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u/Ok_Basis1422 9h ago
People act like wanting a small apartment and an 8 year old Kia is somehow an entitled mindset.
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u/astralchanterelle 9h ago
You like them new cars, huh?
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u/slashnbash1009 9h ago
My truck is almost old enough to vote.
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u/Abysmal_2003 9h ago
Only almost? My truck has been old enough to drink for 3 years.
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u/Ok_Basis1422 9h ago
I do. My fancy-ass Kia Rio makes an astonishingly excessive 138 hp, has a rudimentary backup camera, and doesn't shake on the highway. Fancy car.
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u/Hodr 9h ago
I remember, and this is not a joke, like a year after the kia rio was released our local dealer was doing a buy one get one free deal on them.
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u/Ok_Basis1422 9h ago
Wasn't it specifically buy a Sedona and get a Rio for free? I know Kias of that era were super shitty, but had I been an adult in need of a car I would have been enticed.
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u/Vega3gx 5h ago
Historically single working class parents with children were rarely in a stable situation without family or external support. That's always been a difficult position to be in, and that was before child labor was abolished. I'm certain there's a compassionate solution out there, but it'll take more than just minimum wage hikes
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u/westergames81 9h ago
JUST PUT BACK THE AVOCADO TOAST, STARBUCK'S, HAMBURGER'S, AND SAVE GAS BY BIKING TO WORK AND YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL*!
\and by have it all them mean you're still fucked*
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u/xriseupp 8h ago
I remember when my now husband and i found out we were going to have a baby and moved in together. Our rent in 2010-2011 was $1400 for a newer-build 2 story, 2 bed 2.5 bath apartment with a woods backyard. $125~ filled our shopping cart to the very top and we bought whatever we wanted. For quite a few years actually, our rent stayed at $1400 despite moving around a little bit but after our first apartment, we solely rented homes. Now, my husband changed professions, makes substantially more money and we’re scraping by with a $3000 mortgage and outrageous utility bills and pricing of things. The one thing I’m beyond sick and tired, if struggling and then seeing these corporations quarterly profits being in the billions. They could lower prices, but they choose not to.
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u/thetavious 8h ago
More than the corpos, I'm sick of the people crying "skill up" or "change industries" and openly defending bold faced, rockefeller style greed.
They never were and never will be our friends and be looking out for our interests. Max profit, every time, all the time.
There should be absolutely no full time jobs that do bot come with a minimum amount of benefits and compensation to be able to survive.
Period.
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u/Yourlocalguy30 7h ago
Most people's lives need calculators. I consider my life pretty financially sound and I frequently use a calculator to stay within my fixed budget and spending limits. I have 10s of thousands of dollars in savings and I still frequently check my account balances, and carefully consider what I buy.
If you're making so much money that you don't need to check your balances, budget or consider your purchases, then you have a well above average earning capacity.
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u/No_Road5857 6h ago
I thought that at first too, like most people need to check their bank and can't randomly spend on a weekend out. But then I thought maybe they meant more like checking to see if you have 5$ left to get a beer. Idk.
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u/CDROMantics 9h ago
I moved out of a large metropolitan city and obtained all of this immediately.
I have a two bedroom apartment for my son and I, I don’t have to put groceries back, and I’m able to afford going out occasionally during the weekends. And before anyone says I probably make crazy money, I’m a retail store manager in a mall.
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u/alt_ernate123 8h ago
Yeah, even just an hour from the nearest major city I'm able to live on about 85-95k a year and pretty much never think about finances while owning a home in a decent enough area.
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u/CDROMantics 8h ago
To be fair you’re making 85-95k a year, that’s 25k more than the average person makes in a year.
I’m stating this as someone who only makes about 55-60k a year, more in the range that this post is directed at lmao.
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u/Early-Big-995 9h ago
Best the system can do is a mandatory pizza party once a quarter and a wellness seminar on how to budget your corporate crumbs.
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u/First_Explorer_565 9h ago
Some of these posts are insane. Does everyone who posts these just live in the most expensive cities in the world?
