Let me introduce myself. I have a BA degree and have also gone to a trade school. But I have also ONLY worked part time minimum wage jobs my whole time of working beginning in 1997 and until now. Not because I don’t want a job I went to school for (just haven’t found my foot in the door yet) but because its all I can get and I need to work. I will one day get a full time job not minimum wage.
I know what its like to have bills to pay and only work so many hours on very little wages. Slave labor they have called it. I work retail jobs mostly so my jobs are around customers people. I work for the people. I love my job and I am a real people person. And frankly I am good at it. You always do what you are good at and you enjoy it (if you don’t then what are you doing it?). I have also lived on my own with my sisters. We paid our own bills for a couple of years. That’s rent, electric, gas (for the car), plus food and needs. And we have lots of pets. To date 3 cats, 1 dog but we had 4 cats at one point with the one dog. Not cheap!
I’m from California but in order to live on our own we had to move out of state to the South. I love Tennessee with my whole heart. I haven’t lived I that music state since July 2010. But frankly its cheap to live out there we was okay. I worked two jobs she worked two jobs. We got partial unemployment when hours sucked. But rent wasn’t bad a two bed 1.5 bath was about $600 per month. Even the electric wasn’t heart breaking (we didn’t use our heat during the winter we used our plug in heaters and ran the a/c very little). We moved to AZ where rent although isn’t as cheap is still not bad. The electric is horrible btw though we learned that first up and flat up. We didn’t run the a/c much insane as that is. We never ran the heat in the winter (it can get VERY cold at night not like TN cold but cold enough) like TN we ran our plug in heaters and used fans in the hotter months (April-Oct). We still got by.
My first minimum wage paid me about $5.75 per hour that was back in 1997. I moved onto to making around $6 in 1998. When I got put on my first real tail job I think it was like $6.50 maybe. In 2000 I was taken on by my still longest to date job that started me about $6.50 raising me $.50 an hour every year and when I ended I was at $8.25. I moved onto a job that began me at $7.25 but raised me to $7.75 after so many days. When I left the job I was making an odd amount of $8.11 and I had been there over 2 years. I went onto a few seasonal jobs $8 per hour never raised. I am with holding companies here as I don’t want to bash my former jobs. Well this job which I held twice in a small period of 2 years was and STILL IS $8 per hour.
In TN I began most of my jobs at $7.50 I was finally raised to $7.75 for my job of almost 3 yrs right before I quit. I got one job in AZ where I made $7.50 per hour. I came back to CA back to same said job still $8 per hour and worked that place for 2 seasons. Then I began to make more. I worked a seasonal job $8.50 and my current job is $8.25. I am still unsure to date what minimum wage is for California but I think its around $8 something.
I say this all because frankly I know what its like to not make much. The MOST I ever made at a job was a 3 day temporary (didn’t know it was at the time) working for a telemarketing place. I began at $10 per hour for 40 hours per week had I been allowed to stay. After 3 days would have been $12 per hour. This was back in AZ even $10 per hour 40 hours per week would have been beyond unbelievable and we could have paid rent and been okay and not had to move.
Last year the whole minimum wage thing came up and well began them making fun of those people who are trying to make more than so much per hour as a part time job. But what most people DON’T get is that it is DANG HARD to survive on minimum wage hours. As I said in the past in a CHEAP state we still had to do partial unemployment to get by when we both only had one job with few hours. Most jobs part time especially retail are based on the business. If they are making money they give out more hours. But if its slow they cant run so they cant pay you. Retail is a hard business most companies I have worked for don’t allow you to move up very fast. So you are stuck at the bottom waiting to get by and not getting why you haven’t moved up. I was with one company almost FOUR YEARS working part time and never asked to even change to a lead something above me but below a supervisor, which is below assistant manager below manager. Its frankly HARD. You need 2 jobs to get by and you might not get by. Depending on where you live its hard to live. So when these workers were like raise it up then I was like yeah do it!
My upset today is with first of all those people who THINK that if you are working a minimum wage job you are a teenager working your first job with no needs of your own. But not realizing that OVER HALF of those who work minimum wage are adults in their 20’s 30’s and 40’s. These people are trying to live and make rent and such. Working two or three jobs to get by. Raising families. And guess what we don’t all not have degrees. Magical degree don’t do anything if you went to school for a career hard to get a job with. Its NOT EASY! But they assume if you are in that position you must be a teen with no college education. I have seen OVER and OVER again people say for people to “get a degree, get a real job” instead of living on minimum wage. While most people who make this hope its temporary (for me it is) not everyone has that luxury. So I think they should raise the minimum wage! I am upset at how negative it is for people.
However I am also upset about how much they want to make. So I am upset with both sides in this case. I think raising the minimum wage is a GOOD thing but small not all at once and not too much. I think California which claims to raise to $9 this Summer and $10 next year is a good thing. But I think it should stop there. Seattle just agreed to raise theirs from whatever it is to $15 but it will take 7 years to do this. Our area San Diego wants to raise ours to $13.60 by 2016 which IMO is too much too fast. I think some growth is good but too much will cause the cost of living to go up. Is that right? NO its not. Minimum wage is NOT enough to get by now so if they raise it but also raise the price of stuff than the whole point is lost. I think we as a country should be allowed to make enough to be okay not suffer. So while a little growth is good too much isn’t good. That is what people fighting for those don’t get or understand.
I stand with those who want more than minimum wage now I want a raise I want us all to be okay. I want cost of living to stay the same as it continues to rise while mw continues to stay same. But I also want it to not be such a growth that it will make people who work full time jobs like I did in AZ wonder what is wrong when part time people are making more than full time. If you think about it, and I have they would have to make more at jobs like that. Our country is broke we are suffering. I get it. And I hate it. But honestly minimum wage should go up but not that much. And for those who make fun of all this those I am most upset about. Those are the people who shouldn’t be upset with people who make mw. Till you know EVERY person and their situation just let us be. Remember more than likely at one point or another you too made mw and had to get by. And if not than you was more lucky than most educated or not adults.
