| Description |
1 online resource (xviii, 263 pages) |
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text file |
| Summary |
"N this moving and insightful work, Deepak Singh chronicles his downward mobility as an immigrant to a small town in Virginia. Armed with an MBA from India, Singh can get only a minimum-wage job in an electronics store. Every day he confronts unfamiliar American mores, from strange idioms to deeply entrenched racism. Telling stories through the unique lens of an initially credulous outsider who is "fresh off the plane," Singh learns about the struggles of his colleagues: Ron, a middle-aged African-American man trying to keep his life intact despite health concerns; Jackie, a young African-American woman diligently attending school after work; and Cindy, whose matter-of-fact attitude helps Deepak adapt to his job and his new life. How May I Help You? is an incisive take on life in the United States and a reminder that the stories of low-wage employees can bring candor and humanity to debates about work, race, and immigration."--Provided by publisher. |
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"How May I Help You? is Deepak Singh's insightful and thought-provoking account of disillusionment when, as an educated upper-class Indian, he moves with his American wife to the United States and discovers that America doesn't care if he has an MBA from India or had worked for the BBC. Like many immigrants before him, Singh discovers that in America employers only trust him with a minimum wage job as a clerk, but his disappointment and embarrassment soon give way to shock when he realizes that in this world of low-wage work he is joined not merely by other immigrants, but by many Americans, a whole swath of the citizenry who goes unacknowledged and unassisted in their struggles to make a living wage. In sincere and straightforward prose, Singh takes the reader along on his journey full of dismay and compassion when the expectations he had of the United States, built around interactions in India with well-educated, affluent expatriates, collide with the reality of a coworker who must skip lunch until payday and the customers who buy in anticipation of a paycheck."--Provided by publisher. |
| Contents |
Foreword / Holly Donahue Singh -- Answering machine -- Lucknow -- Transit -- My American wife -- Job application -- Hired -- First day -- One month's notice -- English -- Colleagues -- Olive skin -- Camera king -- Don't buy it -- Foreigner -- My name is Deepak -- I'm straight today -- Holly and I -- All hands on deck -- Long two years -- The golden quarter -- Two Americas -- Paula -- Cameron -- Don't sue me! -- Post-Christmas blues -- A handful of dimes -- India visit. |
| Local Note |
eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America |
| Subject |
Singh, Deepak, 1973-
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Singh, Deepak, 1973- |
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Immigrants -- United States -- Biography.
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Immigrants. |
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United States. |
| Genre/Form |
Biographies.
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| Subject |
Foreign workers -- United States.
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Foreign workers. |
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Working poor -- United States.
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Working poor. |
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Immigrants -- United States -- Economic conditions.
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Economic conditions. |
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United States -- Economic conditions.
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| Genre/Form |
Electronic books.
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Autobiographies.
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Autobiographies.
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| Added Author |
Singh, Holly Donahue, writer of foreword.
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| Other Form: |
Print version: Singh, Deepak, 1973- How may I help you? Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2017] 9780520293304 9780520293311 (DLC) 2016030114 (OCoLC)952632006 |
| ISBN |
9780520966475 (electronic book) |
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0520966473 (electronic book) |
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9780520293304 (hardcover alkaline paper) |
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0520293304 (hardcover alkaline paper) |
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9780520293311 (paperback alkaline paper) |
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0520293312 (paperback alkaline paper) |
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