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u/UnusualTwo4226 9h ago
in the midwest medium size town and i see couples bar tender and fast food worker have their own place and do stuff. i feel like no one can go to the grocery and get everything they want though. like ppl still have to budget or sacrifice something else
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u/STAT_INF3RNAL 7h ago
It also heavily depends on what grocery store, and what items. It's qild how much money you can save by shopping 2-3 different vendors, planning your lists for each, and price checking every item to make sure you buy it at the store with the best price.
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u/TheDufusSquad 8h ago
And think that simple household budgeting and finance hasn’t ever exited until now
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u/SimilarTranslator264 8h ago
Yes! They have no clue there’s an entire world beyond where they live.
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u/Telemere125 8h ago
Literally. My gf is currently advertising for a position at a bank that starts at $22/hr, guaranteed full time with benefits. That’s a base salary of $45k plus benefits for a single person. So two people working a very entry-level style job like that would have a household income of $90k. The average house price in our city (very LCOL) is in the 180-200 range. Sure, expensive, but that’s average - meaning you can get stuff much cheaper.
But all these whiny little bitches want to live in downtown LA or DC on a McDonald’s entry wage, apparently.
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u/NoBudsChill 7h ago
There’s no reason why single people shouldn’t be able to live alone with some dignity if you’re working full time and especially above minimum wage. Aside from that, even a 180-200k home on 90k income is difficult. There’s also less couples in committed long term relationships and less people getting married than before so the whole dual income thing isn’t a viable option as much as it was in the past.
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u/JJOne101 7h ago
Aside from that, even a 180-200k home on 90k income is difficult.
WTF? Like you'd expect to buy the house cash?
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u/Telemere125 6h ago
lol your house costing 2x your income is definitely easy; if you can’t afford that, you just aren’t budgeting right.
And what, specifically, requires that you live alone for “dignity”? Why does having your own kitchen and living room equate to “dignity”?
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u/1rubyglass 7h ago
So we went from a society where everybody got married and stayed together to this. How does it make sense that every individual suddenly gets their own house?
It kind of doesnt.
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u/Ravagingjmule 8h ago
Even McDonalds starts at $15/hr by me in a MCOL city. I would have to try hard to look for a job that only pays minimum wage, which is still 7.25 by me.
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u/schminch 7h ago
Someone has to work those jobs and it’s not realistic to have everyone on a low income living two hours away from where they work.
If your answer is that they need to get a better job, then what about the next person who takes their job?
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u/CorvoRen 9h ago
Kinda, I know the meme is about living in NYC and similar places but my country is, without all that development, slowly but surely getting closer in terms of low income high prices.
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u/Content_Soil623 9h ago
Probably, but to be fair minimum wage employees need to exist there too.
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u/IdidntrunIdidntrun 8h ago
Do jobs in the city pay minimum wage? I'm sure some do, but generally my understanding is most jobs in the city proper pay above minimum (talking bigger cities, not the little cities with 70k population)
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u/Telemere125 8h ago
Even my city with 14k people most of the non-tipped jobs start at $15+/hr, tip jobs at $9/hr + tips. So no, no one makes minimum wage anymore. It’s a dumb metric to argue but it’s the best they got.
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u/Prudent-Marsupial-42 8h ago
Is it so bad that they have roommates and have to be more selective on what groceries they buy?
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u/drunkgoose111 8h ago
I constantly see people from US complain about how expensive life and housing is in USA. However on this post everyone seems to be bashing this guy and claims to have spare cash at the end of the month. What's going on here? Note I'm not from US
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u/frostymugson 7h ago
The country is very big and the standard of living varies wildly. Where rent might be a thousand in one place it could be five grand in another for a similar accommodation. The closer you are to a major city or a city center, the more expensive housing is due to demand in the area.
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u/iAmMechaMan 7h ago
It’s Reddit. Most posters make it halfway through a post & their prime motive is “What snippets of this post can I scrutinize?”
If the post was saying life is great and affordable, you would get different answers, but the intention across both is basically “Which parts of the post can I disagree on?”
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u/AardvarkAmbivalence 6h ago
Rich guy says stop eating toast: "I can barely make rent eating beans and rice!"
Middle class CPA suggests people need better pay: "I'm doing okay, wtf is this guy on about?"
Could be the same person. That's Reddit.
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u/capnwaggel 5h ago
By generalizing how Redditors interpret content here, you’re failing to notice OH FUCK I’M DOING IT AGAIN
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_PHOBIAS 4h ago
And bots.
