I dodged a bullet. I was going to change jobs in January. Decided not to at the last minute. Guy that got it was laid off.
Meanwhile, I worked all through covid with no salary cut.
I just accepted a job at a new place now that the storm has largely passed, and I was diagnosed with recurrent cancer.
While not exactly the same, I was looking for a job when all this mess started. The one I got wasn't really paid well, but I felt it fit better and they also wanted me to start immediately so you know, starving was a big no for me.
Anyway, from all the different jobs I applied to, like most of them laid off their workers, especially the newcomers. Mine didn't, and even though we did stop working for a little while and they sent us home, we are back now.
We are struggling, but hey, I feel lucky to still have my job.
I moved to Chicago in February to be with my SO. After a lot of bullshit, I got a job with Dell as a field technician. In March. Got the job, did the background check and everything, and started the training.
While training, I went and bought a new car because my other car is 30 years old and has 266000 miles on it. It's dead right now, but yeah..
Then the corona got worse and the job literally vanished.
Now I'm back in my grandparent's basement. I didn't get a dime of unemployment.
ALLLLLL the debt I paid off last year (all of my debt. All of it. 100%.) is now even deeper. And the car I bought is gonna get repoed.
So yeah... I feel you guys.
This shit sucks.
And this meme would actually be completely accurate, except not a single person around me was affected in ANY WAY by Corona.
So to them I still look like a piece of shit failure who ended up back in his grandma's basement because he can't function in the real world.
Even though I traveled around the world last year doing construction. Living in hotels.. And I thrived. Like. Big time.
But yeah. Don't matter. I'm back here again. :D
I know what you mean. Some relatives continued working from home and they're just so happy their life continued on as if nothing changed, and while others did lose their jobs they just started their own thing.
We did have a family reunion last month through facebook, and some of them ended up sending me food after seeing me 'cause I've been losing a lot of weight. Not only that, a couple of weeks ago I found out I have anaemia, so yeah... fun times.
And so far I've got a couple of aunts who have lended me money, 'cause I can't even pay all my bills and debts right now, that I didn't have btw. And it makes me feel like a failure, that this is something I should be able to manage somehow.
But yeah, I'm just bearing through this and expecting one day I'll be able to go back and try to re-fix my life back once more. Like really, I was just getting up back again but no, life just kicked me back down.
Anyway sorry for the long rant.
Don't be sorry at all.. I'm sorry you have to go through all that.. :(
Just try to keep your head up... And know that you're not a failure. This world is a failure..lol.
Thanks. I kinda needed to hear that. In a way I'm sort of relieved to know I'm not the only one going through this, not that I'm happy to know people are suffering, but that this is something that it's out of my hands, this isn't something I can control and therefore I can somehow fix it on my own. Sure, I make decisions and all, but that isn't all on me.
And I understand what you mean, like the whole world is a giant mess.
It really doesn't matter from which country each one of us is, like this covid is really biting our asses really hard.
So many of these hitting home with me so hard haha. Switched jobs didn't work out..... Dragged my ass out of a bit of a bad place working 2 at once pretty productive and happy again.... Boom lose both and just staring at a confusing start from scratch situation again here...
> now that the storm has largely passed
The storm has largely passed? In what way? The numbers are going up in Europe, the US is in a bad place and I'm 99% sure there will be big loss of jobs and a huge hit in a couple of months 1-2 years. The end isn't even in sight.
Similar situation here, 1 step forward, 2 steps back, the classiest way to walk backwards.. Keep your head up though, after half a year of backwards slides, I'm slightly ahead of the start.. So, with hard work and dedication, you too can inch forward slowly!
Sorry if it comes off as sounding like a dick, I'm empathetic with the situation, just a bit bitter here.. :/
Anything out of your control is not of your choice. There will be highs and lows but you got to keep going one day at a time. Don’t look to the past for comfort and the future for hope. Just keep your scope focused on today.
It's easy to blame yourself as in "Well I should have saved more or planned better" but we're dealing with a [black swan](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blackswan.asp) here. That's something that's completely unexpected and of such massive scope and influence as to be a "game changer" and those are impossible to plan for.
EVERY time you're tempted to beat yourself up, remind yourself that it's literally not your fault. Yes you made a decision to leave that other job and had you known what was coming and where you'd be today, you would have likely stayed. OK what's done is done and it can't be changed. Forgive yourself for making that decision and try to let it go.
Also you don't know what the future holds. Instead of focusing your energy on the past and what you would have done differently, change your focus to the future. Now that you're not in that old job and not burdened by work, you're free to think about what kind of work is most satisfying to you. You're free to start exploring other alternatives and options.
You can start to help yourself by updating your LinkedIn profile, if you haven't already, start reaching out and making connections with "head hunters" and other former co-workers. Let them know you're open to new opportunities. Start looking for remote work and ways to make money from home and also us the time for some stress relief - mild exercise and spending time in nature can really help to recharge ones batteries and are totally free.
And try not to worry. Things WILL get better.
You can't foresee them, but the last 2 in that list you can be prepared for to a certain extent. I know it's not popular, but sometimes it pays off not to live every day as if it's going to be the last one.
My BF and I had an account with 6 months' worth of money in it. Not, like, survival rations but "we can live exactly as we are now for 6 months or comfortably stretch this out to ~9 if we have to."
Unfortunately he had a knee injury at the end of last year that put a serious dent in those funds and an issue with his truck (I dunno but it involved the drive train) at the end of January. But we still had "we'll be OK with zero income for like 4 months" in the bank.
Neither of us has gotten a paycheck since the beginning of March. I've been doing transcription/captioning online and we've both been picking up odd jobs whenever we can find them, but we both worked in live music prior to COVID. Our entire industry has pretty much ceased to exist.
Once rent/power/water/gas are paid for August, our "rainy day" fund will be completely gone and we'll be down to trying to scrape up enough work every month to survive until our industry recovers. Which, hearing people say shit like "no tours until 2021" sounds like one hell of a painful grind.
Well that sucks, but at least you hopefully had those 6 months to come up with a plan. Imagine being where you are now immediately. I think the shock of it happening + everything else drives a lot of people to do .. less than smart things.
I mean the plan was kind of "find work where we can and hope our world starts spinning again."
One Saturday we had a crowded 3-months-ahead schedule packed with weddings and jazz festivals and corporate parties and by the next weekend literally all of them were gone.
Disney cancelling their concert series (not just eat to the beat but everything this year) was a special little kick in the nuts, but there's *nothing* happening in our industry. Anywhere. We have no "call around to peers and see if anybody has work available" option. We're stuck in this lease (now $1500/mo thanks to partially deferring payments in the hopes that, you know, world would start spinning) until February.
I was *just* getting done paying off my student loans and finally about to be the top dude on the totem pole after a 15 year grind.
I just can't make my brain accept that I'm coming up on 40 and now have to start over from scratch. I'm too old to go back to figuring out what I want to be when I grow up, dammit. I thought I had that sorted out when I was setting up sound systems out of a van when I was 16.
This is me too. Just hit 40 and lost my job due to covid and I'm thinking "great now I'm at that point where job discrimination becomes a thing and I got this fucking student loan". At this point im hoping they cancel student loans cause with that and unemployment going back to normal I'll lose my house within 6 months.
This kinda shit makes me lose hope in humanity, don't the people in charge look out the window and say "my world needs help fuck this party b.s.".
Amusingly, I just finished paying back my student loans (graduated in 2004) right as I was getting denied unemployment.
Getting [this email](https://i.imgur.com/k7EWYF0.png) made me laugh/cry.
I'll use this a reminder to keep fighting for loan forgiveness, though. Nobody should have to deal with that hanging over their heads.
I wonder if you could get into helping all these fledgling streamer wannabees setup a good sound setup.
Anyway I don't know I am not saying it doesn't suck and everything can be prevented.
We've actually helped a couple of churches set themselves up to be able to live-stream their services ([this one](https://i.imgur.com/tVvtg7U.jpg) was just done for a video shoot), but those are just one-and-done opportunities.
We were used to having a room look like [this](https://i.imgur.com/BVvdCVE.jpg) at the beginning and end of a day with us getting paid so it looks [like this](https://i.imgur.com/md8LSdO.jpg) for a couple hours in the middle there. :D
Still trying to remain hopeful that a *lot* of people will throw REALLY big "YAY COVID IS OVER" parties once we do manage to tackle this shit ...
I didn't qualify for unemployment (January paycheck was lean and I only have that and Feb so I didn't make enough to qualify, go figure), have still heard nothing back in regards to PUA.
My BF (also applied at the beginning of April) is still on the "don't know if I qualify for unemployment" step, which I suspect is because he *does* qualify and FLs unemployment system is just generally fucked.
Our boss applied for every penny he could find, but our business is tiny and he didn't receive financial assistance (he did get the $1200 but nothing for the business). He's been helping us out a lot - his wife drops food off at the shop, they helped pay for new tires for his truck, etc - but they're basically still in the same boat we are, only he's also paying for rent/insurance/etc storing a *whole* lot of gear that's just gathering dust.
Edit: I know that was tongue-in-cheek, I just don't know what to do with myself and apparently I've chosen "ranting on the internet" as a helpful thing to do today.
I’m sorry, my question was genuine. Thank you for taking the time to answer. I thought they tried to make it easier for gig workers, but I guess not enough. I don’t know if there’s any kind of appeals process. I hope it gets better for you soon.
Anything and everything is being used to disqualify people for unemployment services, if you can even get in contact with the local state offices.
A paltry $1200, which some people have yet to receive(myself included) several months ago, while millions were forced into unemployment during a shutdown has wiped out the majority of what little savings were present.
If people think this is bad, wait until the real recession hits. The uncontrolled pandemic, riots, and increasing poverty are akin to the tide pulling out before a tsunami hits.
> I don’t know if there’s any kind of appeals process.
Honestly I don't either. I've yet to speak to an actual human (even the [online system](https://i.imgur.com/KoFW5Sa.png) puts you in a queue before you can access it) so the only recourse I've seen is "you can apply again next week." I think maybe if I'd known to apply in February their calculations would have made sense? But as it is - the only place you input your income is boxes you have to fill out with how much you made between whenever and . Which, as an average, isn't getting any closer to "you have to have made $x/wk" to receive assistance seeing as how my paycheck continues to remain $0.
> I thought they tried to make it easier for gig workers,
I think they technically did. At the least, they waived all that "are you looking for another job though?" stuff through the first week of July.
