Y’all, let me start off by saying this has been a very financially hard year for me so far, as I’m sure it has been for many. I just lost my home to sheer greed and gentrification, very rapidly and very unexpectedly – however that’s a story for another sub/time. That being said, other things have impacted my savings to the point of extinction and had I a less supportive community, I would be living in my car.
All of this to say, I have made it clear to the owners of the establishment that I work at multiple times over the course of the year that things have been tight. Their response is often that if I want more money I should work more (I’m already full time) and can come in early/stay late. When I lost my house, they were on vacation out of the country, so my telling them the news was delayed by about a week. We finally got to have a meeting a few days after they got back and I told them that I simply do not make enough money to live in this town and that I was originally planning to give them my notice, but that I was instead fortunate enough to be offered a place to live rent free for a while. Their response was that I should be able to save enough money by then to afford a place.
If I have to go 6+ months without having rent, how would it be sustainable to pay rent in the future if I’m still making the same meager amount of money then as now?? For reference my last full time check for a 2 week period was less than $800.
Yesterday, one of the owners kept trying to talk to me about available apartments and when I got tired of saying “it’s not really feasible for me rn” I told her that I literally had a negative account balance, despite having been paid just a few days ago. That my money had gone to a tiny amount of groceries, transportation (bc public transportation here stops at like 8pm), and getting a key for my car made (which I had not been able to afford for the last 2 pay periods), and the cost of towing. I told her most of my next check would go to getting my brakes fixed and enough groceries for one meal prep. Her response was to tell me, “It’s time to start eating beanie weenies.” It just felt like such a slap in the face. I mean, I was so taken aback that I couldn’t even register what happened until my shift was over. Even typing this out makes me want to cry. It’s not the nonchalantness, or being so out of touch with what poverty is that she thinks beanie weenies are actually affordable for what they are – it’s the sheer disrespect and inability to realize the role that paying less than a living wage plays in all of this.
I’m not the only one at this place struggling, but I have been hit in a way that makes it painfully apparent. I’m just exhausted and I feel like I’m losing my mind. America is rapidly becoming an unlivable dystopia and worker’s rights are at the core. We will never be able to fight for things if we are constantly worn down, hungry, and clinging to what shelter we can find. I just feel utterly defeated and I guess I just needed to vent.