So, that got a little crazy, huh?
Yesterday I wrote a little something about my life as a minimum-wage worker. And hoo boy! Reddit had some thoughts on it.
Mostly that:
I am an idiot who can't use Craigslist to find affordable, safe, functional housing.
and also that:
Working minimum wage, I should not have expected to have been able to support myself.
To be fair, I was 21 at the time. But also, the facts are these:
The way the rental market operates in Seattle means that minimum wage workers here (in the state with the highest minimum wage in the country) cannot expect to have their own place to live.
Which means that you either must expect to a.) live with strangers, b.) be supported by someone else, or c.) magically conjure up a job that gets paid better than $9/hour.
This is bullshit.
Because a.) my first non-minimum wage job paid me just $12/hr, which is also not quite enough but so way more than I was making b.) it's very easy to say, as an able-bodied white male with no extenuating circumstances that everyone just needs to pull their own bootstraps out of their asses and get better work.
We rely on minimum wage workers in this country, but don't seem to give two fucks about whether or not they can survive. We don't care that they have to live in ultra-remote places, or else places where their personal safety might be in danger (can you think of a single other time you'd advise a small female to just go online and meet someone and then GO INTO THEIR HOME? I believe not. If a girl moves to a city with some strangers to save money and then gets raped, is she asking for it by moving in with strange men? Discuss!).
In my story, I literally explained how I ate food out of dumpsters and considered being a stripper and was told I was asking for too much because I lived in a 200 square foot shithole with no stove or oven to speak of.
But anyway, thanks for all the pageviews, Redditors! Hope you come back for all the gifs and other opinions you'll probably hate.
And to those who found us and aren't complete dicks who don't believe in fairness or equal wages, welcome to the family. On to the next show!
All the love, ever,
--hbo
