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<p>I wonder why people rag on working at McDonalds so much. I worked a bunch of minimum-wage jobs quite some time ago. At least McDonalds has a decent career path for growth for those willing to work their way into management.</p>
<p>BTW, you ever been a 1%er?</p>
<p>I don’t know why people rag on McDonald’s so much…I think their fries are great…</p>
<p>I may end up working there myself if a financial tax is implemented,</p>
<p>I think that Burger King and Wendy’s both do a better job at fries compared to McDonalds but I really don’t eat a lot of fries on my low-carb diet. My second job was at a party favors store (like iParty) where I moved stock upstairs and downstairs, changed ceiling fluorescent bulbs, cleaned toilets, vacuumed the store floor and swept other areas. This is when I was 14 before child labor laws got a little more serious. I had a few other similar jobs and it provided a little perspective for future jobs.</p>
<p>It’s nice growing up when the economy stinks so that you can really appreciate it when the economy is booming. You also know that you’d better save like mad during the good times so that you can survive the bad times. Kids that grew up in good times and get used to their parents’ largesse? The real world is a cruel shock when the economy flips the other way.</p>
<p>A friend of mine (1%er who manages a ton of money and has outperformed the market for quite some time) told me that his father was a lawyer in Silicon Valley but did work as a security guard for some time when he didn’t have work so that they could pay the bills. You do what you have to. It’s nice to learn that when you are a teenager so that you can remember where you came from and go back there if you have to.</p>
<p>Well…I was a busboy. I worked at a gas station and I also had to clean toilets. I worked at BofA and one of my jobs there was to take rubber bands off checks. </p>
<p>I also had a couple of other low paying jobs.</p>
<p>I think it is good to know where you came from…gives you a different perspective on the world. I think it was a good thing that I cleaned toilets. I feel bad that I told a young lady the bathrooms were closed after I just cleaned them. I didn’t want to clean them again.
I would like to apologize to her. If I knew her, I would. </p>
<p>I know middle aged people that are really struggling right now. Arithmetically, I don’t know how they are going to make it.</p>
<p>BCEagle91, Saving money really helps…I agree with you.</p>
<p>Hey, I had to clean the restrooms too!!! (this is beginning to feel like a SNL/Kristen Wiig character skit) My summer job in HS was a busboy. Cleaning the Ladies room was by far the worst part of the job. One day a “lady” had been ill… all over the ladies’ room. One of the waitresses informed me that the Ladies room needed my attention. I was going to quit on the spot (I’M NOT CLEANING THAT MESS!!!) but me being a person of character persevered, and today I am who I am because of that experience. (What is this thread about again?)</p>
<p>Lol…it is now about cleaning bathrooms…</p>
<p>We build up a certain lifestyle which requires a given amount of maintenance and we slave away to make enough money to support that lifestyle. Taking out a mortgage, student loan, car loan, buying a cell phone with a two-year plan is showing the ultimate in confidence in the economy, our ability to keep a job or get a new one and in getting regular increases in compensation. How do you unwind that when you over-commit?</p>
<p>The worst that I had to go through is when I couldn’t make a rent payment and had to sell a very nice tape deck at a pawn shop to make the rent payment. A good lesson when you’re pretty young on why you shouldn’t overspend. Never got the tape deck back but I got a nicer one (and still have it) years later.</p>
<p>Sounds like you’re from my generation that saw tough times long ago. Maybe it wouldn’t be that hard for a lot of us in that boat to dramatically downsize. There are a lot of places in this country (and outside it) where you can live inexpensively.</p>
<p>Just saw an article on arrest records of OWS mapped to property values and rental amounts where they live and it appears that most of them live well above the medians.</p>
<p>It’s a little scary that someone could get that information and then map it to property and rental prices to analyze the demographics of a group so easily.</p>
<p>Having cleaned houses (not just toilets!) and waited tables and washed dishes for many many years gives me a definite appreciation of any luxuries, and a desire to save and think practically, and try to earn to the most I can.
It also gives me confidence that I can survive because I am willing to work at anything.</p>
<p>I feel that my D’s are missing out on this “opportunity”- it is hard these days to get ANY job!!! </p>
<p>Going to college these days is like going to a resort compared to the experience I had. I fear my D’s are much weaker and more spoiled and thus less resilient than I am. But it is not so easy to correct this problem. Volunteer work is nice and all, but learning how to pay for things and save is also very important.</p>
<p>This generation wants so much so soon, IMO.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, some of those kids doing OWS are a little entitled…</p>
<p>Our society is going through big changes. When have so many been unemployed that they have the time to demonstrate? </p>
<p>I just hope there is enough growth to reward those who want to work hard, in any kind of work.</p>
<p>BCEagle91, I like your post number 88.</p>
<p>I am already downsizing…</p>
<p>And I don’t have loans…</p>
<p>I know some people have done well with loans…but I guess my grandmother and her tales of the depression have influenced me.</p>
<p>Of course, if we ever have hyper inflation, I might be sorry I don’t have loans. :)</p>
<p>No loans. Very easy to get into trouble IMO.
