Am I selfish?

[jasong]

I'm sure some of you will think I'm an ass to even consider my options in this fashion, but...

Okay, here's the facts:

(1) At the moment, I'm on a government check. The agreement between me and my mother is that I get $100 a month of mad money. $30-$50 of this(approximately) gets fizzle-farted away on $.50 sodas, fast food, and the occasional Smoothie. The rest goes to music, various electronics and t-shirts.

(2) If I get a job, the first $65 in a month is gravy, and 50% gets "taxed" away. Basically, because of the nature of my check, for every $2 I make above $65 a dollar gets taken away. Because of the sorry organizational skills of the otherwise wonderful state of Arkansas, this means I can be rich, rich, rich for maybe 3 months, and then BAM they catch up.

This third one is the one that bothers me. Originally, before we realized how bad my sleep disorder was, my dad was going to pay for me to go to college. If I did well, not only did I not owe him back, he would return my rent. Now that there's been a delay from having to solve my sleeping problem, he's backed off. If I get a job, a lot of it will go to college in January. If I don't get a job, I may be able to get him to commit to the original plan.

Not to be an ass, but he is not suffering one bit at his more than $50,000 a year job. He even says it's cushy. My last job involved walking a parking lot cleaning up trash at about $5.35/hour. While I have tremendous respect for people who work their butt off to get paid little paychecks, I'd rather work hard at college and attempt to find ways to improve minimum wagers lives then to actually BE a minimum-wager.

Bsically, I have a choice, I can either fark off and be lazy until I go to college, where I will need to work my tail off on my dad's dime. Or I can work hard, and pay my own way, enriching my father, who happens to consider his more than $50,000 a year job, cushy.

Is there anybody out there who thinks I'd be better off getting a job, considering the circumstances?

[StandrdDev]

I dunno, Jason. What do you think? As that's what really matters. It would seem you have doubts, from what little you wrote.

It might be productive, to reverse everything here as if it true in one way, it should be true in reverse.

Do you think you'll be better off in a year? How about in 5?

When asked by a future employer during a job interview, what will you have to say when asked : "I see you graduated college, what did you do for work and money during this time?" "What experience would you bring to this position over another college graduate?" "Why should I hire you?"

Should I really do nothing? Does living off the govt tit, grifting, and manipulating my father into paying college tuition really prepare me for what lies ahead? Does it give me a sense of accomplishment? Is $50,000/yr really a lot of money? How do I feel about all those "minimum wagers" who have to foot my bill and keep me in T-shirts, soft drinks, fast food, and assorted electronics and music?

To the best you are able, try to ask yourself those questions honestly and objectively, and you should have a pretty clear answer to your question.

Sigma

[jasong]

Originally posted by StandrdDev
I dunno, Jason. What do you think? As that's what really matters. It would seem you have doubts, from what little you wrote.

It might be productive, to reverse everything here as if it true in one way, it should be true in reverse.

Do you think you'll be better off in a year? How about in 5?

When asked by a future employer during a job interview, what will you have to say when asked : "I see you graduated college, what did you do for work and money during this time?" "What experience would you bring to this position over another college graduate?" "Why should I hire you?"

Should I really do nothing? Does living off the govt tit, grifting, and manipulating my father into paying college tuition really prepare me for what lies ahead? Does it give me a sense of accomplishment? Is $50,000/yr really a lot of money? How do I feel about all those "minimum wagers" who have to foot my bill and keep me in T-shirts, soft drinks, fast food, and assorted electronics and music?

To the best you are able, try to ask yourself those questions honestly and objectively, and you should have a pretty clear answer to your question.

Sigma
As a Christian, I believe I was being spoken to when I turned on the television and saw a story about Chinese men and women working for $21 a week making Nikes and being happy about it. StandrdDev simply reinforced that.

Whether I pay my way into college or not, my dad will give me an equivalent amount of money at the end of the semester if I do well, which makes me better off than some students who are working their way through college.

