Free pizza for the unemployed

this is good to hear of.. nice gestures to the unfortunate is good... BUT--

It is my hope that the republicans and Tea-party people do not hear of this giving to the unfortunate.. they hate to see people being helped even if they are at a disadvantage by no actions or faults of their own..

.. the wealthy and powerful steal what little the working man has to live for, and when the common man is down and out, the republicans and Tea-party group get angered by nice gestures such as this towards the common man... i can see republicans and tea-party people angered as to why the wealthy and corporations are not the ones getting this free pizza instead...

..shame on your wealth-loving groups who support the powerful who take from the small people... shame on you..

reply to post by TrueBrit


I just don't buy that. Sorry.

My local paper has 4 pages of help wanted ads. I called 10 people for interviews for my last position and only 3 showed up. I sent out 65 requests for work samples and only 20 were returned. The State of Florida has double digit unemployment, yet we cannot keep our call center in my office fully staffed. People who have good paying jobs refuse to have good attendance or show up on time.

Partly it is because people have made themselves unhireable through criminal actions, but it is also because people are just lazy. They don't show up for interviews, or they show up late, or they show up with an attitude of entitlement. It doesn't help matters that we are paying them unemployment wages for 99 weeks, so their motivation to find a job is low, and they can afford to be picky.

I do not believe there is any excuse for a physically and mentally healthy person to be unemployed. Every car dealer in town is begging for detailers. Every restaurant in town is begging for servers. Every hotel in town is begging for cleaning staff that speak english. And we still have double digit unemployment?

reply to post by getreadyalready


And every one of those people needs a wage that could potentialy house , clothe and feed a family or couple, not a wage that can just barely feed and house a single person for a week on a months salary. I doubt that car detailers are being offered pay that will cover thier living expenses for a month , nor are those who are looking for cleaning staff. They are looking to pay the minimum that they can get away with, and most people cant afford to take that kind of work because they have greater need than that form of work would provide for!
You talk about being entitled, but you act as like a very privelliged person. Its the mark of such people to have zero understanding of true hardship.
Let me give it to you bluntly , if you arent living that nightmare yourself, dont dare to comment on the people who are. You literaly have no idea what its like living on the streets, hunkered down in makeshift accomodation through no particular fault of your own. If you cant believe its possible to end up like that without lazyness then you havent been paying any attention to the demographic involved, or indeed to the socio ecconomic effects of the downturn in the ecconomy in the US. Im not even there and I seem to have a better grasp of the realities than you do . They are as follows. The place is broken, and there are people there who literaly cannot help themselves from the pit they are in. You can either accept that and help out, or later, when those poor SOBs have died of malnutrition and you end up living in the third world, you can feel really great about yourself for being oh so much better than them.
My GOD its like some people have forgotten empathy entirely .

reply to post by TrueBrit


I am not "privileged." I have worked in every one of those jobs that I just mentioned. I have lived that nightmare, but never for more than a few days, because I refuse to be helpless.

So, since those jobs don't pay enough they should go unfilled, while people collect state benefits and handouts for doing nothing? You are actually saying it is better to be unemployed and living off free benefits than to take a lower paying job, because that job isn't good enough?

It is difficult to find a higher paying job when you are not currently employed. You take whatever you can get, and you start working your way up. You take responsibility for your own situation and you take actions to improve it.

You ask how I "dare" talk about these situations? I have been up and down many, many times! I have lived out of my car, and I have lived the high life. I have never done any of it on handouts from anybody!! I guarantee, 100%, and I issue a challenge to any ATSer that wants to take me up on it. If you are not a convicted felon, and you have a driver's license, and you are mentally and physically sound, and you are unemployed and/or homeless. I offer you my home. I have spare rooms, I have friends with open positions that they have a hard time filling. There is work, and shelter here. The only catch is that you are responsible, kind, and willing to show up every day on time and willing to work with a good attitude. This isn't rocket science. You show up, you treat people well, you act thankful for what you have, and you earn your way up the ladder. Prove me wrong.

reply to post by getreadyalready


Go ahead then Getreadyalready, go out there and find you some good people who cant afford to live anywhere. Go out to the tent cities, and find a small family group, and allow them the shelter of your home. Allow them to look for work with your home as a base, it might actualy do some good if people were actualy prepared to help, rather than blathering on about the issue and how those people are lazy or criminal or substandard for being in a horrific situation that they did not cause.
If you actualy WERE to stop victim blaming and go and help these people, you might find you learn something yourself, rather than using it as a point to argue over. Remember, you and persons who still have a home, are not the victims of these people. These poor folks are the victims of a savage and brutal society, which has torn the stable ground from under thier feet and hurled them into a deep creek lacking a canoe, let alone something to paddle it with. You go right ahead and take someone in by all means, but dont do it to be right, do it because they need the help damnit!

reply to post by TrueBrit


You sure talk a lot without any knowledge. Go read some of my other posts. I have done exactly what you suggest. I have hired many homeless people off the streets, and some of them even worked more than 1 day. I even have 1 success story out of hundreds of attempts, where the guy actually kept the job and improved his situation. I have never refused work or food to anybody that asks, and I never will, but the problem is that by and large, they do not want work or food, they want cash for booze and drugs.

