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Almost Jaded
09-26-2012, 07:07 AM
I'm sick of people who don't know what the FUCK they're talking about coming down on me for our situation or accusing me of living off of my wife. Can you even conceive of how disrespectful you're being when you tell me I must not be trying enough or I'd have a job, or telling me how you've never gone a month without a job, that I'd rather let my wife be homeless than try harder to get a job - these are all actual comments that have been directed at me by members here in threads or in chat. If you're one of them and you're reading this, FUCK YOU. For the rest of you - I'm going to rant, feel free to skip it.
1. - If you don't live in Las Vegas right now, STFU about finding a job.
Our official unemployment is almost 13%. That doesn't count the 99 weekers - people who are still out of work but whose unemployment benefits have run out. That also doesn't include people who don't qualify for unemployment - like independent contractors - which account for over 1/4 of all workers in this valley - and they've been hit even harder. Nor does it account for illegal workers and under the table, off the books workers, who are also competing for jobs right now. Factoring these things in, depending on which numbers you go by, we're sitting between 25 and 35 percent unemployment. It's dropping slowly - but it's because people are moving away, not because there are jobs popping up. There are over 100 applicants for every job, even the shitty ones. So again - if you live in say, Utah (with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the fucking nation right now), you should probably not tell me I'm not trying hard enough to find work.
2. - If you don't have a permanent disability rating, STFU.
I'm not that bad off physically. There are many, many people who are hurt way worse than I am. I know that, I don't make light of it. But let's make something clear to you holier-that-thou pieces of shit. When you are assigned a legal disability rating and receive some compensation for those injuries, there are very real limitations put on certain physical labor you can do. If you violate them, two things happen - one, if the company that paid you finds out, they can sue you for their money back. Two, if you get hurt doing something that violates your restrictions, you aren't entitled to any benefits at all - you're on your own to pay for them. In my case, I am restricted from lifting more than 20 lbs or ANY repetitive lifting, from standing more than 20 minutes, for walking more than 500 ft at a go, or from traveling by air at all or by car for more than 1 hour at a time. That eliminates a LOT of jobs. A LOT. And even if I decided to ignore them - which means subjecting myself to serious pain and further injury - the info is out there to be found. Medical records, court documents, etc. Any HR department worth a damn will know about them. More on that part below, but let's hit one more issue - I have a Rx for 750 mg of Hydrocodone 4x per day. Even if I don't take them, any employer will know that I might be under the influence of prescription painkillers at any time. Oddly, some of them have an issue with that.
3. - If you haven't ever filed a substantial workers comp injury claim, keep your bullshit to yourself.
I have been fighting with the workers comp insurance company from that accident for 2 1/2 years and counting. They denied me surgery and closed my case, which my lawyers are (rightfully) appealing. ANY basic background searching will turn this up. This means that anyone hiring me does so knowing that if even the tiniest thing happens that even MIGHT exacerbate my existing injury, they're on the hook for it. Don't believe me? After months of being turned down for jobs I should have EASILY gotten with my experience, I called a buddy of mine who is an HR director for a large company in California and asked him what I might be doing wrong. He processed me as if I'd applied for a job and called me 2 hours later. I'll give you a very nearly word-for-word breakdown of what he told me:
"Dude - you're un-hireable. Not like, people won't like what they see; more like if I hired you I would be fired. You're a walking, talking, living, breathing liability and any company with even a small HR department or who outsources those things will see that with even cursory due diligence. I hope you play lotto buddy - it's going to be next to impossible for you to get hired anywhere."
Funny, seems he's right. Over 500 applications out. 6 call backs. 2 interviews. No offers.
I have little things on the side I've kept up to make a few bucks here & there; but income from those projects has been faltering as the businesses I service are also struggling. To be more specific - these things used to pull in $150-250 per week. I'm lucky if they bring in $100 a month now. This isn't something I can work at and ramp back up - the businesses I service are going under or have stopped offering these products and services, and the ones that remain have drastically reduced traffic themselves and therefor sell less of these things. I'm lucky to get what little I do at this point.
So by all means, keep up the attacks, the insults, the criticizing. After all, you can SO identify. CLEARLY I'm just a lazy asshole with no motivation who LIKES losing everything he spent the last 10 years working for and would rather live of his wife's meager income than save it all by just getting a job. CLEARLY.
Or - OR - YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT AND THE INSULTS ARE NOT ONLY UNJUSTIFIED, BUT REALLY FUCK WITH MY HEAD CONSIDERING THIS HAS LEFT ME STRESSED BEYOND BELIEF AND HORRIBLY DEPRESSED. Just a possibility. I could be wrong. If all of the above applies to you - well than, insult away. I mean, helping would be better, worthwhile suggestions wouldn't hurt, since you have overcome all of this yourself, right? Hell, to hear you tell it, it was EASY!
No? Okay then, we'll try this. Come say it to my face, bitch. See how THAT goes.
