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Antiwork

My dad has no idea how much wages are lagging behind the cost of living.

For context: I have a pretty good job (that I enjoy). I work in a field and position where you'd expect me to have a pretty good life, and my parents were very happy when I got this job, because they thought that after years of being underpaid I was finally going to be able to afford a nice life. It's the first job I've had that's in my field and related to my degree. A little while ago, I had to suddenly find a new place to live, and go from sharing expenses to living on my own. I was really nervous about it, because I didn't think I'd be able to find a place that I could afford to rent by myself. But, I did! It felt like a miracle. I found an actually decent apartment- spatious, well maintained, in a nice area- and it was affordable. I…


For context: I have a pretty good job (that I enjoy). I work in a field and position where you'd expect me to have a pretty good life, and my parents were very happy when I got this job, because they thought that after years of being underpaid I was finally going to be able to afford a nice life. It's the first job I've had that's in my field and related to my degree.

A little while ago, I had to suddenly find a new place to live, and go from sharing expenses to living on my own. I was really nervous about it, because I didn't think I'd be able to find a place that I could afford to rent by myself. But, I did! It felt like a miracle. I found an actually decent apartment- spatious, well maintained, in a nice area- and it was affordable. I managed to negotiate the monthly rent down by a few hundred, (don't ask me how) and now I live in a place that is far cheaper than the average apartment in my city.

When I told my dad I found a new place, and how much the rent was, he freaked out. Told me I'd been scammed, that a normal, average apartment shouldn't cost that much… he lectured me about financial planning, and that rent shouldn't take up more than 30% of your income. So I told him to do some online apartment hunting himself. He called me back a while later and admitted he couldn't even find anything that was as low as my current rent.

He has owned his house for a long time now, and clearly managed to stay actually oblivious to how bad it is. I mean, he knew there's a housing crisis, we talked about it. But clearly he thought that just meant housing was a bit too expensive? Only minimum wage workers couldn't afford housing? I don't know. But he apparently did not realize the housing crisis means housing is downright unaffordable. My well-paying job isn't a well-paying job anymore.

But the really depressing thing about it is that he's right. I have basically been scammed, a normal apartment shouldn't cost that much, my rent shouldn't take up more than 30% of my income. And yet I still feel like I got really lucky.

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