I am as nice or as mean as each situation calls for. I have violently removed homeless thugs and violent felons from places that kids frequent, and I have housed total strangers in my home.

Perhaps it is you that needs to get off the high horse and stop assuming everyone is some down and out Cosby family, and go see the real world for yourself!

Next time someone asks you for money for gas, or food, offer to take them to the store and buy them gas or food. Watch how fast the story changes, and what they really need is cash for something else. Next time someone is holding a "will work for food sign" stop and offer to take them up to the WalMart parking lot and tell them you will pay $5 for every row of carts they return to the turnstiles, or $5 for every 5 gallon bucket of litter they fill up. See how many take you up on the offer. I already know the answer, because I do this regularly. It is a source of contention and entertainment, and it fuels my hatred for the whole ridiculous situation, and occasionally it feels good when someone actually takes you up on the offer.

AND, don't get me started on homeless shelters, because last year I donated pretty much my whole survival kit supplies on some particularly cold night, and it all wound up in the trash the same day!! They didn't know what a "shock" blanket was so they trashed it, and apparently used quilts and pillows are not good enough for their people, it has to be new in the package or they won't use it. The shelters are no better than the thugs they support, they only want CASH donations, they don't want any real help!

reply to post by CodeRed3D


What about the homeless?

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by TrueBrit

 

So, since those jobs don't pay enough they should go unfilled, while people collect state benefits and handouts for doing nothing? You are actually saying it is better to be unemployed and living off free benefits than to take a lower paying job, because that job isn't good enough?

I've talked with a few homeless people and honestly, I have a hard time relating to that mentality. Unfortunately, I see the same trend in many of the jobless - just as you mentioned. When people loose hope, motivation is hard to rekindle.

The problem boils down to one simple cause. Too many people were used to living on credit. This country is making a violent shift to a real economy - regardless to whether people were ready for it or not. (Not to throw all the burden on the American dream as Bernanke wasn't ready himself to deal with 2008, much less what's coming later this Summer - and he's the one mortally responsible for the loose trends in the banking sector.)

It will take the resourcefulness of the people who have been living responsibly to provide the working example of change. Personally, I felt really encouraged by the article.

reply to post by CodeRed3D


I liked the article too, and we kind of got off track from unemployed to homeless. It does suck to be "underemployed" especially when you know you are capable of so much more. It sucks even worse to be unemployed, and getting your foot back in the door is the hardest part.

I totally agree on the shift to the "real" economy, and it had to happen. I would rather see a steep severe transition so we can get on with the real recovery, but apparently TPTB would rather see a long, slow, tenous decent and then a very long, slow, debt-ridden recovery to match it. Either way, the economy will reset itself, and there isn't much we can do about it.

reply to post by getreadyalready


at least if they went unfilled, the companies might find the need to raise their pay scales a little instead of passing the bulk of the money into their pockets and their upper management pockets???

some day pay a visit to odesk.com and see just how low people will go to work!! is this the future we have to look foreward to???
or, is this just people so disenchanted with the labor market that they figure they might have more luck going it alone and outside the norm??

Originally posted by getreadyalready

McDonald's already gives free food to you as long as you are stinky and rude and stand around and harrass the paying customers. I walked out of one one day, because they gave a sackfull of food to some homeless guy while I was counting pennies to pay for a $1 double cheeseburger! The manager said they do that to get rid of them so they won't bother the paying customers, but as a paying customer I was greatly offended!

Why do we constantly reward the worst decision makers and least productive members of our society while taxing, regulating, and riding the backs of the rest?

Everything from Child Support to Food Stamps to Free Pizza benefits the people who work the least and demand the most. It benefits the people that constantly make the worst possible decisions in life, and it punishes the responsible people.

Child support is for children, I'm sorry if you think children need to work hard or starve but America is supposed to be a first world country

We should ensure a better future for our children but the worst generation ever wont give up their jobs, wont leave any inheritance, only debts for their kids and wont even pay for their education to give them a chance to pay their own way.

reply to post by Valdestine


Sorry, but I worked for a Child Support agency for a couple of years, and only in the 5% best case scenarios does child support actually benefit the children. That was our indoctrination mantra, and we all tried hard to believe it, but when people on the other end of the phone are talking about how they can't get "blazed" because someone didn't pay their child support, then you know where it really goes.

We had people get huge checks....10s of 1000s and call back the next month claiming they couldn't feed their children because someone hadn't paid that month yet. We would ask where the big check went, and they would get offended and say it was none of our business, and our job was to make him pay every month!

Also, the guidelines themselves are set up to punish the steady working contributor. If party A is making a minimal salary and party B is making a little more, and they have joint custody, then party B pays party A. If party A quits there job, the balance of income shifts, and all of a sudden party B is required to pay MORE! So, party B is punished for working while party A is rewarded for quitting? To make matters worse, in many cases even though custody is joint, the responsible party is usually the one doing most of the caretaking but still sending checks to the less responsible party so they can get "blazed!"

