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sparks19

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#42
yeah it seems society has it in their heads that these jobs are demeaning or beneath them but how bad off would we be without that guy to call in the middle of the night when the toilet is overflowing everywhere :) or the people that fix our cars, pick up our garbage, wait on us at restaurants, pick peaches and oranges and cotton etc etc.
 

smkie

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#43
Maybe some of those jobs wouldn't be so demeaning if they paid a living wage.` Take a cna position for example.
 

sparks19

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#44
Maybe some of those jobs wouldn't be so demeaning if they paid a living wage.` Take a cna position for example.
seems plumbers and garbage collectors don't make pennies.

As for minimum wage jobs etc... I get that it's not a liveable wage but how much should one make to make change? Well if you ask the tollbooth collectors here their union says they should make $25 an hour to make change (I guess that's why the toll roads are still crappy and uncared for but the cost to use them keeps going up... gotta pay those wages and pensions) lol but seriously there is a reason minimum wage jobs are minimum wage jobs. they don't require further education (mostly), don't take a special skill set and they are essentially jobs anyone could do. We can't just keep upping and upping the minimum wage... that cost just gets passed onto the consumer and makes it even more difficult for us all to buy the things we need to live. They don't make enough to live but if we force up the minimum wage it's still going to not be enough to live because that extra cost just ups the price of goods

I don't know anything about CNA's and what they make though.
 

Sweet72947

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#45
I wish it was easy to get a job. I have a 4 year IT degree, but it hasn't helped me. I live with friends, I have rent and bills to pay, and I was fired from my job in August. Not that it was that great a job, I worked in a dental office with a boss who yelled at us every day because the schedule wasn't right, and they weren't making enough money. He said I couldn't multitask and made too many mistakes. Maybe if he spent less time yelling at everyone and making everyone so anxious about their own positions, there could have been time spent training me properly. I really tried hard to learn that job, but every morning I walked in there, I wanted to quit and walk away. I stuck with it and applied to other places, but he let me go before I could find another job.

And here I am in October, still jobless. I've applied to retail, food service, office jobs, and of course a lot of animal related jobs. I've had a bunch of interviews, but I just don't seem to make the cut. If I ask how I could have done better on the interview, I rarely get any constructive criticism. I just hear "we liked you, but we found somebody who better met our specifications." or a variation of that.

I am thinking of going to a trade school to widen my opportunities. I think it might be fun to be a plumber or go into masonry, or even medical billing. That stuff costs money though, money I don't have. I mean, one of the websites I looked at said the medical billing classes + books costs $27,000 at least. I could always ask my parents for help, but they don't have money like that either, and I can probably get a loan or something to cover some of it. Of course, I still have $10,000 in loans I am paying off from college. Add another $27,000, its going to take me years to pay these loans off. And I still need some job or other to help pay for all my bills and stuff while I am going to school. I could move back home, but I think that would drive me off the deep end, plus society kinda looks down on 30 year olds (I will be 30 in May) who live with their parents.

Round and round and round I go....

I do have a job interview at a dog daycare on Monday, maybe I'll get that job! If that interview doesn't seem to go well, I will email the president of FOHA and see if I can go back there on a part-time schedule. She said they weren't hiring anyone because there is no money, but its worth a shot.

ETA: And PA is a bit easier to live in than NoVA. My cousin who lives near Pittsburgh went to trade school to be an electrician. But before that, he worked at UPS and things cost so much less there that he and his girlfriend (now wife) were able to buy a house on that wage. It's crazy!
 
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Beanie

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#46
Round and round and round I go....
Not much to add but I hear you on that. I definitely feel where you're coming from. I think there is a generation right now, not of people who have just graduated from college (though they are a bit screwed too) but people who have been graduated for a while, and we are stuck in minimum wage or dead end jobs and considering going to get another degree, but that all costs more money, and there's no guarantee that will get us a job either, so...
yeah.
((((HUGS))))
 

Aleron

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#47
I think the problem right now is simply that there aren't that many people LOOKING to hire much of anyone, and if they are, there are experienced people with exactly the skill sets they need that are out of work.
And more often than not, those experienced people who are out of work are taking these jobs accepting drastically less pay then what their old jobs offered.

Interestingly, it isn't just on Wall Street that people are protesting or calling for change. It isn't just in big cities or even just in the US. It's not just about being mad at people making more money than you. It isn't just about one segment of the population either but people from all different backgrounds, education levels, political backgrounds, job descriptions, young, old, middle aged, etc.

In the area I live in, one can buy a house dirt cheap. One can buy an awesome historic mansion dirt cheap in the right (or some would say, wrong) parts of town. Even the huge new houses in the very nicest, "rich" parts of the area would look cheap to some people. One could look at these things and think it should be "easy" to afford a house here and earn a decent living. But the pay for many jobs is also quite low. Most houses here are no longer worth what people paid for them and there's no market for selling them anyway. People are losing their jobs and having a hard time finding new ones. It isn't just "hippies" or "lazy people" or "dreamers" or "idealists" who are struggling, losing their jobs or who's jobs are at risk. It's educated people in educated jobs, skilled laborers, teachers, public service workers and normal hard working people trying to support their families.
 

elegy

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#48
I think there is a generation right now, not of people who have just graduated from college (though they are a bit screwed too) but people who have been graduated for a while, and we are stuck in minimum wage or dead end jobs and considering going to get another degree, but that all costs more money, and there's no guarantee that will get us a job either, so...
Yup. I feel that too. I am lucky enough to have a job that pays the bills, and I can live on it, but it'd be nice to live a bit, well, easier. It'd be nice to have a job with a future.

