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You Don't See These Around Here Anymore


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I might be in the minority, but I recall during the bubble 10+ years ago, how I encountered too many service-oriented personnel who didn't deserve a job and too many kids in their 20s who demanded $50k+ salaries who had a college degree and no experience and honestly little to offer.  I remember one night I ran through the drive-through at Burger King about 10 minutes before closing.  I placed my order, and the answer I got was, "we're gonna go ahead and close, OK?"  This was not an isolated experience.  I talked to many small business owners (for example gas station owners) who expected employees to be busy all day.  A common theme was "If you have time to lean, you have time to clean."  The economic bubble ruined this work ethic for an entire generation. I remember being disappointed that it was too easy to find a retail type of job, as I talked to clerks who were confident that they could quit their fast food job today and start working at a department store tomorrow.  This lead to a severe decline in the willingness of young/inexperienced people to provide a quality days' work.  Myself, I don't miss the "help wanted" signs.  Scarce jobs have provided an increased and needed boost of appreciation for the job someone has. 

 

A while back, I had a good conversation with a guy I used to work with.  He talked about how even during the great depression when unemployment was at around 25%, this meant that you needed only to be in the top 75% of workers to be a good candidate for the job.  So, I guess for those folks who perform at the bottom 1/4 of the workforce, it might be hard to find a job.  For those who step up to the plate, there is always work.

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For those who step up to the plate, there is always work.

Ignorance is bliss.  I just think you don't know beyond your own circle...so some dttails.  You helped a 51 year-old patient with free plants 2 years ago. For the three years she has sent in 30-40 job aps per week.  I've driven her to distant interviews, some in flint near you.  (She has a bicycle when it works).  In 2 years she's had 1 follow-up interview.  I know, we drive her she has no one else.  No kids or family.  She's seeking gas station clerk,  janitorial, day labor.  She has high school degree and no disability. She lives on $150 food stamps and the $110 she gets for selling her blood 5 times per month.  Out of desperation she steals toilet paper out of public restrooms.

Make it a project to meet and help someone who has been jobless for 2 years+, and get some real knowledge.  Please.  And thanks for the plants you gave her, she grows weed when it is sunny.  Other times, she does without.  Isn't she a lazy nasty drag on our beatiful society?  She has no heat or furnace, so burns trash in her living room to have winter heat, and is happy for it.

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Ignorance is bliss.  I just think you don't know beyond your own circle...so some dttails.  You helped a 51 year-old patient with free plants 2 years ago. For the three years she has sent in 30-40 job aps per week.  I've driven her to distant interviews, some in flint near you.  (She has a bicycle when it works).  In 2 years she's had 1 follow-up interview.  I know, we drive her she has no one else.  No kids or family.  She's seeking gas station clerk,  janitorial, day labor.  She has high school degree and no disability. She lives on $150 food stamps and the $110 she gets for selling her blood 5 times per month.  Out of desperation she steals toilet paper out of public restrooms.

Make it a project to meet and help someone who has been jobless for 2 years+, and get some real knowledge.  Please.  And thanks for the plants you gave her, she grows weed when it is sunny.  Other times, she does without.  Isn't she a lazy nasty drag on our beatiful society?  She has no heat or furnace, so burns trash in her living room to have winter heat, and is happy for it.

 

That's really unfortunate.  I have talked to at least 4 owners of gas stations and party stores in flint in the last month who have cried that they spend 80 hours per week at the store because they can't find an honest, committed employee. 

 

I can appreciate her struggle.  Back in the day, I brought home $400 per month, running up student loans to get through college by day and earning $4.25 per hour working the graveyard shift at a gas station.  $200 went to rent.  I had no car insurance, no health insurance.  Instead of heating my apartment, I'd run the hot water in the shower (which was free) for an hour when I got home from work.  My food budget was about $1.25 per day, which bought five hamburgers at hot-and-now.  When I had a good week, I'd splurge and spend 79 cents plus tax on a pack of Monarch cigarettes.   I drove an old Dodge Colt running on two out of four cylinders for about two years.  On a good day, it would get up to about 45 mph.  It broke down 13 times in 12 months and I always fixed it where it died.  At my lowest point, the water pump failed in downtown Flint, and I spent two full days replacing it with a $10 junkyard pump in the YMCA parking lot, only to get it going and drive about three miles and have the replacement fail.  So I spent another 2 days working on the car in a gas station parking lot in Burton.   I'll never forget those days, and it was that struggle that encouraged me to give back (free plants to her, a few of times I've picked up the restaurant tab for a vet, etc.) when I finally could.  Please PM me if you think I might be able to lend her a hand again.  I still don't have a lot but would be willing to help.  Noone willing to work should be forced into a situation like you describe.

 

Edited to add - thank you for your help to a less fortunate soul. 

Edited by Highlander
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 Pic, We have extra wood,already cut and stacked. You are welcome to come and get some for your freind,or bring a chainsaw over and we will cut  some old downed trees in the woods. You need a pick-up. Nobody should have to burn garbage to stay warm. What else does she need? We are all living paycheck to paycheck.........if you even have a job. Highlander,good job. Let us all offer help to the people that really need it.

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Im 51 I have never not had a job NEVER!  I dont think im better than any one, nor do I think any one is better than me! Ive worked gas stations, resturants, fast food, car washes, cut fire wood, did construction,  started my own business, I only have a 10th grade education (i have my ged but it was so easy to realy count for a high school deploma) and I got paid minimum wage to get my ged, I beleive it is like highlander said though its the bottom 25% that dont get work, it dont mean they are bad people it means they probably dont have a work record or a bad one,

 

my ole lady didnt have to work during her whole 1st marriage, she has 5 kids, when she divorced(38 yrs old) she went and got her high school deploma and went to comunity college and got 2 associate degrees in criminal justice, she is now working as a home health aid!  I beleive if people realy want to work they will find it on their own like I did,,,now I cant work, but I didnt cheat and not pay taxes when I was self employed most of my adult life, so I get a pretty good disability check, and it is becuase I paid into it!  I earned it and im getting mine back now that I cant work, and even now I know I can get work if I wanted it!  in fact I have had to change my phone #'s becuase people wont take im disabled for an answer, they only want me to do the work I used to do on their homes!  Why? because I made sure people got what they paid for and more!

 

Peace

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