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Ask HN: American friends life is falling apart badly. What can I do to help?

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Re: Ask HN: American friends life is falling apart badly. What can I do to help?

#31

Post by danielvf »

bequanna wrote: post #27
pcthrowaway wrote: post #24

I think we should just ignore everyone suggesting she get treated for substance abuse issues. We don't know her situation, and even if she is using drugs, there are many functional addicts. If she's capable of working, it'd be nice if someone in the area offered her something like contract to hire, where they could then see for themselves if she's capable of succeeding in the field (I am in Canada and on the verge of…

> The real problem right now is a lack of a social safety net Is that the real problem here? Unemployment in the United States is incredibly low and those who want to find good work for good pay are able to.

Chattanooga has a 3.3% unemployment rate. By comparison Berlin, Germany has 9.1%. It's definitely an super hot labor market right now.

Re: Ask HN: American friends life is falling apart badly. What can I do to help?

#32

Post by pcthrowaway »

bequanna wrote: post #27
pcthrowaway wrote: post #24

I think we should just ignore everyone suggesting she get treated for substance abuse issues. We don't know her situation, and even if she is using drugs, there are many functional addicts. If she's capable of working, it'd be nice if someone in the area offered her something like contract to hire, where they could then see for themselves if she's capable of succeeding in the field (I am in Canada and on the verge of…

> The real problem right now is a lack of a social safety net Is that the real problem here? Unemployment in the United States is incredibly low and those who want to find good work for good pay are able to.

I'm assuming you haven't seen people struggling with discrimination, especially trans people in conservative cities, trying to find these easy-to-get jobs which offer "good work for good pay". If you have suggestions of actual places in Chattanooga that would hire her yesterday and start payments in a week, I'm sure OP would be happy to pass that along.

Otherwise, please consider how trans people might be limited by obstacles that cis people don't even realize exist.

Re: Ask HN: American friends life is falling apart badly. What can I do to help?

#33

Post by UncleEntity »

freemint wrote: post #22
cwiggs wrote: post #15

Maybe they can find a local Hackerspace that will help get a better dev environment setup? If the have tech skills I would think they could get a basic job easily.

I had not looked into that. There actually is a hackerspace however the rates for membership are $60 per month[1]. The discounted rates don't seem to apply to her situation. [2] It is not obvious whether that space even would be trans friendly. I can see if i can reach someone from there to get a vibe or an idea. > If the have tech skills I would think they could get a basic job easily. One would think so naively. I…

> It is not obvious whether that space even would be trans friendly.

It’s probably safe to assume most places are “trans friendly” these days — nobody wants the twitter mob[0] after them for .

[0] Is that even a thing anymore or did all the dogpilers move to a more “friendly” place?

—edit—

And before I get dogpiled I should say that I mean regular people don’t care not politically motivated health care debates like in other comments.

Re: Ask HN: American friends life is falling apart badly. What can I do to help?

#34

Post by rtpg »

danielvf wrote: post #28

I live in the southeast US, not Chattanooga, but not too far by US standards. At the moment basic, low skilled jobs are in high demand - almost every restaurant or store has a now hiring sign out, and the wages are 50% to 100% higher than before the pandemic. Similar story with manufacturing / warehousing. Amazon wants drivers, Walmart wants drivers, every grocery store wants drivers. I've never seen anything like it…

50 weeks at 15 dollars an hour, 40 hours a week is $30k.

I imagine there are better paying jobs but I do think that $40k is not an immediately accessible thing. Though to your point 15 seems in line with what’s on indeed for Chattanooga, many jobs are under that line as well (cashier stuff for $11 or $12), so it might be worth adjusting your preconceptions about the yearly wages that these positons offer.

Re: Ask HN: American friends life is falling apart badly. What can I do to help?

#35

Post by bequanna »

pcthrowaway wrote: post #32
bequanna wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The real problem right now is a lack of a social safety net Is that the real problem here? Unemployment in the United States is incredibly low and those who want to find good work for good pay are able to.

I'm assuming you haven't seen people struggling with discrimination, especially trans people in conservative cities, trying to find these easy-to-get jobs which offer "good work for good pay". If you have suggestions of actual places in Chattanooga that would hire her yesterday and start payments in a week, I'm sure OP would be happy to pass that along. Otherwise, please consider how trans people might be limited by…

Quite the leap.

I’m not sure why the original comment even mentions this person is trans. How is that relevant to the situation other than to trigger the “victim” alarm in some people’s minds?

