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Old 08-29-2011, 08:53 AM
 
1,781 posts, read 2,074,223 times
Reputation: 1361

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Quote:
Originally Posted by h_curtis View Post
It is interesting that people feel $40K for a cubicle job is good. I hope people know there are bartenders and waitstaff that make that and it is in the form of cash. Not easy to get those waiter/bartender jobs, but they are out there. Some hotels also have health insurance.

$40K was a great salary way back when I graduated college in the mid '80s. How sad. No wonder why so many young still leave our region, although at the moment some stay. I suspect when we move fully out of the recession new college grads will start moving out in droves like they used to.

This is me reading you post.........
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Old 08-29-2011, 08:55 AM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,606 posts, read 77,287,663 times
Reputation: 19071
Quote:
Originally Posted by airwave09 View Post
This is me reading you post.........
Tell me about it. If I could make $40,000/year in Pittsburgh I'd be set financially. It's amazing how out-of-touch h_curtis is with the reality of the "new economy". I'm not earning $40,000 annually combined from both of my jobs, and I don't have health insurance.
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Old 08-29-2011, 08:58 AM
 
Location: ɥbɹnqsʇʇıd
4,599 posts, read 6,686,981 times
Reputation: 3521
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelCityRising View Post
I don't have health insurance.
Pray that you don't get sick man, seriously. Being faced with being a debt slave or risking death is a very real reality for Americans. I went through it myself and believe me it's not some media fantasy.
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Old 08-29-2011, 09:02 AM
 
5,894 posts, read 6,842,546 times
Reputation: 4107
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelCityRising View Post
Tell me about it. If I could make $40,000/year in Pittsburgh I'd be set financially. It's amazing how out-of-touch h_curtis is with the reality of the "new economy". I'm not earning $40,000 annually combined from both of my jobs, and I don't have health insurance.
I could be wrong, but didn't you say that you could have a much better salaried job in the area it just happened to be not where you wanted to live?
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Old 08-29-2011, 09:19 AM
 
Location: Philly
10,220 posts, read 16,734,236 times
Reputation: 2971
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212 View Post
Ok but that's Wingharts specific rant its not like his rant applies to all establishments within MSQ. Can't say oh "MSQ is a failure because this one establishment is late to the game" Next time one of you guys are in Wingharts you need to ask management when are they going to have later weekend hours, seems like enough regulars on here go in there quite often shouldn't be that hard.
sure it's a rant but it's not made up. he cited two restaurants ON the sq. SCR mentions the weekend the phils were in town and three rivers...he said there were thousands of extra ppl yet everything was closed. the guy who opened 245 is doing what everyone is saying, he opened and maintains late hours to build a long term business..too bad he isn't ON the sq. at least NOLA is open til midnight most days. MSQneeds places like wingharts to stay open. downtown is already adding people and continues to do so (even if it could use another large project). even if wingharts starts by staying open til 10 p and the businesses open sundays for certain big weekends. what about labor day? what will be open for the parade? DnD?
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Old 08-29-2011, 09:48 AM
 
Location: North Oakland
9,150 posts, read 10,828,709 times
Reputation: 14503
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl View Post
Last year I had a job with a major hospital. I was fired for missing too much time for being sick (I had a rare condition where I was leaking brain fluid from my skull out of my nose). I needed surgery ASAP but I had no job. I was faced with the proposition with getting surgery without insurance before COBRA kicked in and being in debt for the rest of my life or facing or wait and hope I didn't take a stroke or have a brain hemorrhage. I chose to wait, and thank God I'm still here to type this.

So here I was in the richest country in the world facing death or debt after getting fired for being sick while working inside a hospital. No sympathy for me, I was just expected to be all "boot strappy" and suck up the fact that I had brain fluid falling out of my nose. So I had my surgery, had an interview 2 weeks later in tons of pain pumped full of drugs so I could get back on my feet. Somehow I landed it and they gave me over a month to recover. To this day I have extreme headaches, increased intercranial pressure, and an extremely sensitive ear (the surgery cut a whole through my ear to repair the hole in my skull, I got a gnarly scar).

