Just Be Glad You Have a Job…But Seriously, Can You?

Just be grateful that you have a job.

Yeah, don’t get me wrong. I very much am, considering the journey I have been on (and still am on; read my previous postings Starting Over…Then and Now and Making Payment Arrangements for insight). But the people who tell you this, when in conversation, are they being sincere in saying this to you because

1. They want you to appreciate what you have as there are millions of Americans without jobs (and the jobs report comes out tommorrow),
and you should be thankful and stop your damn bitching?

2. Or perhaps they have(or know someone who has also) lost their job as well and are having a very
hard time finding one that will guarantee them the same pay as the job they have lost or as close to that rate of pay as possible. Good luck on that one.

Perhaps it is this one:

3. They have been fortunate to not have experience what some of us have experienced on the job loss journey, and they tell you this to make themselves feel better…tick…tick…tick.

I write this because I have to ask, is being grateful just to have a job enough? Should we just be grateful enough to do the following each workday? Get out of bed, shower and dress, eat breakfast or take it with you, go to work, fight traffic to get to and from work(or for those who do not drive, ride mass transit), go home and start again tommorrow?

I am grateful for what my job provides me with; peace of mind; less stress( I have worked on a call center most of my working life), paid leave (which was very important when I suffered injuries in a car accident and was out for most of the summer), paid time off, which I am finally begun to use.

But I also know with the current state of affairs that most jobs offered are temporary jobs with no benefits which appears as an ad in the newspaper or online saying will pay starting at $10 an hour; but once you walk in, interview, and are offered the position, the pay is now at $8.50 – $9.00 an hour. What happened to the $10/hr job?

More likely, the $10/hr job was used as “bait” to get you in the door so as to offer you the exact same job at less pay. This is what is known as a “bait & switch” technique.

Does the employer think that we are that desperate to really go for this? After all. It IS a job, is it not? You should be glad that you are being given an opportunity or first crack at this…How would I know all about this? Because it happened to me as well.

One of the jobs I applied for was a customer service representative at a very prominent bank, where the posting indicated the starting pay at $10/hr. After three successful interviews, I was offered the job…but the starting pay was $9/hr, not $10/hr. I was hoodwinked; this job being offered was a permanent position, not a temporary position ( I would hate to think what the starting pay would be if the job were offered to a contractor; without benefits, no doubt).

Again, I am asking the same question:
Do employers REALLY think we are so EXTREMELY desperate that we will accept ANY job, even if it doesn’t EVEN COME CLOSE to taking care of your basic bills( rent/mortgage, food, utilities, and transportation ( whether you drive and must pay for gas, insurance, and maintenance; or pay to take a cab or use public transportation). If you are on medication, it may or may not cover that; if you have children ( perhaps you may have a child with special needs; maybe a sick child)
would your reduced paycheck cover that? What if you apply for assistance and got denied; would you be able to stretch your pay? Would you sacrifice your needs to provide for your kids? Most parents would answer the question with a yes.

Keep this in mind; if you have other bills that are not being paid and don’t get paid within a certain time frame (a mortgage or a new vehicle you no longer can afford) even after numerous attempts to make arrangements (which fall on deaf ears). In that case, say hello to your new best friend… the bill collector…or repo person (they can be a woman as well), who is only after one thing…need I say what that is?

And given your situation, you would
1. Accept the job offer for fear you will get another offer and pray for a miracle to come through, knowing that the rate of pay will not cover your existing expenses and be in stress hell forever; or
2. Decline the offer (which I did) and continue the search, know that $9/hr is not a living wage by any means and I am worth more than that; so I continue looking, praying that a better opportunity will come my way.

In closing, I came across a passage that appeared in a blog on About.com, entitled ”After Paying The Rent, No Money for Food”; written by an individual who goes by mzbeautiful, which sums up what I was feeling at the time I was hitting the streets (at still do at times) and I hope if you are pounding the pavement may this help you to realize that you are not alone in your journey

It is written as follows:

”…no matter what happens even when you are in the situation where there is no hope, always remember GOD is next to us with all our struggles. And may God bless all who is going through hardships.”

I close this post with an AMEN.