Raider
09-26-2012, 07:29 AM
^^^ Clicking the thanks button hardly seems appropriate for the thoughts of :......... I hope somehow, some way....things work out for ya. We all would hate to be in a similar situation, I am sure. All I can think of is until they walk 500 feet in your shoes....as you feel ......they should STFU
Almost Jaded
09-26-2012, 08:08 AM
Thanks Raider, I appreciate the sentiment. I didn't post that looking for sympathy though; yet another person I thought was a friend came at me with that shit in chat this morning and it was just one time too many. I come to SW to bullshit and have fun, get my mind of of stuff. Not to be insulted and talked down to by people with no clue what our actual situation is. That up there is actually a simplification and a summary; I left a lot out, M's health problems, social and family situations that prevent me from turning to certain forms of work (not missing much, but still - even more limitations don't help), and more. Anyway - it wasn't put up for people like you to read, it was put up for a few members to read on the off chance that it loosens their heads from their assholes even a little bit. Regardless - thanks again.
Naida
09-26-2012, 10:32 AM
Anyway - it wasn't put up for people like you to read, it was put up for a few members to read on the off chance that it loosens their heads from their assholes even a little bit.
I'll admit, I read the whole thing. I knew from other posts that you were having problems attaining work, but I didn't fully understand the situation of why. That's not to say I judged you for it; hell, I've been rooting for you guys when I read a post about something positive like getting calls and interviews.
This isn't meant to defend anyone, but I can see where some members (especially pinks) who don't know about your situation would assume you were freeloading off your wife. That in no way makes it okay for them to assume, I'm just saying I can understand it because I've had moocher exes like quite a few girls here. Myself, I like to give the benefit of the doubt, and posting about hunting for jobs on a site you visit for fun? That doesn't sound like any moochers I've met. From some one who was supposed to be your friend though? I'd have probably smacked a bitch if I were in your shoes.
What it all boils down to at the end of the day- you're trying. I'm positive M knows you're trying. Even after that insightful rant, a large percentage of the people on this website do NOT know you and you're situation. Until they can put your shoes on and can magically experience the shit you have... fuck'em. Keep on keeping on, dude.
Kellydancer
09-26-2012, 11:04 AM
Thanks Raider, I appreciate the sentiment. I didn't post that looking for sympathy though; yet another person I thought was a friend came at me with that shit in chat this morning and it was just one time too many. I come to SW to bullshit and have fun, get my mind of of stuff. Not to be insulted and talked down to by people with no clue what our actual situation is. That up there is actually a simplification and a summary; I left a lot out, M's health problems, social and family situations that prevent me from turning to certain forms of work (not missing much, but still - even more limitations don't help), and more. Anyway - it wasn't put up for people like you to read, it was put up for a few members to read on the off chance that it loosens their heads from their assholes even a little bit. Regardless - thanks again.
I don't know this particular situation but was taught an important lesson recently and that was to not trust anyone here with anything. I'm not going to rehash what happened but it made me realize that there are people with nothing more than an agenda to hurt others personally. I made the mistake a few years ago of revealing that at the time I was struggling and some people still bring it up, though things are different now. It doesn't matter to me what they think of me because I have other things I am working on, such as several job interviews next week for teaching jobs along with my other activities and my potential boyfriend (who incidentally fit everything I desired as a boyfriend and more). I work for myself now as well, have you considered something like that?
Btw, I think some are very delusional when it comes to the economy. I know many people struggling and unable to find jobs, including several professionals. I've had to switch my field several times in the last 5 years because there aren't a lot of jobs anywhere and mine. A friend of mine who is still a dancer has told me the clubs are extremely slow too. Some areas, like Las Vegas Nevada have been especially hit with the economy.
Naida
09-26-2012, 11:16 AM
I don't know this particular situation but was taught an important lesson recently and that was to not trust anyone here with anything. I'm not going to rehash what happened but it made me realize that there are people with nothing more than an agenda to hurt others personally.
This is true of basically every area of life, not just this website.
bpink
09-26-2012, 11:51 AM
Uggghhh!! was looking for a very pretty teapot set to set out in my reading room so i googled elegant teapot images. ALL that showed up was freakn elephant teapots...im like wth?? is this supposed to be the new classy, expensive look?!! Then realized..I must've typed eleghant and google replaced it as elephant teapots. BLONDE MOMENT!!
MyButter
09-26-2012, 12:43 PM
*sighs* since when do clubs only do online applications? What the hell happened to actually going in or having a specific day for auditions =/
I guess this is a sign that i should just give up already.
Djoser
09-26-2012, 01:27 PM
Whoa girl not so fast. You'd get hired instantly at my club, from that picture I saw. What kind of clubs are you trying for? They think they are the best in Baltimore, I assume--if they are making you go through all that. But then maybe you don't want to work there anyway.
Most clubs in the USA are not going to hesitate to hire you, so stop hesitating to go out there and get in a club.