I toy with the idea of going back to school, but money and time are hard to come by. And what would I go to school for?

Sometimes I wish I had chosen differently at school. My degree is in English, and at the time, my intended career was editing, but that's just never happened. It's hard to know what you want to do with your life when you're 18, 19, 20. At 33, I'm a completely different person.
 

Lilavati

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#50
Yeah it's too bad there is so much pressure for kids to go to college RIGHT out of high school.
And, if they are heading to professional school, to do that right out of college. I support gap years . . . not only between high school and college, but especially between college and professional school. I have actually begged people not to go to law school straight out of college . . . .
 

Shai

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#51
And, if they are heading to professional school, to do that right out of college. I support gap years . . . not only between high school and college, but especially between college and professional school. I have actually begged people not to go to law school straight out of college . . . .
Probably the best advice I was given was to get trade experience while I was in college, and get into the field after my bachelor's and before going to get my master's...

Graduating with a high degree and NO work experience is rather deadly at the moment, as many people are finding out the hard way :(


Also, there's a lot of jobs between "toll booth worker" and "college-educated". It's actually pretty hard to hire people for trade/factory work right now...they just don't have the skill set. My little brother is a machinist and welder, and has done incredibly well for himself as a result...in my old job we went through literally 200 applicants for a single factory position...but only about 10 of them even really qualified to be tested. Many factories today are highly automated, and the workers needs to have a combination of good reading/math/comprehension skills, trouble-shooting skills, and people skills. It's not just a matter of showing up on time (though that's important too obviously). But it seems like anyone with decent math/reading skills now feels they need to go to college...then after getting a college degree, don't even see the factory jobs (which often pay pretty darn well actually).
 

Puckstop31

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#54
Yeah it's too bad there is so much pressure for kids to go to college RIGHT out of high school.
Good call.

I did not go to college until I was 22. Some people say "I learned everything I need to know in Kindergarten." Mine is "I learned everything I needed to know in the Army."
 

Puckstop31

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#55
You know, we could always go back to having Workhouses. Seeing as this seems to be the way we are heading once again - the deserving poor and the undeserving poor. Historians - did this method work then?


Some history for you.

English Poor Laws - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
:rolleyes:

Who suggested this?

Don't be a useful idiot Dizzy. You are better than this troll.

FWIW, lots of bitching. Not many answers.
 

Dizzy

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#57
:rolleyes:

Who suggested this?

Don't be a useful idiot Dizzy. You are better than this troll.

FWIW, lots of bitching. Not many answers.
Troll?

I am being deadly serious. That's the attitude I see all over this thread. Undeserving poor shouldn't receive money, abolish the welfare state, don't pay taxes to support those who are 'able' to work.
 
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#58
Yeah it's too bad there is so much pressure for kids to go to college RIGHT out of high school.
This 100%. I graduated high school this previous spring. My entire four years there were filled with college prep classes, college counseling, visits from college reps, etc. Our options were presented as community college, traditional college, or military. Taking time off/working/traveling/etc was NOT an option.

My mother is the same way. I was told if I didn't go to college immediately after high school, I needed to find a new place to live. The rest of my family backed her up.

I had no idea in high school what I want to do with my life, and I still don't - I doubt there are many 19-year olds who do. I know that I love my job now, and I love working with animals and their owners. So I'm going to school for Veterinary Technology. It's interesting, sure, and I do like it - but I don't know if I'll ever do anything with it. I'm paying 40k for something I may never use.
 

Zoom

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#59
. I could move back home, but I think that would drive me off the deep end, plus society kinda looks down on 30 year olds (I will be 30 in May) who live with their parents.

Round and round and round I go....
Hey, it's what all the cool kids are doing. ;) You have to ask yourself "Do I really care so much about what other people think that I'm going to sink myself instead of taking advantage of an opportunity?" I totally understand your hesitation to move back in your case though.

Good luck on your interview!

I just applied to for a PT supervisor position at a new pet food store here in town. No idea what the wage will be, I'm hoping it's something decent. There is the opportunity for advancement. I'm still working my other two businesses. Somehow, I'm going to make back into "Real Adult Land".

We need to re-teach our kids what it means to be successful and how to go about it. We need to reteach our employers to not automatically look down on gaps in employment, or at certain types of employment. Excuse the "buzz phrase", but there desperately needs to be a paradigm shift in a lot of areas concerning education and employment.
 

oakash

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#60
And, if they are heading to professional school, to do that right out of college. I support gap years . . . not only between high school and college, but especially between college and professional school. I have actually begged people not to go to law school straight out of college . . . .
I'm just gonna pop in to say I totally agree! I think you should go to college because YOU want to learn, not because your parents are telling you to get a degree. My Brother-in-law didn't go to college until, like 5 years after graduating high school. He spent that time working, getting life experience, living on his own, and getting his partying days out of the way. When he went to college he was ready to be serious, and get his degree, and he didn't have the urge to go be rebellious every Friday night because he had already experienced that
 

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