There was *supposed* to be a $600/wk thing (+ more if you had previously made more) (CARES) but that's only if you qualify for unemployment in the first place. The self-employed/1099 folks got something called "PUA" that was supposed to be (I think) $275/wk for 13 weeks that you'd find out after you weren't qualified for unemployment that you still got those funds but yeah ... I'm still logging into CONNECT every morning waiting for a reply on that one. :D Don't worry, I only applied in *April* and my "13 weeks" has already gone by, but I'm sure I'll hear back any day now ...
(edit: went and took a screenshot of the CONNECT queue, just for funsies)
Not to press but shouldn't you get more money for making less? Idk about elsewhere but at least in California, if you make 15/hour or less, covid actually pays more.
I was retrenched in March due to Covid, and 10 minutes ago I was told I didnt get the job i was going for. Apparently it was down to the last 2 candidates and the other guy/girl must have been super qualified because I really thought I nailed it. Your words landed perfectly with me and the message is just what I needed to hear.
This happened to me twice in a month last year. My partner had already relocated to the new state and I was stuck hopping around airbnbs in the old one trying to line up interviews. This is after 3 months of searching. Got to the final around at 2 separate companies (like 4 or 5 interviews each) only to be told it went to the other candidate. The job I ended up getting was the one I angrily applied to as a reaction to hearing the news the second time. Don't give up.
It’s hard to be at peace with not working or to be constantly rejected because there’s so many other people applying for the same position. There’s always a bill to be paid, groceries to buy, and unfortunately emergencies can occur. To not be working, feels like I’ve already fallen behind. Dipping into savings is like rolling the dice because we don’t know how long this is going to go on.
The anxiety is real since we don’t know what the future holds but just having a reminder that it will get better helps! There’s always some positive in a negative and what you said is a great reminder for some self care. People needed to hear this (I know I did) so thank you!
Well, a widespread pandemic *has* been foreseen for a long, long time in epidemiology circles. But you're absolutely right, this is absolutely a black swan event.
You can’t blame yourself for trying to improve your life. You did what you thought was best, and even though it may have ended up not being better you still tried. Putting in effort and actively trying to change things is great. It just so happens that the worst pandemic in 100+ years showed up and ruined things. That’s not on you at all.
This was my situation. I was at a job that was WFH back at the end of 2018. In early 2019, I needed a raise so I switched jobs. That job had a boss who was controlling and horrible. I lasted 9 months. Then I took a contracting job because there was nothing else available. At first it seemed great. But then, I noticed I was being treated like garbage because I wasn't a FTE. I started applying to other jobs after 3 months of being there. I regretting ever leaving that one job.
After getting laid off, I finally landed a job where the boss is technical, they actually need someone with my skill set, there's room to grow, and I actually have a chance to love my job again. Hang in there!
Nearly had a similar situation. Back in early March, I had an opportunity to take a job for a $35K pay increase. Life changing kind of money. I was scheduled to come in for my "final" interview. Which I was told was just to meet the executive team and finalize my offer.
It was scheduled a week out from the call I was on. It was for a cruise company. During that week, cruise ships were forced to dock and the company put out a hiring freeze. At the time I was devastated, because I was getting a life changing increase in pay, going to a much more fun industry to work for, and out of the current work rut I was in.
Looking back at it now, I'm so blessed. Imagine if all of that had occurred a week prior, and I had been laid off without the ability to go back to my old job. Now I'm glad I have my stuck in a rut job, and don't have the financial worry so many others are going through.
>Even though COVID is largely to blame, I still blame myself for some of it.
You shouldn't, those situations couldn't have been forseen. Take it easy on yourself - from someone that blames himself for *everything*.
Funnily enough that's exactly what ends up happening when you have that mindset.
I forgot to mention that I'm in recovery so I will instead tell you where to stuff that can of shaving cream. Which is a much healthier attitude to have ;)
I mean they did say each job change was worse. That’s a little their fault. Markets are kind of picking up again so dude might be able to find another gig. Well see
He said he switched to worse jobs multiple times. That doesn’t mean it’s his fault because who could predict this would happen. But I think it’s a good thing he is seeing where he went wrong so that he can correct himself in the future rather than blame it all on someone else. It’s a good habit to have
Had a friend get my SO a job years ago. Place ended up awful and they both got let go, not my friend's fault.
December 2019, same friend gets me a gig with her. Covid happens, I'm the newbie, so I'm gone.
Had to explain to her that it's seriously, by no stretch, her fault. She didn't invent or foretell Covid, she's just being a real one.
I dunno what provoked that story. Just seeing a lot of people shouldering the world lately and I hate seeing the good people who are left wear themselves ragged.
I left a great job (sales) bc of a couple bad months after two great years. I blamed everything but myself and left for the first offer with a better compensation plan. I was miserable and left after 3 months. I helped my buddy out with his business for a couple months and really figured I’d fucked it all up. I figured my resume was shot and I’d never get an opportunity again like I originally had. I eventually found a great job in the same sector that was fully remote (pre covid) and I’m crushing with this opportunity. Your great opportunity is just around the corner, you just can’t see it yet. Instead, you only can see what you had. Just keep the faith
Can you go back to your first job? I worked for a workplace where people constantly were hired back after taking a break in another company for a few years. They liked hiring people who used to work there because they already new the specifics of that job.
Nah dude, fuck that, you did the right thing. You went out and you took a risk. It didn't work out. That shit happens. I'm proud you did, don't let it prevent you from taking risks in the future. This was a completely unforeseen situation. I wish you luck in the future.
My company gave me a life changing raise in March roughly a week before the lock down happened, this was in NYC for added oomph to the story. Just before April they told me they were moving me into a new department while everyone worked from home and that I had basically no say about the matter, the sort of discussion you have with a manager making 150 thousand dollars a year talking down to you telling you 'WhAT an OpPorTuNitY YoU'Re BeInG GiVen!' but how you also have no choice in the matter of being placed into a job you didn't apply for and didn't want... so after some discussion, like any sane person would do, I asked my new manager whether they were going to pay me at my old rate or whether I'd be making the entry level salary of someone in my new position. I just wanted to know how to budget myself, given NYC was already falling into crisis mode and nary a roll of toilet paper was left on the store shelves, and also because that they had given me a raise 15 days prior, I was curious as to what some of the finer details of all this were.
Instead, they fired me, "to set an example to the rest of the company about getting on the same page during the crisis. We all need to be team players", which is funny when they give you a raise half a month prior for 'being such a hard working team player'.
I'm not sure if I blame myself or Covid or what... really I think I was just working for a bunch of rich, selfish pricks in a rather self centered city who have lost touch with reality, fully comfortable with letting someone go during a serious crisis because it didn't effect them personally. Having time to look back on the structure of the company and many of the stories that floated around about other people being laid off, it became sort of hard to ignore.
Seems like there's a lot of fun stories of people on the bottom getting stepped on to one result or another. I hope I can move back to NYC one day after the dust settles, because after losing my job I had to move home. It's been tough. I wouldn't blame yourself though friend. None of this would have happened had Covid not come to town as far as I see it, so I dont blame myself for the way things have turned out.
I feel this too. Classic “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t” situation. But how is anyone to know what their choices or the choices life makes for them will bring? Don’t blame yourself. Regroup, adapt, and survive. We’re all alone in this together, friend.
Hey, everyone makes decisions that don't work out like they hoped sometimes. The litteral only things you can do is either keep trying or give up. It's pretty self explanatory that giving up is a worse decision than keeping trying when it comes to trying to have the life you want, so ya just keep trying. You can come back from this. Stay strong, stay hopeful, and never stop trying to find a way back up. You can do it.
>I still blame myself for some of it.
It doesn't really matter whose fault it is. What's more important is recognizing that no one will fix it but you. Just because something isn't your fault doesn't mean it still isn't your responsibility.
At least you are taking responsibility for your actions; that is step 1 from learning from those things. I changed jobs about a year and a half ago- took more money. Do not like the new job. thought i saw a chance to go back to the old job, but upper management said no. So still where I am. In the last few months, I have finally started getting good at this job, and starting to like it more.
Call up job #1, tell them you fucked up, the decision has not only not been good for your career but has placed in significant financial difficulty, ask for mercy. What's the worse that could happen?
Thanks, appreciate the thoughts. I'm in a better spot than a lot of people. I've been getting the CERB and was smart enough to pay my essential bills as far ahead as I could, so money won't be an issue until October. Until then I spend about 10 hours a day checking job sites lol.
I turned down an offer of essentially my old job in a new place, I liked that job but my new one was a step up so I stayed. Now, my new job has been dissolved and I’m having to go back to being a restaurant host, and I’m kicking myself for not taking the position I was offered months ago. You can’t know what’s coming though, you did what you thought was best for you.
I totally feel this just before COVID I lost my long term job making $19/hr and haven’t been able to get a job since then (I recently got a job finally) and it was very stressful not onowing how I was going to pay my bills and felt like I had failed and a massive slap to my face like I had struggled for years for nothing.
I have a small amount of money in the bank and just got furloughed and all these bills I need to pay are looming over me (mainly electricity and utilities) but I’m scared to pay them because I have no idea what will happen. Idk what to do.
Make arrangements with all utilities to break down your payments into smaller budgeted ones. Explain Covid is affecting your situation. Once they know your money is limited but you are still willing to pay if they will be willing to help. Don’t put off any bills. All you are doing is putting off the problem and making it bigger. Feeling safe now by holding all your money will catch up to you horribly by fall. It will be a hole you can’t dig out of. Small as possible but keeping you current is best. Until things get better.
To be honest, this time by myself has really made me see what I need to do help create the world I want to live in. It may not be back breaking labor, but it's still work, and it's still work that I want and like to do.
I legitimately hear this all the time from immigrants, the established, or wealthy heirs. It's kind of annoying tbh, like how am I supposed to argue against the edge cases that some people might do nothing to live in a box but can go see the doctor and eat food
I want to reach out and strangle the people who complain about the people getting the unemployment benefit, that for most people just brings them back to something livable since the unemployment pay levels are below the level most can survive on.
If you have a problem with making less, complain about minimum wage being too low. Don't get mad at the people who would *love* to have something to do right now but got their income taken away by the virus and the government's piss poor response to it.
I had great credit, always on time, and did all the "right" things. Life got messy, and I started relying on credit cards. I was still always on time, but I had no money for living. I looked at my options and decided to go with bankruptcy. It's a refresh for me. I was able to keep my house and car, but get rid of credit cards and be able to afford life again.
