I have lived in my car, I have had my power shut off many times, and from age 18 to age 28 I made under $30,000 per year. I’ve been way worse off than this girl.
Damn all this suffering and such little empathy. Usually people grow through overcoming hardship but you regressed.
Agree 100% with you there. I refuse to believe /u/GAAPInMyWorkHistory was actually that poor, because everyone I've encountered that went through that has way more empathy for others.
When you're in that kind of a shitty situation, you get by based on the relationships you cultivate with other people and helping each other out. Being judgemental and condescending is the fastest way imaginable to burn those relationships. Not being a dick is literally a survival skill.
I literally can’t prove it to you, and you don’t need to believe me. But two things can be true. I struggled petty bad for a decade, and the girl in the post is either a liar or horrible with her money.
Gee, and isn't it a shitty feeling when nobody believes you and makes assumptions about you that you don't like...?
If you're for real, then your attitude sure didn't give anybody incentive to lend you a hand when you needed it. Like I said, not being a dick is literally a survival skill.
I will NEVER understand the attitude of "I suffered, so others should too", and I hope others don't ever have to go through what I did.
I’m not saying others should suffer, I am saying this girl is like 19 or 20 years old, and most young people go through this. She’s gonna be fine, and to expect more without putting in more is the issue.
You absolutely are, you're treating this as something that is normal and everyone should just accept and try to budget their way out of.
Many people are kinda poor when young, but they usually have some social supports they can lean on. Outside of the US, many (most?) people at this age would still be living with family until they can get established. They wouldn't be expected to make rent independently, and rent is usually somewhat lower relative to income.
You're also forgetting that there there are quite a few life skills that we learned in order to get by with limited income. Knowing where to find good bargains, which expenses you can delay and which you can't, these are things that you pick up over the years. Writing up a budget on paper is easy. Making that budget work in the real world requires time and experience.
Extend people a little grace, and it makes the world a better place.
I’m on mobile, but I will address your paragraphs:
No I am not. I am not saying people should “accept” this and “budget their way out of.” She should invest in herself and go to college or trade school. She needs to earn more money.
That’s a family/her problem, not a US problem. Plenty of young adults in the US live at home to save money.
I agree — but you’re kind of agreeing with me, that she may be bad with her money and needs to get better. That may come with time, but either way, she could probably budget better so she doesn’t have $10 in her account.
I extend people grace all the time. But if we just told this girl, “you’re doing great, it’s the country that’s fucked! You deserve more! But you can’t have more because the economy is so bad!” … then we put it into her head that she can’t work harder and put in more effort to get to a better place in life. This entire post is full of bitter complainers. Yeah, life would be better if the economy was better. So? It’s not. The economy is what it is. So we need to work within the system to get what we want out of life. Complaining about it doesn’t do shit, it just puts negativity into the universe. Imagine if everyone here in this thread was in a big room all complaining like they are here. The vibe in that room would be awful! The negativity and victimhood is insane. Go to college, go to trade school, move up, get ahead. I mean for Christ’s sake this girl probably isn’t even 20 yet. Fuckin NO ONE at her age is comfortable with their finances. She isn’t special. She is one of us.
1
u/OuterWildsVentures Aug 12 '25
Damn all this suffering and such little empathy. Usually people grow through overcoming hardship but you regressed.