Water Cooler Diaries: Women across America Share Their Day at Work

by Joni B. Cole, B.K. Rakhra

What’s it really like to own the company...work from home...occupy cubicle-land? On March 27, 2007, over 500 women kept a diary of their workday-including drama and laugh-out-loud moments-for Water Cooler Diaries. Featuring 35 full-day accounts and hundreds of highlights, you’ll go behind the scenes with a hot new fashion designer, a McDonald’s manager, a trauma surgeon, a mechanic, a life coach, a boxing promoter. More well-known contributors include actress Angie Everhart, celebrity chef Sara Moulton, race-car driver Sara Fisher, and “Go Fug Yourself” blogger Heather Cocks, all inviting us to work a day in their shoes.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism

320 pages, Paperback

First published February 25, 2008

About the author

Joni B. Cole is the author of the new release Good Naked: Reflections on How to Write More, Write Better, and Be Happier ("Joyful, tough-minded, and heartening, these pages offer encouragement to anyone from beginners to experienced writers. Good Naked is one of the best books for writers I’ve read in a very long time."—Cynthia Huntington, National Book Award Finalist, poetry). Joni's acclaimed first book on writing, Toxic Feedback: Helping Writers Survive and Thrive, is “strongly recommended” for students and teachers by Library Journal. (“I can’t imagine a better guide to [writing’s] rewards and perils than this fine book,” American Book Review.) Joni is also the author of Another Bad-Dog Book: Essays on Life, Love, and Neurotic Human Behavior, and a contributor to The Writer magazine. She serves on the faculty of the New Hampshire Institute of Art, teaches in the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program at Dartmouth College, and is founder of the Writer’s Center of White River Junction, Vermont. Joni has been nominated for both a Pushcart Prize and USA Fellowship Award. For more information: jonibcole.com

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this should be required reading for the high school crowd. I gives a glimpse into so many different careers. If I had to choose...based on this book I think I'd become a rancher or an administrative assistant. Maybe a boutique owner or a doll sculptor. Anyway, its interesting and funny. A nice quick read.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love listening to other people's story and this book is a perfect opportunity to hear the stories of many different women. Really enjoyed it.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw this in the new section of non-fiction and was intrigued by the cover. I picked it up, decided to check it out, and breezed through the most interesting diary entries of women around the United States recording their typical days at work. I loved reading about what other women do all day, and I loved learning about a typical day for a particular profession. The women were so candid, and their stories so real, I felt like I could sit down with any of them and have coffee.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that loves a peek into the lives of others. I also think high school students should read it so they have a better understanding about jobs and what they entail. (much more interesting than a typical job book)

[L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hilarious! Honest and insightful!

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun read. I like to get little glimpses into other people's lives. And some of the writing is really great.

[Jean Oram · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sneak peek into the average Amercian woman's life. Great fodder for writers and an interesting read for anyone who has wondered what it is like on the other side of the fence.

[Duckyard Swan · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fascinating book. Being the curious type, and a sucker for sociology besides, I couldn't resist this when I stumbled upon it in the library.

The diversity of professions represented was great and most of the entries were interesting because the interweaving of work and personal details put a human face on the diarists. My own personal taste would have run to the inclusion of more people in thinking/being professions (i.e., writers, ministers, religious sisters, hospice chaplains, therapists, etc.) as opposed to jobs with lots of activity, but that's just me and I did like the majority of the diaries. My favorites were the trauma surgeon, truck driver, stay-at-home mom, school custodian, symphony clarinetist, and the administrative assistant at Del Monte.

I think it was the attitude of the women themselves, rather than the details of their jobs, that caused me to like or dislike them. It seemed that the women with the most superficial jobs were the ones who loaded on the drama and self-importance, while the ordinary working women seemed much more real.

Also, as another reviewer pointed out, it's appalling how many women still run themselves ragged balancing a job with all the needs of their families (and neglect themselves, evinced by how sporadically and poorly a lot of these diarists ate). I couldn't help but ponder how vastly different this book would be if the diarists had been men.

