I’m 21 years old, and I’m incredibly grateful just to have a job, and a place to live. I’m the one and only customer service representative for a small medical supply company about 45 minutes outside Atlanta. My boyfriend also works with this company, and thanks to the economy we have seen our already small staff progressively dwindle in size; he and I are now the only two full time employees. We are overworked and underpaid, each of us carries the responsibility of several different jobs, and every layoff adds more and more responsibility to our positions while adding absolutely nothing to our paychecks. There is no overtime at this company. If you work more than your scheduled 8:30-5:30, you receive no extra pay in return. There are no bonuses, no incentives.
We live frugally, going paycheck to paycheck, barely making enough to squeak by, and have accrued a couple thousand in credit card debt from floating groceries and gas when we run out of money. We share a vehicle that is fortunately paid off, but it’s on its last leg. We have no idea what we will do when it dies, we can’t afford a car payment. We have some meager savings set aside, but it’s hard to save money when it runs out so quickly. Even so, we get by for now, but just barely.
My mother’s portrait is entirely different. She and my father divorced several years ago. In the stress of the divorce she made the rash decision of leaving their beautiful new home and buying a fixer-upper from the 70’s. She lives there with my two teenage sisters, both of whom are still in school. Our father rarely pays any kind of child support, and left her with a massive amount of debt from their marriage. Still, they were getting by.
My mother is intelligent and hardworking, she had been employed with an international company for over ten years, and was the best at what she did. Then the bottom fell out of the economy and her branch of the company was closed. They wanted to keep her, they wanted her to move to Minnesota, or New York, but the housing market was in shambles. She knew there was no way she could sell the decrepit half-renovated house they were living in, nor did she want to move my sisters to state and another school district. So she stayed. She had a great resume and pristine references, she should be able to find another job in no time, right? Wrong.
She searched for 8 long depressing months, and then finally got a job with one of her former company’s competitors. It meant taking a pay cut, but it was something. She was there for four happy months, and then she was laid off with no warning. She was out of work again for another four months, then when things started looking hopeless, she managed to get another job, with another huge pay cut.
The already massive debt from her marriage was only made worse by the months she was without a job. Food, car payments, mortgage payments, it all went on credit. By no means were they living extravagantly, but because of all the debt they barely made ends meet when she was making $30 an hour last year, before the economy went to hell. Now she makes $15 an hour, and she is doomed to be in debt for the rest of her life.
I cried myself to sleep all those nights she was without a job, when it seemed imminent that they would lose their house, and my mother and my two little sisters would be homeless. Now I cry myself to sleep knowing that she will never be able to retire, knowing that she will never get the rewards she deserves for all those years of hard work. I cry myself to sleep knowing that there is nothing I can do to help her.
She wants me to go to college so badly, and I would love to have the opportunity to do so, but it seems so pointless now. A few months back, my company was considering hiring another person to share the workload. They posted the job listing on one site, and within 24 hours they were flooded with hundreds of resumes. People with years and years of experience, with bachelors and masters degrees, they were all desperate for a job that paid $10 an hour. Why would I go to college now? I want this situation to get better so badly, but it’s so hard to be optimistic when the world seems to be crumbling around us. But deep down, I know that there is only one direction to go when life has hit rock bottom. Up. So I’m sitting here, looking up from this pit, waiting.
Jessica
Showing posts with label Georgia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Georgia. Show all posts
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Portrait: Atlanta Georgia*
Chanda Williams was an office manager and event coordinator at an Atlanta restaurant. In October, after struggling through a slow-down in business, the restaurant was bought by a larger company and her position was eliminated. She has been out of work since.
"I have a bachelor's degree and I can't even get secretarial work," says Chanda. "My fall-back has always been waiting tables, but I have a friend who is a manager at a restaurant, and he told me they put an ad on Craigslist for servers. They got 200 responses in the first day and half of [the applicants] had masters degrees".
Since Chanda is home most of the time now and they've lost her income, the Williams have taken Che out of daycare. Coincidentally, two of her friends with children also lost their jobs recently, and the three have teamed up to create their own daycare network.
