stuff. It's an homage to Studs Terkel's Working: People Talk about What They do all Day.
Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs is a compelling collection of interviews. This book captures the voices of over 120 individuals from various professions, offering a vivid snapshot of the American workforce at the turn of the millennium. Through these personal narratives, readers gain insight into the diverse experiences, challenges, and aspirations of workers across the country. The stories range from the mundane to the extraordinary, providing a rich tapestry of the human experience in the workplace.
The book not only documents the realities of different jobs but also delves into the emotional and psychological aspects of work. It highlights the dedication and resilience of individuals as they navigate their careers, making it a deeply moving and thought-provoking read.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book provides short essays, roughly 3-5 pages from various people across the country. Each of them writes about their jobs. Each essay is not only different in its author and their profession, but also in what they choose to write on. Some focus on what they do day to day while others focus on the strengths and weaknesses of their job, how they got there, etc.

Some of the people hold positions of people that we have interacted with a lot in our lives but probably didn't stop to think about what their career may be like, such as a Wal*Mart Greeter, UPS man, college professor, etc.

A good book so far that is providing me with perspective on my own job and also providing a good perspective on how we all treat work differently, some as merely something to make money and others as life itself.

[Adrienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book of essays in which, as we learn from the title, Americans discuss their jobs. Examples of jobs and occupations talked about included pharmaceutical sales representative, Kinko's employee, psychic hotline operator, Navy sailor, male porn star, exotic dancer, funeral director, UPS or FedEx driver, prisoner, Hallmark employee, and Walmart greeter, among many others that I cannot remember at the moment. The book made for an interesting bathroom reader. In school, you hear about lawyers, teachers, doctors, accountants, and scientists, and this book covered many other jobs that I would not have heard about otherwise. It was a fun read, and now that I'm finished it, I must admit that I feel more enriched by doing so. I wouldn't say this book is a must-read, but I enjoyed it. It was definitely worth picking up from a library's book sale.

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was FASCINATING in a nosy sort of way. I always want to ask people about their jobs out of curiosity of what their day to day looks like, how they got there, if they like it, and this is almost 700 pages of exactly that. I low key also hoped to find a second half of life type of job out of this, and I did not find that. Many times a job started out interesting and then the person gets into the details and it’s clearly awful. But they’re not all terrible, most people paint a nuanced picture of the pros and cons of their jobs, and I really did absolutely love this and want it to be updated for the modern job economy - nearly 25 years is enough for a lot of this to become out of date. I may give the original Working one a try one day, but that will feel like a different lifetime I expect!

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

Large (near 700 pgs) book focusing on, well, Americans and their jobs, made up of a huge amount of various jobs (everything froom carnival workers to congressmen), most with section running about half a dozen or so pages. This is a blessing as someone of the folks here are pretty bland but it's easy to get through them due to length. But those are few and far between and most of the stuff is fairly interesting; occasionaly hilarious (the UPS worker who does everything BUT work and strangely enough the crime scene cleaner who makes suicide darkly amusing), sometimes depressing (the workfare street cleaner).

Decent enough read, good to read a few sections of a night as this is fairly light reading. ***1/4.