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Default Oct 18, 2021 at 10:38 AM
  #1
Every where you go there are help wanted signs and places are booked way out. Yeah I know part of it is the shortages of things. But I went to 2 different places to get my haircut and at both of them there was only one hair stylist and 4 people waiting.

So how are all these people able to support themselves without a job? I didn’t think getting on disability or whatever was that easy.

I’m not trying to be rude or downplay people’s situations but I just can’t understand how someone can’t work unless they are legit not able to.

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Default Oct 18, 2021 at 02:39 PM
  #2
People in some industries that are typically low paying, have left those jobs for good because they have found other jobs with better pay, better benefits, etc.

The Great Resignation: Why Millions of Workers Are Quitting Their Jobs : NPR

Additionally, yes, many people died.

Additionally, yes, many people are still dealing with long-Covid symptoms that can be truly disabling. I suspect we'll see many people being added to officially disability due to long-lasting effects of this illness.

Additionally, yes, many people cannot afford to go back to work. They may have lost a spouse and now cannot afford to pay for childcare and work, for instance. Or, they have opted to keep their kids home for schooling because kids have not been eligible for vaccination and they've made the choice to keep their kids home where they feel they are safer.

Additionally, many of the people who lost jobs have not been able to find comparable work. For instance, older people who might have been gainfully employed, were laid off, but finding a job as a late 50 or 60 or 70 something is very difficult.

There are many reasons people aren't working. That doesn't mean they are able to support themselves well either. People are struggling.
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Default Oct 18, 2021 at 03:35 PM
  #3
I’m sorry. I didn’t realize until now how *****y and self centered my post sounded. I just really didn’t understand since my own Covid situation was not terrible and I was avoiding the news out of fear. I have SSI and Medicare and I was able to quit my job and be ok and focus on trying to get my health in order. I would have had to leave work anyways in October 2020 and I still can’t go back. But I felt unsafe at my work place. Which is why I quit in June 2020.

Thank you for clarifying for me.

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Default Oct 18, 2021 at 04:01 PM
  #4
I didn't think you sounded self-centered particularly. But I do think there is a lot of job migration going on as people prioritize their families and health over their jobs. Or, their previous job wasn't a "career" and they've had time to pursue different avenues for income that work better for them.

Hairdressers who worked in chain, quick haircut kinds of places weren't making much to start with - those were rather low paying jobs with long hours and few benefits. They were working a job that constantly exposed them to the public very up close and personal. (We are pretty certain my husband got Covid when he went to a haircut place like that - and his Covid killed him.) They may have gone into a different job. They may have gone to a better salon that will provide better hours or benefits. Hard to know.

My daughter-in-law is right now in the process of quitting her job in a retail pharmacy, a job that twice exposed her to Covid - she's suffered horrible long-haul Covid problems after two bad bouts with the illness (she's immunocompromised, so even vaccinated, she is much less protected than most people). She's taking a different type of pharmacy position that doesn't require her to constantly be exposed to the general public, AND she'll be making much more money.

People are on the move. They've realized their priorities have changed and their options are different.

So, those former hairdressers may be working somewhere else for better pay and better benefits. Employers unwilling or unable to provide strong benefits are being priced out of employees. I suspect we'll see permanent changes in how restaurants work, how businesses work, etc., because this pandemic has shown exactly what is possible - and it is different than before the pandemic.
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Default Oct 18, 2021 at 05:47 PM
  #5
I am suspicious of this whole story. I stopped in at my mall (which has signs all over) and expected people to interview me on the spot or at least give me an application. Nope they wanted me to go home and put in a 40 page long internet application for the "chance" that someone might interview me. In the 80s I got my first job at Sears by just stoping in to HR. They just hired me that day and I filled out only a 1 page application. They wouldn't take a chance on turning me away... yet many retail stores wanted me to go home and wait by the phone for a call -- maybe.

I suspect this is just another way employers are raking in the bucks. Have skeleton staffs and blame inability to get help as the reason the consumer gets bad service and has to pay more. Much more profitable for them.
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Default Oct 18, 2021 at 07:02 PM
  #6
I have a side job in retail. One night a week, sometimes two. We are very short staffed all the time. Before covid and now during pandemics. We hire anyone as long as you breathe and can move around. Most people in retail work part time as they either go to school or work elsewhere the rest of the day (not talking about management) as it’s not a sustainable living, so it’s very transient. We always need people. Over the course of my adult life I often had side jobs like this. Always same story. Need people and hire anyone

Most companies do want internet application nowadays, it’s true.

Now I do believe that covid made the whole employment situation very complicated. But I always knew people who didn’t work yet weren’t on disability, way before covid. Some do work but under the table, some are on welfare, some live off family members. I know someone who is about to lose her house but still wouldn’t get a job. Her husband passed away so she is now relying on her daughter’s SS. Still wouldn’t get a job. So on one hand yes covid is to blame but on the other there were always people who just didn’t work or didn’t work much
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Default Oct 20, 2021 at 03:46 AM
  #7
Quote:
Originally Posted by NatalieJastrow View Post
I suspect this is just another way employers are raking in the bucks. Have skeleton staffs and blame inability to get help as the reason the consumer gets bad service and has to pay more. Much more profitable for them.

I think this is true. I read some social media post where someone had spent a day applying to jobs with companies that had complained about people not wanting to work. They got one interview for a job that had been advertised as full-time that turned out to be part-time.

Another person I know left a long term job because they were overworking him. He was the first to get called back but they never brought everyone back - they kept running the place with a skeleton crew. That was okay for a month or two but when people have been working that way for a year, forget it.

