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John Scalzi: Being Poor (2005)

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Re: John Scalzi: Being Poor (2005)

#11

Post by novia »

merpnderp wrote: post #9

Being poor must in part be not knowing how not to be poor or having felonies or depression holding you back. I failed out of college and barely scraped one month of rent for an apartment. I got a shit job working the dock in a light bulb warehouse. I made friends with the truck driver who picked up orders who told me about an opening on their better paying dock. After half a year my hard work caught the eye of HR who…

Are you a baby boomer? You sound like a baby boomer. You're basically saying, "I don't see why all these poor people don't just get a good job."

Re: John Scalzi: Being Poor (2005)

#12

Post by inostia »

Thanks for posting.

"Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor." hit me hard. I didn't grow up poor, but I can understand this sentiment. It's unfortunate that so many people don't take the time to think about societal conditions before placing "blame" on the disadvantaged.

Re: John Scalzi: Being Poor (2005)

#13

Post by InclinedPlane »

A lot of people who have never been poor just think "oh, well, to stop being poor you just need to X, then Y, then Z." But they don't understand the implications, or the difficulty. Not spending money on anything you absolutely don't need is psychologically crushing, especially when that includes everything from dental care to replacement shoes. Finding the energy to continue advancing your employment and to work at disheartening jobs is also brutal. Imagine working at a place that treats you poorly but if you quit you might end up homeless. That takes a toll. And somehow you have to both endure such things while also protecting and nourishing the hope of a better future that makes it possible to put in the tremendous effort to work towards that future.

Meanwhile, the whole world is trying to take advantage of you in innumerable ways. Trying to force you to work off the clock for free (wage theft). Trying to charge you ridiculous interest rates on short term loans. And then you have to pay extra for things because you're poor. Some things you only buy when you're forced to in an emergency, so you can't buy them on sale or shop around. Other things you can't buy in bulk because you can't afford to. You can't buy stuff that lasts. Etc.

Re: John Scalzi: Being Poor (2005)

#14

Post by dizzystar »

inostia wrote: post #12

Thanks for posting. "Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor." hit me hard. I didn't grow up poor, but I can understand this sentiment. It's unfortunate that so many people don't take the time to think about societal conditions before placing "blame" on the disadvantaged.

That line is definitely true. After getting into a decent and safe living world, I ran into a situation. I was given advice on how to deal with it, and I swore I was talking to aliens. It really gave me pause and showed me the brutal reality of how different our worlds are. When I told others about the advice, they looked at me and said "wasn't that obvious to you?" Well, no it wasn't.

In my experience, getting out of poor is a multi-pronged deal. Getting out is 1/10th of the battle; the hardest part is not falling back in. It's like being dropped into the ocean with a canoe, while everyone around you is in steamboats.

Re: John Scalzi: Being Poor (2005)

#15

Post by fatbird »

merpnderp wrote: post #9

Being poor must in part be not knowing how not to be poor or having felonies or depression holding you back. I failed out of college and barely scraped one month of rent for an apartment. I got a shit job working the dock in a light bulb warehouse. I made friends with the truck driver who picked up orders who told me about an opening on their better paying dock. After half a year my hard work caught the eye of HR who…

Or an unfortunately timed eviction because you were the victim of a crime and called the police and your landlord evicts anyone involved in a police incident. Or an ill-timed sickness that causes you to miss work and thus your job. Or a problem child or family member needing your time, forcing you to choose between them and continued minimum wage employment. Or any of a hundred other causes that are just shit luck or bad timing.

Re: John Scalzi: Being Poor (2005)

#17

Post by SSH007 »

merpnderp wrote: post #9

Being poor must in part be not knowing how not to be poor or having felonies or depression holding you back. I failed out of college and barely scraped one month of rent for an apartment. I got a shit job working the dock in a light bulb warehouse. I made friends with the truck driver who picked up orders who told me about an opening on their better paying dock. After half a year my hard work caught the eye of HR who…

So, you got some tremendous help at a very key point and you were able to use that momentum to continue doing well for yourself. Now, imagine you are so poor that you need some help to move up in the world, but that help never arrives. How long would you have done that shit job if the truck driver didn't point you somewhere better. Or, how about if you weren't able to scrape up anything after that one month of rent and were thrown out on the street? I'm not saying you were the luckiest guy on the planet to get that help. Most people could count on some good fortune. But someone considerably more unfortunate than you may not have had that experience, or perhaps they had shitty situations happen to them, at a point when they were most vulnerable. Don't discount those things that you didn't have control over that helped you get somewhere, and recognize that someone may not have been that fortunate. Regardless, I hope you paid it forward.

Re: John Scalzi: Being Poor (2005)

#18

Post by inostia »

merpnderp wrote: post #9

Being poor must in part be not knowing how not to be poor or having felonies or depression holding you back. I failed out of college and barely scraped one month of rent for an apartment. I got a shit job working the dock in a light bulb warehouse. I made friends with the truck driver who picked up orders who told me about an opening on their better paying dock. After half a year my hard work caught the eye of HR who…

I applaud you for your success. I can relate, having found success in a career for which I am self-trained.

However, I don't use my personal anecdote to generalize that others should have the same abilities to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" and just _not be poor_. Knowledge isn't enough, economical and educational opportunities are not distributed equally. This is an issue of conditions that precedes an individual's life.

Re: John Scalzi: Being Poor (2005)

#19

Post by InclinedPlane »

merpnderp wrote: post #9

Being poor must in part be not knowing how not to be poor or having felonies or depression holding you back. I failed out of college and barely scraped one month of rent for an apartment. I got a shit job working the dock in a light bulb warehouse. I made friends with the truck driver who picked up orders who told me about an opening on their better paying dock. After half a year my hard work caught the eye of HR who…

You got lucky.

You didn't have kids, you never got sick, you never had a relative get sick and require your help, you never got evicted, you never got arrested. You managed to find a job that required no experience that you could work but paid well. Those jobs are much rarer than they used to be. You were favored by management because they liked you (imagine if you were too different from them for that to happen).

Re: John Scalzi: Being Poor (2005)

#20

Post by brudgers »

hndamien wrote: post #4

I'm fairly certain I'm not poor but a few of these apply to me. Not enough room for all the people in the house. Driving an $800 car - although it works very reliably - maybe it is $1200 US. Living next to the freeway - well a 5 lane highway and a many many lane motorway around the corner. It is incredibly hard to break the cycle when living from paycheck to paycheck unfortunately.

Because it is common to use the term "the poor" when talking about poverty, it is easy to miss episodic poverty. Between 2009 and 2011, thirty one point eight percent of Americans were below the poverty line at some point. [1]

[1]: https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2014/01/07/nearl...

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