Ah, the bane of the self-employed! An old friend used to call it 'Little Friskies Syndrome' - i.e. the fear that you would eventually wind up on a park bench, eating Little Friskies.
I used to suffer from LFS, until I slowly came to the realization that the only job security you can have is if you work for yourself. With downsizing so prevalent, you never know when you could get the axe. At least if you're self-employed, you can build up contacts and a reputation and have control of your own destiny. And I find it hard to believe, Rozanne, that you couldn't come up with an illustrious CV detailing your freelance work.
Aside from that, I confess to being horribly fascinated by your review of the book. I've done my stint in the corporate world (mostly as a temp in my early 20s) and occasionally run corporate training workshops and I absolutely HATE IT. If I have to wear another pair of pantyhose to work ever again, I'll scream!
So - crossing my fingers for you. [-21°C is frigging cold!]
1. Don't tease us about moving to North Dakota: I know you wouldn't do that! Duh! (due to weather snobbishness, of course)
2. I have read all about this author and her work, but have yet to read her books. She's doing important work. What incredible BS, isn't it? I heard an interview with her on Terry Gross and it sounded as if her last undercover stint was really, really dangerous. Wow.
3. You live in Portland now: don't live in fear of this happening to you. If I was faced with this scenario, I'd learn how to whittle and sell my goods at Saturday Market before I subjected myself to the frighteningly homogeneous world of corporate culture as described here...get whittlin'!
Sounds more like a horror book than anything else! (Let me pause while I thank all Powers That Be that I was drawn to a field where I have relatively little of this.) If our country continues as it has, my problem will continue to be too much work rather than too little. Praise the french fries and pass the remote! Even if the too-good-to-be-true job I have goes pfffft, there will always be a need. Worst comes to worst, I can work for chickens and bags of corn! I, too, had one suit. 15 years ago.
Amen to everything you said, especially about the suburban Atlanta Shoney's. 
Seriously, I often have these fears. But I suspect our business is more recession-proof than many. And even if by some weird quirk of fate I had to get a real job again someday, I could make caramel macchiatos with a smile on my face because I would know that I had lived my life on my own terms for years and years...a pleasure many people will never know.
P.S. Should you ever desire to do such a thing, you could make a PowerPoint presentation no problem, after only an afternoon's worth of goofing around with the software's menus. Any reasonably smart, computer-literate person can figure it out. Just remember not to fill the screen with tiny type!
P.S. My backup plan is selling eggs and fruit.
I read Ehrenreich's book while I was waiting for bar results...NOT a good time. I, too, didn't think she took the job hunting task seriously enough, which ended up being my consolation after a few sleepless nights worrying about how I'd pay my student loans (not incurred at a Big Ten school). Reading it managed to take what ought to have been a time of triumph (I finished law school with my relationship with my husband intact! Yay!) into one of terror.
I was very happy to sell the book to Powell's and get it out of the house for good.
Alda,
Little Friskies? You mean cat food? Oy!
"At least if you're self-employed, you can build up contacts and a reputation and have control of your own destiny."
That's how I usually feel, but I do have these moments of self-doubt.
I'd recommend the book--with reservations--there's actually a lot of good satire in it, and I do enjoy Ehrenreich's writing style, but it is hard not to conjure up worst-case scenarios reading it.
LeLo,
See above re a recommendation of the book. I would recommend Nickel and Dimed for sure. Her job working for a cleaning service (probably Merry Maids) was the most harrowing. Totally shitty job.
Diana,
I'm glad your job is secure and that you don't have the issues that a lot of physicians have of not really having a free hand to prescribe the treatment you feel is best. At least I hope you don't have that issue.
Sadly, I think people are going to continue to get unhealthier--in no small part due to the insanity of their jobs! 
Jamie,
I'd much rather make caramel macchiatos than clean a rendering vat, but sadly in PDX there's major competition for barista jobs and other low-paying service jobs (at least that's what I've heard). V. scary.
Yeah, the big hurdle with the PowerPoint presentation would be the presenting of it more than the creation of it. Public speaking!!! I haven't done it since high school or college and it terrified me.
Shelley,
My copy of Bait and Switch is from the library and you'd better believe I'm not going to renew it!
Whew! Scary! My take on the corporate world: dress code, yes, stiffling. Spirit stiffling, though? No. Not at all. Granted, the last place I worked before I bailed to go back to school was an excellent company to work for - they really cared about their employees and actually spent a lot of time doing things to keep them happy - but no matter how you have to dress, it doesn't change who you fundamentally area and what your strengths are. Any company that hires you will be hiring you exactly for those very strengths.
I've heard about this book and don't want to read it! I'm glad I'm working for a non-profit with nice people who do good things. I do network with other PR people and it is a industry where people have to move around a lot.
I don't own a suit.
I feel confident you will never have to eat friskies! I think the next book you should check out should be about sustaining your freelance work, and balance this one out with something hopeful.
Teri,
Good to know that not all corporations are soul crushing. Still. I'm convinced that a lot of them are.
Stacy,
How wonderful that you don't have to wear a suit. I have a lot of friends who work for nonprofits and they say it is more relaxed, but I don't think I have the qualifications (e.g., an MPA) to get hired at one.