Djoser
09-26-2012, 01:27 PM
Whoa girl not so fast. You'd get hired instantly at my club, from that picture I saw. What kind of clubs are you trying for? They think they are the best in Baltimore, I assume--if they are making you go through all that. But then maybe you don't want to work there anyway.
Most clubs in the USA are not going to hesitate to hire you, so stop hesitating to go out there and get in a club.
rickdugan
09-26-2012, 01:33 PM
Whoa girl not so fast. You'd get hired instantly at my club, from that picture I saw. What kind of clubs are you trying for? They think they are the best in Baltimore, I assume--if they are making you go through all that. But then maybe you don't want to work there anyway.
Most clubs in the USA are not going to hesitate to hire you, so stop hesitating to go out there and get in a club.
Exactly. DJ, you beat me to those comments by a nanosecond.
MyButter, I saw your pics as well and I am equally confused. I club all over the country, including in Baltimore, and I cannot fathom you not being hired almost anywhere.
richdummy
09-26-2012, 01:43 PM
Can't decide if I want to go out tonight or tomorrow night. I'm guessing there will be more dancers on Thursday so I'll wait a day...
Almost Jaded
09-26-2012, 01:47 PM
Many clubs are going to actual applications now because of the flood of girls looking to dancing when they can't find other work. It's more of a delay tactic than anything; many won't bother so that weeds out a bunch right away and they can go from there. This was explained to me by a GM of a large club BTW; not making it up, lol.
Just be glad you're not looking for "honest" work. I've seen corporate types who were making $150k+ per year filling out applications for $10 an hour part-time positions. Our regular bar put up an ad for a graveyard bartender and got 450 applications in 4 days. They advertised for a waitress and got over 200 in less than 2 days. Not all places are as bad as here, but it's worse than ever everywhere.
Some other fun examples from Las vegas - A major online company in town has implemented a hiring freeze because they have received so many applications that the training classes are full 8 months out. In other words, if you get hired, your start date is 6-8 months away. No joke.
Another side effect of this is that you end up competing with insanely over-qualified people for bullshit jobs. A close friend of mine applied to manage a corner drugstore recently; the guy who beat him out and got the job had been looking for over a year - since being laid of as a REGIONAL MANAGER for another very well known MAJOR retail chain. The new position paid $48k/year; the one he lost paid $275k. My friend was sitting next to him in the interview room and they were trading stories, in case you're wondering how we know so much about the guy. He's trying to sell a $2.4M dollar (current market value) house for $989k (what he owes) right now just to get out from under it. Assuming he still is anyway, this was a while ago.
I dunno, it's really depressing. there are 11 houses on my middle-class street. 4 have already foreclosed. 2 more are well on the way (mine is one of them). Which means in the next 6 months or so, my street will have seen over 50% of the homes on it foreclosed on. And my street is not some glaring exception; it's like that through most of the valley right now.
Anyone see a light at the end of this tunnel? I haven't been able to for quite some time now. :(
Djoser
09-26-2012, 01:55 PM
Wow I hate to see Vegas hit so hard, it was a boomtown for so long--through a couple nasty periods in the real estate business that I remember all too well. Seems like it's everywhere now though. I've been out of the real estate related work for a while though. Is there anywhere in the USA that's doing well now?
Kellydancer
09-26-2012, 01:58 PM
Illinois definitely is struggling. I know several business owners who were hiring and they got hundreds of responses. I knew people with Ph.Ds getting jobs at stores and even saw a Taco Bell requiring managers to have MBAs.
Almost Jaded
09-26-2012, 02:03 PM
Some areas have official unemployment under 4% and actual under 10%, but not many. By the numbers, the Pacific NW is doing better than most, Utah is doing exceptionally well, and some outlying areas are actually booming, if you can work in an oil field or in a mine. But even the places I listed as doing "well" have unemployment double or more what it was 5-6 years ago. As for real estate - well, it's fucked everywhere but I don't think anywhere worse than Vegas. I could be wrong, but I doubt it - we saw real estate here go up over 300% on average between 1999 and 2006. We are now almost back to 1999 prices. Do that math - many homes here are down SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT or more. I bought post-crash - closed in March 2010 - and my house has dropped over 25% since then.
mediocrity
09-26-2012, 02:43 PM
I'm in Colorado, and WOW. I'm already in love.
There might be money in Seattle, but I'm not dancing anyway so I'll take the sun plz.
michele11
09-26-2012, 03:01 PM
Some areas have official unemployment under 4% and actual under 10%, but not many. By the numbers, the Pacific NW is doing better than most, Utah is doing exceptionally well, and some outlying areas are actually booming, if you can work in an oil field or in a mine. But even the places I listed as doing "well" have unemployment double or more what it was 5-6 years ago. As for real estate - well, it's fucked everywhere but I don't think anywhere worse than Vegas. I could be wrong, but I doubt it - we saw real estate here go up over 300% on average between 1999 and 2006. We are now almost back to 1999 prices. Do that math - many homes here are down SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT or more. I bought post-crash - closed in March 2010 - and my house has dropped over 25% since then.
