Minimum wage jobs in Alaska and self employment (movies, living)

[SityData]

Originally Posted by Marty Van Diest

Good Post Starlite. I've been self-employed most of my life. The best thing about it is that you can never be fired. The worst thing about it is that I wake up every morning UNEMPLOYED. That means that if I don't find someway to make a buck...I won't have a buck.

Your point about there being plenty of things to do is very important. I have no patience for people who complain about minimum wage jobs. There is plenty of work in our area...the only problem is that you have to work. Someone could mow lawns, and shovel driveways and make way more than minimum wage right here. I talked to someone who mows lawns for $40 a lawn, (that's a normal city lawn). He averages more than 10 a day all summer. On his good days he does 20 lawns a day. In the summer the days are LONG.

There are several people here in the valley that have made a business out of picking up dog poo. I applaud them.

EXCELLENT POST!! Most people are just too lazy - they don't know how to think and have no ambition; No determination They need - someone to tell them what to do; i.e. they have no experience in "thinking" for themselves.

Yes it is a scary feeling waking up; unemployed; knowing you have to get up - get out - and hustle to make a BUCK OR YOU WILL NOT EAT. Most people today just want it handed to them! I am entitled to higher wages.

Here's a list of famous people who dropped out of highschool

SPEND TIME: Thinking.. .. "what can I do - differently"?

Its clearly NOT ABOUT EDUCATION as you can see from this list - it is about DOING SOMETHING YOURSELF!!

[LittleJazzyP]

So. Let me ask a question.

What happens when everyone who has been admonished for laziness and lack of ambition leaves their poorly paying jobs?

Who is going to make your lunch? Who is going to babysit your kids or tend to your elderly relatives in that nursing home? The cashier at your local grocer might be eliminated by a do-it-yourself scanning station, but who is going to stock the shelves?

My point, which is still being missed, is that, with the exception of people who can retreat to some kind of insanely wealthy or remote paradise, we all need, use and depend upon the labors of others. Telling that person with a **** job to "improve" himself does not change a thing, except for that person. Someone else would still have to do the **** job, and they would still be unappreciated and poorly rewarded.

I am going to give you a case in point, a job I had once, for a blessedly brief time.

I worked, for a few months, as an attendant in a private facility for the developmentally disabled. It was very hard work, probably the hardest work I have ever done. I got hit, spit on, scratched, and had residents throw feces at me. One of my co-workers was beaten so badly by an out-of-control resident that he had to go to the ER. I was required to respect the dignity of our residents, something I fully support, but I was once written up for shaking my finger at someone who had just slapped me across the face. Where, at that point, was my dignity? Where was it when I was warned for calling in sick when it was filthy working conditions that made me ill in the first place?

It was a hard, hard job. It was also a necessary job. It paid minimum wage. Yes, I managed to find another job, but the fact remains: someone had to tend to these people. Their families either didn't want to, or, more likely, were not able to. The owners of that facility made a ****ing fortune.

I'm leaving this conversation. I am tired of beating my head against a brick wall.

All I have to say at this point is, if you don't support a living wage for everyone, do those jobs yourself.

[wildchild_to]

Originally Posted by Marty Van Diest

Hey yall...drop the bickering.

It's SPRING ! Time to smile.

Cabin fever should be over with now. Time for some to get out job hunting and see Alaska.

[LittleJazzyP]

We sure have gotten away from the topic at hand, haven't we?

There are two points here. One is that people can break out of the cycle of poverty and make their dreams come true. The other is that there will always be lowly jobs that must be done, and that the people doing them are suffering in shocking numbers.

Both are true.

Are we having this conversation to discuss the issues and explore solutions, or are we here to rip each other to pieces?

[1stimestar]

Originally Posted by SityData

EXCELLENT POST!! Most people are just too lazy...

Most people today just want it handed to them! I am entitled to higher wages....

I have no idea just what type of people YOU associate with but I seriously do not know ANYONE like this, well actually, maybe two people. Maybe all the people in your world are lazy with a feeling of entitlement since you repeatedly generalize by saying "most people". Just know that some of us do not live in your wold, therefore "most" only applies to people you know and associate with.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by 1stimestar

I have no idea just what type of people YOU associate with but I seriously do not know ANYONE like this, well actually, maybe two people. Maybe all the people in your world are lazy with a feeling of entitlement since you repeatedly generalize by saying "most people". Just know that some of us do not live in your wold, therefore "most" only applies to people you know and associate with.

Good post.

Yes. How dare any of those uppity wage slaves expect to be able to supply themselves with luxuries such as food an shelter? The sense of entitlement is amazing.

[RedJacket]

Seems to me those advocating a "start your own business and stop relying on the government/taxpayer strategy" have worked, or are working, a union job. Not only that, but the same people are, or will be, collecting more than one tax-payer funded pension.

Of course, it can be argued they earned it, but it seems they're against anyone else doing, or getting, exactly what they're getting. In other words, socialism is good for the goose but not for the gander.

[SityData]

Originally Posted by RedJacket

Seems to me those advocating a "start your own business and stop relying on the government/taxpayer strategy" have worked, or are working, a union job. Not only that, but the same people are, or will be, collecting more than one tax-payer funded pension.

Of course, it can be argued they earned it, but it seems they're against anyone else doing, or getting, exactly what they're getting. In other words, socialism is good for the goose but not for the gander.

3 of my pensions are IBEW (the money I paid into them)

SS is something else I paid into heavily for many years.

Good job Red - post incorrect facts and claim that as truth.

NO TAX payer is paying one dime in my continuing benefits that I've been receiving for 14 years since I retired @ age 50!

I simply learned at a very young age how to use the system later with my money to benefit ME!

THAT IS TOTALLY WRONG ( in your mind).

Most parents don't teach their children this simple principle!

I was TAUGHT!!

[RedJacket]

Originally Posted by SityData

3 of my pensions are IBEW (the money I paid into them)

SS is something else I paid into heavily for many years.

Good job Red - post incorrect facts and claim that as truth.

NO TAX payer is paying one dime in my continuing benefits that I've been receiving for 14 years since I retired @ age 50!

I simply learned at a very young age how to use the system later with my money to benefit ME!

THAT IS TOTALLY WRONG ( in your mind).

Most parents don't teach their children this simple principle!

I was TAUGHT!!

Afraid not, it's conservatives like yourself who want to do away with unions so others can't enjoy the same benefits you enjoy.

Try again.

[Kashta]

We're conditioned to look for jobs from others rather than to do something ourselves, and it shows. The restrictions placed on us as to who can do what don't help either...seems like everything needs a license these days to be legal. Just about anything you do that shows initiative can get you in trouble. It's hard for people to get motivated in a setting like the one we're in right now, especially after decades of a welfare state, where we're assured that we'll be taken care of if we can't find work. Why bother?

I don't think it's lazy to want to be paid an adequate sum for unpleasant work. The more unpleasant work should get better pay, just my opinion. At least a living wage. But look at our poverty rates. I find it hard to believe that THAT many people are just lazy bums who can't get creative enough to figure out how to make a living. Yeah people need to take care of themselves, but we need to be able to do so without our hands being tied, too.