I suppose the real issue is the fact that my mental illness(paranoid skizophrenia) pretty much took me out of the equation for 10 years and I've simply been lazy for approximately the last 4. When I was IQ tested in the 9th grade most of my scores were 90% or above, and I suppose I've spent the past 15 years being simultaneously frustrated and conceited about the fact.

Thanks guys, you put things in perspective.

[CaptainMooseInc]

I don't know what setbacks you have with your illness jasong, but I do have a suggestion for you if you can do some relatively simple tasks.

First job I'd suggest for you is at a place called RGIS Inventory Specialists. The company is huge and international. Start off pay ranges from $7-$8/hr. The hours are weird and there isn't much work available in November and December. But in January alone the company does 1/3 of ALL of its business for the ENTIRE year. AKA that means HELLIFIED work.

After working there 90 days or 100 hours (whichever comes first) you qualify for a $0.25 cent raise if you take this little test thingy. It's not hard.

But basically all you do is count stuff, and you don't even have to do much of that. There are "single scan" stores like Gap, Hot Topic, Wet Seal, basically all clothing stores, where you go in and scan every piece of clothing one by one by one. Not hard at all. Stores normally start at 6AM or 6PM-9PM roughly. There are other stores that are done as a quantity count too. You scan the product and count how many is there and enter it in on a machine. Also very easy.

The only downside I can see to this job for you is the weird working hours in conjunction with your sleeping disorder.

Second job:

Dollar Tree. They are everywhere too. The start off pay is around $6/hr. The work is boring but not hard. Cashiers just stand there and "beep beep beep"...ring stuff up and then maybe might have to put a box or two of product on the shelf in the downtime. Shifts are 8 (or 9)AM thru 4ish or 4ish to like 10PM. They will also be hiring for seasonal cashiers and stocking shifts for the upcoming holiday season. Getting a job there shouldn't be all that bad.

:)

-Jeff

[jasong]

Originally posted by CaptainMooseInc
I don't know what setbacks you have with your illness jasong, but I do have a suggestion for you if you can do some relatively simple tasks.

First job I'd suggest for you is at a place called RGIS Inventory Specialists. The company is huge and international. Start off pay ranges from $7-$8/hr. The hours are weird and there isn't much work available in November and December. But in January alone the company does 1/3 of ALL of its business for the ENTIRE year. AKA that means HELLIFIED work.

After working there 90 days or 100 hours (whichever comes first) you qualify for a $0.25 cent raise if you take this little test thingy. It's not hard.

But basically all you do is count stuff, and you don't even have to do much of that. There are "single scan" stores like Gap, Hot Topic, Wet Seal, basically all clothing stores, where you go in and scan every piece of clothing one by one by one. Not hard at all. Stores normally start at 6AM or 6PM-9PM roughly. There are other stores that are done as a quantity count too. You scan the product and count how many is there and enter it in on a machine. Also very easy.

The only downside I can see to this job for you is the weird working hours in conjunction with your sleeping disorder.

Second job:

Dollar Tree. They are everywhere too. The start off pay is around $6/hr. The work is boring but not hard. Cashiers just stand there and "beep beep beep"...ring stuff up and then maybe might have to put a box or two of product on the shelf in the downtime. Shifts are 8 (or 9)AM thru 4ish or 4ish to like 10PM. They will also be hiring for seasonal cashiers and stocking shifts for the upcoming holiday season. Getting a job there shouldn't be all that bad.

:)

-Jeff
Obviously, at least one person is interested in my CPAP "adventure"(or you have a good memory, possibly), so I guess I should update it. I can tell you that they did lower the pressure on my CPAP machine and tonight should be very refreshing. Hopefully, I'll feel healthy enough to try to apply for a job by the middle of October.

As to your other comments, there are about 20-30 businesses within biking distance of my house I could apply to, I think one of them USED to be a Dollar Tree, but it was replaced with something very similar.

Honestly, my opinions about how lucky or unlucky am don't show up in social situations. Since I assume that nobody would ever discover the connection between my nick and my real self except by sheer chance, I'm more honest on these forums than elsewhere. I just wanted to clarify that I'm not as "whiny" in real life.