Florida , arizona, vegas got hit the worst. We have 1 in 4 houses in foreclosure and it's taking banks 3 years to take over and sell so it's pushing home values down even further. It sucks because I'd sell my houses which I luckily have good equity in but I'm not taking going rates. Have you tried to apply for social security?
Kisca
09-26-2012, 04:54 PM
If you think USA is doing badly, then be glad you arent in Greece.
MyButter
09-26-2012, 05:10 PM
Whoa girl not so fast. You'd get hired instantly at my club, from that picture I saw. What kind of clubs are you trying for? They think they are the best in Baltimore, I assume--if they are making you go through all that. But then maybe you don't want to work there anyway.
Most clubs in the USA are not going to hesitate to hire you, so stop hesitating to go out there and get in a club.
Thankyou, I seriously appreciate it :) These are dives to lower mid-tier clubs. It's not like I'm shooting for the stars or anything so I guess that is why I'm so frustrated.
ArmySGT.
09-26-2012, 05:10 PM
Just got back from Medford, OR. So my truck was in the parking lot at the Denver airport. Now this is so, so, so completely random.
Someone borrowed the plastic one gallon gas can that was in the bed and brought it back.
papillonluvr
09-26-2012, 05:14 PM
Wyoming and the Dakotas r ok. If u can get into and handle oil drilling. They even need paper pushers/hr/secretaries, not just field workers. At least this is what customers told me.
ArmySGT.
09-26-2012, 05:43 PM
Lol. Was there a note or something?
It was removed from under the tool box and there was paper towels stuffed into the handle. Maybe they spilled some gas?
If you think USA is doing badly, then be glad you arent in Greece.
If you think Greece is doing badly then be glad it's not Somalia :)
ArmySGT.
09-26-2012, 06:33 PM
If you think Greece is doing badly then be glad it's not Somalia :)
And if you think Somalia sucks, have you been to Bangaldesh? Atleast Somalia has piracy to fall back on.
Dirty Ernie
09-26-2012, 07:17 PM
If you think Greece is doing badly then be glad it's not Somalia :)
Don't bad mouth Somalia, it's a Libertarian's dream, no government interference of free markets, 2nd amendment rights respected and quite likely, the necessity to exercise those rights on a daily basis. ;D
All Good Things
09-26-2012, 08:39 PM
There might be money in Seattle, but I'm not dancing anyway so I'll take the sun plz.
How can you possibly survive without Seattle? You'd have to leave behind all the sad white people in bands, coffee-related smugness, suicide bridges and owls.
sammii
09-26-2012, 10:38 PM
I'm in Colorado, and WOW. I'm already in love.
There might be money in Seattle, but I'm not dancing anyway so I'll take the sun plz.
Funny, I'm from Colorado and I always told my family I would end up in Seattle or Portland (hasn't happened yet) ... I just got tired of Colorado, but a lot of people like it.
sammii
09-26-2012, 10:42 PM
How can you possibly survive without Seattle? You'd have to leave behind all the sad white people in bands, coffee-related smugness, suicide bridges and owls.
I've been told Seattle's being taken over by hipsters, ugh.
Almost Jaded
09-26-2012, 11:19 PM
Taken over by? Seattle INVENTED hipsters, lol!
mediocrity
09-26-2012, 11:34 PM
Funny, I'm from Colorado and I always told my family I would end up in Seattle or Portland (hasn't happened yet) ... I just got tired of Colorado, but a lot of people like it.
If you're dancing, you can make GREAT money there during season (April to Oct). If you're not, stay the hell away. Unless you like hipsters, shitty weather, greasy hair, being antisocial, gloating over how much more "green" you are than everyone else, bitching about how the "transplants" have "ruined" Seattle, drinking over priced gross microbrews and discussing how local music has sold out. Then Seattle is for you.
I've been telling people here it's like living in a dark, wet coffin.
Jessie_tinydancer
09-27-2012, 12:10 AM
Note to self... Fake boobies float. Fake boobies float out of your bikini when you do laps. :-/ I just gave my entire lane a free show for 700m cause I couldn't be bothered going home when I made all the effort to get there. Death stares from 13 year old girls :D
countedcrow
09-27-2012, 01:56 AM
Note to self... Fake boobies float. Fake boobies float out of your bikini when you do laps. :-/ I just gave my entire lane a free show for 700m cause I couldn't be bothered going home when I made all the effort to get there. Death stares from 13 year old girls :D
I think I'll take up swimming in Australia as a hobby;D
Davey17
09-27-2012, 02:31 AM
Let’s see if I can do this briefly and without going totally insane with numbers.
The federal tax system in the U.S. is relatively progressive on the shared belief that the poor or relatively poor have better uses for their money like feeding their families and keeping something resembling a roof over their heads.