Also, how presumptuous of you to assume I’m cis. Be better.

Re: Ask HN: American friends life is falling apart badly. What can I do to help?

#37

Post by danielvf »

rtpg wrote: post #34
danielvf wrote: post #28

I live in the southeast US, not Chattanooga, but not too far by US standards. At the moment basic, low skilled jobs are in high demand - almost every restaurant or store has a now hiring sign out, and the wages are 50% to 100% higher than before the pandemic. Similar story with manufacturing / warehousing. Amazon wants drivers, Walmart wants drivers, every grocery store wants drivers. I've never seen anything like it…

50 weeks at 15 dollars an hour, 40 hours a week is $30k. I imagine there are better paying jobs but I do think that $40k is not an immediately accessible thing. Though to your point 15 seems in line with what’s on indeed for Chattanooga, many jobs are under that line as well (cashier stuff for $11 or $12), so it might be worth adjusting your preconceptions about the yearly wages that these positons offer.

I pulled my number off full time Amazon driving, vehicle provided, which is about $20/hr here. Most low skill jobs in my area are around $12-$17 an hour. Eleven or below is there, but rare. We're probably a slightly more happening town than Chattanooga though.

But even so 30K is still a huge difference from having to scrap for food, or make a computer from spare parts. Changed post from $40K to $30K.

Re: Ask HN: American friends life is falling apart badly. What can I do to help?

#38

Post by freemint »

bequanna wrote: post #35
pcthrowaway wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm assuming you haven't seen people struggling with discrimination, especially trans people in conservative cities, trying to find these easy-to-get jobs which offer "good work for good pay". If you have suggestions of actual places in Chattanooga that would hire her yesterday and start payments in a week, I'm sure OP would be happy to pass that along. Otherwise, please consider how trans people might be limited by…

Quite the leap. I’m not sure why the original comment even mentions this person is trans. How is that relevant to the situation other than to trigger the “victim” alarm in some people’s minds? Also, how presumptuous of you to assume I’m cis. Be better.

Because it is relevant in a bunch of ways.

- It obviously increases the burn rate due to increased medical expenses which makes certain income thresholds to qualify for help harder to reach.

- It together with a comment suggesting parental abuse means she can't rely on family support

- There is discrimination against trans people. If xy% of people despise you because of your existince is a challange to their god and on those people decides how many hours you get that obviously has an impact.

I must congratulate you. Your cynical engagement both claiming this to maybe being a scam, acting worried for me and yet being very motivated to argue political points might have gotten this post removed from the top of AskHN where it was some time before you posted. I hope when i wake up that my genuine ask for help and advice got a few more eyeballs.

Re: Ask HN: American friends life is falling apart badly. What can I do to help?

#39

Post by pcthrowaway »

bequanna wrote: post #35
pcthrowaway wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm assuming you haven't seen people struggling with discrimination, especially trans people in conservative cities, trying to find these easy-to-get jobs which offer "good work for good pay". If you have suggestions of actual places in Chattanooga that would hire her yesterday and start payments in a week, I'm sure OP would be happy to pass that along. Otherwise, please consider how trans people might be limited by…

Quite the leap. I’m not sure why the original comment even mentions this person is trans. How is that relevant to the situation other than to trigger the “victim” alarm in some people’s minds? Also, how presumptuous of you to assume I’m cis. Be better.

> Also, how presumptuous of you to assume I’m cis. Be better.

What I said:

> I'm assuming you haven't seen people struggling with discrimination, especially trans people in conservative cities

is only presuming exactly what I said, not even presuming that you're not trans, because that (on its own) is actually besides the point.

In the interest of keeping this more in the spirit with the HN conversation guidelines, I'll just say that I'd appreciate if you engaged with what I actually said instead of deflecting.

Re: Ask HN: American friends life is falling apart badly. What can I do to help?

#40

Post by pcthrowaway »

danielvf wrote: post #31
bequanna wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The real problem right now is a lack of a social safety net Is that the real problem here? Unemployment in the United States is incredibly low and those who want to find good work for good pay are able to.

Chattanooga has a 3.3% unemployment rate. By comparison Berlin, Germany has 9.1%. It's definitely an super hot labor market right now.

I'd wager the unemployment rate among transwomen in Chattanooga is higher.

I think in the U.S. in general trans people have double the unemployment rates of cis people. I imagine that's higher in Chattanooga, and higher again for transwomen, but I couldn't find any studies here so let's just agree that 3.3% likely is not indicative of the unemployment rates of specific marginalized groups.

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