Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...
"Historically, a story about people inside impressive buildings ignoring or even taunting people standing outside shouting at them turns out to be a story with an unhappy ending."
-Lemony Snicket
After my annual watching of V for Vendetta. (I watch it on November 5th every year) I feel we are on the cusp of something huge. I am in support of Occupy (anywhere), I may joke about it, but I support it.
For the last 10 years I have worked for 3 different jobs, and had to move 3 different times, each time because it was too expensive to live there.
When I moved to California almost 9 years ago I was unemployed and living in Richmond Ca. No phone, no internet and no job (due to company politics I was unable to transfer (and found this out only weeks before I moved.) And unable to collect unemployment because I left my last job. Finally after months of job searching. I was going to the local malls and getting applications from any company that would give me one and then go to the food court fill them all out and then return them, because I didn't have the bus fare to come back again. I was taking the bart train to the Berkeley Public Library and using their free internet for 30 minutes a day (their limit) to search craig's list and monster for jobs. Finally I found a job and worked for Game Stop.
I thought game stop would have been my dream job. They hired me and I worked well and I worked hard. I wanted to be a manager there. I had the skills and the knowledge, but I lacked the experience. But they support upward mobility. I worked in a store in rough neighborhood, that had just lost most of their staff. As part of the new crew we clean up the store, we changed the store practices to compensate for problems with theft. During this time my district manager went on maternity leave. The new district manager did not appreciate all of the progress we were making. (Or the night we all stayed late to inventory the entire store on our own time to make sure that we could keep track of everything.) During this time I not only worked out my home store I worked for 3 other locations. The new district manager appointed a new assistant manager. (And from reading her application when she dropped it off, yeah I know it was wrong and I got in trouble for it... but come one you work for a small store everyone check out the people applying. And she had felony drug possession convictions.) I wanted to move up the food chain. I didn't want to be a lowly grunt on the totem pole. I asked my boss what did I have to do? What is holding me back? She said my one thing holding me back was my appearance. (I had the sides of my head shaved, with the top long and pulled back neatly in a pony tail.) So that day I finished my shift and went out and got my hair cut, and cut it short and better for my job. I got a phone call next day asking me to come in (it was my day off.) I get there and they fired the entire staff with the exception of the Assistant manager (friend of the new district manager / felony convict), for the theft rate in store (which was there when we started, and we fixed).
A note about the above job it was part time 20-30 hours a week. Making not much money, I was unable to pay my student loans. It was a miracle and through the grace of other half I we were able to pay rent, and keep the power turned on.
So I am unemployed again. This time at least I could collect unemployment. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. We still kept rent and utilities paid, but that was about it. I had more then a couple of nights going to bed hungry, we always managed to scrape by though.
So I managed to land a job in San Francisco doing inside sales for a wholesale hardware company. I thought it was pretty good they were paying me one and half time any money I had ever made I thought things were going to be awesome. Well things were more complicated then I thought. First of all the commute from Richmond to San Francisco was an hour and half each way. And cost me close to $10 a day. After I had been working there for a while and figured it was going to be a stable job, we moved to Daly City. It cut my commute time and cost almost in half. But it did increase our rent cost. (It was still the cheapest rent we could find within a reasonable distance of public transportation, which would be able to get me work in a reasonable amount of time.
I worked that job for nearly 6 years. After the first year I thought I was doing good, I had picked up some extra tasks at work, and with it came some extra money. That helped make it more affordable to live where I was living. But I was still in a position where most months I had to over draft my account to make sure I had rent covered. I got to the point where I would make sure I would get cash from the ATM the day before we sent out rent, so I would only have one over draft fee instead of a couple, when I would need to pay for things like food or transportation. At the end of 6 years I left (found another job), and I was still making the same amount of money I was making after my first year. I was retail manager, a territory manager, a fleet manager, the purchasing agent (for one of the biggest and fastest growing lines), and in charge of all of the IT / Computer work.
During that time my rent increased nearly 30%!! There is no rent control in Daly City and they seem to count on the fact that most of their occupants are students and have to live there. So once more we moved to the East Bay, Richmond this time. My commute was now almost double again, and the time is well over an hour. But I we could afford our rent, WITH THE HELP OF A ROOMMATE. That's right it took moving and getting a room mate to make our life affordable. This time it was a mile away from the train station, and with out a car that meant budgeting in the walk to the train everyday. (Note at this point it had be 8 years since I was able to last afford to have a car on the road.)