The strongest objection to the taxes paid by the 1% is not the total amount – it’s actually enormous – but that it’s much closer to 15% (the cap gains rate) of the 1%’s income rather than the 30%+ average marginal tax rates (including FICA) on payroll income paid by people who work for a living.
So the rich pay much less as a percentage of their passive income compared to the percentage that middle-class people pay on their wages.
It’s at this point that all the fistfights break out.
The rich should pay more in taxes, of course, and give more to charity too, which is why rich people with some sense of perspective, honor and civic responsibility like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have pledged to give away most of their billions during their lifetime.
Bill Gates has already saved more lives in the developing world – mostly the lives of infants and young children – than every international organization in the world except for the U.N.
The insufferable pricks who cling to every dollar are also the soulless douchebags who think that they all “earned it” and that it’s just their “hard work” that made them successful. Let’s see how well they’d do if they were born female and desperately poor in some Rajshahi shack in Bangladesh without a shred of hope of ever getting out of that situation.
Its a Really good Answer may I say .. Your system is a bit different to that in Australia , which is more of a ( in perecentage terms ) Social situation , particularly with the Labour government in Power . USA has far great wealth of individuals particularly in the Top end , and thats understandable when you consider the TOTAL population of Aus is about that of One of your States .
I am jealous of the way you treat those who are Wealthy ..For my belief is you must allow for all the Wealth these individuals Create . Im also in complete support of the Gates Foundation and Warren Buffett ... Think its great the way they have said that basically they " Will give it all away " .. I think ( at 82 ) it would be nice to see Rupert Murdoch commit to the same ..Why would he want to personally continue ? he could easily hand the business over .
I dont want to get into a Debate as to how much the Rich should pay ..Or who actually is Rich ..etc ect ... But just wanted to say , good Susinct Answer to a question that could really go on forever . Thanks .
Davey17
09-27-2012, 02:35 AM
If you think USA is doing badly, then be glad you arent in Greece.
Thats true ..But doesn't make it easier . Greece , really know have to Face the music and its NOT going to be pretty . Bottom line , everyone must live within their Means .
You can count on one thing however , if your official unemployment is around 8.5% ... Then it would certainly be ( In real terms ) Double that at least .
kellyallstar
09-27-2012, 05:44 AM
Im in New Zealand beitches. away from shit hole SEattle. Away from the damn drama. Away from the fake. Into the food that is oh so delicious, friends who are real, its raining but im snuggled in a big warm bed with a smile :) back to becoming me. Nite x
smeca
09-27-2012, 10:10 AM
Wooo visiting the bf tomorrow after work! Not sure if i'm more excited to see him or get to our table at a german pub to gorge on schnitzel :D
ArmySGT.
09-27-2012, 11:15 AM
Mmmmmmmmm Jager Schnitzel. I will have to check the wallet for funds. There is the Edelweiss restaurant near nearby.
Naida
09-27-2012, 12:30 PM
And if you think Somalia sucks, have you been to Bangaldesh? Atleast Somalia has piracy to fall back on.
Actually, a group of Somali pirates did a recent interview (mind you, it was primarily fake names and head coverings to maintain anonymity) and even piracy has gone dry. They've been spending their days playing cards and living off what meager spoils they can still find. Most of them have gone into hiding, not from law enforcement but from creditors.
Simply put, everything worth attacking that goes through the area now is too heavily guarded to attack. Anything that is open to attack is taking too long to pay out much smaller ransoms.
http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2012/09/25/party-over-for-somali-pirates-attacks-way-down
The official years of the Great Depression were 1929-1939/41, but the country (and large portions of the world) were in a "recession state" for almost a couple of decades before that, starting around 1910. The GD and our current Great Recession had very similar starts and are basically the same things.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2011/11/08/how-does-the-current-economic-recession-compare-to-the-great-depression/
Unfortunately, this is compounded by "recession panic", in which everyone is clinging to every dollar instead of spending. Keep in mind what brought us out of the GD- WW2. When WW2 went fully global by dragging the Western Hemisphere in (which I believe was setup to happen, given certain facts about the attack on Pearl Harbor- full information should be public record soon, which will confirm or deny my suspicions), we had no choice but to spend. We hired more women into traditionally male jobs while men were shipped off to war, the much more glamorized implementation of Income Tax with ads on radio and B/W TV saying "aid your country with your contribution at tax time", etc.
