How do companies think people really get by on some of the wages they offer?
Every day I open job search page, and thanks to the algorithm, I see the same bullshit pay, and worse. Stuff like “Paid vacation after first year.” Looking at that right now. Heaven forbid I might need or WANT a day off within the first year, as human beings do. Heaven forbid I allow my humanity out.
So many places with ZERO benefits, or only offering contract positions. A place recently tried to make contract employment sound positive because it would be “more in my paycheck!” They neglected to mention how much I would need to set aside from that paycheck to make up for the tax liability they've passed on to me. No social safety nets. No way to afford the marketplace healthcare premium, and not qualifying for any subsidies.
Yes, yes, I have a bigger picture plan. My initial degree, which I spent my entire 20s aggressively paying off (which then led to my decision not to have kids, cause how would I afford them?), is not the right field for me. (How well are you supposed to know yourself and understand the world at 18 years old?)
I have finally identified my next chapter. But I need a full-time job for the next 2 years while I chip away at more training to allow me to get into the second career, which should pay more decently. Not great, but hopefully enough to support myself.
I spent almost a decade at my last job, and burned out from the corporate bullshit. My body was breaking down. Within a month of quitting, specific health issues improved. It was so telling.
As I look for work (even short-term work), I want to find something that won’t break my body and spirit again. It’s hard.
I’m so tired of these options. I’m so tired of the world we live in. There is so little respect for our humanity.
Why do some defend a system that is so quick to make itself maximum profits using your labor, while paying you the least possible compensation?
I don’t want incoherent wealth accumulation. I want to be able to pay the mortgage, have enough for savings, and see a doctor when needed. I want enough time off so that my life isn’t consumed by a soulless job, and instead allows for adequate time spent with loved ones, entertaining a few hobbies, and some travel.
You already know what country I live in based on what I’m writing. It's not the worst place, but it's certainly not the best.
I'm so tired of job searching for something decent. I am not an object, nor a machine. I am a human. With my one life, I would like to do more than barely scrape by, making shareholders richer and watching our economic system destroy life as we know it on this planet. And yes, my heart absolutely breaks for the billions of people even more exploited than me. Knowing their plight doesn't make me feel better (more grateful); I just feel even sadder about the state of things.
Yesterday I was excited about a job offer, because the type of work would be a good match, and asked for a dollar more per hour. It's a physically intensive part-time position, and paying me an extra dollar/hour would cost them an extra $24/week. (Not to mention it's a contract, seasonal job, so they are already paying so little for the labor, and can't even guarantee steady work after this month.)
They came back and offered me a dollar LESS than the original offer. They said they were reviewing compensation, and felt workers who'd been there 2 years would be upset to make the same as a new person. And now they're offering me the bottom of their range.
My blood boils to hear them blame my fellow proletariat, fellow low-wage earners somehow subsisting with no benefits, as the reason they can't afford an extra $24 per week. No. No no no. Do not pit us against one another. If your business model can't afford to pay everyone decently, then it's a shitty business model, operating in a shitty national and global economic system that often rewards the worst of the worst.
At the time of my interview, they were hurting for workers. I'm guessing they had enough other applicants trickle in and decided they weren't desperate enough to consider my $24 request.
I hate job searching. I'm so tired of it all.