I don’t know what to do.
I live in a small town with my fiancé. I’m a full time grad student getting my second masters (graduating in a few weeks, thank god), I have contracts with multiple freelance organizations in my field, and I have a part time retail job. I have a graduate assistantship but it doesn’t even pull in enough to pay my half rent.
My partner graduated last fall with his doctorate. He’s been somewhat working in our field, but he has less connections because he moved with me for my school. He was working as a cashier at grocery store but was forced to quit because they didn’t give him any hours. He’s doing DoorDash to make ends meet for now.
They cut our commission at my job ($3-4/hr) without raising our hourly pay. The employees are currently revolting and it’s HILARIOUS, I’ll share the screenshots with y’all on Sunday. But it’s unlikely to yield anything because it’s corporate wide and we’re a tiny branch that they don’t give a single crap about. Even if we all quit they won’t care.
Y’all. How the hell are we supposed to do this. The minimum wage in our area is $15.50, but my tax rate is 21% and the median rent for a one bedroom is $1550/mo. Even the most garbage apartments are that much, and that doesn’t include the $350+ of fees and utilities. I don’t want to leave because I’m building really promising professional connections, but once I graduate I’ll have to start repaying loans and I’ll lose my student health insurance (I have a chronic illness that requires daily medication).
We’re both so miserable trying to survive. This fucking sucks.