I did everything the “right way” – or, rather, what I was told was the right way: Learned a skill in high school, allowing me to gain some practical work experience before pursuing college. That wasn’t enough money to survive on, so I got a second full-time job and a side gig. Rented a tiny apartment that I shared with a roommate. Never took more than a couple days off each year. I wasn’t seeing the career progression I wanted, so I started taking classes towards a CS degree at an affordable state school. Graduated with a 3.9 and no debt while working two jobs. Didn’t have children (and now, never will.) Saved as much of my money as I could.
What I did spend money on was my mental health, but only as a means to extend my productivity. My therapist and I came up with “coping mechanisms” so I could gaslight myself into withstanding the exploitation, long hours, and intentionally insane demands of my job. Each new position demanded I do more while offering me less. When I finally had enough stashed away for a responsible downpayment on a house, the interest rate hit 5%. My rent doubled. A 6am phone call came with the news that my mother had a massive stroke and was expected to pass. After returning to the office from a five-day bereavement leave, I was laid off due to “economic hardship” for the third year in a row. And then the Fed decided my remaining savings and ability to find another job were destroying the economy. Still, I got off lucky. Most Americans in my position would have quickly ended up homeless.
Of the nearly 200 companies I have applied to, one was kind enough to respond. Albeit with an automatically-generated rejection letter. Still, they stamp their feet and push their pissant, bullshit articles about how “no one wants to work anymore” so they can continue manipulating the visa system and hire underpaid, overworked, and unprotected offshore labor. They tell me my industry needs to suck it up and go back to the office. Perhaps so we can be reinfected with COVID over and over until we’re completely dependent on our company-provided health insurance.
This isn’t melodrama and I don’t want anyone’s pity. I only want to illustrate that if I’m not safe in this system, no one is. But few are willing to read the writing on the wall: this asymmetrical, social, psychological, and biological warfare on the working class. They won’t stop fucking lying. And they won’t stop fucking squeezing. They will bleed each and every one of us dry until they get their fiefdoms back, given the opportunity.