In 2010, my father worked as a “Regional Manager” (I don’t remember the exact job title) for then Qwest. He made $170,000/yr and oversaw all operations in retail stores for the entirety of the Greater (North) Denver area. He was regularly given praise for his store’s sales numbers; got to fly out to Florida multiple times to celebrate and even got a PS3 as a reward one year.
In 2011 his doctors found a golf ball sized brain tumor in his head. They removed it a month later as it’s positioning made it life threatening. He’s been disabled ever since. Qwest practically dumped him the day they learned of his condition. (He could no longer turn a profit for them thus they no longer cared about him)
My mother got a job working as an assistant for a mobile home real estate company. Her boss has treated her like trash since day 1. She still works for the same company, though now she’s working a realtor position which is a very recent change. She gets $2000 for every home she sells (these homes sell for ~$90000 last I checked, probably more now). Sometimes she’s selling a home every few weeks, most of the time she only sells 1 a month.
She’s also worked as a high school cheer coach for a few years now. It’s not much money but at least she enjoys it.
This week, she told me she got a job at Amazon working 2am-6am shifts because she hasn’t been able to make ends meet.
My grandparents, her parents, own a massive (I mean BIG big) home, lease a new Mercedes every year (one for each), and they own a second home in Aspen. Now, you can’t talk to my grandparents without them mentioning god. It’s their personality at this point. Whenever my branch of the family, their daughter, asks for help, we’re told “God has a plan”.
My consensus:
God’s plan is to work my mother to death just to make ends meet, despite her working harder than most people I know.
“The American Dream” is a fucking nightmare.