So after you get a job you're not poor, right?

[undeterred]

I've been at work a month now and I'm eligible for benefits. I'm single, and my choices for healthcare benefits are either $95, $37, or $22 a week. The employer evidently pays nothing and the lower two plans practically cover nothing. The decent plan basically amounts to a $5000 deduction. So, the agency basically lied to me when they said "we offer health insurance after 30 days". I can sign up for insurance plans that are better and cheaper than this one on the internet.

And now that I have a job, everyone that I owe money to expects it back right away. Behind on rent, car payments, threatened with having the phone and power shut off, need new tires and the brakes fixed.

The employer said that they offer overtime, but in reality, they don't. If you don't get the work done in eight hours you have to stay and get it done, but you don't get paid anything more for it, because its your own fault. Overtime has to be pre-approved, and the dirty little secret is that they never pre-approve it. The corporation saves money by outsourcing the IT department- they save money by having contractors like me buy health insurance out of my own pocket and make less money.

I really did stop looking for a job when I got this one. Now I realize I just am not going to be making enough money except to scrape by and I won't be able to get out of debt. Its going to be very hard to look for a job because I can't do anything during the day. So, I am grateful to have a job but I have to keep looking.

[kdmorris]

1. Unfortunately, no

There are millions of working poor and it shouldn't happen in this country. I was on welfare for 4 years and finally got a job in 1996. I was then making $22,000 a year. Well, it was certainly a step up, I thought! But, it wasn't. Because as soon as you get a job, you are no longer eligible for AFDC or child care help or any other kind of assistance except for Food Stamps. And those were greatly reduced. So, no more Medicaid for me, and I couldn't afford the health care they offered at my job. And suddenly, I'm paying $90 a week per child for child care (X 3) and I only get half of my Food Stamps. My children were allowed to stay on Medicaid for a year after I got the job, but I was cut off that month. And to add to that fun, my Section 8 certificate was based on my income, so the same month I got a job, my rent went up.

It was hard. Everyone thinks it's a victory when you get off of Welfare, and in some ways, it is. I felt a sense of accomplishment, but I still couldn't pay my sudden $500 a month rent and pay for gas and get new clothes to work in and pay over $200 a week for child care. I kept looking and suffering. It wasn't until 1998 that I found a job that paid us enough to live on. And even after I found that job (paid me $45,000 in 1998), it took years to get back out of the hole.

I assume you are in IT, as well. The job market is just dismal (I am in IT as well) for us these days. I feel for you, and hope that you find something that will get you out of the hole soon. Until then... :hug:

Been there, done that. I feel your pain.

[undeterred]

6. Yikes

Now I feel bad for whining. But I'll whine some more since you're in IT. I am doing desktop support. Never have I worked in a place where I couldn't connect to other computers using alteris, netOp, pcAnywhere, remote desktop, etc. Well they have Tivoli but after a month I still don't have an account. That means I have to walk to every single deskside, even if its for a simple software install. I work in a huge building and there are 4 other buildings besides. Thats the real reason I can't get the work done in 8 hours- I am spending more time walking all over the place. It isn't the company's fault, and it isn't my agency's fault, its the contractor in between who is holding things up. Its really irritating.

I live in Wisconsin and we really have progressive state legislators here who want to bring universal health care at the state level. I don't know how it will all pan out. The Repubs oppose it and our Governor is a bit of a triangulator. But they've done great things for seniors. Right now I am just going to concentrate on getting the presciptions I need and forget about overall coverage... just keep looking for a job.

Its hard to give up the ideas we were raised with... that salary is progressively going to increase, that we're going to have a house... I just don't want to be homeless. In some of these job situations where I know the employees have great insurance and they are always being asked to give feedback on how well IT performs I almost feel like one of the house slaves.

[kdmorris]

11. I didn't think you were whining

I was sharing my story to say I understood. I didn't mean to make it sound like I had it worse off than you. I'm doing a lot better than you now, so pour your heart out!

Our desktop support guy (yeah, guy.. one poor soul that didn't get laid off), Chuck, would quit without the ability to remote to people's computers. We have 4 floors now. We used to have two buildings, but they sold off part of our company and the building with it. I almost always feel like a slave. After all the layoffs and attrition, I'm glad I have a job. But I'm salaried and sometimes end up working 50-60 hours a week to finish all the stuff they ask me to do. I have a good boss, though that gives me comp time, which is against company rules, but he doesn't care.

I get paid well for being a Software Engineer ($79,000 a year), and we do OK, especially since our two oldest daughters have moved out and we only have the 15 year old now. But I live in fear of losing my job, so I do anything they want me to. Fly to Chicago for a week? Sure thing, boss. I'm good at what I do, but some days, it doesn't feel worth it.

We were able to buy a house in 2001, and made smart choices even though the bank and the Realtors really try to get you to overspend and overextend yourself. We bought a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, well built house on .17 acres of land for $124,000 at a fixed interest rate of 5.65%. The bank kept telling us we could go up to $200,000 (with an adjustable rate of 2.15% or something ridiculous like that), but there was no way we wanted to back ourselves in a corner like that. Our house is kind of small for a 4 bedroom, but now that it's just my husband and I and our teenage daughter, plus 2 dogs, a cat, a rabbit and a guinea pig, it's big enough.