"It forced us to build a community," says Chanda.
The three mothers each take turns watching the kids, giving the other two time to job hunt and run errands. The solution was a welcome change for Chanda after a period of being home with her son seven days a week.
"I didn't realize that working part-time was keeping me sane, because it was a break and it was making me a better mother. If I have the day away from him, then the time we have together is so much better".
Chanda Williams, 27
Atlanta, Georgia
*cross-posted on Faces of the Recession where new friend and photographer, Andy Cook shares stories gathered while he drives around the United States meeting people who have lost jobs or been impacted by the recession. Andy will be cross-posting his stories, here, weekly. For more Faces of the Recession, go here.
Williams lives in East Atlanta with her husband, a maintenance worker at Emory University, and their 3 year old son Che. Their home is cozy and scattered with toys, and looks out over a partially wooded backyard that this morning is blanketed in snow. The house is owned by Chanda's mother, a fact Chanda considers a blessing that allows them to continue to stay afloat.
"I have a bachelor's degree and I can't even get secretarial work," says Chanda. "My fall-back has always been waiting tables, but I have a friend who is a manager at a restaurant, and he told me they put an ad on Craigslist for servers. They got 200 responses in the first day and half of [the applicants] had masters degrees".
Since Chanda is home most of the time now and they've lost her income, the Williams have taken Che out of daycare. Coincidentally, two of her friends with children also lost their jobs recently, and the three have teamed up to create their own daycare network.
"It forced us to build a community," says Chanda.
The three mothers each take turns watching the kids, giving the other two time to job hunt and run errands. The solution was a welcome change for Chanda after a period of being home with her son seven days a week.
"I didn't realize that working part-time was keeping me sane, because it was a break and it was making me a better mother. If I have the day away from him, then the time we have together is so much better".
Chanda Williams, 27
Atlanta, Georgia
*cross-posted on Faces of the Recession where new friend and photographer, Andy Cook shares stories gathered while he drives around the United States meeting people who have lost jobs or been impacted by the recession. Andy will be cross-posting his stories, here, weekly. For more Faces of the Recession, go here.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Portrait: Atlanta, Georgia
It's hard to post about your financial woes in a time where there are people losing their homes, their lifelong memories, their ability to feed their children - but here's my story.
I got divorced about four years ago. I had to do some accounting before I decided if I could leave my marriage. But I realized that I could scrape by on what I was making. Fortunately, we had no children; so I only had to pay for myself. I paid all my bills, including a pretty hefty car payment and even budgeted $100 a month for cable TV and Tivo. I squeaked by on $25 a week for groceries and only used my credit card once for tickets to an Andy Williams Christmas concert for my mom's birthday. I was very proud of my self-efficiency!
I met my boyfriend about a year later. He was the Vice-President and a mortgage broker for a small up-and-coming mortgage company. When we first started dating, he was driving a Lexus. We'd go out on the weekends and he'd pick up the tab for drinks and fancy dinners. I told him tearfully and sincerely one night early in our relationship that I wasn't just interested in his money. He laughed and told me that he didn't have as much as it seemed.
That really proved to be true when the bottom fell out of the housing market. His company hadn't played the subprime game and was truly invested in ethical lending practices. And it cost them what could've been a ton of money in commissions. He said he knew the market was in trouble when a representative from one of the banks came to his office one day and offered him a loan product where a customer could get 100% financing on a home loan just one day out of bankruptcy. He asked the guy from the bank if he thought that was a responsible lending practice.
I didn't realize it at the time, but he wasn't closing any deals, wasn't making any money and was trying to maintain his lifestyle on credit cards. In the midst of all this he had completed his MBA, using student loans, thinking that it would be money well spent as he tried to grow the mortgage company. And I had moved into his newly bought condo with him and his two cats. After living together for about a year, he finally admitted to me that he didn't have enough money to pay the mortgage anymore, and so I started paying for it all, instead of just the half I had been paying. After about a year of this, he sadly left his mortgage company to look for another job where he could actually make some cash.
