Been working at an insurance company downtown since May 2008 and my ten years is coming up. Was in a meeting on Wednesday, got a message that we needed to meet on the second floor assembly hall. They fed us some lines, gave us some folders, and after busting my ass for ten years, I'll be out of a job July 2nd, 2018. It's not a layoff; that's a legal term that expensive lawyers have "recrafted" so that it doesn't apply here. No, we're being offered a chance to reapply for our own positions. If we're selected, we can interview again. If we fail the application or interviewing process, we've been offered a demotion. And if that doesn't sit right, well, sorry Mac, the door's that way and hurry up or you'll let in the cold.
So this rant isn't about me, or my decision to apply for my own job (again), or how I feel about my employer (who I still appreciate to a large degree) or my even more reluctant decision to accept demotion if necessary. This is about the America my generation lives in today - the so called, often maligned, Millennial generation.
My parents and grandparents had the opportunity to go to college for a few hundred dollars each semester. Not cheap, but not a mortgage, even in "old timey dollars". Your ass wasn't in a sling if you tried to get a degree, and you could work nights to afford tuition AND food AND a place to sleep. My generation, well, you wanna know why there's so many strippers, hookers, porn "stars", drug pushers, human traffickers and low lifes? Money. Everything costs a whole lot. What's the average tuition at a state college? Roughly $80,000 for a four year degree, assuming you're not in the usual 5 to 6 years holding pattern common among state colleges. And why not, someone has to pay for the football team's uniforms, so pony up. And God forbid you go to a private school, or a public college outside of your own state. Then you're looking at REAL debt to the tune of $240,000 for eight semesters. That's not just spittin money, either. That's a fucking fortune for a piece of funny paper that says you can think on your own. And how will you pay that back? Well not working as a teacher, cop or botanist. You better start shooting porno, stripping or selling drugs. Or bitcoin, I guess.
My parents and grandparents had the opportunity to purchase a brand new car in 1974 for roughly $3,542. A full load of gas in the 14 gallon tank cost about $5.00. The car was a piece of shit, no doubt, but we can thank American car manufacturers for that. Besides, the thing lasted more than a couple years anyway. Forty years later, in 2014, my generation would pay roughly $25,449 for a new car; that's ~7.25 times as much. And before you think it, if we just went by inflation dollars, the car should cost $17,800. Full tank of gas? $51.80 for 14 gallons. You wonder why people are using Tide laundry detergent as currency? Because they're fucking stealing it and reselling it. They're broke. What do you want?
My parents and grandparents had the opportunity to start a lifelong career, work into old age and retire. Now obviously it's more complicated than that - if you chose a job in labor, your ass is still working. If you're a baby boomer that worked in a factory, your ass is now a Wal-Mart greeter. Right? But if you joined, say, an insurance company in downtown Des Moines, you're probably celebrating your 45 years of service with a retirement party (I should know, I've been to a few of them). But my generation? We don't have the luxury of "careers" anymore, unless we started rich. There hasn't been a middle class since the unions broke under that decrepit cocksucker Reagan. You want to lionize a real Satan-worshipping, human hating bastard, then let's throw that slobbering goon's face up on Mt. Rushmore. Fuck it.
I worked for Iowa Student Loan for two years hoping to start my career. My department, my boss, her boss...and her boss, were laid off. And it was a true "lay off". We got severance, so whoop di do. When I started working at my downtown insurance company, they assured me, "If you stick with it, you'll be here for life." Buddy, let me tell you, I've been sticking with it. I give 100% every day, sometimes at the cost of my own health. I go to work and get shit done. Something wrong? Need a guy? Call me. I will fix it, or find someone that can. Period. Firing on all cylinders because that's how I do things.
But I live in a dream world. I live in a world where coming to work every day doesn't matter. What matters is giving 100 + 10%, also known as an impossible feat that you're left to cower at knowing you'll never achieve it. It isn't enough to work hard, now you have to prove the numbers, better yet, IMprove the numbers. You have to do more with less. You have to do six peoples' work, and not only grin and bear it, but pick up three more peoples' work while you're there on the bottom. Because it's not enough to love your job, you have to fear it, too. And don't just fear the job, fear your boss. And fear your boss's boss. And glue that goddamned smile to your face, because at any minute, your ass might get cut, so look good, be happy and push push push. You should be happy they even suffer your disgraceful presence, because believe me pal, there's a hundred other cowards that would die for your spot (and believe me, they would).
I could be fucking homeless in July because I came to work every day and did a great job. Does that make any fucking sense? I'm not the only one. Places like Nationwide and Wells Fargo are synonymous for shitcanning people after a couple years. Why let them get tenure? Why keep paying the same desperate masses when you could save some money and rehire new idiots equally as desperate?
How many more times can I hear, "We have to cut taxes for companies so they will create more jobs,"? Create more jobs? Are you fucking blind? We don't need MORE jobs, we need A job. We need a job that doesn't pay shit for nothing, and cans your ass in five years so they can rehire you for less. "More jobs" is a front for laundering money in and out of your corporation while your fat-cat-ass smokes a cigar and checks your stock dividends. More jobs is ludicrous.
Here's a secret you'll never believe. It's juicy. Boy, let me tell you - if anyone gets a hold of this, they'll shit a brick...
You want the economy to bounce back overnight? You want better roads and smarter kids, and prettier girls, and nicer cars? You want the whole package, the "Make America Great Again" promise?
Fucking pay people. Stop firing everyone.
Yeah, that's it. Wild, huh?! Guess what a 30 year old mother of three is going to do when you give her a check for $4,000 every two weeks? She's gonna blow it on makeup, jewelry, clothes; backpacks, school books, diapers; kids' toys, new cars, televisions, freezers, new houses, new boats. Fuck, when you're rolling in money, the average boot scraper is spending dough like it's burning a hole through his ass. And where's that money go? Yep...you guessed it... to create more jobs. Jobs selling cars. Jobs selling houses. Jobs selling boats. Jobs selling clothes. And on and on and on. Give people money, and they will spend the shit out of it. Let them keep their jobs, and they'll spend spend spend without worry, because they know if they show up tomorrow and try, they'll get paid again.
But anyway, what do I know? I'm not some economist. I'm not some dickbag Republican. I don't know shit from shinola. I'm just a guy that got laid off and now has to fight to get his job back. And if I'm lucky, I'll go back to the workhouse and keep shining shoes and smiling big, and saying, "Yes boss!" because I need to get paid. That's one thing my generation has in common with my parents and their parents - nobody likes to starve.