My theoretical way of helping the GR- If jobs increased hiring at lower wages, instead of firing and reducing hire-ons for the same wages, more people would be bringing in a paycheck that could be spent. If we stopped "advertising" the GR with all these Doom's Day news reports, people will be in less panic and think "oh, now it's okay to buy that toy instead of socking everything away". Spending would resume, albeit slowly at first, and businesses will have the opportunity to hire more/increase wages. Glamorize multi-family homes and smaller living units overall instead of creating a "bigger, better" housing boom like before (this has already caught on with the environmentalist groups, but I've personally witnessed the way current "bigger, better" housing laws can prevent it), and population control. By population control, I don't mean like China's one-child laws; I mean similar to the way Japan promotes having only one or two children. Giving green energy sectors a chance to expand further, instead of these recent solar panel tariffs, and providing green education for current energy workers would increase jobs in the immediate future and help to sustain jobs in the long run. Today's modern gadgetry makes life easier, sure. But going back to the old way of doing most things (like Ma&Pa stores instead of WallyWorld, smaller housing, multi-family/generational homes, making food supply more local with shipping capabilities instead of industrialized, etc) would, I think, help a lot!
bpink
09-27-2012, 01:50 PM
I'm terribly addicted to anything paranormal. I watch all the ghost shows on tv...Like Ghost Adventures, My Ghost Story, The Haunted, A Haunting (yes they are different) lol, Paranormal State and Celebrity Ghost Stories. Then of course have nightmares when I go to sleep!! BUT I CAN'T STOP!! Then for Halloween, I'm going to a Prison somewhere in PA that was on Ghost Adventures!! Never seen an actual ghost tho. Jeez......
bpink
09-27-2012, 02:31 PM
Holy OMG!! I couldn't agree more with this!!!!!! At least if they are gonna do it..can't they do it off cam?? I hate seeing it. I have felt for a long time that im like the ONLY CAMGIRL that doesn't smoke!! lol Glad to know im not the only one who thinks this!!
Almost Jaded
09-27-2012, 03:50 PM
Naida - I like that you're thinking about it - more people should - but I disagree with a lot of your positions. "recession panic" is real, and is an issue - but pretending that almost a fifth of the nation isn't employed won't change that fact. Regarding your points about hiring more people at lower wages being better than fewer jobs at "normal" wages - I don't think you realize that many, MANY of the people who have been able to return to work are already at substantially reduced wages. I don't know w single person who was put out of work and returned to work making the same or more. Not one.
The green movement is already about money, that's all it ever was. Using climate change - something that happens regardless of what humans do - as a catalyst to dump money into industries that the people propagating the myth had massive investments in. Is it good that we're going green? Absolutely. No problem there. Is the green movement going to help end the "recession" (it's a depression, we'll get to that)? NO. Because the "green industries" run the same way the old ones did - maximizing efficiency to pay dividends to the wealthy investors. What we need is for tariffs to be put in place on imported goods manufactured by cheap labor to deincentivise offshore labor. We need to start penalizing corporations with taxes when they use offshore labor. Net result - cost of goods rises a bit, stockholders don't make as much - but more middle and low income jobs return home, net gain for the economy. You might end up buying a 40" plasma instead of a 50", and you might end up holding onto your current iPhone an extra year - but overall the economy will do better.
Now about that recession/depression. The current measures of unemployment didn't exist back then. The numbers then were raw figures gleaned from actual interviews and counts and surveys. Now it's based on people collecting unemployment benefits - which didn't exist during the great depression. The ACTUAL figures right now are FAR worse than they were in the '30's. You say the media should limit the reporting and soften the news - darling, THEY ARE. A LOT. Credit is more freely available nowadays; that has softened the blow. SOcial programs like unemployment and other forms of welfare exist now that didn't back then, this has softened the blow. When the incorrect numbers combined with the social programs and credit are factored in, this "great recession" makes the "great depression" look mild in comparison. It's far, FAR worse than most people even begin to know.
If things don't change a lot - painful, lasting changes - this is going to go very badly across the world. If it goes much further, the result will be chaos followed by revolution by violence; history always repeats itself, this time won't be any different aside from being on a much more massive scale. Globalized economics and communications have changed everything and they will change how these events play out; but they will not change the fact that they WILL play out if we don't alter our course. Those in power will do what those with money and power always do, and the oppressed will do what the oppressed always get around to doing eventually. It's going to be a bumpy ride any way you cut it.
There's a reason I keep recommending these books I just read to everyone; Daemon addresses the global situation as it is better than any other fiction book I've ever seen, and addresses the series of events up to and through a massive societal shift in a fictional - yet very believable - way. In doing so the author also lays out ideas for how society could better work through these changes, and work of fiction or not, they're interesting ones.
Djoser
09-27-2012, 03:54 PM
I could care less if they smoke a little weed--just so they don't act like idiots after doing it and they look good. Not that I am on webcam sites much anyway. I used to check out MFC but got sick of it rapidly--but will still say hi to a couple friends there now and then. So maybe this is a worse problem than I am aware of.
Much much worse are the ones who try doing camshows after drinking. I have a very hot friend who does that sometimes and it is sad. Not as sad as seeing all the fat girls and old women on some of those sites, though...jesus...