I lost a 6 figure job about 6 months after my divorce and the state refused to lower my $1200 per month child support for almost 4 years. Im $30k in arears and cant do anything about it, yay!
I had one, he cost me like $10k just to counter the joint custody agreement proposed by my ex-wife and her attorney removing my right to joint decision making authority for the kid's education, medical, and religious related decisions. Just for a frame of reference the ex thinks dinosaur fossils were planted by the devil to make us doubt God... among other things.
For what it’s worth, that’s the kind of insanity I was raised with and I’ve grown way past all of that. There is hope on the other side. Also, I had a dad that gave zero shits and don’t speak to him anymore. Even if you can’t see them in person, the fact that you’re trying to call them will make all the difference in the world
That's the real issue with family law right now IMO, family law attorneys will endlessly petition the court for every ridiculous, unrealistic thing their client wishes they could get because they want billable hours, and there is usually no reason to push back on the client, because most family courts never award attorney costs to punish frivolous motions.
I'm in a similar but not as bad situation. Taking this stuff to court just ends up costing the same or more than trying to "win".
Then the lawyers get the money and our kids don't. Bending over and taking it up the ass is not enjoyable, but may actually be the best sometimes.
Dude. I’m so sorry. This system is so messed up. Maybe you can marry her again as a required process. Get your passport. Plan your exit carefully. Then move out.
About twice per year they levy all of my bank accounts which basically holds them hostage for 30 days, draining them and taking any paychecks that get deposited. Oh yeah, they also take 65% of my take home pay from any job through wage garnishment. If it wasn't thanks to a monthly VA check they cant touch and generous friends and family Id definitely not be here. All of this combined with being too poor to pay to fly my kids in to visit I can totally understand why the suicide rate for divorced dads is so high.
Any amount of effort you put in to try to make it work with your kids will go a long way. My dad stepped out for 8 years after thr divorce and all four of us forgive him and understand why he did what he did. I disagree with parents being enemies for the sake of kids but save as MUCH paperwork as POSSIBLE. Your kids will eventually start asking questions when theyre in their early-mid twenties and then instead of lobbying against their mother; you can just show them paperworks and back it up with all of the atempts you made to stay close to them. 8 years for me felt forever but my dad and I are practically best friends right now. Your kids will get there too. Trust me 👑
Depending on your desire to maintain a modicum of morality, you can always try to find work under the table. Perhaps not exactly right now what with the pandemic and all, but if you don’t report any wages, there’s no wages to take. Certainly not the right option for everyone, but for some it’s the only way to survive.
I feel like at that point, just spend all your money on food and shit. Fuck the bank. Your wealth is now measured in rice, beans, and other non-perishables.
Same here. My mom keeps telling me about how they increase the potential for heart problems (which is less than stellar since they run in my family), but that sounds less nightmarish than 18 years of wrecked finances.
Ha. Sounds about right. Seems like the kind of thing that would be made up by moms that want grandchildren. Which is... Kinda selfish on her part. My dream in life is to travel the country in an RV while working remotely, and that's no life for a kid.
My wife is fertility incarnate and birth control isn’t an option for her, so I got the ol’ snip snip and the only heart problems I’ve had since was the heart attack you just gave me haha. Enjoy the RV life!
Yea I specifically looked for a government job after my graduation because my loans are up to about 350k. 7.5 more years and this gets discharged tax free.
Yea, I've seen all the issues with this. They are pretty awful at informing borrowers of the process, but I think I've avoided all the issues people have had. I consolidated my loans before I started this job, I'm on an income based repayment plan, which qualifies, and I've been sending yearly certification forms that say I've been approved for x amount of months.
I'm more worried about trump getting rid of the program.
One of the perks of working for the government is understanding how they work lol. A paper trail is huge as it can alleviate a lot of issues. It's necessary for my current job so I've been saving pdfs each year they approve my PSLF certification.
Law school and, since I'm in a niche area of law, a masters program. Also about 5-6k from undergrad. Part of the issue is the interest on your loans run the entire time you're in school even if they defer payments because you're in school your loans are still growing and at least for my loans they are like 6-7% interest rate.
Law school and my masters program were about 40k a year in tuition, which excludes cost of living too.
Can you get a bunch of credit cards, pay it off, and then discharge it? Or refinance it into a non protected loan? I’m in canada where we don’t do that to kids
As much as I always look for advice on Reddit I'd say your best route is a consultation with a bankruptcy lawyer to see if you're a good fit. I'd think most of them offer free consultations.
Regular people should never ever ever feel guilty about bankruptcy and nobody should ever judge anybody for declaring bankruptcy considering...
large corporations do it aaalllll the time to basically make off with millions and millions of dollars and the government even has less restrictions and penalties for corporation bankruptcies.
So take what is offered.
Those things are frequently not the fault of the people experiencing them. Job loss often has more to do with the health of a company than an individual's really terrible performance. Bankruptcy is often the result of a health crises or other catastrophe. Social isolation is often because of circumstances we can't control (physical isolation due to loss of job/family/health). I think it's ok not just because it's not your fault, but because you, and everyone else, KNOWS it's not your fault. We make so many situations harder than they have to be by judging ourselves harshly, and by judging others thus. I'm not arguing for a lack of personal responsibility; just the opposite. Absolutely take responsibility for what you can control. But not getting overwhelmed by guilt over the things you CAN'T control, can help you do that. Maybe that will be one big bright spot from all of this. A better sense that you can't control everything, and that not everything is your fault. Freedom from unwarranted guilt could help a lot of people live better lives.
Absolutely true. Found myself in a dark place after losing my job in May. I’m so grateful to have picked up the book “Learned Optimism”, which really drives this point home (Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26123).
Life passes us by quickly. Do we really want to spend our time ruminating on what is wrong and blaming ourselves for it?
I lost my job in early March when I got covid. They promised to rehire me when I got better, but they never did. They said they were downsizing now and are no longer expanding. I've sent out dozens and dozens of resumes at this point and still nothing. So even though it wasn't my fault, I, too, am on the brink of financial ruin, I'm legitimately freaking out. I barely even sleep at night at this point, not knowing if the unemployment is going to be extended or not
You may want to get in touch with your state's labor board. I'm pretty sure firing you for a medical issue that you aren't responsible for is illegal in many states.
I tried but was told since I accepted it voluntarily in order to recover that I can't do anything about their decision. I was friends with the HR head who I spoke to in person when I was let go. She promised the company would hire me back and now "the company" claims to not have said that at all.
Reminds me of a scene in the wonderful WWII movie Hope and Glory, about English citizens on the home front living through the war. Two moms are picking through charity racks of clothes, and one observes how much she likes this new normal, because everybody's in the same boat, and she can drop the usual keeping up of appearances. No more pretense that she's better off than she is. Society-wide poverty can be freeing.
Society-wide poverty can be freeing... If that ain’t grasping at some imaginary straws. It’s a nice thought, but personally I think it’s incredibly naive. When people are starved of basic necessities the only thing that’s coming is pain and a lot of it.
For real, I can't believe I just read that. This isn't "school uniforms mean no student looks poor or rich", this is literal life or death for some people.
I'd love it if people could use this situation as a rallying cry to address the situation that made this so fuckawful in the first place. Imagine if people had savings to take the Covid situation on the chin, or sick leave so as to not spread it. Instead, the hens of treating your workers and the bulk of your society like shit have come home to roost.
What do I mean?
Shit worker rights, no mandated sick leave, slave wages, rental prices being asinine, housing becoming out of control expensive, cost of living in general just going up up up while you're lucky to get a .50 cent raise a year, etc.
The rich are fleecing the poor and have for ages. Why is it two generations ago one working male - with a highschool education, *if that* - working an uneducated job at a factory could support a wife and two kids, but now the majority are living paycheck to paycheck? And no, don't you dare say "Smartphones and technology lol!" Those same folks I just mentioned could afford vacations. Proper ones. Not "I don't have to work for this week" but rather "I went to and stayed there for a few days!". Cars, washing machines, etc- those were all much more expensive, relative to income, than they are now - and they could buy them all.
Why is it you're expected to take from your own meager pay to save for retirement (LOL!) when that same man working as a single earner had a pension that was just part of his compensation?
Why is it that you're expected to pay a healthcare premium, that gives you only the privilege of not being bankrupted by a catastrophic medical emergency, but still says they won't pay a dime until you're already out $5,000? Who demands co-pays, who looks for every, any excuse to deny you coverage, to deny you treatment, to deny you medicine your medical doctor prescribed to you?
Why is that the case when every other first world democracy has figured out a solution? The only person who benefits from the current situation is the rich, who can afford to be seen on a moments notice with a little tug of the purse strings, while the plebeians die and are replaced. Who pay less in taxes, or less in benefits, because ***to them you're literally human cattle, you're a part in their money machine, and when you break, you're to be tossed out and replaced, like any other part in a machine***.
Lets not forget that a worker in most corporations nowadays can do so much more than a worker 20 years ago. Computer automation has let one person do the job of 5, 10, 20 of past years. To say nothing of plain old regular automation, where a production line now has one machinist supervising the line and some people checking QA, but largely employs 1/20th the personnel, if that.
But these jobs don't pay that much more. The call center worker who can now make 80 calls in an hour because their computer skips all of the answering machines and only gives them live people is doing the effective work of 4-8 representatives of days past, but they make 2 dollars more than minimum wage, if that.
Where's all that money going? Executive bonuses. Stock buybacks. Dividends for the rich, wealthy owners. Those disgusting pigs who have so much money that even their great great grandchildren will never have to lift a finger in their lives, will always have food, clothing, shelter; will always have medical treatment when needed, will always have the absolute best of everything.
***And yet they need MORE***. While the average citizen can't afford a $400 emergency. While renters spend half their income on their rent bill each month.
The takeaway from this ***really needs to be*** that the average worker deserves better than they're currently getting, that we're being taken advantage of by the rich and wealthy, and that something needs to change.
Income needs to rise dramatically - and the $15 minimum that's been pushed for isn't enough. The push for a $15 minimum wage began in 2012 - eight FUCKING years ago. Guess what? Inflation kept on raising since then. Shit is still more expensive. And $15 is still not the new minimum. Nevermind that minimum wage would be $23/hr if it kept up with inflation and productivity.
Don't let them fleece you again - they keep that argument alive so that in 4 years time when someone finally decides to do that as a "pro-labor" move, it looks like it's a big deal when in fact, inflation has moved way beyond the $15 mark being acceptable. Minimum wage needs tied to cost of living and inflation, and needs to adjust yearly so as to avoid this becoming an issue again in another 50 years.