Sorry, but from an insider perspective, all of the horrors of child support are mostly true. Everybody knows the system is flawed, but everybody also knows that we have to do "something" and that privacy laws, constitutional rights, and political correctness prevent us from making the system more fair. We can't use common sense, and the people fleecing the system are experts at keeping authorities out of their business while at the same time using those same authorities to make someone else's life hell.

You show me a government aid program, and I will show you a reward system for the exact opposite of responsible behavior!

I am not saying that government aid programs should be ended, but I am saying that we need an element of common sense and a punitive measure for abusers of the system.

So you're asserting that a parent that works should be rewarded while one who stays at home to raise the children should be punished? Raising children is work? Taking care of the home isnt work? Absolutely in all cases both parents should be working and let someone else raise the children or let them fend for themselves?

You seem to have a very narrow view of the ways a family can work.

Originally posted by oibena

Originally posted by RizeorDie
I fail to see the point in this. one pizza, thats one meal for the day. then what?

"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime."

This is a good point, what will it be next, why dont they give them cooking lessons! It is unfair how the government are treating people

edit on 2-2-2011 by oibena because: (no reason given)

Where is the logic in either of your posts?

So,
You guys want them to "teach them how to make pizza"..
and/or "give them cooking classes"..

Are you serious?

What good is any of that going to do if they CANT AFFORD THE INGREDIENTS!???

Answer: No good.

Man, I love you people..
but $^%&! Please use your heads!
They are not made to simply glue to a tv screen.
There is a MIND in there, and you have the ability to USE it!

Please do.

Thanks for the post, OP.

reply to post by Valdestine


My what an ideal world you live in. I would be thrilled to see anyone stay home and raise a kid, and it is definitely work. I am not too thrilled when someone stays home to shoot up or smoke up while their 12 year old raises their 4 and 3 year old, and two other dead beat fathers come and go for sex and drugs, while one works his arse off to support the whole worthless crew!

There are some cases like you would imagine, where some decent folks had kids, got divorced, and now one party works and one plays soccer mom/dad, and the whole system is successful. I won't deny that. BUT, they are not the norm! They are a select few, and the norm is much closer to the 1st paragraph of this post.

Originally posted by getreadyalready
My what an ideal world you live in. I would be thrilled to see anyone stay home and raise a kid, and it is definitely work. I am not too thrilled when someone stays home to shoot up or smoke up while their 12 year old raises their 4 and 3 year old, and two other dead beat fathers come and go for sex and drugs, while one works his arse off to support the whole worthless crew!

There is no more money in the system to support them. They'll be the first casualties this Summer. If the prisons weren't down-sizing all across the country these people might have had a chance. I'm afraid not though. I see a lot of hype about FEMA camps, but these won't be available either. DC can't afford the cost - especially over the long term.

On a good note though, for those of us that are still breathing and thinking, there's still a lot of room for productivity during the transition. But those that will be adversely affected were already systematic casualties long before 2008 began.

Originally posted by getreadyalready
Why do we constantly reward the worst decision makers and least productive members of our society while taxing, regulating, and riding the backs of the rest?

This whole post bugged me so much. I have numerous responses...

a) Because you take it. Simple as that.

b) Because there are pros and cons to everything. One of the pros to homelessness is apparently getting bags of free food from McDonald's. If you actually stopped to think about the many, many cons, it might stop your whining. Then again, probably not.

c) Could you be more dramatic? Really? Free food from McDonald's (or even a pizza place on just one day) is demonstrative of "constant" rewarding the worst decision makers?

Originally posted by getreadyalready
Everything from Child Support to Food Stamps to Free Pizza benefits the people who work the least and demand the most. It benefits the people that constantly make the worst possible decisions in life, and it punishes the responsible people.

Whatever. You sound bitter and reek of entitlement, mod or not. I mean, child support? Really? Benefits those who constantly make the worst possible decisions in life while punishing the most responsible? I reiterate: whatever. You sound bitter and reek of entitlement,*

* This last comment applies to all of your posts in this thread, BTW.

reply to post by Nameless Hussy


I am confused by the people saying my posts wreak of entitlement? Bitterness might be accurate, I have to admit that one, but bitterness seems opposite of entitlement, and you accused me of both?

The only entitlement I feel is necessary is an honest days pay for an honest days work. That doesn't seem like too much to ask. I have scraped pennies and nickels from the floorboards of a work truck, and stood in line 10 deep, to pay $1.05 for a double cheeseburger and get rude service in the process, while watching a homeless guy walk in, stand around, and get a sack full of burgers without saying a word or paying a dime. I was bitter.

Some of you may have read my other posts about the homeless. I have also given building materials, fresh water, fresh food, and land to homeless people only to have my dog slaughtered, my mother's purse stolen, and violent encounters with murderers. I have spent plenty of time around homeless people to know that they come in 3 varieties, mentally ill, convicted felon, and the occasional down on their luck. In my experience you rarely ever see a true down and out person that needs a helping hand, but as I have stated many times, I am always more than willing to help someone who is willing to help themself.

reply to post by MeSoCorny

Doc Velocity?

Is that you?

Poor business decision. How long befor they are outta business cause they gave away too much free s#it? Stupid.