MY Generation the Slackers!?

I'm beginning to think that my generation (20-30) are not slackers at all, that in some cases, the generation above us are the slackers.

For example, my friend J. over in my hometown? His original deal with his parents was to take care of his grandmother with Alzheimers and live there for free while he pursued his masters in teaching. Once he got that, he wanted to start subbing.

To begin with, services for taking care of someone with Alzeimers runs about $2000-$3000 a month, in addition to room and board.

So... anyways, he starts subbing and then his dad wants to force him to work on the farm 8 hours a day in addition for no pay. This often keeps him from being able to substitute. What is he supposed to do in this situation, exactly?

Net monthly amount not being paid to my friend: (8 hours*8.00 / day)*(6 days per week)*(4 weeks per month) +3000 = $4,500

He is being cheated out of a job worth over $45,000 a year.

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Meanwhile, my other friend R. works as a bouncer and a D.J. at a strip club where the strippers are forced to pay $25 just to get on stage and hardly get any of that back - not only that, R. has to give them rides home, which takes him 4 hours of his time, and his own gas money, just to do.

The owner of the strip club seems fine with it.

Net daily loss for R.: (8.00)*(4 hours) + ($15 gas) = $47.00 per day, or $235 a week, or $940 a month.

R. is being cheated out of a job worth around $10,000 a year.

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I wouldn't stand for either of those situations, personally, as I would explain the economics to the people in charge - but unfortunately, the economy is so bad, that a lot of people my age are honestly working for about half of minimum wage or less once the illegal pay cuts are taken into account.

In addition, I should add that myself and both of these other people are college-educated and paying off student loans.

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My budget at the moment is $300 rent, $150 food, $100 gas, $150 student loans, and a bit extra to spend.

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I could be in an odd situation, I admit, this is anecdotal evidence and hardly an empirical study.

I'm putting this out there for my two friends to get exposure, because although my situation isn't that bad, I'm annoyed they are in those situations and don't know how to deal with it.

Suggestions would help, too

I've been in bad situations, but I'm no pushover.

reply to post by darkbake


Your friends J and R are being exploited however I cant see anyway out of it for them. Your budget is that per fortnight?

I commend your efforts at exposing your friends' situations, and yes, both stories suck.
For me, not enough details about the friend caring for his Grandma to respond. Sadly there are millions in very similar situations.
In my opinion, that friend is getting an invaluable education at life and life skills; on love, patience and kindness; hopefully. I hope they're able to get small amounts of respite.
It can be a harsh form of education, but believe me if they are able to handle it with their heart in the right place, that education will be set for life - will serve them better than the teacher's certificate.
In my opinion.
Is there anyone at all in the family they can turn to for moral or physical support? (respite)
If not, find a good online forum - even just reading the postings - and as I've heard can be aces better than family, anyway...

2nd friend, yeah it sucks working for greedy employers who know they have you over a barrel at pretty much every corner they manage to turn. Sucks. Unfortunately, he's one of billions. Sucks, oh yes it does.
Can they speak with the owner on it, with the cost breakdown on paper? Business is business. It shouldn't cost him money to work there - present it at a business level?
Sucks thats the only work around, cuz of course it falls into the 'well look where you're working' routine

Bad parenting (as I read it - from his farming parents) and greedy employers have always run amok.
It sucks when it happens when you're in your 20s and 30s, and it sucks when you're older. It still happens, hopefully our coping skills progress with each situation.

To go completely generational on ya, my Grandpa always said "there's good and bad in all..."

This post is not meant to be condescending - or depressing, ha.
These are bullsh#it times.
You are a good friend to alert the world to some of it. The best to all.

I'm In the generation above you (30-40 age group) and believe me, we're not slackers. We've been through economic crisis after a terrorist attack after a war and another war, all this while you were still a kid in school. Most people in my generation are saddled with college loans, credit card debt and still have to support their families and some are even supporting parents.

Unfair statement. I understand the point you are making, but those are individual cases that do not reflect a whole generation. All generations are going through hardship now.

Back in 2000 (Y2k!) when I was 16, I graduated high school early while attending a local community college part time. I went to work full time after graduation for a local landscape contractor doing technical CAD drawings for irrigation, site surveying, and planting plans (sometimes over 40 hours a week). I continued to go to college at night school while I worked, and though my employer DID train me in the landscaping aspect of my CAD work--he refused to provide me a reasonable wage increase after almost two years working with the company. (I started out with minimum wage--usually my position paid around $16.00/hour--and I worked up to $10--but when I asked for just a $2 raise more my boss flat out said, "you're just a college kid, I don't have to pay you squat."