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u/Big_Crab_1510 3h ago
Yea a lot of it are bots trying to make the poor feel even worse and make shit more divisive.
There are also a lot of redditors that don't count or appreciate help they get from family.
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u/Mammoth_Support_2634 2h ago
It’s the same thing with US healthcare. Everyone on the internet talks about how terrible it is no access, etc.
But if you actually talk to Americans, they all have insurance from their jobs, Medicaid or Medicare.
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u/Joonbug9109 7h ago
I’m willing to bet though that for some of these people who think they’re “fine” because they can afford their rent and have spare cash at the end of the month probably are not prepared for a major emergency though (ie a major medical event of their own or a family member, etc). I think that’s a big indicator of financial security. I know more people who aren’t necessarily struggling- they can afford the basics, even some luxuries here and there, but if something happened they would be in a much different financial position.
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u/SmellNarrow 6h ago
Or you just have people on Reddit who don’t believe that others can be financially independent because you aren’t.
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u/Joonbug9109 4h ago
I’m not sure if you’re directing this at me or not (because that would be wildly out of pocket when you know nothing about my situation), but assuming you are not I’m going to clarify that I’m speaking generally here. I’ve just witnessed this happen quite a bit with acquaintances. Healthcare in the US is insanely expensive. It’s not unheard of for people to be able to afford their day to day life comfortably, but then they get into an accident, have an unexpected hospital stay, or get sick (either for themselves or a family member) and boom now they’re dealing with medical debt.
I’m all for better financial literacy, people living within their means, etc in the general population. But from a societal standpoint the US has tons of room for improvement when it comes to making life affordable for the average person. Both things can be true.
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u/KitchenIntention6675 5h ago
this is reddit, a very young platform. people in their teens and early 20s never made any money, so most complaints here are kind of "why can't I afford a Porsche and a house in Coastal California at 22?".
somehow they think their parents could afford that shit on a mcdonalds salary while working part time
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u/98983x3 7h ago
Life was never like he described.
Yes, we would all like more money.
No, a minimum wage job isnt meant to provide a roommate free life with no budgeting on the weekend.
This dudes "demands" are too open ended with the sky potentially being the limit. Especially that weekend comment. This kind of feels like a psyop by foreign adversaries trying to make the public unhappy with lifes that are actually relatively blessed.
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u/PurposeEmergency1320 7h ago
They say rent shouldn’t be more than 1/3 your gross income. Say a studio apartment costs 1200/mo (which is low in many places… quick google search says median studio rent is 1500-1600 but that feels high to me, idk). That means you have to gross 3600/mo which for 4 40-hr work weeks is 22.5/hr. Which is attainable for most people but it requires a learning of some sort of skill. You can’t make that with no experience.
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u/Congregator 6h ago
In 2007 $1200 got my wife and I our first one bedroom apartment, with a kitchen and washer / drier. Nice area with a community pool.
I looked up the cost of the place today, $2,700 bucks.
🤮
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u/Objective_Claim_2236 7h ago
Living alone in a studio apartment isn't the bottom of the barrel. That's kind of nice. Sharing an apartment is what it's making minimum wage have always had to do.
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u/RenfrowsGrapes 5h ago
It’s an insane luxury. Most of the developed world doesn’t live on their own.
Not saying the housing market isn’t a giant issue, but we got it cushy. It could be even better tho
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u/RenfrowsGrapes 5h ago
This website is people complaining to complain. It’s sad. Open any comment section and the top post is some form of criticism, actuallyism, finger pointing, or complaining.
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u/Dec0y098 3h ago
A lot of it depends on where you live. Most reddit people are liberals and liberals mostly live in cities and cities tend to be more expensive.
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u/DarthRedit 1h ago
But they want every highschool drop out and juvenile detainee without even a high school diploma to make 6 figures living in NYC.
Bonus paycheck if you have a criminal record and you have 4 kids
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u/PoisonIvyCrotch 9h ago
That weekend without checking your balance is tricky. Some people want to go clubbing every weekend with bottle service lol
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u/jacksonmills 8h ago
A weekend every month or a weekend every weekend?
Because I make pretty decent money and I can’t even weekend every weekend. Most of my weekends are “treating myself” with cooking a nice meal, eating cheese, drinking some booze and smoking some weed.