This was the point where my student loans were going to take legal action against me for my student loans, but thanks to my new move I was able to start paying them back.
With my new move under my belt, about a year after that I was tired of being over worked and under paid (do to illegal work practices, and bosses who didn't appreciate anything I did until I gave my notice.) So I started my new job (inside sales for a pottery importer). This I was lucky was just down the street from where I lived. I was able to take a bus every day to get there (cheaper than the bart train for sure.) And with nice weather I could even walk home. With in a few months I have moved up and I am working doing sales and marketing (With an increase in pay.) I have bosses that appreciate what I do (and even let me know).
Last week I paid off the last of the back taxes I owed, from when I was unable to pay them. At that point for the first time in probably 12 years I am caught up. I am still paying off student loans. But I have my head above water. I was able to finally get a car on the road. It's registered, it's insured and all of the paper work is up to date.
The fact that it took, taking on a roommate, to be able to afford to get caught up is ridiculous. Our system is horribly broken. If you walk through San Francisco you will be many empty buildings and store fronts. No one can afford to pay the rent on the spaces, and the owners don't want to lower the rates to something more reasonable due to rent control in San Francisco.
There is no reason that I dealt with almost a 30% increase increase in cost of living, while in the same time my job stayed stagnant. But I have kept my chin up and have been moving forward. But the end result is that I have moved to California and it has taken 9 years for me to in stable position.
And it's not like I have extravagant tastes. I wear the same t-shirt I have been wearing in some cases since high school. Our monthly bills are a family share cellphone plan, power & water, and cable (recently now that I can afford it we have increased to include HD channels, but until about a year ago it was regular cable, with extended basic programing). We don't eat out very often, and when I do it usually the dollar menu, or take out which we stretch for a couple of meals.
I don't have answers or the solutions, I just know things aren't right.
"It is not always the job of people shouting outside impressive buildings to solve problems. It is often the job of the people inside, who have paper, pens, desks, and an impressive view."
-Lemony Snicket
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...
"Historically, a story about people inside impressive buildings ignoring or even taunting people standing outside shouting at them turns out to be a story with an unhappy ending."
-Lemony Snicket
After my annual watching of V for Vendetta. (I watch it on November 5th every year) I feel we are on the cusp of something huge. I am in support of Occupy (anywhere), I may joke about it, but I support it.
For the last 10 years I have worked for 3 different jobs, and had to move 3 different times, each time because it was too expensive to live there.
When I moved to California almost 9 years ago I was unemployed and living in Richmond Ca. No phone, no internet and no job (due to company politics I was unable to transfer (and found this out only weeks before I moved.) And unable to collect unemployment because I left my last job. Finally after months of job searching. I was going to the local malls and getting applications from any company that would give me one and then go to the food court fill them all out and then return them, because I didn't have the bus fare to come back again. I was taking the bart train to the Berkeley Public Library and using their free internet for 30 minutes a day (their limit) to search craig's list and monster for jobs. Finally I found a job and worked for Game Stop.
I thought game stop would have been my dream job. They hired me and I worked well and I worked hard. I wanted to be a manager there. I had the skills and the knowledge, but I lacked the experience. But they support upward mobility. I worked in a store in rough neighborhood, that had just lost most of their staff. As part of the new crew we clean up the store, we changed the store practices to compensate for problems with theft. During this time my district manager went on maternity leave. The new district manager did not appreciate all of the progress we were making. (Or the night we all stayed late to inventory the entire store on our own time to make sure that we could keep track of everything.) During this time I not only worked out my home store I worked for 3 other locations. The new district manager appointed a new assistant manager. (And from reading her application when she dropped it off, yeah I know it was wrong and I got in trouble for it... but come one you work for a small store everyone check out the people applying. And she had felony drug possession convictions.) I wanted to move up the food chain. I didn't want to be a lowly grunt on the totem pole. I asked my boss what did I have to do? What is holding me back? She said my one thing holding me back was my appearance. (I had the sides of my head shaved, with the top long and pulled back neatly in a pony tail.) So that day I finished my shift and went out and got my hair cut, and cut it short and better for my job. I got a phone call next day asking me to come in (it was my day off.) I get there and they fired the entire staff with the exception of the Assistant manager (friend of the new district manager / felony convict), for the theft rate in store (which was there when we started, and we fixed).