After he left the mortgage company, he took a job working as a recruiter, serving as a middle-man to place job seekers in open positions that were contracted to the recruiting company by employers. What an unfortunate time to be in the business of hiring. He worked there for a year and couldn't place anyone in a position. Companies weren't hiring. He hadn't made any real money in over a year and a half. He was forced to file bankruptcy because he couldn't cover the huge credit card debit he had accrued. Then he was laid off in September.
For the past six months, and really for the two years we've been living off my $60,000 a year salary. Fortunately, we live in a great condo that has a fairly reasonable mortgage payment. And paying off my car in June has helped tremendously. But we've had to cut back. We used to eat out two or three times a week at least. Now we're able to go out on the cheap once every two weeks - every other Friday on payday. We've sold his BMW (he totalled the Lexus) which has saved us an insurance payment and $100 a month for a parking space at the condo. He's quit going to his cooking club which cost a considerable amount each month. We've stopped going to the movies. We mostly sit around the house with the cats and watch TV every night.
I can't complain compared to the situations others are in. We have everything we need. We still pay all the bills, feed the cats, and drink too much. We have cable TV and broadband internet. I changed jobs about a year ago and my company pays for my public transit to work. (Previously, I was driving an hour each way to work. If I were still doing that when he got laid off, we never would've been able to pay for the gas.) There's no money for intangibles like new clothes, but that kind of thing has never really bothered me. But I still find myself feeling resentful of people who haven't been touched by the recession. I've been responsible with my money all my life. Why am I here, when others are still able to go out to fancy dinners and buy BMWs? But then I try to take a deep breath and give thanks for their fortune and well-being.
I try not to think about it, but I don't know what we'll do if I lose my job. I work for a major media company that's still in pretty good shape at the moment. But these days, there are no guarantees. It will be seven years before the bankruptcy is off his record, which affects his job search. Someone called him the other day about a position and then had to decline when they found out about the bankruptcy. It's more stressful than I acknowledge. I feel like all we have is balancing precariously on my shoulders. That's why I have to be able to afford drinking.
Anonymous
Atlanta, Georgia
I got divorced about four years ago. I had to do some accounting before I decided if I could leave my marriage. But I realized that I could scrape by on what I was making. Fortunately, we had no children; so I only had to pay for myself. I paid all my bills, including a pretty hefty car payment and even budgeted $100 a month for cable TV and Tivo. I squeaked by on $25 a week for groceries and only used my credit card once for tickets to an Andy Williams Christmas concert for my mom's birthday. I was very proud of my self-efficiency!
I met my boyfriend about a year later. He was the Vice-President and a mortgage broker for a small up-and-coming mortgage company. When we first started dating, he was driving a Lexus. We'd go out on the weekends and he'd pick up the tab for drinks and fancy dinners. I told him tearfully and sincerely one night early in our relationship that I wasn't just interested in his money. He laughed and told me that he didn't have as much as it seemed.
That really proved to be true when the bottom fell out of the housing market. His company hadn't played the subprime game and was truly invested in ethical lending practices. And it cost them what could've been a ton of money in commissions. He said he knew the market was in trouble when a representative from one of the banks came to his office one day and offered him a loan product where a customer could get 100% financing on a home loan just one day out of bankruptcy. He asked the guy from the bank if he thought that was a responsible lending practice.
I didn't realize it at the time, but he wasn't closing any deals, wasn't making any money and was trying to maintain his lifestyle on credit cards. In the midst of all this he had completed his MBA, using student loans, thinking that it would be money well spent as he tried to grow the mortgage company. And I had moved into his newly bought condo with him and his two cats. After living together for about a year, he finally admitted to me that he didn't have enough money to pay the mortgage anymore, and so I started paying for it all, instead of just the half I had been paying. After about a year of this, he sadly left his mortgage company to look for another job where he could actually make some cash.
After he left the mortgage company, he took a job working as a recruiter, serving as a middle-man to place job seekers in open positions that were contracted to the recruiting company by employers. What an unfortunate time to be in the business of hiring. He worked there for a year and couldn't place anyone in a position. Companies weren't hiring. He hadn't made any real money in over a year and a half. He was forced to file bankruptcy because he couldn't cover the huge credit card debit he had accrued. Then he was laid off in September.