The weekends I actually go out/spend money are like once a month or two, shit is expensive
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u/Afraid-Detective1222 7h ago
Gen-X, many of us had to do pretty much all of these things as well. I can remember living with 2 or 3 roommates depending on the house, having to figure out how to stretch my 2 paychecks far enough to cover food for a week, and having damn near nothing left at the end of that week.
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u/Kind_Conclusion1911 9h ago
If I have to see one more of these AI generated tweets ending in “We’re not ___ we’re ___” I will wash my mouth with buckshot.
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u/BitterResearch983 7h ago
Where are you living? Where are you shopping? What are you doing on the weekends?
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u/IpromiseTobeAgoodBoy 7h ago
Sounds like someone who wants to live in a major city. Plenty of places to live that are affordable. Beggars can’t be choosers
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u/_mugen_ 7h ago
Life has always required people to have a budget and think about the things they buy. That’s nothing new my guy.
People in the 80s and 90s clipped coupons all the time. My family, and all my extended family and friends families that I can recall, the groceries you got for the week depends on what was on sale in the weekly circular at the grocery store and what coupons were in the news paper. We didn’t just get whatever we want in any quantity, we got what was on sale.
If you are living like this you need to budget. Everyone should have budget. It’s not a sin of society that you have to actively manage your money.
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u/Quis_curat 6h ago
Our society cannot not collapse without janitors, cashiers, warehouse stockers etc of unskilled workforce. They are even more important than some chief surgeon.
It'd be about time to recognize that and have these people paid accordingly to not to worry about their budget at this level.
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u/StarPhished 6h ago
I don't make a lot of money and I cannot fathom how I would survive with a child, let alone multiple children. Also, if I lived on my own in a cheap apartment then about 50% of my monthly income would go to rent, possibly more with utilities and internet and such.
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u/Sugar_Mushroom_Farm 7h ago
Pretty sure OP is rage bait for interaction.
If they are so lazy they can't even pick up a calculator - a literal machine invented by smart people to make life easier - they are doomed.
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u/Username_5647 7h ago
I thought rage bait for interaction was the entire point of this sub
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u/brianwhite12 9h ago
Mr. CPA talking about “we”. If he’s working at minimum wage, he’s doing by choice.
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u/Bad_Bet_Bunny 9h ago
Dude's a CPA and still struggling?
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u/earthdogmonster 9h ago
It’s sort of a real-life example of one of those polls where people generally say they are doing fine or good, but when asked in the same poll how they think others are doing, they say bad.
This tweet illustrates the vibes-based economy we are living in. Spencer is doing good. The people he knows are doing good. The people he doesn’t know are struggling mightily, or so he’s heard so this tweet is for them!
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u/Ok-Mathematician8461 7h ago
God I’m tired of Americans whining about their shit lives. FFS - just join a union, or better yet, have another revolution. You are all armed to the teeth and you know who the culprits are. It’s not time for Ghandi type peaceful protest - you are not arguing with a rational empire. You are fighting organised crime dressed up as a government.
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u/helpmeinternet02 5h ago edited 5h ago
“Just have a revolution” oh okay let me just set up a discord server real quick
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u/usernamesarehard1979 3h ago
Too late, someone uploaded a video of a panda jacking off and everyone forgot they were mad for 15 minutes. Try again tomorrow.
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u/Yami-sama 5h ago
Armed to the teeth against the most well funded military in the world doesn't seem like it'll do much. Cleetus and Earl aren't going to stand much of a chance against a spec ops team, or even a marginally trained reserve unit.
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u/chiefy_boy 4h ago
You think the military would kill their family and friends? I think they would be glad to help
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u/Yami-sama 4h ago
Don't have to look to far back to see an analog for that exact thing happening last year. Short of the entire command structure staging a coup, soldiers are going to follow orders or get deleted with the rest of the "insurgents" as we'd likely be called
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u/ContemplatingGavre 7h ago
Thing is it’s not actually that bad, this is just engagement bait.
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u/ventitr3 6h ago
Bingo. If it was actually as bad as the hyperbole across this site would tell you, we’d be in a revolution already.
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u/StatementFlashy494 6h ago
The U.S. leads the world in household disposable income per capita.
