I need to leave New York; should I move to Atlanta? (White: fit in, credit)
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Yes, I know exactly what you all are talking about, I just had to relocate into my inlaws home why for this very same reason, I am looking to save up some funds and get up out of here myself.
We all seem to think the grass is greener on the other side until we get to the other side.
Atlanta is not NYC, the cost of living is cheaper here but so is the salary, and it is extermely hard to make it, as a assistant in the financial industry it should take you anywhere realistic about 1 yr to 1.5 to find a decent job. Also the commute to and from work, would mainly be by Marta, if you are in the area but mostly by car if not. Now just a little background, I am from NY I have 25 years experience as an accountant, and I am going back to school for a second degree in nursing. The nursing programs is about a 1 years waiting just to get in. Atlanta has no 2 year nursing programs that are private and even after getting my degree I will be somewhere around 20 p/h where in NY even if I moved upstate where the cost of living is close to ATL comfortable, I could travel back and forth into midtown and be at 50 to 60 per hour. With my accounting background and the experience I already gathered in nursing as a Medical Asst. I have taken a 50K pay cut, my spouse has taken a 30 pay cut he is in law enforcement worked for NYPD for 16.5 years. Most employers in Atlanta do not pay overtime, so you can forget about making extra cash to make ends meet. I say all this to say DONT COME TO ATL WITHOUT A J.O.B.! I did it I had income and I lost everything I had with the exception of a few clothes on my back, my wedding band, my mom pictures (my mom past away so thoese pictures where my last pictures) everything else gone.
Atlanta is also not like NYC in the sense that if you fall behind in NY you have other resources to turn to and you will not have them here, I have seen people getting all there belongings placed out on the street because they no longer have a job because of the economy and they where 1 or 2 days late on a rent payment or 30 days late on a mortage payment. Because GA is a right to work state you do not have union protection to bargin with an employer to not fire you in a time like this were the economy is bad so even if you get a job, how do you know how long it will last?.
With all that being said I would either stay put or do my research and find a state that is not taking the recession so bad right now, and I cant tell you what your experience will be but I will say be careful now is not the time to pick a state for the likeing you have to be able to make a stable decent living. I have made arrangements to put my daughter into private school and move back in with my inlaws, to save some money while looking for work back in either North VA or NYC, once one of us find something we will be moving back north, for us ATL nor FL before the recession just did not appeal to us.
But in any case, I wish you good luck, try to keep away from the family and let them make there own choices and carve there own path in life, this is all we can do for family sometime.
Keep in Mind that Atlanta is no New York. I've been here for 3 years. I'm originally from Philadelphia but moved to Atlanta from LA and will be moving back to the west coast by this fall.
It's a very southern culture. Very Black and White. Very Religiously Conservative and it's a "Right to Fire" State where you have terrible labor laws... if a boss decides "out of the blue" that he/she wants to let you go, then he/she can do it without question. There are no real unions or labor organizations. If you're released, you have no true legal leg to stand on. It may say 2009 on the calendar, but it's still the South.
Those who do well here do their best to jump through the necessary hoops and assimilate. They join the "in" organizations and/or churches to land in the right clique.
As someone who was born up North and raised out west I was also seen as the "black sheep" (literally), the uppety Negro from "Out West" who didn't succumb to the ways of Southern tradition. Since I'm not a "go along to get along" type of person, I never will.
So, I'm headed back to California and leaving this "Plantation" behind.
That's just been my journey. Perhaps yours will be somewhat different.
Only you can and/or will know what will make you happy.
I wish you the best!
Quote:
Originally Posted by BKGirl34
I need to get away from my family who is letting my adult sister of 30 years old stay there and take advantage of my parents. We do not get along, I guess I'm the black sheep. I live on my own but I no longer think living near them will give me any peace as they refuse to change anything. This question relates to another post I posted: Removed by moderator - outside site links now allowed with no posting history. I also need to get away and try to break ties with my narcissist boyfriend (friend now).
However, this question is more about whether or not it makes sense for me to move to Atlanta. Why Atlanta? It's the only city I know better than any other in the U.S., as I have been there several times to visit, and I already have a friend there. With the economy being what it is, should I find a job before moving there in Oct (when my lease in my NY apt expires)? Realizing how spread out Atlanta is, finding a job first probably makes sense before finding housing as I could cut my commute time down. However, I have tried in the past to look for a job by sending out my resume and explaining when I would be visiting, but no one contacted me for an interview. I guess I could move down there, keep most of my stuff in storage until I find a job then move someplace closer to the job.
Another main reason for wanting to leave NY is to cut down on the commute time. Also, I'm just tired of NY, been here all my life and am tired of commuting into the city everyday. Right now, I'm not working so I have the flexibility to move. I had to quit that job because I felt burned out after working as an office assistant in various financial co. for the last 10 years. I also hate office politics and feel I would work better alone but working from home has not been profitably either as I try to blog. But that is yet another post.
Where do you live. I would assume not in the city of Atlanta where Traffic really isn't that bad. I agree if you have to commute from the burbs in everyday on the interstate it can be bad, especially the outer burbs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tsd
I hate ATL and am leaving but can't go to next place without a job. Job First for sure!
And ATL is LA of the East, it sucks and that commute (overpopulated) is one of the three reasons I am out of here!
Well yes, when you choose to work for someone else they usually have the right to get rid of you if they choose just like most of the country. If your a good worker it isn't usually a problem for most people. But if the mentality is that someone shouldn't have the right to fire you then I guess it could be hard.
California has loads of problems of their own. Nearly 12% unemployment and a broke government that can't even pay its citizens their tax refunds.