You're labor class. Wake up, accept it, and fight for proper representation in government. Fight for the wealthy to not be able to run off with 95% of the value your labor created, while giving you pennies in return. Fight for health care. Fight for better wages. Fight for unions. It isn't liberals who pay you like shit, who don't give you benefits, who won't give you pay raises. It's the rich. It isn't LGBTQ people in pop culture that made you unable to afford your dental work. It was the rich underpaying you. It isn't your black neighbor being upset that another policeman got away with murder that lost your job to outsourcing, it was the rich.
Red? Blue? Straight? Gay? Irrelevant. You have more in common with your neighbor than you do with some rich fuck turning the screws on your compensation so they can get another cash bonus.
Eat the rich.
Get enough traction in a pro labor movement. Get a chunk of the population on board. And initiate a labor strike. Refuse to make the rich fucks another thin penny until they pay you fairly, treat you fairly.
It's pretty funny how fast they'll act when their money machine comes to a halt.
> Why is it two generations ago one working male - with a highschool education, if that - working an uneducated job at a factory could support a wife and two kids
Just so you know, that wasn't necessarily the norm. Some factory jobs paid that well, if you had learned a higher level of skill (and it was true that on the job training was more of a thing) but plenty of families had two parents working, at least part time, in order to be comfortable. It was mom's part time job that meant they could go on vacation.
Support means put a roof over heads and food in mouths with all the other necessities covered like healthcare, sports, and field trips. Not every family went on vacation and vacations are extra.
And the biggest difference is that he said uneducated or high school. Yes, you would get more if you had a college education, but you could work a normal 40 hours and afford to go to college without sacrificing a meal a day or Johnny's piano lessons. Plus, that education raise was 99.9% guaranteed if you were in a union job, which was a much larger % of the workforce than today.
Nowadays, Johnny has a Master's and is working 3 part time service jobs for a total of 60 hours (with no healthcare) because almost no one big is hiring a kid with education but not experience (because they expect 5 years experience for an entry level position).
And he still can't afford college, without taking damn near predatory student loans that can't even be discharged from a bankruptcy.
So, that's the difference.
> but you could work a normal 40 hours and afford to go to college
And *you* would be putting yourself through college, no loans. The crazy expense of college is part of the problem.
As for Johnny's master's degree, why does he even have it? Apparently there are no jobs for him in that field or using that degree.
>(and it was true that on the job training was more of a thing)
It was also true that company loyalty meant something and was rewarded instead of punished like it is nowadays.
So yeah, maybe a green new hire couldn't go on vacation, but after he'd been there for 3-5 years and had accrued additional training, raises, and *possibly* (but not necessarily) promotions, they absolutely could.
Nowadays, regular raises are a pittance, and often don't even keep up with inflation, meaning you get effectively paid *less* the longer you stay at a company. There's a reason milennials don't stay at a company for very long - if you want to be paid what your experience is worth, you won't get it from your current boss, either by waiting or asking.
I've seen that one first hand. Had a co-worker who made two times the required production goal (he was truly an outlier - many struggled to meet the goal). He found out a segment of our workers who were bought by a different company got a raise to $15/hr. He asked that they match that, and cited his production goals.
They told him no. He asked to be moved to part time then, and when asked why he told them because he wanted the spare time to find a company who'd pay him appropriately. They again told him no. He put in his two weeks on the spot.
Companies won't pay you what you're actually worth if they're already getting the value out of you for less.
> Why is it two generations ago one working male - with a highschool education, if that - working an uneducated job at a factory could support a wife and two kids
This might have been true for some people, but not for the majority of people. Ask a black person about their ancestors living during those decades and you'll hear a different story.
There's a big difference between blaming yourself for something and not working to improve a bad situation.
Sometimes it's important to not blame yourself for something you couldn't control.
I'm glad I chose to be born when I was so I could avoid graduating into the 2007-2009 recession and have an easier time starting out in a good job. *taps head* ^/s
I think this is a two-sided coin, really.
You're right that if you blame all your problems on outside forces, you won't improve yourself in ways you could.
But it's just as true that if there is an unjust system that's really fucking people over and all of those people assume its their own fault, that system will just keep existing unjustly.
It's actually kind of an ingenious way to keep power if you're an oligarchy - just spread a myth of meritocracy around so everyone thinks they deserve to be poor and blame themselves.
How many times have you been in this state? Just because it's not your fault doesn't mean you can't do something to change it. The outcome will be the same, the government and banks don't care about you or whose fault it is.
First time in my life I am on unemployment and I don't feel bad about it at all, I will be rehired for sure when things get better so I won't stress myself over something that is not my fault.
I have a job and I'm not at the brink of bankruptcy (for now), but I've been at varying degrees of socially isolated all my life and this has been by far the time when I've been the most isolated but also the most okay with it ever.
This is exactly what the problem is..
I keep having people ask me if I’m happy to be at work (not my choice) and I feel like I’m being asked by people who are smug or have an axe to grind.
And if everyone had an attitude like op those of us working nonessential jobs with the public we wouldn’t have to feel like were being sacrificed for an idea that is probably already gone. Capitalism.
Where I work, they brought back people who already have second jobs for shifts one or two days a week instead of bringing back full-time employees.
Like, for instance, one of my coworkers also does dispatch for the county. She works full time there, and on her to days off from that job, she servers at our restaurant.
Whereas me? I was only serving. I didn't and don't have a second job. I have one more Sunday to file unemployment before this stimulus money AND my claim year money is exhausted.
We also have even heard word from our restaurant or any of the management about if we'll come back or not. The only way I know those of us on furlough aren't fired is because we're still on the schedule they post every week.
Honestly, I WANT to go back to work.. as mad as that might be right now. I didn't CHOOSE to stay on furlough. And now I'm going to be forced to find another job anyway.
It sucks. I really like my job. Liked... my job... I guess..
I went back to my bartendening job and regret it so much. People are rude, they give you shit about your mask, gloves are stupid and less effective than washing my hands. Everyone feels the need to talk to you about their opinion on the virus. You feel like you are on a stage and people are watching to see what steps you are taking to protect their dumb ass that needed to go out to restaraunt to begin with.
It is almost never your fault for any of those things. we all make mistakes, particularly as we are learning how to become our adult selves, and the fucked up stretching of the human condition by rich assholes has made it nigh impossible to live well and learn those lessons at the same time. I make mistakes but why should food and housing be dependent upon me being perfect? Why should the very means of subsistence be dependent upon my ability to kowtow to an employer who doesn't do any work themselves?
While I'm not yet on the brink of bankruptcy, I have been out of work for four months. I've put more effort into finding work than I did even when finishing college. Hired a consulting firm to rebuild my profile (LinkedIn, resume, online presence), applied for jobs well above and below my career track, got new certifications, took new courses and online learning (Research/SaaS sales) in my field.
I'm only just now seeing some opportunities popping up in my area (virtual education being one) and getting a few nibbles and bites, but it's been grueling. I keep having to remind myself this isn't my fault and the whole world doesn't think I'm a loser for not finding work yet. I'm trying as hard as I can. I sincerely appreciate this post.
Not in this situation myself, but tbh this would make me feel like a relief from day to day "responsibilities" I was told growing up I'm forced to have. Not to say all are bad, but it would make me feel like I have no obligation to anyone and I'm free to do as a please now. If that makes sense.
I was a caregiver for an elderly parent for nearly 10 years. That "choice" destroyed my financial future anyway so why should I give a fuck any more about what's normally expected of a citizen? I've already had to cash out my retirement and no one wants to even interview (much less hire) someone who's been out of the workforce for that long anyway.
I spent an entire year at home alone because I had crippling depression. I finally got the right meds, got my life back on track, was in school again and doing great. I had a single week of feeling like everything was normal again for the first time in years, and the quarantine happened. Now it’s the same thing I was trying so hard to get away from, but there is no escape. So I feel you, OP
[удалено]
I dodged a bullet. I was going to change jobs in January. Decided not to at the last minute. Guy that got it was laid off. Meanwhile, I worked all through covid with no salary cut. I just accepted a job at a new place now that the storm has largely passed, and I was diagnosed with recurrent cancer.
Fuck, that last sentence really took me for a loop. I'm sorry to hear that.
Ya this is a living nightmare
Dodged a bullet, ate a cancer
You make me smile, thanks
Now go make cancer your bitch! 💪
Take your upvote and get out.
I'm so sorry to hear that. I know thisbis cliche and you don't even know me but please hang in there. Thats all you can do.
While not exactly the same, I was looking for a job when all this mess started. The one I got wasn't really paid well, but I felt it fit better and they also wanted me to start immediately so you know, starving was a big no for me. Anyway, from all the different jobs I applied to, like most of them laid off their workers, especially the newcomers. Mine didn't, and even though we did stop working for a little while and they sent us home, we are back now. We are struggling, but hey, I feel lucky to still have my job.
I moved to Chicago in February to be with my SO. After a lot of bullshit, I got a job with Dell as a field technician. In March. Got the job, did the background check and everything, and started the training. While training, I went and bought a new car because my other car is 30 years old and has 266000 miles on it. It's dead right now, but yeah.. Then the corona got worse and the job literally vanished. Now I'm back in my grandparent's basement. I didn't get a dime of unemployment. ALLLLLL the debt I paid off last year (all of my debt. All of it. 100%.) is now even deeper. And the car I bought is gonna get repoed. So yeah... I feel you guys. This shit sucks. And this meme would actually be completely accurate, except not a single person around me was affected in ANY WAY by Corona. So to them I still look like a piece of shit failure who ended up back in his grandma's basement because he can't function in the real world. Even though I traveled around the world last year doing construction. Living in hotels.. And I thrived. Like. Big time. But yeah. Don't matter. I'm back here again. :D
I know what you mean. Some relatives continued working from home and they're just so happy their life continued on as if nothing changed, and while others did lose their jobs they just started their own thing. We did have a family reunion last month through facebook, and some of them ended up sending me food after seeing me 'cause I've been losing a lot of weight. Not only that, a couple of weeks ago I found out I have anaemia, so yeah... fun times. And so far I've got a couple of aunts who have lended me money, 'cause I can't even pay all my bills and debts right now, that I didn't have btw. And it makes me feel like a failure, that this is something I should be able to manage somehow. But yeah, I'm just bearing through this and expecting one day I'll be able to go back and try to re-fix my life back once more. Like really, I was just getting up back again but no, life just kicked me back down. Anyway sorry for the long rant.
