I dont know what to title this thread....

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I know ive been over this before...

Ive worked seven jobs since 2005, one was temporary, fired from two, and voluntarily (but with pressure) quit 3. My current job is as a clerk in a convenience store. Its moderate to fast paced, only one person works at a time, so he is responsible for the whole store. So far this has been the best fit for me, in fact im next in line for the manager training program. my boss is wonderful, the pay sucks but so be it.

I get down when i hear news reports about the average pay for the average american being in the neighborhood of 32-50 thousand dollars a year. I make 13 thousand. I dont know of any job in my area that i am qualified for that pays more than 15 a year. College is not an option for me, i couldnt get accepted, nor could i afford it, nor get financial aid or loans (im not a minority and i have bad credit).

I feel like i am being punished, i cant figure out why. What wrong have i done to "the system"? My first full year working, i made $9,870. I applied for medicaid but was rejected, their attitude was "well you can go get a second job..." No way, dealing with the public already causes me enough stress. I pay taxes (against my will) but when i ask for just a little something in return, i get smacked in the face (figuratively)

Old folks tell me that i "havent paid my dues yet" WTF does THAT mean? What do i owe? who do i owe it to? As far as i am concerned, GOD is my only authority and Jesus paid my dues on the cross.

I dont desire "the good life" i just want adequacy. I dont need the excesses of the bankers and big wigs, i just want enough. enough to have my own apartment, a female companion(dont kid yourselves ladies, you want men with money, a heart of gold is worth about the same as a turd on the sidewalk) and a car. I have none of these and it bugs me that so many of my senior class already have everything they could ever want and more, and i live in my mothers basement with an entry level job.

Im getting burned out, i have begun to despise humanity, on my days off i cant unwind because thats when i have to go out and run errands, and watch people treat each other like dirt, be short with the cashier at the grocery store because they overspent their credit card and got declined, and listen to people on the bus complain that general assistance doesnt give them enough, but that they traded some of it away for a tattoo.

Here i am, a freaking wage slave, and these welfare queens are living high off the hog ON MY DIME! I have no problem with people who use welfare as it should be, I DO have a problem when they come into my store and buy slim jims and red bull and whine at me because they cant buy steamed hot dogs and complain that milk is too expensive (we sell it at state minimum price)

I have to work, i have AS, ive been diagnosed by more than one doctor, but i cannot get insurance to see a doctor to have it on paper, i think i should be classified as "partially disabled" but i dont know how to make a case for social security.

All this obama care business will do is cost me money. i make too much to get medicaid, i cannot afford my employers insurance (67 dollars a week, 2000 dollar deductible) so i will have to pay the fines when they go into effect.

Yeah, you do have to work; but there has to be a way for you to adjust things so you can live on the money you make. $15,000 in some areas of the country is an amount you can live on pretty comfortably; my mom brought up three kids on less. There's a difference between relative poverty and absolute poverty; and if you've got food, clothing, shelter, and useful ways to spend your time, you're not living in absolute poverty; you've only got less than other people. (Have you considered moving to somewhere where the cost of living is lower? You could make the money stretch further that way.)

I think that it's a lot more important to find a job you like than to make a lot of money. Your job at the convenience store seems to be working out pretty well--you're working on your own and your interactions with the customers are probably formulaic and therefore pretty easy to manage. If you're any good at details, I recommend trying a position as a night-shift custodial worker; that's the job I've so far found to be a decent fit for me.

Where is the cost of living lowest? i live in northern new england (somewhere between massachusetts and the canadian border)

and even then, i consider myself lucky to have the co-workers that i do, and being that far from my safety net, i wouldnt think of it. i would end up homeless within a month.

Last edited by thechadmaster on 12 Aug 2010, 8:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Midwest

wow, sucks to be you dude!

jk

but why dont you man up, go take classes whether they will admit you or not, quit acting like a whiny baby, get a good paying job and be a productive member of society, not asking for a handout!

i pity people like you...

ok, what do i tell them? im sitting in on class whether you like it or not?

"get a good paying job": are you offering one?

"be a productive member of society": i work dont i? what exactly do you want me to produce?

im not asking for a handout, im asking for my money back, im not satisfied with this outcome.

Perhaps you might want to consider a city like Charlotte North Carolina.


I have a good friend who lives there and the cost of living is very low. It's a fairly big city and it has some typical big city problems, but overall it seems like a nice place. There's alot of good schools if you're ever interested in higher education which might still be affordable. CPCCC (Central Piedmont Community College) in Charlotte is considered one of the best CC's in the country. The climate is not as harsh as where you're at either, but the summers are quite hot and humid.

It was choosen as "The Best Place to live in America" in 2008 by relocate- America.com based on things like employment opportunities, housing costs and crime rates. If you don't drive...it's also considered a great "walking city" and I think they have a good public transportation system too.

More about Charlotte if you're interested:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte,_North_Carolina

The median income in the US for an individual is $26,500. The figure you usually see in news reports is median household income.

Source: http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/cpstable ... 01_001.htm

There are a lot more poor people than well off, in spite of what the media would have you believe.

It is rough at the beginning. My kids did not get promoted to jobs that paid the bills until they were 25 and 26. The younger ones are still struggling like you. I remember it took me 5 years of being poor before I got promoted to where I could buy a soft drink without worrying about my budget. Stick with your job and get that mangers position. After a few years of that you can move to manager at a better retail that pays more.

Well, what I can share with you....

1. Been working since 1987. I've had over 40 jobs, and early on, a poor work ethic and complications from AS (unknown to me at the time) meant I didn't stay one place too long. The big motivation to change was finding a career that interested me and the only hope of getting in was establishing a consistent work history.