Because each chapter is discrete, it's a great carry-around book to read bits of during downtime in waiting rooms, etc.

Overall, this book reminded me of something that's easy to forget, namely that all the people we interact with daily are on some form of their own bumpy road, coping with stressful jobs, challenging relationships, money issues, illness, time management (or not!) and the boat-load of minutiae we call day-to-day life. It was a sociological whack upside the head, a reminder to be more understanding of what others might be struggling with beneath the surface.

[Ocean · Rating 3 out of 5]

i got this from the library because i thought it would be a good book to read whilst commuting. it was pretty good for that purpose. however, reading it i got incredibly depressed that, 40 years after the onset of feminism, most of these women still spend all day at their husband/boyfriend and kids' beck and call. they do everything for everyone, nobody ever thanks them or offers any emotional support, and they wonder why they're so unhappy. it made me profoundly, profoundly sad. still, other than that it's a pretty interesting look into other peoples' lives.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote a chapter in this book! (Starting on pg. 62 to be exact!) This book is a compilation of "day diaries" from all sorts of different women across America. Each day diary not only includes activities and events throughout each woman's day, but also her thoughts, feelings and insights. When you read excerpts from these other women's lives, it makes you realize that there are other people out there with problems or predicaments just like yours.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Diaries written by various women all written on March 27, 2007. The women have various professions, a library clerk, a publishing company, a race car driver, a stay at home mom, a coal miner, a doll maker, a snake/reptile handler in Las Vegas. It's not a bad read. By the way, March 27, 2007 must have been a Tuesday because many reported watching American Idol.

[Librarian Laci · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great exploration into the lives of everyday women. I thouroughly enjoyed reading the day-to-day activities of certain occupations and the thoughts that go on behind the mask. The entries that I loved the most were the ones that were very honest and soulful; there were a few that felt like the diarist was a little self-congradulatory and obviously promoting their business/company.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Water Cooler Diaries is a fun book for people who like to spy on people. Learning about everyone's different jobs was fun, though it hasn't helped me figure out what kind of job I want at all. :P This could be a pretty good resource for writers who want a character to be something besides a doctor or a lawyer. How about a doll carver or a voice actor?

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was lots of fun. I know women everywhere (and not just moms) have hectic lives, but these daylong snapshots of the details were good, fun voyeurism. My one quibble is that toward the end it started to get a little repetitive, because, well, we all have hectic lives...

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can read my review of Water Cooler Diaries at my books blog, Sophisticated Dorkiness.

[Joellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just ok for me. I was very excited to read it because I loved Studs Terkel "Working" years ago and this is the same concept. I ended up skimming the last 3rd of the book. Maybe it was me, but it just didn't hold my interest.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

One day in 2007, the editors of this anthology collected diaries from woman around the U.S. I loved reading about everyone's jobs and the things they have to deal with: kids, boyfriends, parents, and friends. There are 2 more volumes of this series, which I look forward to reading.

[S · Rating 3 out of 5]

This compilation was better than I expected. Each entry was uniform in format and there were a variety of careers explored. Writing styles varied and that helped keep it fresh. It was definitely a book I skipped around to read.

[Luna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining and honest. A sweet sneak peak into a day in the life of various professions. As someone who is toying with a career change it's good to see that the grass isn't necessarily greener in any other profession.

[Alissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting essays by women from all types of workplaces. Easy read and opens your eyes to the similarities, and differences, between all of us trying to manage home and professional life.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm inherently nosy, so this book of peeks into the working lives of women across America is right up my alley.

[Jocelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun and quick read.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

There were LOTS of interesting "day diaries", but of course, my favorite was "Mine Geologist" by Carrie Heiling! :)

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating to walk a day in these women's shoes.

[Olean Public Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very sharp story about working places and actual stories passed through the workplace, recorded in office diaries and from memory. Very good.

[Lori Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A should-read autobiography on women in business.