Djoser
09-27-2012, 04:01 PM
If things don't change a lot - painful, lasting changes - this is going to go very badly across the world. If it goes much further, the result will be chaos followed by revolution by violence; history always repeats itself, this time won't be any different aside from being on a much more massive scale. Globalized economics and communications have changed everything and they will change how these events play out; but they will not change the fact that they WILL play out if we don't alter our course. Those in power will do what those with money and power always do, and the oppressed will do what the oppressed always get around to doing eventually. It's going to be a bumpy ride any way you cut it.
Yeah gotta agree with you here, but I am worried about this turning political (not that you are doing it any more than I and others have here in the ast 2 days). So far it's been non-partisan so it's cool, but we've had bad luck maintaining that in the past. :D
The increasingly rapid disappearance of the Middle Class could easily set this country up for a 2nd American Revolution. Which could set this country up for a Fascist takeover so easily. That is what really scares me about all this...
Kellydancer
09-27-2012, 04:42 PM
The whole outsourcing issue to me is the most important issue we face as a country. Abortion, gay marriage, guns etc are just wedge issues used to brainwash about this issue. The fact is as long as outsourcing keeps going (and in fact is getting worse)more and more people suffer. People lose jobs, which means less in taxes, which means less jobs like cops and teachers. It is a downward spiral and we need to stop it. I believe we need to stop giving tax breaks to companies sending jobs overseas. I want to tax these countries the more they send. Meanwhile give tax breaks to companies keeping jobs here. Also, get rid of all these visa bullshit jobs. While in SOME cases some fill jobs that very few people can do, in reality this is a small percentage. I know people who lost tech jobs to visaed workers. Not to mention a few are things like diversity visas which have nothing to even do with jobs.
rickdugan
09-27-2012, 07:18 PM
Thanks Raider, I appreciate the sentiment. I didn't post that looking for sympathy though; yet another person I thought was a friend came at me with that shit in chat this morning and it was just one time too many. I come to SW to bullshit and have fun, get my mind of of stuff. Not to be insulted and talked down to by people with no clue what our actual situation is. That up there is actually a simplification and a summary; I left a lot out, M's health problems, social and family situations that prevent me from turning to certain forms of work (not missing much, but still - even more limitations don't help), and more. Anyway - it wasn't put up for people like you to read, it was put up for a few members to read on the off chance that it loosens their heads from their assholes even a little bit. Regardless - thanks again.
AJ, I know you and I don't agree on a number of things and we have had our differences, sometimes heated. But I am not unsympathetic to your situation and I really hope that you don't take what I am about to say as an attack, which it is not.
IMHO you need to get out of the mindset of focusing on all the reasons that you CAN'T make things better and figure out a way that you CAN do something to improve your circumstances. I know you have physical limitations and, yes, the unemployment numbers are high right now. But there are people who take care of business while facing greater challenges than you and the unemployment figures are both fluid, meaning that the same people are not necessarily in that number month after month, and filled with people with far less skills than you have.
IMHO you need to shed all this over-emotional shit and get a little hardcore. You can either curl up in a corner and whimper while everything is taken away from you or you can can do something to make things better. If you cannot easily find work as an employee, then you must have some skills that you can employ as an IC. After all, you've already been selling your services to someone. What can you sell? How can you change your focus to shift your skills into something that could be profitable? Who's throat do you need to cut (figuratively speaking of course) in order to shift your skills to a new space? Undersell or do whatever you have to in order to get it done. What other ways can you make money, even if they are unpleasant to your family members or other relations?
Anyway, just my :twocents:
All Good Things
09-27-2012, 09:02 PM
^ “Nothing can make you more humble than pain.”
Words of wisdom from a man who thought he had the world by the tail (literally) and then found out it still had a few nasty surprises awaiting him.
See if you can guess who said that before you Google it. He’s lived in a wheelchair for most of his life.
In A.J.'s case, I’m not about to even guess what it’s like to have my spine run through a meat grinder while the city around me promptly collapses and my livelihood vanishes with it, only to discover the accident made me an unhirable liability nightmare from hell.
No excuses for A.J. here, as I actually agree with much of your post, Rick. But just a tiny bit of perspective can be instructive. Just speaking for myself, I sometimes catch myself thinking his swinging-from-the-chandeliers stories may have inured me to the reality of his current situation.
A.J, FWIW, your ticket out probably looks something like this (and please feel free to totally ignore me):
1. Getting the hell out of Vegas. It’s a psychological snake pit of monstrous pain with no escape. The longer you stay there, the more desperately awful the world will continue to look to you.
2. There are whole swaths of the U.S. that are in massively better shape. That includes all of Texas, especially Dallas, Houston and Austin, as well as Charlotte, Denver, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland. The upper Midwest is also very strong, especially parts of Iowa, Wisconsin and Minneapolis. (I would not advise you to move from Vegas to Minneapolis without Hunter S. Thompson riding shotgun with you.)
Then there is the Washington, D.C. area. Did you know that the unemployment in Northern Virginia right outside D.C. is about 3%? In Alexandria, the labor pool is completely tapped out and businesses can’t find people for professional office jobs. All the cars are new, the housing market never really collapsed and nobody dare talk about the fact that there is no economic pain in the Washington D.C. area in this political season.