2. Average pay is $32-50K? I'm not even topping $25K, and I have a law degree. The jobs just are not out there, and I suspect it will get worse long before it gets better. The USA is being driven into the ground.

3. Say "no" to college. It's just a money pit and there are way too many graduates who can't find good paying jobs. Student loans = economic slavery for life. That you have a shot at management training is probably the best news you have going for you.

4. Medicaid and other social services are designed to not help those who need it most. Frankly, for what little help they might give you, you'd be better off finding another way to get by. I agree 1,000% with the "no second job" position. Just working 40 hours a week is stressful enough, even though I like to work. I need time to decompress and rest or I burn out in a short time. To work 2 jobs for an emergency expense is one thing, to do it indefinitely is something I could not bear.

5. The whole "pay your dues" line is part BS, part common sense. The good jobs go to those who have proven themselves. The problem is that when there's not enough good jobs, a lot of people who have paid their dues get left out in the cold. Often, when I'm left out of something and someone tosses me that line, I examine who else has gotten in and see a lot of them have done less than me....it's a guilt trip to push the blame for lack of opportunity onto the person who is denied and not the real cause of the problem. If you sit around and do nothing, I could see someone saying that to you. If you go out and work, you are paying your dues.

6. Having managed a welfare program, I can tell you the system is designed to reward those who cheat the system. Those of us who are honest about asking for help are left out n a regular basis.

7. If a doctor has Dxed you, why won't they give you a letter, or is it that Social Security wants an IME from a costly doctor to take your application seriously? There are lawyers that will help with this for a cut of your initial benefits, but be warned...start sucking on the government tit and they have ways of basically keeping you dependent on it. As much as it'd be nice to think the government could help me, I've seen what they do to others, and I'd rather be poor but free to do as I please than get assistance with a ball and chain attached.

8. Obamacare is unconstitutional. I don't expect it to stand. Not that it matters, the GAO has proven that it will cost more than what we currently have, provide less quality care, and leave more people uninsured. The economy is likely to tank before 2012 anyhow.

I think it's natural for you to feel angry about people who do well on benefit (yet still want more), while you yourself are working long and hard only to be taxed as if you've got too much. Given how mean I've always found the benefit system, I don't know how they swing it, and if they have no worries about the payments ending, I deeply envy them their lifestyle.....I'd dearly love to have practically every day of my life to myself. But I don't begrudge them what they're getting. The fact that people can somehow still get these payments means that employers can't make people quite so afraid of unemployment. Without a benefits system, we'd all be working harder and longer for less. But I agree you've cited an example of social inequality that shouldn't be there. Relative grievances can often be harder to bear than absolute ones.

It's probably still true that a lot of women are very much wealth-orientated when choosing a mate, and that's annoying....when I consider my plan to retire early and live relatively frugally on savings until pension time, I sometimes wonder how that's going to affect my eligibility with mates, which seems very unfair, like I have to budget for a partner as if she's a piece of livestock with a maintenance liability. I don't think very many women are just greedy though, I think the money thing comes from a more primordial need for protection, which unfortunately often boils down to money. It's very understandable if a lady can't get a job that she would prefer a partner who can afford to at least keep her fed and sheltered........and annoying that the same bargain in reverse (unemployed man moves in with working woman) is often seen as such a put-off. But I'm quite sure that most women (and men, come to that) put a great value on emotional support and protection - if I had to choose between being able to do that well and having money, I'd choose the emotional skills, for the purpose of finding a good partner. I'm sure that more people want to be loved than paid, though if you're starving then it could be different. And the chemistry of mating doesn't worry about money.

In my opinion, you don't need to be down on yourself over this.

In my opinion, what is happening is the trickle-down impact of the fact that the top percentage, financially, controls more wealth than the entire lesser population combined. It's a scary percentage. It's essentially 10 guys sitting at the table, and there are 10 slices of pizza. One guy goes: "I am taking 9 of those. The rest of you can fight over the rest."

It's just not right. To me, it's simply unethical. Banks and bureaucrats have way too much power. The purpose of democracy is lost with this type of financial imbalance. In my opinion, and I don't care how hard you worked for it, wealth to the point of having 2nd, 3rd homes is wrong. What that means to me is that corporations have been permitted to spiral out of control, and are no longer accountable. They have allowed individuals to have an unethically imbalanced benefit from the work of those who make up the corporate structure. Just really elaborate slavery.

I hope that this is not interpreted as a bitter generalization by readers. There is a legitimate problem with financial royalty and the general absence of employee-owned operations that do maintain fair benefit and gain for every member that is essential to the company's operation and survival.

I'll add my two cents:

So you like your job AND your boss? That is rare combination. It's a good thing. Even though not great so many people hate their job and boss.


Are you able to support yourself? Are you lacking any essentials- food, clothing, shelter? Not a lot but it's a start. Income generally goes up with time and experience.


Community colleges take anybody who can pay. There are programs that lead to decent jobs that you can complete in .5 to 1.5 years.
Federal aid (direct loans, perkins loans, pell grants, and work study) is need based. No credit check needed. Call the financial aid office. The less money you have the more you get. Community college is also cheap, a full semester for less than a couple thousand.


Live in a group house and share expenses with people. I and many others have done this most of my adult life and it's not that bad or even bad at all.

You're 23. Don't give up just yet. There is so much you can do to change your life. AS is not a sentence. It is only a word.

Troll alert

who? me?

I don't know how to title this post BUT..............

There is a thread, with an ALMOST identical title, in the Adult Forum..................OP posted 3 hours before this one.

What a strange coincidence

Funny old world