This phrase is used to say that girl is a 5 out of 10. This phrase can be re-phrased with any amount of pennies.
Guy 1: Hey man, what do you give that chick right there.
Guy 2: Man... she's like a nickel short of a dime...
Guy 3: Hell nah... Shes like a nickel and three pennies from that $h!t.
When someone is in need of public assistance, but make a nickeltoo much to be eligible.
"The cost of living has gone up so much that we're struggling to get by. I'm getting less food for a much higher price than a year ago, and my public assistance applications were denied. We would honestly be in a better place if I quit work and become eligible for all of the public assistance programs because right now I make a nickel too much to get a dime!"
A person who must give you the smallest, waste-of-time, and meaningless task at work in order to show others( upper management) their "usefulness" on a daily basis(which mainly consists of hearing their own voice). This "task" takes no breaks, and therefore sometimes you are "asked" to do things on your break, lunch, and if they could get away with it, your day off.
Co-worker #1: "What the fuck are you doing back, didn't you go out to lunch today?"
Co-worker #2: "Yeah, but fuck me, I came back early and I got 'asked' by the Nickel-Dimer to follow up on an inquiry."
Co-worker #1: "Really? Haven't you learned to take really long lunches? You both are assholes!"