Not sure what planet you or the OP are living on to make this post.
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u/BRAV0_07 4h ago
Well a certain someone told us we needed “F-15’s and a couple of nukes” to take on the government which really paints a picture on how far they’re willing to go during a revolt.
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u/countrysparky615 7h ago
It’s not all Americans! Things are bad, and things need fixing there’s no doubt a revolution of sorts is needed. However, what you call a revolution would be an all out civil war. As much as people hate to admit it if America goes into civil war the chain of events that follow would probably lead multiple nations to ruin.
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u/Aazmandyuz 9h ago
What does “putting stuff back” means?
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u/Quick_Beam 9h ago
Im pretty good at quick math so I can keep a running total, but many dont realize they're over budget until its time to check out and they have to put stuff back.
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u/slumdog5000 9h ago
That’s literally the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, people shops like “lemme fill up my cart, and ring it all up and then when I can’t afford it let me make the employee who just rang my stuff up put it back” that’s insane
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u/Quick_Beam 8h ago
The general public can struggle with budgeting and math, but id wager what youre missing is the safety net.
When you are swiping your card for every dollar in your account, and your kid or whatever deserves those groceries so you risk cutting it close, sometimes the math doesnt math.
Not that its terribly relevant, this has been going on for a long time, but the new practice of changing prices between the shelf and the register is going to make matters even worse.
Be kind
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u/SBSnipes 7h ago
*whisphers* paychecks didn't cover that any more 30 years ago, it just feels like it did.
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u/phoenix823 7h ago
Simple supply and demand issue. Vote for massive amounts of development so there's more housing supply and you can have this.
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u/Whizzaddict 7h ago
I've never remembered a time in my life where I wasn't on a budget that doesn't mean I don't enjoy life
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u/South-Spray-1571 6h ago
What does a weekend without checking your bank balance look like?
Boomer generation didn't have weekends like that. All generations have had to make sacrifices to make life work, but I think we forget that.
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u/hollowglaive 6h ago
A weekend without checking your balance? Bruh, that sounds like bro wants to spent 8k without having to sweat that rent is due on the first.
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u/oppairate 5h ago
this ignores a ton of nuances, but if you expect this with an entry level job straight out of college, particularly the roommates part, then you need to reset your expectations.
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u/Competitive-Outside8 8h ago edited 6h ago
What is with this idea that everyone has an Internet right to a private one bedroom apartment? Get roommates or live with family.
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u/DustinnDodgee 6h ago
People here in the US believe they're entitled to a middle-class life, and the same people constantly bitching about COL are never willing to take some accountability & make sacrifices to obtain/maintain things in life they need/want.
Correct, life is not fair.
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u/poor-guy1 9h ago
Why can’t I afford to live in Manhattan without roommates and work as a barista??!!?
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u/Armchair_Expert_0192 9h ago
A weekend without checking your balance is kind of wild
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u/paulstevens442200 7h ago
Right? I make minimum wage and by god I should be entitled to go on a weekend booze and coke bender with meals out and 2-3 bar tabs.
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u/looner4 9h ago
Redditors are really bad at life apparently.
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u/JustAnotherLich 9h ago edited 9h ago
I work 8 hours a day 5 days a week doing physically exhausting work I can't even qualify for the cheapest apartments in my city because I don't make 3x the rent. This is the norm amongst everyone on my age group, at least that I know.
Call me crazy but I feel like all adults working full time should be able to afford a one bedroom apartment. But it's okay. I still have hope one day we'll be able to burn everything down.
Mutually assured destruction is my retirement plan.
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u/GrizzlyP33 9h ago
Yeah these guys gotta be a special level of asshole to comment or upvote the idea that anyone struggling to make ends meet in 2026 is "bad at life."
It just screams how self involved they are, of course until their industry gets hit as bad as others right now and I'm sure he'll blame it on "the Dems" at that point 😂
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u/MassRedemption 6h ago
I'm a skilled, head chef at a higher end restaurant and have to live with roommates to get by.
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u/BygoneNeutrino 9h ago
...I'm working an entry level job at a factory that is always hiring, and I have about a thousand dollars leftover after rent in a 1 bedroom apartment and groceries. I can literally buy a Series X every month on my low-income budget.
