Quote:
|
Originally Posted by magictoy
Judging by what you say about your present income, it would seem to have been a good deal. If I remember correctly, you own your house and car. Your statements have also led me to believe that your educational loans are paid off. According to your profile, you're 25. Not bad, I'd say. If your response is, "I worked my ass off," my answer would be, "That's the idea." If you are saying minimum wage should be higher so you would be in your current financial state of affairs BEFORE age 25, I'd say you were being a bit greedy.
|
Born 8/3/83, which makes me 22 years old, 23 in August. I'm not fighting for myself, I'm fighting for others. I have a bit of a savior complex, which has a lot to do with my political beliefs. I tend to want to save people (sometimes to a fault). I do own my house and car, though I was given a good deal on the house by a family member.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by magictoy
1. Although you describe yourself as a "low-income" teenager, you attended martial arts school(s) from age 4 to sometime past age 16. Martial arts are not cheap, and those payments didn't go into your college fund. You also weren't earning income while you were taking those classes.
|
My gradparents payed for my martial arts until I was 14, when I got my first job doing secretarial work for a neighbor who owned his own company. I made minimum wage then, too. No, martial arts were not cheap, that is until I left the ATA for more direct training. I paid for a lot of my own stuff with the money I earned. I payed for my martial arts, clothes, etc.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by magictoy
I conclude that you made a conscious choice to study martial arts, even if it meant you had to borrow a "crapload" of money later. I don't fault that decision, but I don't accept "whining" (your word) about your lack of funds at the time, either.
|
I expected to be paid on par with other people who did the same amount of work that I did, but were older. If I had the secretarial job today that I had then, I would be making at least $15 per hour. I made something like $5 per hour then. Whining had a lot to do with fairness, and less to do with selfishness. My employer easily had the means to pay fair wages.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by magictoy
"A few years back." You were 24 when you wrote that. Most people use the term "a few" to mean 3 or more. So if you were age 21 at that writing, which just about HAS to be when you were in college, the state of your finances, once again, was not as dire as it could have been.
|
I was 20 when I was allowed to race my friends car at LS. I did not own the car, I did not pay to have to car repaired or modified. I did share the cost of fuel and tires, but aside form that it was only an investment of time. My buddy who was and still is very well off had no problem with a friend racing his cheapest car. I was practicaly wetting myself at the prospet of racing at Laguna Seca at all. He was excited to have a 'team'.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by magictoy
Maybe, but if someone with a "severe heart condition" could be a 5th degree black belt, AND drive race cars, AND own his house and car, AND have his education paid for (you said you DID, past tense, have student loans) by age 25, well, this is a great country and we shouldn't fool around with it.
|
I did the martial arts and racing against the direction of my cardiologist, but with the reccomendation of my sports doctor. I could and still cannot compete in martial arts, and I could not drive a really fast car (the 928 was practically stock) because of the force it put on my cardiovascular system. According to my condition, I cannot do competitive sports and I cannot lift heavy weights. A coarctation of the aorta repair means that my descending aorta is a grafted-on piece of dachron tube. This means that 1) the aorta cannot grow and 2) it has a limit of strength. I cannot allow my blood pressure to go above a certian point or my heath or even my life can be in serious danger. I know my limits, and I respect them. I hope that explaination was sufficient.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by magictoy
The subject is minimum wage, not crappy jobs. I believe that anyone who has spent 5 or so years working at minimum wage isn't trying hard enough to improve their status.
|
I disagree.
Edit: 'Anyone' who has spend 5 years working minimum wage ins't trying hard enough? One word pops into my mind: empathy. Are you really able to put yourself in the shoes of these people and imagine the full gravity of their situation? What if you are the daughter of illegal immigrints (born here, and thus a citizen), who had to essentially raise your little brother who has down syndrome while both of your parents worked so that you could have a roof over your head and food on your table. It certianally builds character, but missing school puts you at a serious disadvantage in the job market when you are eventually asked to take a job. You start working at a run down supermarket because the owner is a friend of the family (you would not be able to get work otherwise), and you start orking 30 hours a week at $5/hr. Your refrences don't speak english, you have very little english skills at all, no education, no job skills beyond taking care of a sick little boy (which cannot be backed up by refrences). You're f**ked if you want a job that pays more than $5/hr. You continue to work at the run down supermarket hoping for a raise, but none will even come because the place only does enough business to break even.
Perhapse this hypothetical character should have been born in a better situation, and thus the situation she is in is her fault.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by magictoy
Since you're so interested, I'll give you the full story. At the time I wrote that I was "with my parents," I was. In 2003, my sister and I were moving them to a house near us, because they were no longer able to manage all of their affairs. My mother had fallen for the workman appearing at the door to "do some repair work he'd noticed they needed." My parents fell for that--twice.
We got them moved near us. Two months ago, my mother died, and since she was the one who kept an eye on my father, who has Alzheimer's, I, my sister, her two kids, and my two kids are supervising my father in shifts.
Are there any more questions about me or my parents?
|
My questions were mearly intended to find out what background you have in the subject at hand.
While I do recognise that some of those making minimum wages simply don't care and are lazy, not all of them fall in to this catagory. I believe that some people do wish to better themselves, but are stuck for whatever reason, and despite admirable efforts cannot become unstuck mearly through perserverience or tenacity. The reason I believe this is I know people in that situation. There are valid reasons, beyond not trying hard enough, to explain why some people are forced to hold minimum wage jobs.