Why I have to be honest and disagree with some on this board

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Yeah, it's weird. Somehow people have built this idea in their minds (and culturally) that minimum wage is not supposed to pay for everything, it's supposed to be for teenagers before they go out on their own. But of course this is rubbish because that was never the intent in the first place. Minimum wage was established with the intent of being a living wage. Unfortunately, due to factors it fell behind and now people believe something very toxic that should never have happened is somehow necessary.

I was one of those people with an idea that minimum wage was for people who are teens or in school and it's also for people with disabilities because they usually get assistance or still live at home or in a group home or people who are married to their partners who make enough to make all their ends meet and the just work for the little extra money like my mom did and she used it to pay for my therapies. Then of course it's for people who are uneducated (didn't go to college) because those are about the only jobs you can have that don't require a college education.

I even hear some people work more than one job to live because one job is not enough to make their ends meet so they work two or three jobs and I wonder how they do it. I always assume it's probably part time work and they have more than one job because of it. Even people who are on food stamps also work same as parents who are on WIC or medicaid and people will still hate on about people being on it despite that they do work.

I am lucky my job pays good money but that can be bad for people who are on social security. Washington and Oregon have pretty high minimum wages compared to other states. My husband and I made it good with making ten dollars an hour or nine an hour because we were living together and with both our bills together, we were able to live comfortably. That is the only way how someone can live on minimum wage and make their ends meet is if they have a partner that also works. I knew someone at my current job who was struggling making her ends meet so she was homeless off and on and her husband was disabled and did not get any social security and he was not able to work because he got too disabled to and lost his job. So this co worker worked full time to support herself and her husband and she did try and go back to school to get a degree but couldn't get one because she couldn't pass English so she feel she had wasted her time going and money. That just shows how going back to school to get a better job doesn't always mean they won't be poor anymore because it's not guaranteed they will have a better paying job. Even my sister in law went back to school and can't get work either because no one will hire her. They want two years of experience and she doesn't have the money to move to find work. Now she is overqualified for minimum wage jobs. Now her parents are supporting her and her children.

From my experience, employers don't like to see large blocks of time being unemployed. So even if you sweep floors, clean toilets, do anything, even if your neighbor hires you for $20 to do something menial over a long stretch of time, even if you walk a dog for $5 once or twice, you can use that person as a reference for work experience, then that's what you do. It makes you look like you are willing to put your butt to the grindstone to make income, even if it is not for not much money or a skill that is not needed on that particular job you are interviewing for. In fact, they might even be able to recommend you for another position or refer you out to another place. Employers understand the job market is hard. They give points to people who are filling their time with any type of work-related activities, even if it is volunteering at a nonprofit. Think of something you can do--anything at all--and post a sign at your local grocery bulletin board offering services for it and your telephone number. Post your services on Craigslist. And if you apply for one job but don't have the skill set needed for it, by mere fact that you are willing to learn and are eager to learn, says a lot. At the very least is shows that you are serious about working.

I don't think that I could survive one day of doing a minimum wage job in a bright noisy place involving frequent social interactions. I can only do the kind of work that involves a flexible schedule, good environment, infrequent social interactions, and not much teamwork. I can barely make it through a one-hour meeting in which I am sitting in a weird position alternately playing Bejeweled Blitz and Fruit Ninja while zoning in and out of whatever is going on around me.

I wanted to post a response that was a lot less civil than this one but I decided to just quote you instead.

The U.S. is the Most Overworked Developed Nation in the World – When do we Draw the Line?

http://20somethingfinance.com/american- ... -vacation/

Much more data at the link.

Aye, this.

I had similar issues back when I used to work, where the autism stuff really got in the way. Definitely the constant socialness sure didnt help. EVERY job I had except maybe 3 (out of quite alot of jobs) was all serving customers and all that crap. Ugh. The fact that many customers are dumber than a sack of hammers didnt help matters.

But my own biggest issue was TIME. My perception of time is rather warped, and even just a 3-4 hour shift at ANY job seems like it just goes on forever, with no end in sight. Utter torture. And those are considered SHORT shifts? What? Coulda fooled me! How in the bloody hell people manage to work a real, full-time job, with like 7-8 hour shifts, is utterly beyond me. I'll never understand that. There's no way I could take that.

Not to mention the godawful uniforms and crap that damn near every employer ever makes you wear. Uuuuugh. Those always involved specific types of clothing that I absolutely loathe. As if my hatred of damn near everything at my place of employment (wherever that happened to be) needed to be further enhanced by that.

Even more reason for me to not want to have a job.