Needless to say I took my paid (earned) two week vacation, and summarily quit. Then I went to school full time. That was when the economy was booming--just after 9/11 (my request for a raise). Now I'm going back to school to learn massage therapy, Reiki, and other healing modalities---and in class we discuss compensation for our work--basically the rule is: People will ALWAYS want to get something for free or 'cheap' or discounted from the regular set price of compensation for labor, goods, or services. The only thing people can do (such as your friends) is establish boundaries and be wary of selling yourself for less than you're worth. Certainly to make ends meet one can't cut off a nose to spite the bills, but people should never 'whore' out their souls and quality of life--just to "make a living."

Originally posted by AthlonSavage
reply to post by darkbake

 

Your friends J and R are being exploited however I cant see anyway out of it for them. Your budget is that per fortnight?

That's my monthly budget, but I am working on musician and personal small business salaries so I am quite content since I enjoy my work, love projects and have friends and plenty of things to do

The creative freedom I have over my somewhat non-lucrative work is awesome.

In addition, my income is growing as I'm expanding my various stuff like e-bay sales and live performances.

You are correct, they are being exploited, I think it is up to them to realize it? I think they are the type of people who get comfortable in a situation and stay with it because they like the routine.

reply to post by NebKheperURa


That's awesome advice, thanks :-) I was thinking that I would be totally willing to put in some extra work for somewhere I was working, I usually do because I enjoy it - but the boundaries are important. I like how you are going into massage therapy, that sounds awesome.

Originally posted by curlygirl
Unfair statement.

I understand the point you are making, but those are individual cases that do not reflect a whole generation. All generations are going through hardship now.

edit on 6/29/2013 by curlygirl because: (no reason given)

Sorry, I was talking about the generation above you, my parents and my friends' parents are in their 60's. It is true that generalization is often inaccurate

We are all going through hard times. I guess one thing that I didn't mention is that there is totally a positive side to this for me, and probably other people. By learning how to live with less, I learn to value what I have and work together with people, I realize what's important in life and what isn't,

and in that manner I learn more about myself

For example, that I am content renting out a room, etc.

reply to post by ItsEvolutionBaby


Thanks, it's true though, isn't it? I think the worst situation is the one where my friend (who is an intellectual and completely inept at physical activities / clumsy / a slow learner) is being roped into farming at unpredictable times, it sounds stressful, and I hope he's able to get away from his parents' influence at some point.

The strip joint, meanwhile, is totally sketchy - I think the only people who make money there are the owners, it's been that way for a while, and people are starting to talk about it, I have a feeling some changes might be coming.

reply to post by darkbake


well i have a couple of questions.

1st friend, is it his grand mothers house or his folks?
does he pay any utilities in this house electric, water, sewer, thrash, phone?
does he do any repairs to the home he lives in, i'm talking about paying out of his pocket for them?
does he eat much, does he buy food?
does he have a cell phone with a high a rate plan, or does he use his folks plan?
what about his ride, do they help him with that, gas, repairs, insurance?

you have to realize that there are many things that come with being out on your own. i bet you his folks pay out about one half to two thirds of that $45,000 to support him.

this is just low ball rent for low end apts in my area, $575 to $800. utilites not included. for that add, depending on how efficient the places are, which most aren't, again low balling,any where from $100 to $300

the second friend, well i don't mind doing stuff for the boss, so long as it does take any thing out of my pocket.
but when you lose money from time missed or paying out of your pocket, doing their errands it's time to go.
and besides i don't think they can make him do it, if they fire him he can take it to the labor board. after all a strip club is not walmart.

now you your getting by cheap, do you rent a house or do you have a room mate that pays all the other stuff.