I think the pandemic is keeping a lot of people out of the job market right now. Friends who normally supplement their retirement income are just making do without that extra money. People with two incomes are living off one. A cashier at a store I go to cut back her hours because the customers are worse than usual and it's just no longer worth the money.
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Default Oct 21, 2021 at 03:31 AM
  #8
Lots of valid reasons already given. As for the pandemic, many people are still working from home with more flexibility, so may be more present at places during the day than they used to be.

As far as disability, yes it is tough for many to get it, and I at first felt you were implying some on disability were maybe lazy or milking it. Such latter thinking (which perhaps you didn't mean) is common. Truth is, trying to work at all in the USA with some types of disability is risky. That is if you could at all. By risk I mean that the threat of being kicked off disability is a scary one and one that could equate to further poverty by not being able to pay bills. I know on SSDI they keep you on during only a short period of part time trial return to work, but there are maximum amounts you can earn during that period and once you return full time (if you can even hack it) you are soon after kicked off disability. If you then relapse, you then may need to apply for disability again. Those on disability know that can be a struggle. Again, time with no income (from either a job or disability payments) can mean poverty and cessation of health insurance coverage. That would suck and keep in mind not everyone has a relative to live with or feed them. And if you need medical care during such a period, you may be out of luck and/or have savings eaten up. The way disability is set up in the US can feel like a trap because of such risks. "Sink or Swim" polices cause disincentives and are actually counterproductive, in the end. That's a paradoxical situation.

In my new country, health coverage is universal for every citizen no matter what the work status. Also, once on disability, there's no fear of crisis if you try working again then relapse.

Some people not on disability who earned below living wages are rebelling, for sure. If they have kids to boot, what kind of life is that? One political party is advocating an increased minimum wage, free public college, and cheaper day care. While the other fiercely fights that. One party gives tax breaks to the very rich, while poor and middle income folks pay more. More taxes from the rich could pay for benefits that would help the poor and middle class, but that's not happening yet. In Europe, people get much more paid vacation and maternity leave from the start. In the USA, it is sadly little or even far too often non-existent. I can say, as a person with a significant mental health issue, that no/little time off can be counterproductive to mental and physical wellness, as is the stress in wondering if a relapse might make paying bills at risk.

You are justifiably grateful that your insurance has paid most of the bills for your medical procedures, but what about some poor soul who has no insurance? Or those whose insurance barely pays for life-threatening illnesses?

As an American with a disability, it is clear to me that many of 50% of the US population would be happy if I just up and died. Many of them even claim to be religious. Many feel the same about other groups of people. Ohhh, the lack of humanity! In Nazi Germany, they flat out exterminated people they regarded as "undesirables". Sadly, fascism is again on the rise around the world. It's dangerous!

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Last edited by Soupe du jour; Oct 21, 2021 at 04:36 AM..
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Default Oct 21, 2021 at 04:50 AM
  #9
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Originally Posted by Soupe du jour View Post
Lots of valid reasons already given. As for the pandemic, many people are still working from home with more flexibility, so may be more present at places during the day than they used to be.

As far as disability, yes it is tough for many to get it, and I at first felt you were implying some on disability were maybe lazy or milking it. Such latter thinking (which perhaps you didn't mean) is common. Truth is, trying to work at all in the USA with some types of disability is risky. That is if you could at all. By risk I mean that the threat of being kicked off disability is a scary one and one that could equate to further poverty by not being able to pay bills. I know on SSDI they keep you on during only a short period of part time trial return to work, but there are maximum amounts you can earn during that period and once you return full time (if you can even hack it) you are soon after kicked off disability. If you then relapse, you then may need to apply for disability again. Those on disability know that can be a struggle. Again, time with no income (from either a job or disability payments) can mean poverty and cessation of health insurance coverage. That would suck and keep in mind not everyone has a relative to live with or feed them. And if you need medical care during such a period, you may be out of luck and/or have savings eaten up. The way disability is set up in the US can feel like a trap because of such risks. "Sink or Swim" polices cause disincentives and are actually counterproductive, in the end. That's a paradoxical situation.

In my new country, health coverage is universal for every citizen no matter what the work status. Also, once on disability, there's no fear of crisis if you try working again then relapse.

Some people not on disability who earned below living wages are rebelling, for sure. If they have kids to boot, what kind of life is that? One political party is advocating an increased minimum wage, free public college, and cheaper day care. While the other fiercely fights that. One party gives tax breaks to the very rich, while poor and middle income folks pay more. More taxes from the rich could pay for benefits that would help the poor and middle class, but that's not happening yet. In Europe, people get much more paid vacation and maternity leave from the start. In the USA, it is sadly little or even far too often non-existent. I can say, as a person with a significant mental health issue, that no/little time off can be counterproductive to mental and physical wellness, as is the stress in wondering if a relapse might make paying bills at risk.

You are justifiably grateful that your insurance has paid most of the bills for your medical procedures, but what about some poor soul who has no insurance? Or those whose insurance barely pays for life-threatening illnesses?

As an American with a disability, it is clear to me that many of 50% of the US population would be happy if I just up and died. Many of them even claim to be religious. Many feel the same about other groups of people. Ohhh, the lack of humanity! In Nazi Germany, they flat out exterminated people they regarded as "undesirables". Sadly, fascism is again on the rise around the world. It's dangerous!
I didn’t mean to say that people on disability are being lazy. I do feel though for me personally that I feel lazy (not to mention bored) not currently working and I know I need to get a job as soon as I can. Yeah I know I have it good right now with my SSI and Medicare but if I’m capable of working then I feel like I should be.

That’s just how I feel about my own situation.

And I know what you mean about sucky insurances. If you go to Reddit ftm I have found plenty of people who can’t afford the surgeries I have gotten or their insurance won’t pay for them. Some have to set up go fund me pages. Some have to save for years. And some people just can’t get surgery at all. And I know it’s not just trans people either with insurance who won’t pay for things.

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