So long story short, I got fired from a hospital for being sick, chose near death rather than life with debt, went through pain/depression/desperation, watched no one give to sh*ts aside from my family and close friends, got a kick of reality right to the face, and lived to tell the tale. Talk about an attitude adjustment and putting things in perspective. Perhaps you should walk a mile in my shoes before you pass judgement sir.
That's really amazing. Especially the part about working in a hospital. Can't you sue them?
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Old 08-29-2011, 10:04 AM
 
Location: The canyon (with my pistols and knife)
14,169 posts, read 22,596,535 times
Reputation: 17328
Quote:
Originally Posted by UKyank View Post
Everyone keeps praising this post & I'm sure some people fall into this category, but also News Flash: believe it or not it is possible to work in the City of Pittsburgh, be young & be successful enough to afford luxeries. Jeesh, some people act like this is some barren Chernobylesque wasteland here where everyone is huddled around a burning garbage can to keep warm.
Well, 1980's nostalgia is still popular in the United States, so we might as well pretend it's still the 1980's in some respects, I guess.
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Old 08-29-2011, 10:04 AM
 
Location: ɥbɹnqsʇʇıd
4,599 posts, read 6,686,981 times
Reputation: 3521
Quote:
Originally Posted by jay5835 View Post
That's really amazing. Especially the part about working in a hospital. Can't you sue them?
I've been down that road actually. Without going into detail (can't legally) it'll be me against an army of lawyers and it wouldn't they basically told me it wouldn't be in my best financial interest to go any further. It's an absolute train wreck of a situation and it really changed my perspective on a lot of things.
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Old 08-29-2011, 10:28 AM
 
Location: Troy Hill, The Pitt
1,174 posts, read 1,579,861 times
Reputation: 1081
Quote:
Originally Posted by h_curtis View Post
It is interesting that people feel $40K for a cubicle job is good. I hope people know there are bartenders and waitstaff that make that and it is in the form of cash. Not easy to get those waiter/bartender jobs, but they are out there. Some hotels also have health insurance.

$40K was a great salary way back when I graduated college in the mid '80s. How sad. No wonder why so many young still leave our region, although at the moment some stay. I suspect when we move fully out of the recession new college grads will start moving out in droves like they used to.

The problems with bartenders/wait staff are that not all of them make that level of money, its very sporadic (ie you'll make $500 on a holiday like Mother's Day if you're in the right restaurant...specifically fine dining, and then not make squat at other times), you work a very unpleasant schedule, and you are at the ceiling of your earning capacity. There are also very few jobs that allow you to make that kind of money as a server/bartender.

$40k isn't always 40k when you have student loans either.
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Old 08-29-2011, 10:59 AM
 
Location: Troy Hill, The Pitt
1,174 posts, read 1,579,861 times
Reputation: 1081
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tirade View Post
Either their parents are paying for it or they're maxxing out their credit cards. In either case, they're not actually paying for it with their own money.

This is most often the case, and it occurs on college campuses nation wide. I recall while at WVU seeing students driving SUVs (Jersey tags especially) that cost in excess of $40k, who lived in apartments by themselves that were in excess of $1,000 a month, and wondered to myself how they could possibly afford to do so. You can't make that much money as a college student. Especially not waiting tables in a rural college town. There's only one explaination for it: the parents are footing the bill.


Nothing wrong with it I suppose, and certainly nothing for me to envy. The most important education I recieved during my college years was on how to take care of myself. I learned how to cook (which eventually landed me my wife, and a pile of culinary school debt. I'd say I broke even ), learned how to budget my money, how to keep a clean home, etc. Those people will be economically attached to their parents in one way or another for the rest of their lives.
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