Yes, I mean cat food. As in, the work dries up and you're too poor to afford anything else. [I bet you'd figured that out .]
I thoroughly enjoyed "Nickel and Dimed" (mainly because I've had some of those shit jobs)...haven't read the new one. I can't imagine anything I would enjoy LESS than putting on a suit OR a pair of control-top pantyhose. I gave up pantyhose altogether a decade ago, in spite of working in offices. Even when I did long-term temp work at three large PDX corp's I never dressed the part. It is possible to be a square peg in some of the squarest round holes. But here's hoping you'll never have to resort to that. Take it from me, being 50 and working in ANY office is NOT fun. But hey, two of my favorite Portlanders moved there from Bismarck!
"major competition for barista jobs and other low-paying service jobs"
Yikes!
I suppose there's major, major competition for bartending gigs, too. I am mentally running through my "emergency skill set" and all of the sudden I visualize myself scrubbing out those vats after all...
Great post Rozanne, but those books are over-dramatized in order to sell more copies, and "the corporate world" is often portrayed in a really caricatured way on T.V. and in the media. The reality is that nobody wears suits anymore except for in law offices and investment banks! The vast majority of corporate offices have adopted business casual attire, which means no jeans or sneakers or sweat pants, but pretty much everything else goes. In my office I wear slacks and a button down or sweater set, and on Fridays everybody wears jeans. Not even our Vice Presidents wear suits!
Every institution has a "culture", however it is not always toxic and in general people are as nice to you as you are to them. Of course I'm sure in an ultra-competitive environment it might be different, but even minimum wage retail jobs and school PTA groups can involve politics and dealing with people who have a bad attitude. As far as image consultants and "career counselors"--who does this stuff besides high profile bigwigs like Katie Couric?? The average corporation wants RESULTS from the people they hire, they could care less about image.
I've spent 10yrs working at Corporations, in desk jobs doing 9-5, and these jobs are incredibly comfortable. I have a steady paycheck, health/dental insurance, 401K plan, 3wks vacation plus 10 holidays each year, and I even received thousands of dollars worth of Tuition Reimbursement from my past employer which enabled me to (nearly) finish my degree. I can't bash Corporations or Capitalism because that would be biting the hand that feeds me, and really, it's not nearly as intimidating as it all sounds. Managers and high-level executives are people just like you and me. I don't like the constant layoffs either and for many years I worked as a phone rep but now all those jobs are gone (mostly to India), but I can't blame a company for going to where the labor is cheaper. As Americans we all benefit because our products are much more cheaper as a result.
Alda,
It's just known as "Friskies" here, not "Little Friskies," but I figured it was the same thing.
Marilyn,
I think pantyhose (esp. control-top) are the invention of the devil. I haven't worn any in years, and I hope I'll never have to.
Jamie,
Yow! Read Crystal's comment--there may be hope for us after all.
Crystal,
Thanks for your perspective! I think you're right--that Ehrenreich is presenting a very bleak scenario because it's more interesting than a success story and will sell more books. Plus, it's only one person's experience; it's not a proper study of the real situation.
It sounds like you work at a very humane place; I'm glad to know that business suits are no longer de rigueur, too. A big relief.
Crystal, you make some great points. In a lot of ways the corporate world has relaxed. But:
" I can't blame a company for going to where the labor is cheaper."
I can!
"As Americans we all benefit because our products are much more cheaper as a result."
Not really, because (a) price point should never be the only consideration, and (b) none of us are going to have any money left to buy the products with, and (c) we all pay the price when more and more of our citizens are unable to support themselves.
I totally appreciate what you're saying, but cheap labor isn't cheap.
God, it is a good thing I'm a freelancer, isn't it?
Those outsourced jobs? They are coming back. One of the things managers of corporations have discovered is that there is no quality control on outsourced jobs, and they are having to spend more money to fix f-ups than they are saving on the labor.
Having worked for the man at both big and little companies, I far, far prefer working for big companies. Little companies are busy trying to squeeze every last drop out of you because they can't afford to hire anyone else, and they have tiny profit margins. They are totally burnout-inducing.
Teri,
Outsourced jobs are coming back? I guess it's another one of my shortcomings that I don't pay enough attention to the business world to know that.
I agree w. you that small companies are burnout inducing. My last job was at a small family-run company whose clients were big corporations, so in a way it was sort of the worst of all worlds. They owners ran us ragged and, (and were crazy to boot). In fact that's the company that inspired my gothic horror novel.
I found a job in Portland, Oregon - and I didn't have to wear control-top pantyhose, ditch all of my makeup, and/or resort to soul crushing interviews or beef my resume up with buzzwords in order to do so.
This is Portland, after all. And believe it or not - the jobs are coming back - jobs for companies where you don't have to sell your soul to work for them, no less.
Don't succumb to the fear!
Of course, I have these fears, too. I'm always trying to think of a career path that will earn me cash when the oil runs out. I'm always thinking about that oil.
Betsy,
That is very encouraging esp. the part about not having to wear control-top pantyhose.
Julie,
I know. I pretty much have my head in the sand about that. So scary.
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