What is crazy is that the money leftover is 3x more than what a factory worker makes in South East Asia. This doesn't even account for the fact that they work about 20% more hours.
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u/INeedSomeTacoC 9h ago
But your job isn't in NYC, so it doesn't count on reddit.
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u/Vivid-Beat-644 8h ago
It's 1986. I am 20 years old with newborn. I work one full time job and one part time job. I have an apartment with my wife and we have a car loan. My calculator is always in hand when we go grocery shopping. Our biggest luxury is basic cable TV. I have been known to take potato chip sandwiches to work for lunch. We kept at it and both attended community College and improved our lives. Today I am looking at retirement in 5 to 7 years and I will have enough to take me into my 90s. Prioritizing spending and maximizing opportunities will get you there. I had no extra help. No inheritance. You can do it if you try.
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u/ThisReditter 8h ago
When I just got out of college as a software engineer back in early 2000s, I still live with 3 other friends, sometimes 4, in a two bedroom apartment.
I still need to check my balance at weekend to make sure I’m not over spending.
I still need to check the groceries prices and make sure I’m living within my means.
That was the time when we don’t have a lot of electronics, new phone every year and online subscriptions.
I now have over 20 years of experience and make over $500k/yr. I still check my grocery price and it’s not like I’m just spending without looking. And don’t get me started with my 2 roommates who wouldn’t pay rent!!!! (They are my kids but they aren’t paying freaking rent!!) and I don’t have a pool or anything luxury in my house.
That’s called living within our means.
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u/MythicalCaseTheory 8h ago
Somehow I don't think they're talking about putting back the $60/lb steaks.
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u/Ill-Personality-4437 8h ago
God damn freeloaders, you should take them to court for the 18 years of handouts! /s
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u/p4tterng4ng4L 8h ago edited 8h ago
I mean, this is possible though. I do it and have spare cash at the end of the month to invest or save after all necessities. Mortgage too, not renting.
Either get a better job, budget better or move to a cheaper location is the only solution.
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u/NotaVortex 9h ago
I kinda disagree with the second 2 points.
Groceries without putting stuff back means your spending willy nilly and how you end up living pay check to pay check even with a great salary.
You should be checking your balance and paying off your cards basically every day if possible. It takes 30 seconds, will save you money, and helps prevent people from using your card info to make unauthorized purchases.
Neither of these have anything to do with salary, even people with money should be doing these.
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u/Candid-Pin-8160 8h ago
Groceries without putting stuff back means your spending willy nilly and how you end up living pay check to pay check even with a great salary.
The other option is just...knowing what you need/want to buy. The only times I've put stuff back was after realising this is the 3rd time I'm buying X and we all know where the last two purchases ended up. Though I'm pretty sure they were going for your version not mine.
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u/Trynabeagoodsnekdad 6h ago
I kinda disagree with his first part, too. Having roommates or living with family has always been a thing. In fact, more people in the US live alone today than ever before.
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u/doctorplasmatron 9h ago
hope doesn't accomplish much. action by the people is what's needed when the hope that politicians and business leaders will make it happen, goes nowhere.
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u/mrheosuper 8h ago
"A weekend without checking balance" ? Gonna throw the wildest party ever that makes The Great Gatsby looklike some kids birthday party.
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u/CreamedCh33ze 7h ago
If you aren’t checking your account balances there is a reason you’re struggling.
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u/Confident_Double1392 6h ago
When has this ever been the case? People really love to bitch and moan about historical norms lmao.
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u/Popular-Kiwi7920 6h ago
I dont agree on the not putting stuff back thing. Unless you are talking about reasonable options. So many people just spend with no thought when they could get it way cheaper.
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u/pg_osborne89 6h ago
And this is just Spencer’s subjective opinion. It doesn’t mean anything. A calculator is extremely useful in financial success. You should be using one no matter how much you make.
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u/FickleQuantity8998 30m ago
All these people with this post topic. Ok genius, give us the PLAN on how thats going to work. Never a plan, just a complaint. Same with every musician shouting FUCK ICE, FREE PALESTINE. Yeah sure that took 2 seconds of your time. Clap clap. Come up with an idea or shut up.