For the past six months, and really for the two years we've been living off my $60,000 a year salary. Fortunately, we live in a great condo that has a fairly reasonable mortgage payment. And paying off my car in June has helped tremendously. But we've had to cut back. We used to eat out two or three times a week at least. Now we're able to go out on the cheap once every two weeks - every other Friday on payday. We've sold his BMW (he totalled the Lexus) which has saved us an insurance payment and $100 a month for a parking space at the condo. He's quit going to his cooking club which cost a considerable amount each month. We've stopped going to the movies. We mostly sit around the house with the cats and watch TV every night.
I can't complain compared to the situations others are in. We have everything we need. We still pay all the bills, feed the cats, and drink too much. We have cable TV and broadband internet. I changed jobs about a year ago and my company pays for my public transit to work. (Previously, I was driving an hour each way to work. If I were still doing that when he got laid off, we never would've been able to pay for the gas.) There's no money for intangibles like new clothes, but that kind of thing has never really bothered me. But I still find myself feeling resentful of people who haven't been touched by the recession. I've been responsible with my money all my life. Why am I here, when others are still able to go out to fancy dinners and buy BMWs? But then I try to take a deep breath and give thanks for their fortune and well-being.
I try not to think about it, but I don't know what we'll do if I lose my job. I work for a major media company that's still in pretty good shape at the moment. But these days, there are no guarantees. It will be seven years before the bankruptcy is off his record, which affects his job search. Someone called him the other day about a position and then had to decline when they found out about the bankruptcy. It's more stressful than I acknowledge. I feel like all we have is balancing precariously on my shoulders. That's why I have to be able to afford drinking.
Anonymous
Atlanta, Georgia
Portrait: Georgia
Two Halloweens ago, my husband arrived home early from work. I was on bed rest with our third child (our first planned baby), and thought "oh, great! He's home early to help get the children ready for trick or treating!"
We had bought our first home just three months earlier (a house we hunted and saved for for a year and put down 20 percent on), and I was looking forward to meeting our new neighbors on this outing. Nevermind my husband had not come home early to help before without me asking for it. He was the corporate public relations guy - a suit that didn't get to leave early unless there was a justifiable reason for it.
He walked through the door, and I teased him, "Aww, honey, did you get laid off?" It was a joke I had never made before. He looked stunned, then replied, "yes."
We had bought our first home just three months earlier (a house we hunted and saved for for a year and put down 20 percent on), and I was looking forward to meeting our new neighbors on this outing. Nevermind my husband had not come home early to help before without me asking for it. He was the corporate public relations guy - a suit that didn't get to leave early unless there was a justifiable reason for it.
He walked through the door, and I teased him, "Aww, honey, did you get laid off?" It was a joke I had never made before. He looked stunned, then replied, "yes."
We went back and forth, me in denial, as he tried to convince me he was indeed serious. He pulled the severance papers out of his briefcase and handed them to me. And I remembered he wasn't really that much of a jokester to begin with.
We channeled Pollyanna in the beginning - we had a little savings, a very slight severance package, and my job with the magazine. We would be fine! Besides, who wouldn't hire him with almost a decade of experience? He was a pro with a great resume.
We channeled Pollyanna in the beginning - we had a little savings, a very slight severance package, and my job with the magazine. We would be fine! Besides, who wouldn't hire him with almost a decade of experience? He was a pro with a great resume.
Nearly 85 companies passed him over in the next seven months. He was over-qualified, over-educated, too experienced, or they could hire a noob out of college for mere pennies.
Finally, after our youngest was born, our savings depleted, and the severance money long gone, my husband got the call: he could start a job with the state on Monday. It was a significant pay cut - 10 percent - and he would have to commute three and a half hours total every day, but it was work! We put our beloved house on the market, and again, the Pollyanna within took over. Sell our house, buy a new one, and start life in a new state.
We became thankful he was laid off when he was. Newspapers began laying off employees by the thousands a month after he started his new job. His hunt would have been seriously complicated by this, and whew, didn't we just dodge that bullet?!