There are places for leverage in business, but that is it.</p>
<p>Performersmom…you get hour first choice, you don’t get your second choice…you wanted your kids to live easier lives…and with easier lives comes a little different mind set.</p>
<p>I grew up lower middle class…looks like many here did that too…and then raised their kids middle to upper middle class…maybe upper class…</p>
<p>I know my kids see things differently than I do…and that is ok. They are grounded. They are working very hard. Probably harder than I did. They just didn’t actually go through a
lower middle class lifestyle. They don’t have to clean toilets. I did not want them too.</p>
<p>I agree with your post 92, performersmom.</p>
<p>"Sounds like you’re from my generation that saw tough times long ago. Maybe it wouldn’t be that hard for a lot of us in that boat to dramatically downsize. There are a lot of places in this country (and outside it) where you can live inexpensively. </p>
<p>That’s the problem - our generation never really saw tough times assuming you’re a boomer. That’s why so many have financial problems. Compare us to our parents’ generation who grew up during the depression.</p>
<p>You should come to our house, dstark! H would love having you on his side!!!</p>
<p>I really think doing menial work is a great learning experience- sorry(yes, we disagree LOL).
ESPECIALLY for those who have more, as it teaches something that is not so obvious.</p>
<p>H is like you. He grew up LMC. Now he wants only the best for his babies. I grew up among the super-wealthy and had almost nothing (went to school with them and so forth). Because I was so grounded and had to scrounge and was very self-sufficient, I really am better off (psychologically stronger) than the kids I knew who never had to do menial work, I promise you. Even my own sibs!! </p>
<p>Unfortunately, it is really a major trend in our country. It is so easy to fall into this because we love them so and want them to have a great life.</p>
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<p>Hah!</p>
<p>I always tell my kids I should have just gotten a job at McDonald’s when I was younger. I would own three by now. Maybe four.</p>
<p>I say, “Why do you want to go to college, get a job at McDonald’s. Go to Hamburger U. That fast food is like crack. It’s a much better career path.”</p>
<p>They don’t like the idea anymore than I did. The young are so romantic. They think what you wear to work is what matters. ;)</p>
<p>" It is so easy to fall into this because we love them so and want them to have a great life."
Yes it is.</p>
<p>The only reason why I am not bagging groceries is that I feel bad applying for a job that is the only option for someone else. I do not mean that in a condescending or entitled way at all. I know the baggers at all the places where I shop. They are the same people that have been there for the last 15 years- this is their career. (Doubt they are hiring, either…) For same reason it is not an option for my D’s to apply for, say, just the summer.</p>
<p>I am not sure where all this is leading. Even well-educated planners are going to run out of money, or come up short in an emergency. Or have to bail out a relative (we have already done that three times). We were not counting on a pension, just saved as much as possible, tried to invest wisely. Today our home is not below what we paid for it, but it is down 65% from its peak, thankfully no mortgage (but some pretty high prop taxes LOL). It is a big piece of our savings, but definitely cost money to own. Of course, what we invested has taken a hit, too, and we are very sophisticated investors.
I feel we are relatively so much better off than many. But even we are worried. H is basically being forced to retire due to his age, even though he is of one the most experienced in his dept, and has already taken huge pay cuts. I am way out of date in my skills as an MBA, so I could never find any work in my former career area.</p>
<p>The time has come for us to think of plan B, and we are still supporting both of our D’s A to Z.</p>
<p>I feel as if the boomers have lost the last 10-15 of their earning years (POOF), on top of home values and investments. Not sure what to say about health care…</p>
<p>Sorry to be so depressing. </p>
<p>I am not complaining; I am saying that even the responsible are at risk.</p>
<p>Performersmom, you are right…Great post.</p>
<p>Even the responsible people are at risk now…</p>
<p>That is why I have been complaining since I joined CC in 2003. </p>
<p>The excessive leverage in the economy, borrowing to pay for wars, tax cuts that skewed to the wealthiest…the way we distribute revenue in the economy…the way we elevate capital over labor, the lack of regulation in the financial world, all these things have contributed to where we are now…a very unstable place. You might not agree with me, but like I said before, you should. ;). </p>
<p>Now…we are in trouble…and when we read political or economic arguments…the arguments come down to…who is going to pay for this mess?</p>
<p>I think those that contributed the most to the mess…the Goldman’s, the other banks…should be in the front of the line. </p>
<p>Ok…off the soapbox.</p>
<p>The movie American Beauty…when Kevin Spacey goes to work at McDonald’s…or whichever fast food place it was… I thought, " I want to do this too". I would like to be a bagger…but like you…I don’t want to take a job from somebody who needs that job. So…it may never happen. </p>
<p>So…,just in case the future isn’t that prosperous, I am downsizing now…from upper middle class to slightly upper middle class. Hey. It is not that easy to downsize. :)</p>