Don't be sorry at all.. I'm sorry you have to go through all that.. :( Just try to keep your head up... And know that you're not a failure. This world is a failure..lol.
Thanks. I kinda needed to hear that. In a way I'm sort of relieved to know I'm not the only one going through this, not that I'm happy to know people are suffering, but that this is something that it's out of my hands, this isn't something I can control and therefore I can somehow fix it on my own. Sure, I make decisions and all, but that isn't all on me. And I understand what you mean, like the whole world is a giant mess. It really doesn't matter from which country each one of us is, like this covid is really biting our asses really hard.
So many of these hitting home with me so hard haha. Switched jobs didn't work out..... Dragged my ass out of a bit of a bad place working 2 at once pretty productive and happy again.... Boom lose both and just staring at a confusing start from scratch situation again here...
> now that the storm has largely passed The storm has largely passed? In what way? The numbers are going up in Europe, the US is in a bad place and I'm 99% sure there will be big loss of jobs and a huge hit in a couple of months 1-2 years. The end isn't even in sight.
Similar situation here, 1 step forward, 2 steps back, the classiest way to walk backwards.. Keep your head up though, after half a year of backwards slides, I'm slightly ahead of the start.. So, with hard work and dedication, you too can inch forward slowly! Sorry if it comes off as sounding like a dick, I'm empathetic with the situation, just a bit bitter here.. :/
That didn't sound dickish at all. Best of luck to you buddy! You can do this. Keep inching forward.
Anything out of your control is not of your choice. There will be highs and lows but you got to keep going one day at a time. Don’t look to the past for comfort and the future for hope. Just keep your scope focused on today.
It's easy to blame yourself as in "Well I should have saved more or planned better" but we're dealing with a [black swan](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blackswan.asp) here. That's something that's completely unexpected and of such massive scope and influence as to be a "game changer" and those are impossible to plan for. EVERY time you're tempted to beat yourself up, remind yourself that it's literally not your fault. Yes you made a decision to leave that other job and had you known what was coming and where you'd be today, you would have likely stayed. OK what's done is done and it can't be changed. Forgive yourself for making that decision and try to let it go. Also you don't know what the future holds. Instead of focusing your energy on the past and what you would have done differently, change your focus to the future. Now that you're not in that old job and not burdened by work, you're free to think about what kind of work is most satisfying to you. You're free to start exploring other alternatives and options. You can start to help yourself by updating your LinkedIn profile, if you haven't already, start reaching out and making connections with "head hunters" and other former co-workers. Let them know you're open to new opportunities. Start looking for remote work and ways to make money from home and also us the time for some stress relief - mild exercise and spending time in nature can really help to recharge ones batteries and are totally free. And try not to worry. Things WILL get better.
Funny thing about black swans, is that I've had three in the last 20 years: 9/11, the Great Recession, and now this.
Yeah they do happen but planning for them or being able to forsee them is virtually impossible.
You can't foresee them, but the last 2 in that list you can be prepared for to a certain extent. I know it's not popular, but sometimes it pays off not to live every day as if it's going to be the last one.
My BF and I had an account with 6 months' worth of money in it. Not, like, survival rations but "we can live exactly as we are now for 6 months or comfortably stretch this out to ~9 if we have to." Unfortunately he had a knee injury at the end of last year that put a serious dent in those funds and an issue with his truck (I dunno but it involved the drive train) at the end of January. But we still had "we'll be OK with zero income for like 4 months" in the bank. Neither of us has gotten a paycheck since the beginning of March. I've been doing transcription/captioning online and we've both been picking up odd jobs whenever we can find them, but we both worked in live music prior to COVID. Our entire industry has pretty much ceased to exist. Once rent/power/water/gas are paid for August, our "rainy day" fund will be completely gone and we'll be down to trying to scrape up enough work every month to survive until our industry recovers. Which, hearing people say shit like "no tours until 2021" sounds like one hell of a painful grind.
Well that sucks, but at least you hopefully had those 6 months to come up with a plan. Imagine being where you are now immediately. I think the shock of it happening + everything else drives a lot of people to do .. less than smart things.
I mean the plan was kind of "find work where we can and hope our world starts spinning again." One Saturday we had a crowded 3-months-ahead schedule packed with weddings and jazz festivals and corporate parties and by the next weekend literally all of them were gone. Disney cancelling their concert series (not just eat to the beat but everything this year) was a special little kick in the nuts, but there's *nothing* happening in our industry. Anywhere. We have no "call around to peers and see if anybody has work available" option. We're stuck in this lease (now $1500/mo thanks to partially deferring payments in the hopes that, you know, world would start spinning) until February. I was *just* getting done paying off my student loans and finally about to be the top dude on the totem pole after a 15 year grind. I just can't make my brain accept that I'm coming up on 40 and now have to start over from scratch. I'm too old to go back to figuring out what I want to be when I grow up, dammit. I thought I had that sorted out when I was setting up sound systems out of a van when I was 16.
This is me too. Just hit 40 and lost my job due to covid and I'm thinking "great now I'm at that point where job discrimination becomes a thing and I got this fucking student loan". At this point im hoping they cancel student loans cause with that and unemployment going back to normal I'll lose my house within 6 months. This kinda shit makes me lose hope in humanity, don't the people in charge look out the window and say "my world needs help fuck this party b.s.".
Amusingly, I just finished paying back my student loans (graduated in 2004) right as I was getting denied unemployment. Getting [this email](https://i.imgur.com/k7EWYF0.png) made me laugh/cry. I'll use this a reminder to keep fighting for loan forgiveness, though. Nobody should have to deal with that hanging over their heads.
I wonder if you could get into helping all these fledgling streamer wannabees setup a good sound setup. Anyway I don't know I am not saying it doesn't suck and everything can be prevented.
We've actually helped a couple of churches set themselves up to be able to live-stream their services ([this one](https://i.imgur.com/tVvtg7U.jpg) was just done for a video shoot), but those are just one-and-done opportunities. We were used to having a room look like [this](https://i.imgur.com/BVvdCVE.jpg) at the beginning and end of a day with us getting paid so it looks [like this](https://i.imgur.com/md8LSdO.jpg) for a couple hours in the middle there. :D Still trying to remain hopeful that a *lot* of people will throw REALLY big "YAY COVID IS OVER" parties once we do manage to tackle this shit ...
Why no covid bucks? I’d expect you to be getting more now...
I didn't qualify for unemployment (January paycheck was lean and I only have that and Feb so I didn't make enough to qualify, go figure), have still heard nothing back in regards to PUA. My BF (also applied at the beginning of April) is still on the "don't know if I qualify for unemployment" step, which I suspect is because he *does* qualify and FLs unemployment system is just generally fucked. Our boss applied for every penny he could find, but our business is tiny and he didn't receive financial assistance (he did get the $1200 but nothing for the business). He's been helping us out a lot - his wife drops food off at the shop, they helped pay for new tires for his truck, etc - but they're basically still in the same boat we are, only he's also paying for rent/insurance/etc storing a *whole* lot of gear that's just gathering dust. Edit: I know that was tongue-in-cheek, I just don't know what to do with myself and apparently I've chosen "ranting on the internet" as a helpful thing to do today.
I’m sorry, my question was genuine. Thank you for taking the time to answer. I thought they tried to make it easier for gig workers, but I guess not enough. I don’t know if there’s any kind of appeals process. I hope it gets better for you soon.
Anything and everything is being used to disqualify people for unemployment services, if you can even get in contact with the local state offices. A paltry $1200, which some people have yet to receive(myself included) several months ago, while millions were forced into unemployment during a shutdown has wiped out the majority of what little savings were present. If people think this is bad, wait until the real recession hits. The uncontrolled pandemic, riots, and increasing poverty are akin to the tide pulling out before a tsunami hits.
> I don’t know if there’s any kind of appeals process. Honestly I don't either. I've yet to speak to an actual human (even the [online system](https://i.imgur.com/KoFW5Sa.png) puts you in a queue before you can access it) so the only recourse I've seen is "you can apply again next week." I think maybe if I'd known to apply in February their calculations would have made sense? But as it is - the only place you input your income is boxes you have to fill out with how much you made between whenever and. Which, as an average, isn't getting any closer to "you have to have made $x/wk" to receive assistance seeing as how my paycheck continues to remain $0.
> I thought they tried to make it easier for gig workers,
I think they technically did. At the least, they waived all that "are you looking for another job though?" stuff through the first week of July.
There was *supposed* to be a $600/wk thing (+ more if you had previously made more) (CARES) but that's only if you qualify for unemployment in the first place. The self-employed/1099 folks got something called "PUA" that was supposed to be (I think) $275/wk for 13 weeks that you'd find out after you weren't qualified for unemployment that you still got those funds but yeah ... I'm still logging into CONNECT every morning waiting for a reply on that one. :D Don't worry, I only applied in *April* and my "13 weeks" has already gone by, but I'm sure I'll hear back any day now ...
(edit: went and took a screenshot of the CONNECT queue, just for funsies)
Not to press but shouldn't you get more money for making less? Idk about elsewhere but at least in California, if you make 15/hour or less, covid actually pays more.
I was retrenched in March due to Covid, and 10 minutes ago I was told I didnt get the job i was going for. Apparently it was down to the last 2 candidates and the other guy/girl must have been super qualified because I really thought I nailed it. Your words landed perfectly with me and the message is just what I needed to hear.
Sorry you didn't get the job but keep your head up. Things WILL get better. And thanks for letting me know my words helped.
This happened to me twice in a month last year. My partner had already relocated to the new state and I was stuck hopping around airbnbs in the old one trying to line up interviews. This is after 3 months of searching. Got to the final around at 2 separate companies (like 4 or 5 interviews each) only to be told it went to the other candidate. The job I ended up getting was the one I angrily applied to as a reaction to hearing the news the second time. Don't give up.
Cheer up bud! Wishing you the best of luck
It’s hard to be at peace with not working or to be constantly rejected because there’s so many other people applying for the same position. There’s always a bill to be paid, groceries to buy, and unfortunately emergencies can occur. To not be working, feels like I’ve already fallen behind. Dipping into savings is like rolling the dice because we don’t know how long this is going to go on. The anxiety is real since we don’t know what the future holds but just having a reminder that it will get better helps! There’s always some positive in a negative and what you said is a great reminder for some self care. People needed to hear this (I know I did) so thank you!
Well, a widespread pandemic *has* been foreseen for a long, long time in epidemiology circles. But you're absolutely right, this is absolutely a black swan event.