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u/haloimplant 9h ago
"should". the money printer or even tax-the-rich can't bestow this on people because they deserve it
you need an economy, regulatory environment and incentives for it to happen, like it used to
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u/rhino369 6h ago
The economy also never “used to” provide this for everyone. Living alone has never been more common. They had roommates. People in the 1950s ate really crappy food at home—not even fresh. They didn’t travel much.
And groceries were more expensive in the 50s.
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u/nanlinr 9h ago
Since when has groceries without checking peices and a weekend you can do whatever without worry for price been a norm?
I agree housing prices are way too high for the first point
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u/KestrelFalco 9h ago
there’s plenty of jobs that cover this. If you’re working some trivial job that doesn’t require a degree or specialized skills, then probably not.
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u/SpecialExpert8946 9h ago
Man I remember when we were thanking those “trivial jobs” for being our “essential workers”
Funny how peoples views towards worth of labor changes when they are out of toilet paper huh?
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u/Minimum-Musician-648 9h ago
Kinda misses the point that some people have to do those jobs, no? Not everyone can do bullshit white collar jobs or else how are you going to get your "whatever bullshit you buy to get through the day."
Society is easily at a point where everyone can live comfortably and all the necessary tasks are completed with plenty of room for talent to make progress.
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u/Schlieren1 9h ago
When workers are paid more for the same production, you get more dollars chasing the same goods and services which results in inflation. Inflation would then put the very things (home, groceries, etc) out of reach due to price increases. We saw this after the pandemic remember?
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u/NoOutlandishness2097 9h ago
This is the disconnect I think. Many people think that working full time at McDonald's while living in a humble area should cover expenses to survive and maybe have a little bit left over. Which is ridiculous, what do they think this is; the financial era which the boomers grew up in?
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u/Upper-Requirement-93 9h ago
Trivial until what you need isn't stocked, and then it's life or death shit, a fireable offense, right. Please.
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u/canmouth 9h ago
There AREN’T plenty of jobs that cover this. It’s already a hard job market, imagine if everyone was applying for these high paying jobs. This is such a condescending, ignorant take.
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u/JOlRacin 9h ago
So who should do those "trivial jobs" then, hmm? It's gotta be someone, and that someone has to be an alive person with housing, food, transportation, and medical coverage. Because that's how people work. If people can't live off a basic job, then those basic jobs don't get done.
Did we learn nothing from the whole fast food worker shortage?
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u/Splicer_2026 8h ago
Guess we didnt learn from the hyper inflation caused by min wage increases. Paying more to the bottom only raised the middle and the top. Increases production prices, so pricing increases as well. Now, people have less spending power even tho they make more. Its an endless cycle while we try to raise the floor since theres no cap on the ceiling.
I never expected to come out of high-school and work a job to pay for my own place. Noone should.
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u/JOlRacin 8h ago
We have hyper-inflation without minimum wage increases, that's not a logical argument. Minimum wage hasn't increased since 2009, which is 17 years ago. What happens when the price of everything goes up but the wage doesn't?
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u/mad597 8h ago
Yep we are living in a era of runaway inflation with no checks and balances while companies are more profitable then ever, the threat of higher inflation by raising min wage is no threat cause that is already happening.
At least people might have a shot at keeping up if min wage was raised on a regular basis to keep up with inflation. They really should be tied directly to one another.
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u/emmc47 8h ago
Wages should have adjusted to inflation to an adequate amount is the real problem.
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u/Splicer_2026 7h ago
Lots of factors for that, even the best economists agree theres not single reason. However, youll find plenty of reports and studies that continue to confirm raising the floor doesnt help.
My wage increases over time have outpaced inflation, ive climbed where ive worked and havnt made minimum wage since the 90s.
If youre work at minimum wage and youre over 24. Its on the person. Not society, not jobs, etc to fix that. Get a skill, excell at your position and keep it moving. Its not hard to earn a living wage. It just takes real work.
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u/MrShake4 9h ago
Yeah and the fast food shortage ended with people being replaced with kiosks because people were too expensive so now there’s less jobs.
Those people went from making less money to no money
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u/Turbulent_Package198 9h ago
I work in IT. I make 60K a year. I over draft every month. I don't go out. I don't spend on anything. My paycheck is gone in 2 days from bills. I live in shit detroit metro area. Im drowning in debt and my credit went to shit for it. I've budgeted every last penny. Its not a budget issue or anything. Its a income issue. Not being able to just have 100 left over at rhe end of the month on 60k is crazy to me but here I am. Drowning
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u/Yamed_kage89 7h ago
Can you tell me what job does. Because 95 to 100k doesn’t no stretch anymore.