But it's WAY more worth it than going through what I went through before. I'll work 70 hours a week if it keeps me from going back to having to living on welfare or being poor in this country.

[undeterred]

13. I'm sort of stuck on the desktop side

and sometimes its hard being the only female. I'd like to go into networking but I seem to be just out of reach of it - a little experience here, a little there- and I don't want to take a job I'm not ready for even if its offered to me. Desktop gets really boring after awhile. I hate their excuse that we are giving better support by walking to the customer instead of remoting to them. Pure baloney. They don't even have an inventory of pc names or what is on the pcs. There is so much that needs to be done, but the company does everything on the cheap.

[kdmorris]

15. That's their excuse??

What a lame crock of...

Desktop support is a pain in the ass, no matter which way it happens. You can sit there, looking at the little AIM thingie in the their toolbar and they will swear that they have no clue how it got there. I only have to do that sort of thing when one of my programs stops working because they did something funky to their computer. The new company controls that by taking away their desktop admin privileges.

I hope you find something else soon.

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. Congratulations on getting a job

and good luck surviving with it.

I've been working the same 1.75 jobs for the past 7 years and have only reached the point where I'm able to actually save @$150/month, but I know the first medical emergency is going to wipe me out again.

You might consider picking up a p/t weekend/evening job for a while, then letting go of the bad F/T and looking for better - but of course, not knowing your situation or the local employment, you would know better if that is feasible. It's never good to feel trapped.

[undeterred]

8. I did that a few years ago

and it exhausted me. If I could find something I could do from home I would. But actually I am trying to study for computer certifications which would bring me into a higher pay bracket.

The other thing is my dog. He is almost 15 and I leave him alone all day, so I hate to leave him alone any more than that. If he were gone, I wouldn't mind, but till then I don't want to leave him alone.

[bluestateguy]

3. Reply

If you don't get the work done in eight hours you have to stay and get it done, but you don't get paid anything more for it, because its your own fault.

If you are an hourly wage worker, that is illegal.

[undeterred]

10. Yeah, but they would just say I should have gone home

or asked for help or worked faster.

[truedelphi]

19. Here is what you do:

You document your staying the extra hours.

You need to mention to your supervisor every so often about your staying later. Don't mention that you are documenting.

When you quit or when you are laid off, immediately go to the State Labor Board and show them your Journal with all the entries you have made. The Board of Labor will enforce the retroactive overtime that you have coming.

Also buddy up to anyone else whose work habits resemble yours. You can be their witness to their unpaid overtime - they can be your witness.

[panader0]

4. I've been a bricklayer for 36 years and poor the whole time.

Now, with three teenage kids, the only thing that keeps me solvent is that I own my land and house (oh yeah, plus the child support I get from my ex-wife)

[undeterred]

9. Good for you.

Nice to see men getting custody once in a while.

[Yurovsky]

5. Keep looking and don't forget about government jobs!

you may not be in the right location, but if you are, gov't jobs usually provide benefits and also the opportunity to join a union (AFSCME). You can have a good quality of life and don't have to worry about selling your soul a la some big corporate slave/whore. I've done both and trust me, the government beats the Fortune 500 world hands down.

Of course, a single-payer government health care plan would ease your suffering (and many others). The struggle you and others face needs to be represented at the ballot box.

Good luck and keep your head up...

[undeterred]

7. thanks

and welcome to DU!

[kdmorris]

12. Oh, yeah!

Welcome to DU! :toast:

[NavyDavy]

14. i believe that is the repuke way of thinking, they think people

just are spending their paychecks on junk....

[mntleo2]

16. Hahahahahahahahaha, Snort!

...few people who work their butts off are going to realize the American dream nowadays. It is all a fake. I bet your emplyoer is saying you are working "salary" instead of hourly pay and this is the way they get you to work for nothing as you earn your whole salary in one shot per month. The problem here is that then they can pretend you did not get your work done "because it is your own fault" when in reality they pile it on so high only Samantha from Bewitched could accomplish what they put before you ~ and only then if with a wrinkle of her nose.

Bastards!

Cat In Seattle

[Naturyl]

17. "Welfare to work" is a scam

Sorry to tell the unpopular truth, but there it is. You trade poverty and free time for poverty and working your ass off. Doesn't sound like a good deal to me. I'll take $3 and leisure rather than $5 and 10 hour workdays.

Bring $20 to the table, so that my life will actually improve considerably in exchange for busting my ass, and we can talk. Until then, I'm not buying.

Disability aside, of course. This is hypothetical.

[Hellenic_Pagan]

18. No, then you are just "working poor".

Or at least that is true for millions of americans today.

Until workers really have rights in this country, expect the number of poor to keep growing. Soon our economy will be like a third world nation or a former soviet republick, where there is a rich ruling class, a huge gap, and then everyone else who is working poor or unemployed.