[quote=Geminiguy;9891659]it's a "Right to Fire" State where you have terrible labor laws... if a boss decides "out of the blue" that he/she wants to let you go, then he/she can do it without question. There are no real unions or labor organizations. If you're released, you have no true legal leg to stand on. It may say 2009 on the calendar, but it's still the South.
So, I'm headed back to California and leaving this "Plantation" behind.
QUOTE]
noah, the labor laws in Atl are horrible, I have a spouse who has 20+ years experience with over 200 hours on the books, and had to stay at work, for fear of being fired while he was vomitting all over the place, this is the 2nd time the first time he had a bp 200/150 and still could not get to take some of His time off. He is constantly working ot and not getting paid for it. I HATE THIS PLACE
Sorry to hear that about your husband. I hope he is able to find something better soon, real soon. Having worked at a place in the past that valued their employees like that I feel for him. unless he is salary then not being paid OT is not right.
Quote:
Originally Posted by IMISSNY
noah, the labor laws in Atl are horrible, I have a spouse who has 20+ years experience with over 200 hours on the books, and had to stay at work, for fear of being fired while he was vomitting all over the place, this is the 2nd time the first time he had a bp 200/150 and still could not get to take some of His time off. He is constantly working ot and not getting paid for it. I HATE THIS PLACE
noah, the labor laws in Atl are horrible, I have a spouse who has 20+ years experience with over 200 hours on the books, and had to stay at work, for fear of being fired while he was vomitting all over the place, this is the 2nd time the first time he had a bp 200/150 and still could not get to take some of His time off. He is constantly working ot and not getting paid for it. I HATE THIS PLACE
I having a hard time understanding how your husbands predicament is "Atlanta's" fault or due to the "Right to Work" laws in Georgia (which are aimed primarily at making it harder to form unions, not make them illegal as many companies have very strong unions here (UPS, Bellsouth, Delta to name a few).
It sounds more like a misunderstanding of the difference between a salaried job and an hourly one. I'm not aware of any salary job that pays overtime. To make up for the long hours a lot of companies have a bonus plan, but with this economy being the way it is no one should be surprised if that doesn't come through. Most business here and all over the country are just trying to stay afloat.
As for him not being able to take time off for being sick, what company wouldn't let some one go home if they could not work due to an illness? If the illness is prolonged there is FMLA time to take advantage of. You can not be fired being sick as it is against the law everywhere. If he has been threatened with losing his job because of that he has grounds for a lawsuit and you should seek legal counsel.
Look, times are tough on most everyone no matter what city you are in. But we make adjustments. Blaming a city for your ills is not to sensical.
So leaving NY to ATL to get better commute time ... NOT!
While I agree with most points about why the OP should stay put for now, this commuting comparison is a misperception. If I'm judging correctly, based on the OP's screename she lives in Brooklyn. Living in Brooklyn and commuting to Manhattan can be a hassle. I stayed in BK and my commute into Manhattan was much worse than anything I've experienced in Atlanta.
I had to leave my home 2 hours before I reported to work to get there on time. And it took me just as long getting back home from work. Try taking a Lexington Ave train uptown during rush hour. It is absolutely atrocious. We would have to stay on our feet on the platform for a good 30 minutes until we could ride a train b/c they would all be packed to the hinges. And then when you finally get on the train, you're smelling someone's armpits and incoming passengers are yelling at people inside the train to move into whatever cramped space is left. I have seen many an argument get started b/c of people rushing to get on the train. You become a predator constantly fighting for space living in NY and it's not fun.
And forget trying to stay out late at night. The bus service in my part of BK stopped way before most night spots close. So I either had to take a train that started running local at some ungodly hour (which took a good 2 hours, and not ideal when you're a petite women just coming from a nightclub ) and then wait for a damn livery cab on the corner to get home, which are super shady, or take my own car and drive halfway sleep from the city to BK which was certainly not advisable, or stay the night with a friend in Manhattan. And of course you have to consider when a train breaks down or they're doing repairs on the MTA which happen just about every damn day or there's some shootout at a train station. Absolutely insane and they cannot coordinate anything! There was one shoot out on a day I was very ready to get home. It took 4 hours to get home!! And believe me, a calamity at a NYC train station happens more often than one might expect.
The problem is that most in NYC DEPEND on public transpo and on many occassions they're not very dependable...the MTA as a whole is a failing agency and its leaders care more about lining their pockets than properly maintaining what is supposed to be a world-class train system.
In ATL at least, our highway system is actually decent and comfortable and not tiny and full of potholes and tolls like NYC. And MARTA is not that bad either, so I can choose to either drive or take the train if I wanted to. Traffic in Atlanta is actually equivalent or even better than NYC traffic. NYC's traffic is 24 hours, whether you're driving at 10 pm or 1 in the afternoon. I much prefer being able to hop in my car, pop in my CDs, turn on my A/C, and go, as opposed to the hot grime and discomfort of being packed like sardines on the MTA or the somewhat better option of paying a $5 toll both ways just to get from one borough to the next and still dealing with horrible streets and a two-lane "highway."
If you live in a close metro city of Atlanta, you won't have many problems. I live in a suburb of Atlanta but still get to the city of Atlanta in less than 15 minutes w/out having to get on the highway. My commute has never been as bad as what it was in New York.
Most people talking about commutes live in Roswell or Alpharetta or in some far suburbs outside of Atlanta. That is not Atlanta! That's the equivalent of living in Jersey, commuting to Manhattan and complaining about traffic in the Lower East Side.
That's enough of my rant :-). I just can't let this common misconception about NY and ATL traffic linger any longer, especially considering my personal experience to the contrary.
Last edited by bizchick86; 07-24-2009 at 07:00 AM..
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