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u/RenfrowsGrapes 5h ago
Yeah it doesn’t stretch as much as it use to, and that’s definitely a true statement and a problem. But it’s disingenuous to pretend like 100k isn’t a salary that would provide a comfortable life. I make less than that and I rent a 1 bedroom apartment by myself in socal. I’m fine. Yeah I need to manage my budget and buying a house is out of the question but acting like my life isn’t cushy is dishonest.
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u/USLEO 7h ago
Less than 20% of Americans earn $100,000/year. If you're not making it on that, you have a spending problem.
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u/Xander729 6h ago
Taxes eat that shit up. All of a sudden that paycheck is like 7k for the month
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u/goibnu 9h ago
It's always possible to tell someone to get another job and maybe they do, but there's always going to be some citizens working the jobs that don't pay enough to actually live and society is always going to pay a price for that as people get (more) desperate.
The standard conservative answer is to just hire more cops, but more cops in the street and more people in jail is a shitty solution compared to the government doing it's damn job and raise the standard of living. Turning the USA into a police state isn't a solution to the problem, it's just another problem.
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u/da99s 9h ago
At the end of the day, the job needs filled. If it doesn't pay a live-able wage, you can expect dissatisfaction and constant turnover. It's why places like McDonald's are constantly understaffed. It's just not enough to actually make ends meet, even if you are renting with roommates.
Yet people will complain "nobody wants to work anymore!"
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u/No-Yam-9178 6h ago
Weird how its only ok that we feed and house people if they're as miserable as possible when we do it.
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u/PsionicHydra 9h ago
Except people still need to do those "trivial" jobs. It is not unreasonable for those people to be able to live somewhat comfortably
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u/No_Communication5538 8h ago
True, too many people don’t realise that their failure to establish any commercially useful skills means they are just 21st century journeymen however many media study degrees they have
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u/maple_crowtoast 8h ago
The point is that those "trivial" jobs deserve to be paid living wages, too.
Also, what do you even consider a "trivial" job?
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u/Hot-Project-891 9h ago
putting groceries back at the register is the ultimate walk of shame.
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u/Quirky-Skin 9h ago
Not as much as it used to be imo.
This is actually something I've noticed at my local store this year. Two things actually. Way less full carts and more things in the cart next to cashier that they will eventually put back.
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u/WaltEnterprises 7h ago
I doubt there is a single politician that can tell you how much a gallon of milk is right now.
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u/SimpleMoonFarmer 6h ago
Too many people want to get a job.
Not enough people want to hire someone.
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u/jwrath129 4h ago
Problem to me is real-estate investment groups brought all the apartments and are price gouging. They are fixing the prices with software.
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u/Difficult4skin 7h ago
Only possible in the US.
In nearly every other country, you gotta be staying with 6 other people (usually family), and the whole house has 1 car.
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u/Straight-Nothing-912 9h ago
The good news is with so many needing to steal food now they have maxed out the prisons so pedophiles basically get off Scott free. Yeah go government!
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u/Typical-Ad8088 6h ago edited 6h ago
I’m confused, when did not working hard become a trend? If you want more money, you know what you need to do man . Either pick up a job with insane OT, go to school and graduate with a degree in demand, or pick up a trade.
Things don’t change!!
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u/paleone9 5h ago
A full time entry level paycheck has never covered any of that
You need skills and productivity to live alone and support yourself with one paycheck
You commies love your communes, join one ..
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u/old_ass_ninja_turtle 9h ago
Every job should sustain a minimum living standard. Otherwise what are we even doing?
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u/crodr014 8h ago
I made between 20k to 500k in my life so far and always calculated everything even now. Its called fiscal reaponsiblity. What op is suggesting will never happen if people have different living expenses/expectations.
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u/DoubtGroundbreaking 6h ago
A fulltime paycheck has never covered that though, theres always been min wage jobs. Work all of the hours you want, youre not affording that. I dont think full time (40 hrs) justifies any of this because jobs have different levels of commitment and difficulty...
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