Barbara Ehrenreich is the author of the New York Times bestseller Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America as well as a number of other books, including Fear of Falling: The Inner Life of the Middle Class and Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War. An political essayist, columnist, social critic and activist, she has written for dozens of magazines, including Ms., Harper's, The Nation, The Progressive, The New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly and the New York Times magazine.

I want to talk about your book Nickel and Dimed -- it has been amazingly, wildly successful. When you first finished writing it, did you think "this is going to be a best seller!"?

Oh, no of course not.

So have you been surprised by its success?

Oh, yes. It's been a while now, so it is no longer surprising to me, it is not fresh in my mind, but I didn't have any such expectations.

Has the success changed your life in any ways?

Well… more speaking engagements.

I understand that the work is also a play.

It is a play. The play was written by Joan Holden, who is a playwright who has been associated for a long time with the San Francisco Mime Troup. It is very good. It's been to many cities -- not Broadway to our regret -- but many other good places.

Do you expect that it will be made into a movie?

Well, rights have been purchased to make a movie, and the producer just signed on -- a very interesting new writer/director named Jim McKay. He just had something on HBO called "Everyday People," which was great.

In Nickel and Dimed, you wrote in the first person. What challenges did you encounter in trying to have the story be about your own personal experience as well as the bigger story of the working poor in America?

Well it really is about my personal experience. When I started the work for Nickel and Dimed, I didn't know what I was going to write. But I saw the story, in part, as a mathematical problem – what I earned, what I spent. So I was obsessed with keeping good records. Then I said "well, I have to write down everything that happens during my day because that is all part of what it takes to earn this money." Then the next step was realizing that maybe some of the things I was feeling could be “data” too -- feeling upset or humiliated by what was going on at work or the way the managers treated me. I had no experience in writing in the first person -- not for such a huge piece. It came sort of step by step as I realized what was or needed to be part of the story.

Since finishing the book, have you ever shopped at Wal-Mart?

Yes, I have. But I didn't find what I wanted, so I didn't end up buying anything. I don't like to shop there because I don't like the idea that they're so HUGE -- as well as being evil. When I travel around and speak to people, someone will always stand up in the audience and say "I don't shop at WalMart. After reading your book, I no longer shop there." And I always say "that's nice" -- but there is not an organized boycott going on.

When you travel and stay at a hotel, do you do things differently than you used to? Do you hang up your towel? Leave a bigger tip?

Oh, yes -- I was not a total slouch before, but now I always leave $5 for the maids -- which I know is still not enough. I'm very conscious of leaving a room as neat as possible.

I understand that Nickel and Dimed was chosen as the book that all incoming students at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill had to read, and there was a bit of a controversy about the choice.

I have to say that I didn't take that too seriously. The complaints about the book being assigned were coming from the same little band of conservative students who had opposed the Koran being chosen the year before -- or readings from the Koran, I should say. They got a lot of attention when they opposed the Koran, so I didn't feel too singled out really. . . . It was not that the students were up in arms, it was a small group. And I did get nice letters from some of the students who later read my book. But the nicest thing that happened for me was that the campus workers picked up on this little controversy. They had been fighting for union recognition for a long time, and they made little buttons that said "Ask me about being nickel and dimed." And I went down to a rally staged by the housekeepers at UNC to speak, and I felt really good about all that.