I live in an unhappy household with my folks and have been plotting to move out of state for a while now. All the support and love I've known throughout my life has come from friends I've met online over the years.
I'd started making plans with friends in similar situations to all split an apartment together in 1-2 years, even broke out of a year-long depressive funk and started shotgunning applications to anywhere I could think of.
Started a lube technician job at $12 an hour, but got a job offer from a transit agency and quit in order to pursue that.
I started my new job a few weeks ago and I'm still in training. With a starting pay of $18 with guaranteed raises over the course of 5 years up to about $25 an hour, thanks to the union.
Was absolutely over the moon about it at first because it will be the highest paid job I've ever had, and I might even be able to potentially move out of my parents house and find some degree of independence.
But at the same time I feel conflicted, and more than a little depressed.
I need a commercial drivers license and to work for this agency for 5 years in order to have the same purchasing power a minimum wage worker had in the 1980s.
Not to mention that it throws a wrench emotionally into my plans to move out of state, I legitimately wasn't expecting to find a job that pays this much.
I was searching for a quick springboard to escape my family and the state I live in to go be with folks I actually have things in common with only to trip and stumble into potentially the most beneficial job I've ever had.
I still really want to stick with my plan, but I'm honestly terrified that I won't be able to find anything with comparable pay and benefits if I end up moving away.