3. I agree with Rick that you are going to have to turn yourself into a business, either as a freelancer or incorporate yourself as an LLC. Nobody will hire you because of your massive liability profile and you can’t do anything physical, anyway. You will need to earn your living using your mind, wits, talents, grit and determination. I will not presume to tell you what to do, as I’m sure you know better than any of us.
Almost Jaded
09-27-2012, 10:14 PM
Thanks guys. Rick, you've pissed me off a few times and yes, you've made comments the like of which I was reacting to. I have always respected your input around here, and still do. Thanks for taking that post for what it was, and offering constructive feedback. The "swinging from the chandeliers" posts are long gone, lol. Since I dumped GF1 in January, we've laid fairly low. Since my savings ran out in April, even more so. But fun stories and good times are more fun to post about than the incessant whining that it would be easy to fall into! I do too much of that as it is.
Thank you AGT also. We've argued plenty, but you've never attacked me the way some others have (way worse than Rick ever did), and I appreciate your input as well.
We are looking at leaving Vegas. There are several options, Utah is high on the list because we'd both like to go back to school and it would be relatively easy to do there, I have a LOT of family and friends there, and the economy is comparatively good. I also have a lot of family/friends in northern Virginia and Maryland, D.C. area. That's actually where I grew up. The cost of living is really high and I dislike the crowding and the humidity. Still, it's a possibility. The big thing is whether or not I could find work.
Working for myself hasn't gone anywhere yet; I haven't been able to find capital to get any of my projects going and many of my personal skills I'm having a hard time translating into income. I've not been idle; I've tried a few different things. So far not to much avail - most of my skill set revolves around sales and people are laying off sales forces, not hiring or outsourcing. I had a good gig toward the end of 2010 as an IC outside rep for a medical billing and collections group. I was very optimistic - until I got ripped off on a huge commission (lets just say that the residuals on that ONE SALE we would still be getting by on) and in the course of trying to get it back learned that the company was owned by a husband/wife, the sales director was the wife's sister, and the guy over me who stole my huge deal was that ladies son. For some reason, my claim that he robbed me never went anywhere. I quit, and the information I spread to others caused 3 of their top reps to leave at the same time, lol. Turns out I wasn't the only one getting scammed out of my good sales.
Anyway, I AM trying. Also trying to get one or three of my books finished; Amazon pays very good royalties (70%) to independent e-book authors. So far it's a very slow process, lol. That and the book I referenced earlier is amazingly good and frankly did a lot of what I was going to do, and now I'm worried that I'll be the copycat, LMAO!!
As for the economy thing - DJ, Kelly - I for one am not going to make it a partisan thing DJ; I don't know WHAT to do this election. I have no faith in Obama, and I'm convinced he's outright owned by certain interests. I think Romney is still a somewhat independent entity; but I don't think he has the vision necessary to get us out of this. Regardless, congress is in various pockets, so the president only matters so much.
Kelly - you are dead on. All the "issues" we're so used to hearing about, from women's rights to gay rights to abortion to Israel and so on, are distractions. If you look at the last several presidencies and what has gone on with international trade agreements and other large-scale issues that nobody in America pays any attention to, which party is in office doesn't mean shit. They've all been following the same agenda on the whole. It is bad enough that I get closer and closer to the tin-hat types with each passing day; it's getting harder and harder to believe that there hasn't been intentional misleading of the public in media and beyond; even into our education system. The hole system seems set up to make us obedient, dependent sheep, and the more you look around the more obvious it is. Then pit us against each other on "issues" while you take away our real rights and sell off our economy to global finance houses and the like - we're too busy starting bar fights about gay marriage to be bothered with protesting the fake 2-party system and take our government back. It's working beautifully. :(
mediocrity
09-27-2012, 11:05 PM
It really annoys the shit out of me when OUT OF NOWHERE people flip a 180 and you're sitting there going: "Is this an act? Is HAS to be."
The current person that is baffling me has turned into a regular ol' Jesus freak... six months ago he was a flamboyant, spiritual-but-not-religious, vocal drag queen. Now all of the sudden he's "straight" and posting Bible quotes every day??
What the hell?!
sammii
09-28-2012, 01:11 AM
I was at Starbucks today and I held the door open for a fatass (I never hold the door open for people, now I remember why) and he just goes through (without a Thank You) and doesn't even take the door from me. Just waltzes right through while I'm holding it open like a dumbass. Sorry that you're ugly and huge, but no need to be rude to me.
People in this city suck. They just care about themselves.
I just don't like people who smoke weed. TO ME - it's a disgusting habit and it really grosses me out.
Which is the only reason it's so annoying to me.
Other drugs, alcohol don't bother me so much. It's mostly just that.
I don't smoke but I love the smell of weed. Cigarettes gross me out, though.