ETA: i just thought about this, how big of a farm does your 1st friend father have. can he run it himself or is all family or does he hire people to work for him?

if it's him by his self and and he is in his sixty's it might be to much for him at his age and it's their only support. if they lose that then what happens. grandma goes to a state run place and the family loses the farm and out in the streets.

if it's family maybe in these hard times his father needs every one to help to make it. he shouldn't bitch if he eats and has a roof over his head.

if he has to hire someone to help them work maybe he couldn't afford to keep grandma place and support him.
there could be many things that are going on that his father hasn't told him.

lets take your pays 300 rent and 150 food like you do 450x12=5400 alone. so how much more would he be paying out for all the other thing needed in life that his folks give him.

reply to post by darkbake


Massage therapy IS pretty interesting. Etymology is pretty important, I think, (if everything comes from the WORD then the origins of words might pretty important)--"massage" comes from the ancient Egyptian word "Mss" which is the origin for both Moses and messiah. To massage someone you must first anoint their skin with oil! Messiah and Moses are ancient Egyptian words/concepts meaning "anointed one, rightful heir, born of the Pharaoh." (The word "Egypt" is the Greek interpretation of "Temple of Ptah." Egypt was always known as either "KMT/Khemet", the black land from the soil of the Nile delta, or "Mizraim" from the Hebrew Scriptures and other foreign references).

In order to become a high priest or Pharaoh the initiate had to go through a secret ritual where their heads were anointed with crocodile fat (of all things! maybe newer anointing oils using frankincense & myrrh were to cover the croc fat...). Though the Egyptians had many 'gods', the Neter Neteru, they were basically animistic and believed in the power of totemic magic using magical talismans/symbols and words. (The Greco-Roman pantheon is the Neter Neteru).

Reiki is basically what you see on the walls of the healing (medical) temples of Sekhmet and many other places where healing took place (reflexology is even pictorialized in hieroglyph murals). Ancient Egypt was more advanced than we can imagine (if you also look up the concept of "shushuma" in tantric yoga--the red & white 'dots/drops'---you will see the parallel with the crowns of upper & lower Egypt.

My school focuses on the energy work aspect of massage therapy and assisted healing modalities. Reiki is just one form of metaphysical interaction/conscious manipulation of the the Universal, Cosmic energies from which we all come. Rediscovered in Japan around the turn of the last century and later brought to America and introduced using Buddhist apologist rhetoric explaining it terms of Christ's miracles (which he learned to perform while growing up around the temples throughout Egypt)--the Japanese word REIKI literally pops out at you: REi-KI (like Ra/Re the solar deity; and KI, CHI, or QI--Cosmiclife force energy).

Check out "reiki & sekhmet" online and you will be surprised at the SACRED GEOMETRY in the symbols from Egypt, Asia, and shamanism. Chinese and other Asian characters actually developed from ancient hieroglyphs. When you read about the iChing there are many Taoist stories pictorialized in them--just like the Tarot.

I suggest that people in our generation seek to find alternative ways to support ourselves--we can't continue along in the previous & current paradigms that are choking everyone alive right now. We also can't just blame our predecessors for everything wrong--usually people DO do the BEST they can, given the circumstances. However, here is a perfect example of AMERICAN BABY BOOM GENRATION mentality that is the essence of what's wrong with our entire culture in the United States specifically this guy: www.youtube.com...

Representative Duckworth (Gen X in 30's-40's bracket) basically calls out a baby-boomer asshole on what epitomizes the corrupt thinking that has led to our current economic state of affairs. Not to point fingers, but the nature of those growing up in the 50's and 60's baby boom generation is notorious for "arrested adulthood."

"Arrested adulthood" is where you will notice adults practicing LEARNED HELPLESSNESS--where the parents/(great?)grandparents of the baby-boomers, gen-X-ers, and even gen-Y-ers-----are now supporting their children's children because parenting in America during that time failed to properly integrate the USA's cultural continuity during and after the Vietnam war.

That's not what caused all of our problems, but poor parenting, fast food, highways, and supermalls have contributed to the attitude that everyone in the US is "royalty." Even our poorest DO live considerably better than most people ever have according to archeology--that aside, in the US since WW2 we have not had any authority over us but our COLLECTIVE CONSCIENCE, and the leverage that the Cold War brought after the Rosenbergs act of treason.

If it's true what his dad says about him returning to the US to face trial, E Snowden certainly isn't a traitor: means he's sincere in his attempt to blow a whistle on something that ate at his own personal conscience. No matter what, his comment that he premeditated his Booz employment just so he COULD gain more evidence to blow the whistle--that fact will be the deciding factor in his trial---which will crystallize/polarize our generation versus our parents and our established elders.

Long reply, but as e.e. cummins once said:

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Loneliness a leaf falls...