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View Full Version : Help!! I'm Unemployed


Justawoman
10-15-2004, 08:16 AM
The one thing that always stuck out in my mind, as I traveled with hubby doing construction 2 years ago, is the amount of "HELP WANTED" signs I would see in businesses, mainly cafes. It was always maddening to see some bum begging under bridges and intersections with their signs," WILL WORK FOR FOOD". Especially when right down the road one of those help wanted signs was so apparent. And don't let those bums fool you. Most of them do have homes. We talked to one and he did let us know that he lived in a house but can make more money being a bum than he can actually working. The dog food can he was supposedly eating out of was really hormel stew. Granted some bums are homeless and down on their luck, but not all. According to the site, heritage.org, job growth is up. It may be slow but it is growing. Slow and steady wins the race, right?
It drives me crazy to hear folks in my own town complain about having no work when I know how many business' here alone are new or hiring. You can tell them about the new jobs but you can't make them go apply. The old horse adage..." you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink...." My neighbor lady is one of them. She is in her 60's and doesn't want a very physical job. I told her of an elderly couple that just wanted someone to come in and do lunch and be company for them. Their family does the rest for them. She was not interested in making 12 dollars an hour, for 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. I didn't get her attitude. Money is money and having none come is worse than having a little.
According to our Presidents opponent our economy is not growing. Is this why a little, podunk town like Muleshoe had 4 new businesses open this last month? Poppies Copies, Ice Cream Haven, DHL came to town, Hartline Home Remodeling. And our own Leals Mexican Restaurant is always hiring wait staff. Clovis NM is our neighbor by 30 minutes. Talk about a growing economy there. This year alone they were the lucky recipient of Lowe's, Hobby Lobby, Hastings, Chili's, The Dollar Tree, Cato's (women apparel), The Rib Crib, Leal's (this is the second mexican eatery in Clovis by Leals alone), IHOP, Starbucks coffee shop, The Upper Room ( christian bookstore), and about 3 empty shops emerging longside the Hobby Lobby in a strip mall. Are these businesses dead...no the waiting line to get into Chili's the other day was over an hour. I don't see our area having a declining economy. I see numerous jobs being offered but few people willing to work the service end of business. Could it be most Americans are expecting more than they are willing to put out?????

jamesglewisf
10-15-2004, 08:59 AM
We are kind of spoiled here in America. I'm trying to teach my daughter the value of every job.

I think that is part of the reason I make a big deal out of tipping etiquette. I know how little some people make in the service industries without tips, and I think they should be highly valued.

theyeti
10-15-2004, 11:16 AM
I wish my town was like that.

Justawoman
10-15-2004, 12:52 PM
Well yeti it could be. Muleshoe is only 4,571 people strong. But businesses open because they take a chance or see a need to be met. I have a janitorial service that I run out of my home. I also work part time for one elderly lady as her companion. People just have to be willing to want to grow and take a chance. But never give up trying to find a niche and be successful, even that success is not financially but personally.

CuriousG
10-18-2004, 09:10 AM
Sometimes when there aren't opportunities around, you have to make them yourself. I'm a person who really doesn't feel sorry for most when it comes to work and money, etc. I guess it was the family I came from and the way I have lived my life. I never had anything handed to me, got my first job when I was 12 and have been working ever since. Along the way, there were tough times and some brick walls, but you have to do what it takes and work harder to create opportunities for yourself. Nobody said life was going to be easy and everyone would work at the job they always wanted and be rich. I've had some pretty lousy jobs in my life, but you know what? Those jobs paid the bills so I got up and did them. It's hard to feel sorry for someone who doesn't work because they can't get the job they want. I remember when I first got out of college, a bunch of people I knew were still waiting tables, or working low paying jobs, or were just plain unemployed because they didn't get the job they wanted right out of school. Which is fine except for when they were complaining about money, etc. If they were happy waiting until the opportunity came along, that's one thing, but the people who only applied at one company, or passed up other opportunities because they thought they would be the head engineer on the space shuttle right out of school have no sympathy from me. I guess they're watching too much reality television.

Justawoman
10-18-2004, 11:18 AM
I agree CG. Hard work pays off in the long run.

tface
11-13-2005, 07:01 AM
Anyone interested in this subject should check out a book called Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By In America, by Barbara Ehrenreich. "Millions of Americans work full time, year-round, for poverty level wages. Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them, inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that any job equals a better life. But how can anyone survive, let alone prosper, on six to seven dollars an hour? To find out, Ehrenreich moved from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, taking the cheapest lodgings available and accepting work as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing home aide, and Wal-Mart salesperson. She soon discovered that even the "lowliest" occupations require exhausting mental and physical efforts. And one job is not enough; you need at least two if you intend to live indoors."
I know this discussion is more about the NON-working poor, but this book shows that maybe there is something wrong with America, and not so much with Americans.