We watched the print journalism world crumble around us. Friends and colleagues are laid off every quarter, and those that remain are overworked and underpaid, and know there will be no raises this year while praying they will have a job to come to the next quarter. Our hearts bleed every month for the people we know now stuck in the limbo hell we were in last year at this time, and then we thanked God he was one of the first to go.
It has almost a year since he was hired. Our house is still on the market, and we're fairly certain our credit isn't good enough to meet the new stringent credit requirements for a new loan even if we could sell it.
I lost my job with the magazine after hours (and ad sales) dwindled to nothing, and we get an hour a day with Daddy before it's time for bed. I spend 12 hours home alone with our three children. There's still no money in our account because we can't get ahead when his salary alone won't pay the bills, and I have not had any luck in my job hunt.
We have three college degrees and seventeen years experience between us with great records and references, yet no company in a three-state radius is in need of someone with our skill sets.
Even if places like Lowes and Target were hiring, they don't pay enough to cover the day care our three children would incur.
Finally, after our youngest was born, our savings depleted, and the severance money long gone, my husband got the call: he could start a job with the state on Monday. It was a significant pay cut - 10 percent - and he would have to commute three and a half hours total every day, but it was work! We put our beloved house on the market, and again, the Pollyanna within took over. Sell our house, buy a new one, and start life in a new state.
We became thankful he was laid off when he was. Newspapers began laying off employees by the thousands a month after he started his new job. His hunt would have been seriously complicated by this, and whew, didn't we just dodge that bullet?!
We watched the print journalism world crumble around us. Friends and colleagues are laid off every quarter, and those that remain are overworked and underpaid, and know there will be no raises this year while praying they will have a job to come to the next quarter. Our hearts bleed every month for the people we know now stuck in the limbo hell we were in last year at this time, and then we thanked God he was one of the first to go.
It has almost a year since he was hired. Our house is still on the market, and we're fairly certain our credit isn't good enough to meet the new stringent credit requirements for a new loan even if we could sell it.
I lost my job with the magazine after hours (and ad sales) dwindled to nothing, and we get an hour a day with Daddy before it's time for bed. I spend 12 hours home alone with our three children. There's still no money in our account because we can't get ahead when his salary alone won't pay the bills, and I have not had any luck in my job hunt.
We have three college degrees and seventeen years experience between us with great records and references, yet no company in a three-state radius is in need of someone with our skill sets.
Even if places like Lowes and Target were hiring, they don't pay enough to cover the day care our three children would incur.
We have always lived simply - we have no credit card debt, one car payment, and our bills total less than $2,200 a month. We didn't top $60,000 the last year we were both employed, yet we still owed taxes because I was self-employed.
We continued to try find the bright side, even though the stress has been tangible and we are officially "broke" and "poor." My cooking skills have improved with less eating out, I have discovered the gold of consignment shops, our children are healthy, and we have had family who helped when financial emergencies have come up, like the plumbing going suddenly in our house. My occasional contract positions keep us afloat and have paid for the small things, like Christmas and our daughter's first birthday.
Yes, we're "slow payers" some months, but the bills always get paid. For that reason alone we're doing better than so many others, right?
Last week, the state my husband works for announced it will be forced to make cuts. They adhere to a strict last hired, first fired policy. He will be unemployed no later than July 1.
And with that, Pollyanna has packed up and moved on.
Miranda
Georgia
We continued to try find the bright side, even though the stress has been tangible and we are officially "broke" and "poor." My cooking skills have improved with less eating out, I have discovered the gold of consignment shops, our children are healthy, and we have had family who helped when financial emergencies have come up, like the plumbing going suddenly in our house. My occasional contract positions keep us afloat and have paid for the small things, like Christmas and our daughter's first birthday.
Yes, we're "slow payers" some months, but the bills always get paid. For that reason alone we're doing better than so many others, right?
Last week, the state my husband works for announced it will be forced to make cuts. They adhere to a strict last hired, first fired policy. He will be unemployed no later than July 1.
And with that, Pollyanna has packed up and moved on.
Miranda
Georgia
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