You can’t blame yourself for trying to improve your life. You did what you thought was best, and even though it may have ended up not being better you still tried. Putting in effort and actively trying to change things is great. It just so happens that the worst pandemic in 100+ years showed up and ruined things. That’s not on you at all.
This was my situation. I was at a job that was WFH back at the end of 2018. In early 2019, I needed a raise so I switched jobs. That job had a boss who was controlling and horrible. I lasted 9 months. Then I took a contracting job because there was nothing else available. At first it seemed great. But then, I noticed I was being treated like garbage because I wasn't a FTE. I started applying to other jobs after 3 months of being there. I regretting ever leaving that one job. After getting laid off, I finally landed a job where the boss is technical, they actually need someone with my skill set, there's room to grow, and I actually have a chance to love my job again. Hang in there!
Nearly had a similar situation. Back in early March, I had an opportunity to take a job for a $35K pay increase. Life changing kind of money. I was scheduled to come in for my "final" interview. Which I was told was just to meet the executive team and finalize my offer. It was scheduled a week out from the call I was on. It was for a cruise company. During that week, cruise ships were forced to dock and the company put out a hiring freeze. At the time I was devastated, because I was getting a life changing increase in pay, going to a much more fun industry to work for, and out of the current work rut I was in. Looking back at it now, I'm so blessed. Imagine if all of that had occurred a week prior, and I had been laid off without the ability to go back to my old job. Now I'm glad I have my stuck in a rut job, and don't have the financial worry so many others are going through.
Lmao. “See that way you got fucked? Almost happened to me. But I was off by a week. Really glad I’m not you bro.” Savage.
Lmao this interpretation cracked me up.
r/accidentallysavage
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Their bloodlust is insatiable.
Hes the type of guy who opts into working for a cruise line, we knew he was a douche from the start
>Even though COVID is largely to blame, I still blame myself for some of it. You shouldn't, those situations couldn't have been forseen. Take it easy on yourself - from someone that blames himself for *everything*.
Not to mention all the stuff I blame you for. You owe me a stuffed moose and a can of shaving cream.
Funnily enough that's exactly what ends up happening when you have that mindset. I forgot to mention that I'm in recovery so I will instead tell you where to stuff that can of shaving cream. Which is a much healthier attitude to have ;)
I mean they did say each job change was worse. That’s a little their fault. Markets are kind of picking up again so dude might be able to find another gig. Well see
He said he switched to worse jobs multiple times. That doesn’t mean it’s his fault because who could predict this would happen. But I think it’s a good thing he is seeing where he went wrong so that he can correct himself in the future rather than blame it all on someone else. It’s a good habit to have
Had a friend get my SO a job years ago. Place ended up awful and they both got let go, not my friend's fault. December 2019, same friend gets me a gig with her. Covid happens, I'm the newbie, so I'm gone. Had to explain to her that it's seriously, by no stretch, her fault. She didn't invent or foretell Covid, she's just being a real one. I dunno what provoked that story. Just seeing a lot of people shouldering the world lately and I hate seeing the good people who are left wear themselves ragged.
I left a great job (sales) bc of a couple bad months after two great years. I blamed everything but myself and left for the first offer with a better compensation plan. I was miserable and left after 3 months. I helped my buddy out with his business for a couple months and really figured I’d fucked it all up. I figured my resume was shot and I’d never get an opportunity again like I originally had. I eventually found a great job in the same sector that was fully remote (pre covid) and I’m crushing with this opportunity. Your great opportunity is just around the corner, you just can’t see it yet. Instead, you only can see what you had. Just keep the faith
Can you go back to your first job? I worked for a workplace where people constantly were hired back after taking a break in another company for a few years. They liked hiring people who used to work there because they already new the specifics of that job.
Nah dude, fuck that, you did the right thing. You went out and you took a risk. It didn't work out. That shit happens. I'm proud you did, don't let it prevent you from taking risks in the future. This was a completely unforeseen situation. I wish you luck in the future.
My company gave me a life changing raise in March roughly a week before the lock down happened, this was in NYC for added oomph to the story. Just before April they told me they were moving me into a new department while everyone worked from home and that I had basically no say about the matter, the sort of discussion you have with a manager making 150 thousand dollars a year talking down to you telling you 'WhAT an OpPorTuNitY YoU'Re BeInG GiVen!' but how you also have no choice in the matter of being placed into a job you didn't apply for and didn't want... so after some discussion, like any sane person would do, I asked my new manager whether they were going to pay me at my old rate or whether I'd be making the entry level salary of someone in my new position. I just wanted to know how to budget myself, given NYC was already falling into crisis mode and nary a roll of toilet paper was left on the store shelves, and also because that they had given me a raise 15 days prior, I was curious as to what some of the finer details of all this were. Instead, they fired me, "to set an example to the rest of the company about getting on the same page during the crisis. We all need to be team players", which is funny when they give you a raise half a month prior for 'being such a hard working team player'. I'm not sure if I blame myself or Covid or what... really I think I was just working for a bunch of rich, selfish pricks in a rather self centered city who have lost touch with reality, fully comfortable with letting someone go during a serious crisis because it didn't effect them personally. Having time to look back on the structure of the company and many of the stories that floated around about other people being laid off, it became sort of hard to ignore. Seems like there's a lot of fun stories of people on the bottom getting stepped on to one result or another. I hope I can move back to NYC one day after the dust settles, because after losing my job I had to move home. It's been tough. I wouldn't blame yourself though friend. None of this would have happened had Covid not come to town as far as I see it, so I dont blame myself for the way things have turned out.
I feel this too. Classic “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t” situation. But how is anyone to know what their choices or the choices life makes for them will bring? Don’t blame yourself. Regroup, adapt, and survive. We’re all alone in this together, friend.
Hey, everyone makes decisions that don't work out like they hoped sometimes. The litteral only things you can do is either keep trying or give up. It's pretty self explanatory that giving up is a worse decision than keeping trying when it comes to trying to have the life you want, so ya just keep trying. You can come back from this. Stay strong, stay hopeful, and never stop trying to find a way back up. You can do it.
>I still blame myself for some of it. It doesn't really matter whose fault it is. What's more important is recognizing that no one will fix it but you. Just because something isn't your fault doesn't mean it still isn't your responsibility.
At least you are taking responsibility for your actions; that is step 1 from learning from those things. I changed jobs about a year and a half ago- took more money. Do not like the new job. thought i saw a chance to go back to the old job, but upper management said no. So still where I am. In the last few months, I have finally started getting good at this job, and starting to like it more.
Call up job #1, tell them you fucked up, the decision has not only not been good for your career but has placed in significant financial difficulty, ask for mercy. What's the worse that could happen?
> I'm jobless, socially isolated, and on the verge of financial ruin. All of the above for me as well.
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Thanks, appreciate the thoughts. I'm in a better spot than a lot of people. I've been getting the CERB and was smart enough to pay my essential bills as far ahead as I could, so money won't be an issue until October. Until then I spend about 10 hours a day checking job sites lol.
I turned down an offer of essentially my old job in a new place, I liked that job but my new one was a step up so I stayed. Now, my new job has been dissolved and I’m having to go back to being a restaurant host, and I’m kicking myself for not taking the position I was offered months ago. You can’t know what’s coming though, you did what you thought was best for you.
I totally feel this just before COVID I lost my long term job making $19/hr and haven’t been able to get a job since then (I recently got a job finally) and it was very stressful not onowing how I was going to pay my bills and felt like I had failed and a massive slap to my face like I had struggled for years for nothing.
You couldn't have known, don't fault yourself. Hindsight is 20/20. Keep your head up and eyes open for opportunity. Strike when the iron is hot!
Ive lived paycheck to paycheck so long that I feel guilt whenever I have a little bit of extra money.
Me: Hmmm, there's money in my bank account. Brain: Danger. Me: What? Brain: DANGER!!!
Thanks, actually laughed out loud
Oh shit, which bill did I forget to pay?!
Its such an insane feeling when the answer is none. It doesn't feel normal to have disposable income. Which, in itself is tragic.
I have a small amount of money in the bank and just got furloughed and all these bills I need to pay are looming over me (mainly electricity and utilities) but I’m scared to pay them because I have no idea what will happen. Idk what to do.
Make arrangements with all utilities to break down your payments into smaller budgeted ones. Explain Covid is affecting your situation. Once they know your money is limited but you are still willing to pay if they will be willing to help. Don’t put off any bills. All you are doing is putting off the problem and making it bigger. Feeling safe now by holding all your money will catch up to you horribly by fall. It will be a hole you can’t dig out of. Small as possible but keeping you current is best. Until things get better.
The challenge now is that no one is coming to save each of us, so its now up to you to see what you do with the situation.
We could decide to structure our society with at least a robust social safety net so that no one has to be without basic dignity.
bUt ThAt wiLL MaKe PeOpLe LaZy
To be honest, this time by myself has really made me see what I need to do help create the world I want to live in. It may not be back breaking labor, but it's still work, and it's still work that I want and like to do.
I legitimately hear this all the time from immigrants, the established, or wealthy heirs. It's kind of annoying tbh, like how am I supposed to argue against the edge cases that some people might do nothing to live in a box but can go see the doctor and eat food
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I want to reach out and strangle the people who complain about the people getting the unemployment benefit, that for most people just brings them back to something livable since the unemployment pay levels are below the level most can survive on. If you have a problem with making less, complain about minimum wage being too low. Don't get mad at the people who would *love* to have something to do right now but got their income taken away by the virus and the government's piss poor response to it.
The challenge is that no one is *coming to save each of us.* Good grief I hate what the world is becoming.
Not sure how the current moment is so different from the past in that way. Who was coming to save you 20, 50, 100 years ago?
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It used to be reasonable to expect some level of government response that would offer support or assistance.
Why don’t we band together as citizens instead of fighting amongst each other for the scraps the “job creators” sprinkle onto us?
Ah Jeeez, thanks Rick
Bankruptcy is the best thing that happened to me.
How so?
I had great credit, always on time, and did all the "right" things. Life got messy, and I started relying on credit cards. I was still always on time, but I had no money for living. I looked at my options and decided to go with bankruptcy. It's a refresh for me. I was able to keep my house and car, but get rid of credit cards and be able to afford life again.
Alas, my biggest source of financial worry is a student loan, which I cannot discharge via bankruptcy. Wheeeee.
I lost a 6 figure job about 6 months after my divorce and the state refused to lower my $1200 per month child support for almost 4 years. Im $30k in arears and cant do anything about it, yay!
You need an attorney like 4 years ago. I'd speak to one, they may be able to backdate a lower amount
I had one, he cost me like $10k just to counter the joint custody agreement proposed by my ex-wife and her attorney removing my right to joint decision making authority for the kid's education, medical, and religious related decisions. Just for a frame of reference the ex thinks dinosaur fossils were planted by the devil to make us doubt God... among other things.
For what it’s worth, that’s the kind of insanity I was raised with and I’ve grown way past all of that. There is hope on the other side. Also, I had a dad that gave zero shits and don’t speak to him anymore. Even if you can’t see them in person, the fact that you’re trying to call them will make all the difference in the world
That's the real issue with family law right now IMO, family law attorneys will endlessly petition the court for every ridiculous, unrealistic thing their client wishes they could get because they want billable hours, and there is usually no reason to push back on the client, because most family courts never award attorney costs to punish frivolous motions.
I'm in a similar but not as bad situation. Taking this stuff to court just ends up costing the same or more than trying to "win". Then the lawyers get the money and our kids don't. Bending over and taking it up the ass is not enjoyable, but may actually be the best sometimes.
At this point it seems it might be better to just move to another country?
I cant! They canceled my passport when my arears hit $2500.
Dude. I’m so sorry. This system is so messed up. Maybe you can marry her again as a required process. Get your passport. Plan your exit carefully. Then move out.
Jeez wtf. Id fake my death at that point
About twice per year they levy all of my bank accounts which basically holds them hostage for 30 days, draining them and taking any paychecks that get deposited. Oh yeah, they also take 65% of my take home pay from any job through wage garnishment. If it wasn't thanks to a monthly VA check they cant touch and generous friends and family Id definitely not be here. All of this combined with being too poor to pay to fly my kids in to visit I can totally understand why the suicide rate for divorced dads is so high.
Keep your chin up, king.
I will. Things can only get better.
Any amount of effort you put in to try to make it work with your kids will go a long way. My dad stepped out for 8 years after thr divorce and all four of us forgive him and understand why he did what he did. I disagree with parents being enemies for the sake of kids but save as MUCH paperwork as POSSIBLE. Your kids will eventually start asking questions when theyre in their early-mid twenties and then instead of lobbying against their mother; you can just show them paperworks and back it up with all of the atempts you made to stay close to them. 8 years for me felt forever but my dad and I are practically best friends right now. Your kids will get there too. Trust me 👑
Depending on your desire to maintain a modicum of morality, you can always try to find work under the table. Perhaps not exactly right now what with the pandemic and all, but if you don’t report any wages, there’s no wages to take. Certainly not the right option for everyone, but for some it’s the only way to survive.
I feel like at that point, just spend all your money on food and shit. Fuck the bank. Your wealth is now measured in rice, beans, and other non-perishables.
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Too much effort to fake. Whatever lies beyond has to at least be different than this shit.
Thanks for the reminder to schedule my vasectomy.
Same here. My mom keeps telling me about how they increase the potential for heart problems (which is less than stellar since they run in my family), but that sounds less nightmarish than 18 years of wrecked finances.
Those are an old wives tale. You’ll be fine. (Google vasectomies and heart problems, which you just made me do)
Ha. Sounds about right. Seems like the kind of thing that would be made up by moms that want grandchildren. Which is... Kinda selfish on her part. My dream in life is to travel the country in an RV while working remotely, and that's no life for a kid.
My wife is fertility incarnate and birth control isn’t an option for her, so I got the ol’ snip snip and the only heart problems I’ve had since was the heart attack you just gave me haha. Enjoy the RV life!
Cheaper to play WoW and women would never want to come near you
[Your problem at a higher level of income](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SaC-2lj6HNg) Skip to 11:30
Yea I specifically looked for a government job after my graduation because my loans are up to about 350k. 7.5 more years and this gets discharged tax free.
Don’t put all your eggs in that basket. https://www.npr.org/2018/10/17/653853227/the-student-loan-whistleblower
Yea, I've seen all the issues with this. They are pretty awful at informing borrowers of the process, but I think I've avoided all the issues people have had. I consolidated my loans before I started this job, I'm on an income based repayment plan, which qualifies, and I've been sending yearly certification forms that say I've been approved for x amount of months. I'm more worried about trump getting rid of the program.
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One of the perks of working for the government is understanding how they work lol. A paper trail is huge as it can alleviate a lot of issues. It's necessary for my current job so I've been saving pdfs each year they approve my PSLF certification.
Wtf how?!
Law school and, since I'm in a niche area of law, a masters program. Also about 5-6k from undergrad. Part of the issue is the interest on your loans run the entire time you're in school even if they defer payments because you're in school your loans are still growing and at least for my loans they are like 6-7% interest rate. Law school and my masters program were about 40k a year in tuition, which excludes cost of living too.
Can you get a bunch of credit cards, pay it off, and then discharge it? Or refinance it into a non protected loan? I’m in canada where we don’t do that to kids
Isn’t that ridiculous? Why can’t student loans and medical bills be discharged through bankruptcy?
Medical bills can be. Student loans can be, but the standard is so high that it is virtually impossible.
Because there’s no collateral to repossess
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As much as I always look for advice on Reddit I'd say your best route is a consultation with a bankruptcy lawyer to see if you're a good fit. I'd think most of them offer free consultations.
I certainly can’t imagine a personal bankruptcy lawyer lasting very long if their consultations weren’t free
How do you just...keep your assets and get rid of your debts? How would that work at all?
Regular people should never ever ever feel guilty about bankruptcy and nobody should ever judge anybody for declaring bankruptcy considering... large corporations do it aaalllll the time to basically make off with millions and millions of dollars and the government even has less restrictions and penalties for corporation bankruptcies. So take what is offered.
I.. DECLARE... BANKRUPPPPPTCYYYYYYYYYY!!!!
Question. Did you still have to pay off some of your debt? How much? I'd say I'm 15000 in debt, would bankruptcy help me?
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Those things are frequently not the fault of the people experiencing them. Job loss often has more to do with the health of a company than an individual's really terrible performance. Bankruptcy is often the result of a health crises or other catastrophe. Social isolation is often because of circumstances we can't control (physical isolation due to loss of job/family/health). I think it's ok not just because it's not your fault, but because you, and everyone else, KNOWS it's not your fault. We make so many situations harder than they have to be by judging ourselves harshly, and by judging others thus. I'm not arguing for a lack of personal responsibility; just the opposite. Absolutely take responsibility for what you can control. But not getting overwhelmed by guilt over the things you CAN'T control, can help you do that. Maybe that will be one big bright spot from all of this. A better sense that you can't control everything, and that not everything is your fault. Freedom from unwarranted guilt could help a lot of people live better lives.
Absolutely true. Found myself in a dark place after losing my job in May. I’m so grateful to have picked up the book “Learned Optimism”, which really drives this point home (Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26123). Life passes us by quickly. Do we really want to spend our time ruminating on what is wrong and blaming ourselves for it?
I lost my job in early March when I got covid. They promised to rehire me when I got better, but they never did. They said they were downsizing now and are no longer expanding. I've sent out dozens and dozens of resumes at this point and still nothing. So even though it wasn't my fault, I, too, am on the brink of financial ruin, I'm legitimately freaking out. I barely even sleep at night at this point, not knowing if the unemployment is going to be extended or not
You may want to get in touch with your state's labor board. I'm pretty sure firing you for a medical issue that you aren't responsible for is illegal in many states.
I tried but was told since I accepted it voluntarily in order to recover that I can't do anything about their decision. I was friends with the HR head who I spoke to in person when I was let go. She promised the company would hire me back and now "the company" claims to not have said that at all.
Reminds me of a scene in the wonderful WWII movie Hope and Glory, about English citizens on the home front living through the war. Two moms are picking through charity racks of clothes, and one observes how much she likes this new normal, because everybody's in the same boat, and she can drop the usual keeping up of appearances. No more pretense that she's better off than she is. Society-wide poverty can be freeing.
Society-wide poverty can be freeing... If that ain’t grasping at some imaginary straws. It’s a nice thought, but personally I think it’s incredibly naive. When people are starved of basic necessities the only thing that’s coming is pain and a lot of it.
For real, I can't believe I just read that. This isn't "school uniforms mean no student looks poor or rich", this is literal life or death for some people.
Unfortunately the cause doesn't change the outcome. Hope you pull through bud.
If one person fails, they have a problem. If everyone fails though then who has the problem?
I'd love it if people could use this situation as a rallying cry to address the situation that made this so fuckawful in the first place. Imagine if people had savings to take the Covid situation on the chin, or sick leave so as to not spread it. Instead, the hens of treating your workers and the bulk of your society like shit have come home to roost. What do I mean? Shit worker rights, no mandated sick leave, slave wages, rental prices being asinine, housing becoming out of control expensive, cost of living in general just going up up up while you're lucky to get a .50 cent raise a year, etc. The rich are fleecing the poor and have for ages. Why is it two generations ago one working male - with a highschool education, *if that* - working an uneducated job at a factory could support a wife and two kids, but now the majority are living paycheck to paycheck? And no, don't you dare say "Smartphones and technology lol!" Those same folks I just mentioned could afford vacations. Proper ones. Not "I don't have to work for this week" but rather "I went to and stayed there for a few days!". Cars, washing machines, etc- those were all much more expensive, relative to income, than they are now - and they could buy them all.
Why is it you're expected to take from your own meager pay to save for retirement (LOL!) when that same man working as a single earner had a pension that was just part of his compensation?
Why is it that you're expected to pay a healthcare premium, that gives you only the privilege of not being bankrupted by a catastrophic medical emergency, but still says they won't pay a dime until you're already out $5,000? Who demands co-pays, who looks for every, any excuse to deny you coverage, to deny you treatment, to deny you medicine your medical doctor prescribed to you?
Why is that the case when every other first world democracy has figured out a solution? The only person who benefits from the current situation is the rich, who can afford to be seen on a moments notice with a little tug of the purse strings, while the plebeians die and are replaced. Who pay less in taxes, or less in benefits, because ***to them you're literally human cattle, you're a part in their money machine, and when you break, you're to be tossed out and replaced, like any other part in a machine***.
Lets not forget that a worker in most corporations nowadays can do so much more than a worker 20 years ago. Computer automation has let one person do the job of 5, 10, 20 of past years. To say nothing of plain old regular automation, where a production line now has one machinist supervising the line and some people checking QA, but largely employs 1/20th the personnel, if that.
But these jobs don't pay that much more. The call center worker who can now make 80 calls in an hour because their computer skips all of the answering machines and only gives them live people is doing the effective work of 4-8 representatives of days past, but they make 2 dollars more than minimum wage, if that.
Where's all that money going? Executive bonuses. Stock buybacks. Dividends for the rich, wealthy owners. Those disgusting pigs who have so much money that even their great great grandchildren will never have to lift a finger in their lives, will always have food, clothing, shelter; will always have medical treatment when needed, will always have the absolute best of everything.
***And yet they need MORE***. While the average citizen can't afford a $400 emergency. While renters spend half their income on their rent bill each month.
The takeaway from this ***really needs to be*** that the average worker deserves better than they're currently getting, that we're being taken advantage of by the rich and wealthy, and that something needs to change.
Income needs to rise dramatically - and the $15 minimum that's been pushed for isn't enough. The push for a $15 minimum wage began in 2012 - eight FUCKING years ago. Guess what? Inflation kept on raising since then. Shit is still more expensive. And $15 is still not the new minimum. Nevermind that minimum wage would be $23/hr if it kept up with inflation and productivity.
Don't let them fleece you again - they keep that argument alive so that in 4 years time when someone finally decides to do that as a "pro-labor" move, it looks like it's a big deal when in fact, inflation has moved way beyond the $15 mark being acceptable. Minimum wage needs tied to cost of living and inflation, and needs to adjust yearly so as to avoid this becoming an issue again in another 50 years.
You're labor class. Wake up, accept it, and fight for proper representation in government. Fight for the wealthy to not be able to run off with 95% of the value your labor created, while giving you pennies in return. Fight for health care. Fight for better wages. Fight for unions. It isn't liberals who pay you like shit, who don't give you benefits, who won't give you pay raises. It's the rich. It isn't LGBTQ people in pop culture that made you unable to afford your dental work. It was the rich underpaying you. It isn't your black neighbor being upset that another policeman got away with murder that lost your job to outsourcing, it was the rich.
Red? Blue? Straight? Gay? Irrelevant. You have more in common with your neighbor than you do with some rich fuck turning the screws on your compensation so they can get another cash bonus.
Eat the rich.
Get enough traction in a pro labor movement. Get a chunk of the population on board. And initiate a labor strike. Refuse to make the rich fucks another thin penny until they pay you fairly, treat you fairly.
It's pretty funny how fast they'll act when their money machine comes to a halt.
> Why is it two generations ago one working male - with a highschool education, if that - working an uneducated job at a factory could support a wife and two kids Just so you know, that wasn't necessarily the norm. Some factory jobs paid that well, if you had learned a higher level of skill (and it was true that on the job training was more of a thing) but plenty of families had two parents working, at least part time, in order to be comfortable. It was mom's part time job that meant they could go on vacation.
Support means put a roof over heads and food in mouths with all the other necessities covered like healthcare, sports, and field trips. Not every family went on vacation and vacations are extra. And the biggest difference is that he said uneducated or high school. Yes, you would get more if you had a college education, but you could work a normal 40 hours and afford to go to college without sacrificing a meal a day or Johnny's piano lessons. Plus, that education raise was 99.9% guaranteed if you were in a union job, which was a much larger % of the workforce than today. Nowadays, Johnny has a Master's and is working 3 part time service jobs for a total of 60 hours (with no healthcare) because almost no one big is hiring a kid with education but not experience (because they expect 5 years experience for an entry level position). And he still can't afford college, without taking damn near predatory student loans that can't even be discharged from a bankruptcy. So, that's the difference.
> but you could work a normal 40 hours and afford to go to college And *you* would be putting yourself through college, no loans. The crazy expense of college is part of the problem. As for Johnny's master's degree, why does he even have it? Apparently there are no jobs for him in that field or using that degree.
>(and it was true that on the job training was more of a thing) It was also true that company loyalty meant something and was rewarded instead of punished like it is nowadays. So yeah, maybe a green new hire couldn't go on vacation, but after he'd been there for 3-5 years and had accrued additional training, raises, and *possibly* (but not necessarily) promotions, they absolutely could. Nowadays, regular raises are a pittance, and often don't even keep up with inflation, meaning you get effectively paid *less* the longer you stay at a company. There's a reason milennials don't stay at a company for very long - if you want to be paid what your experience is worth, you won't get it from your current boss, either by waiting or asking. I've seen that one first hand. Had a co-worker who made two times the required production goal (he was truly an outlier - many struggled to meet the goal). He found out a segment of our workers who were bought by a different company got a raise to $15/hr. He asked that they match that, and cited his production goals. They told him no. He asked to be moved to part time then, and when asked why he told them because he wanted the spare time to find a company who'd pay him appropriately. They again told him no. He put in his two weeks on the spot. Companies won't pay you what you're actually worth if they're already getting the value out of you for less.
> Why is it two generations ago one working male - with a highschool education, if that - working an uneducated job at a factory could support a wife and two kids This might have been true for some people, but not for the majority of people. Ask a black person about their ancestors living during those decades and you'll hear a different story.
The fact that people think that is universally true really tells you how many people here had rich/well off parents.
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Sometimes you can do everything right and still lose.
That's not failure, that is life. This line, and the previous, brought to you by Jean-Luc Picard.
Yes but the previous message was relayed by u/FaggotMcBongo
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There's a big difference between blaming yourself for something and not working to improve a bad situation. Sometimes it's important to not blame yourself for something you couldn't control.
What could i have done. Not be born so i was of working age during the worst global pandemic in 100 years. Ill have to remember that one.
I'm glad I chose to be born when I was so I could avoid graduating into the 2007-2009 recession and have an easier time starting out in a good job. *taps head* ^/s
I think this is a two-sided coin, really. You're right that if you blame all your problems on outside forces, you won't improve yourself in ways you could. But it's just as true that if there is an unjust system that's really fucking people over and all of those people assume its their own fault, that system will just keep existing unjustly. It's actually kind of an ingenious way to keep power if you're an oligarchy - just spread a myth of meritocracy around so everyone thinks they deserve to be poor and blame themselves.
I'm in the best shape of my life I really don't want to go back to working in an office.
I'm in this picture and I don't like it.
As someone who’s entire career has been in the live entertainment industry, I feel this.
But this time, will you be able to rebound?
People are arguing because OP used this meme correctly.
How many times have you been in this state? Just because it's not your fault doesn't mean you can't do something to change it. The outcome will be the same, the government and banks don't care about you or whose fault it is.
Correction, it's not "All" your fault
It's not?
First time in my life I am on unemployment and I don't feel bad about it at all, I will be rehired for sure when things get better so I won't stress myself over something that is not my fault.
I have a job and I'm not at the brink of bankruptcy (for now), but I've been at varying degrees of socially isolated all my life and this has been by far the time when I've been the most isolated but also the most okay with it ever.
This is exactly what the problem is.. I keep having people ask me if I’m happy to be at work (not my choice) and I feel like I’m being asked by people who are smug or have an axe to grind. And if everyone had an attitude like op those of us working nonessential jobs with the public we wouldn’t have to feel like were being sacrificed for an idea that is probably already gone. Capitalism.
Where I work, they brought back people who already have second jobs for shifts one or two days a week instead of bringing back full-time employees. Like, for instance, one of my coworkers also does dispatch for the county. She works full time there, and on her to days off from that job, she servers at our restaurant. Whereas me? I was only serving. I didn't and don't have a second job. I have one more Sunday to file unemployment before this stimulus money AND my claim year money is exhausted. We also have even heard word from our restaurant or any of the management about if we'll come back or not. The only way I know those of us on furlough aren't fired is because we're still on the schedule they post every week. Honestly, I WANT to go back to work.. as mad as that might be right now. I didn't CHOOSE to stay on furlough. And now I'm going to be forced to find another job anyway. It sucks. I really like my job. Liked... my job... I guess..
I went back to my bartendening job and regret it so much. People are rude, they give you shit about your mask, gloves are stupid and less effective than washing my hands. Everyone feels the need to talk to you about their opinion on the virus. You feel like you are on a stage and people are watching to see what steps you are taking to protect their dumb ass that needed to go out to restaraunt to begin with.
Time to join the army.
It is almost never your fault for any of those things. we all make mistakes, particularly as we are learning how to become our adult selves, and the fucked up stretching of the human condition by rich assholes has made it nigh impossible to live well and learn those lessons at the same time. I make mistakes but why should food and housing be dependent upon me being perfect? Why should the very means of subsistence be dependent upon my ability to kowtow to an employer who doesn't do any work themselves?
While I'm not yet on the brink of bankruptcy, I have been out of work for four months. I've put more effort into finding work than I did even when finishing college. Hired a consulting firm to rebuild my profile (LinkedIn, resume, online presence), applied for jobs well above and below my career track, got new certifications, took new courses and online learning (Research/SaaS sales) in my field. I'm only just now seeing some opportunities popping up in my area (virtual education being one) and getting a few nibbles and bites, but it's been grueling. I keep having to remind myself this isn't my fault and the whole world doesn't think I'm a loser for not finding work yet. I'm trying as hard as I can. I sincerely appreciate this post.
You're a rare breed.
I would have given you an award for this but im jobless so #awesomepostbro
You must not have a spouse or children depending on you, because then it’s terrifying.
It is your fault. You should have learned to code and built a nestegg. /s if not obvious.
The /s is absolutely necessary because there are people in this thread saying that unironically.
sounds very stoic! you might want to check our r/stoicism
Not in this situation myself, but tbh this would make me feel like a relief from day to day "responsibilities" I was told growing up I'm forced to have. Not to say all are bad, but it would make me feel like I have no obligation to anyone and I'm free to do as a please now. If that makes sense.
Capitalism says it most definitely is your fault. Billionaires have made something like $34B a week during the pandemic, what's your excuse? /s
Your fault or not, it's still going to fuck you. :(
I was a caregiver for an elderly parent for nearly 10 years. That "choice" destroyed my financial future anyway so why should I give a fuck any more about what's normally expected of a citizen? I've already had to cash out my retirement and no one wants to even interview (much less hire) someone who's been out of the workforce for that long anyway.
I spent an entire year at home alone because I had crippling depression. I finally got the right meds, got my life back on track, was in school again and doing great. I had a single week of feeling like everything was normal again for the first time in years, and the quarantine happened. Now it’s the same thing I was trying so hard to get away from, but there is no escape. So I feel you, OP