A note about the above job it was part time 20-30 hours a week. Making not much money, I was unable to pay my student loans. It was a miracle and through the grace of other half I we were able to pay rent, and keep the power turned on.
So I am unemployed again. This time at least I could collect unemployment. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. We still kept rent and utilities paid, but that was about it. I had more then a couple of nights going to bed hungry, we always managed to scrape by though.
So I managed to land a job in San Francisco doing inside sales for a wholesale hardware company. I thought it was pretty good they were paying me one and half time any money I had ever made I thought things were going to be awesome. Well things were more complicated then I thought. First of all the commute from Richmond to San Francisco was an hour and half each way. And cost me close to $10 a day. After I had been working there for a while and figured it was going to be a stable job, we moved to Daly City. It cut my commute time and cost almost in half. But it did increase our rent cost. (It was still the cheapest rent we could find within a reasonable distance of public transportation, which would be able to get me work in a reasonable amount of time.
I worked that job for nearly 6 years. After the first year I thought I was doing good, I had picked up some extra tasks at work, and with it came some extra money. That helped make it more affordable to live where I was living. But I was still in a position where most months I had to over draft my account to make sure I had rent covered. I got to the point where I would make sure I would get cash from the ATM the day before we sent out rent, so I would only have one over draft fee instead of a couple, when I would need to pay for things like food or transportation. At the end of 6 years I left (found another job), and I was still making the same amount of money I was making after my first year. I was retail manager, a territory manager, a fleet manager, the purchasing agent (for one of the biggest and fastest growing lines), and in charge of all of the IT / Computer work.
During that time my rent increased nearly 30%!! There is no rent control in Daly City and they seem to count on the fact that most of their occupants are students and have to live there. So once more we moved to the East Bay, Richmond this time. My commute was now almost double again, and the time is well over an hour. But I we could afford our rent, WITH THE HELP OF A ROOMMATE. That's right it took moving and getting a room mate to make our life affordable. This time it was a mile away from the train station, and with out a car that meant budgeting in the walk to the train everyday. (Note at this point it had be 8 years since I was able to last afford to have a car on the road.)
This was the point where my student loans were going to take legal action against me for my student loans, but thanks to my new move I was able to start paying them back.
With my new move under my belt, about a year after that I was tired of being over worked and under paid (do to illegal work practices, and bosses who didn't appreciate anything I did until I gave my notice.) So I started my new job (inside sales for a pottery importer). This I was lucky was just down the street from where I lived. I was able to take a bus every day to get there (cheaper than the bart train for sure.) And with nice weather I could even walk home. With in a few months I have moved up and I am working doing sales and marketing (With an increase in pay.) I have bosses that appreciate what I do (and even let me know).
Last week I paid off the last of the back taxes I owed, from when I was unable to pay them. At that point for the first time in probably 12 years I am caught up. I am still paying off student loans. But I have my head above water. I was able to finally get a car on the road. It's registered, it's insured and all of the paper work is up to date.
The fact that it took, taking on a roommate, to be able to afford to get caught up is ridiculous. Our system is horribly broken. If you walk through San Francisco you will be many empty buildings and store fronts. No one can afford to pay the rent on the spaces, and the owners don't want to lower the rates to something more reasonable due to rent control in San Francisco.
There is no reason that I dealt with almost a 30% increase increase in cost of living, while in the same time my job stayed stagnant. But I have kept my chin up and have been moving forward. But the end result is that I have moved to California and it has taken 9 years for me to in stable position.
And it's not like I have extravagant tastes. I wear the same t-shirt I have been wearing in some cases since high school. Our monthly bills are a family share cellphone plan, power & water, and cable (recently now that I can afford it we have increased to include HD channels, but until about a year ago it was regular cable, with extended basic programing). We don't eat out very often, and when I do it usually the dollar menu, or take out which we stretch for a couple of meals.
I don't have answers or the solutions, I just know things aren't right.
"It is not always the job of people shouting outside impressive buildings to solve problems. It is often the job of the people inside, who have paper, pens, desks, and an impressive view."
-Lemony Snicket
polygirlaz:
Well said.
raffertie:
Reading this gave me hope that things can change. Thanks so much for helping me with my project. You are amazing!