How May I Help You? - An Immigrant''s Journey From Mba to Minimum Wage

"Deepak Singh shares his incredible stories of learning, feeling, beauty, work, friendship, and marriage. It is at once deeply personal and specific, while also resonating with fellow humans’ similar struggles across the globe."—Dr. Susan D. Blum, author of Lies That Bind: Chinese Truth, Other Truths

"I devoured Deepak Singh's memoir at home, at work, on the subway and on the streets of New York. It's funny, eye-opening, and deeply human in its regard for working-class Americans and for all people who struggle to make ends meet. If Barbara Ehrenreich had been born in India, Nickel and Dimed might've looked a lot like this." —Arun Venugopal, WNYC

"Deepak Singh reanimates the fears, joys, bafflements, and general vertigo of those first few months after immigrating to the United States. With humor and pathos in equal measure, Singh shows us how difficult it is to work at the most insecure levels of American society." —Siva Vaidhyanathan, University of Virginia

List of contents

Foreword by Holly Donahue Singh
Acknowledgments

1. Answering Machine
2. Lucknow
3. Transit
4. My American Wife
5. Job Application
6. Hired
7. First Day
8. One Month’s Notice
9. English
10. Colleagues
11. Olive Skin
12. Camera King
13. Don’t Buy It
14. Foreigner
15. My Name Is Deepak
16. I’m Straight Today
17. Holly and I
18. All Hands on Deck
19. Long Two Years
20. The Golden Quarter
21. Two Americas
22. Paula
23. Cameron
24. Don’t Sue Me!
25. Post-Christmas Blues
26. A Handful of Dimes
27. India Visit

About the author

Deepak Singh is a writer, radio producer, and journalist. He is a frequent contributor to PRI’s The World and has written for The New York Times, NPR, The Boston Globe and The Atlantic.

Summary

A powerful reminder that service and other low-wage workers are complex and inspiring in their dogged efforts to remain afloat. This book features stories that serve as a chance to humanize debates about work, race, and immigration.

Additional text

"With careful candor and clarity, [Deepak Singh] shows the challenges facing new immigrants and the effort it takes to surmount them."

Product details

• Authors: Deepak Singh, Singh Deepak
• Publisher: University Of California Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 28.02.2017
• EAN: 9780520293311
• ISBN: 978-0-520-29331-1
• No. of pages: 305
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Education > Social education, social work; Non-fiction book > Politics, society, business > Biographies, autobiographies; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; Virginia, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Emigration & Immigration, Memoirs, Migration, immigration & emigration, Social discrimination & inequality, Migration, immigration and emigration, Social classes, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Social Classes & Economic Disparity, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Discrimination, Social discrimination and social justice, Relating to migrant groups / diaspora communities or peoples, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs