6 ms·

You sound pretty out of touch. In Iowa there is an enormous agriculture industry - an industry not known for asking a lot of personal questions about origin or

by eric_b 8y ago

You sound pretty out of touch. In Iowa there is an enormous agriculture industry - an industry not known for asking a lot of personal questions about origin or current status. If you can show up and do the work (and maybe pass a drug test), you're hired. And often paid cash. Outside of agriculture, there are the usual suspects. Bars, restaurants, cleaning jobs, roofing, painting, other forms of low skill construction, landscaping/yard work, and with the unemployment rate so low, other jobs are becoming available as well. Many of these jobs have someone who drives, and a passenger or two to help with the work when they arrive. I know several folks who do not have licenses due to DUIs, and they are gainfully employed without owning a car, in places where cars are almost a necessity. I never said it would be easy - but it certainly is doable.

RobertRoberts 8y ago
I was homeless for a while and I can confirm, if you want a job, you will get one. Period. Employers are permanently desperate for good help. I know felons with difficult histories that find work, if they can then anyone can.
komali2 8y ago
The implication is that the majority of homeless are just lazy, yea? Just pick apples! I've been exactly there. You're not making minimum wage when you show up to the farm to pick apricots all day. Bars - need a bartender license. Yes, you do, nobody is risking it in 2018. Restaurants, sure, but again, you're not making minimum wage, and if you whiff of hobo you're not working front of house and getting tips. Cleaning jobs are usually cornered by some immigrant class . If you're an immigrant and have friends/family with the hookup or maybe can speak their language, congrats, you're in (not making minimum wage). If not, move on. Roofing - you need to bring your own tools. Speaking from experience. Also, this isn't just a "show up and do it job," the shysters that manage to sell shit crews to homeowners never last long, so you'll have to get on with a crew that know what they're doing, and they're not going to want to bring someone on that wants to just do it long enough to "get their feet under them" and then bail. Decent pay, sure, but it's a "career." Painting - this means standing outside of home depot, just like OP said. Not minimum wage. Other forms of low skill construction - like what? It's not "low skill," the immigrants you see doing it get trained up by their cousins on the job, and once again, it's bring your own tools. Landscaping/yard work - market cornered by immigrants and highschoolers. Nobody wants a random hobo mowing their lawn. Maybe you can get on with an immigrant crew. Non-minimum wage. >unemployment rate so low Yea, because people are being paid like it's still 1991 (the 2009 raise was putting a finger into a ten meter diameter hole in a dam). This guy didn't have a family to support him. That's how the immigrants do it, in case anybody is wondering - they stay with families, get jobs due to families, and afford life here because they're all supporting eachother. Random hobo programmer dude is going to have a MUCH harder time scrabbling out of the hole. Yea, you can scrabble a life, but you're not building a ladder out of the hole for yourself. I'd argue, if you can program, the 3.75/hr you'd make for 3 months is meaningless if you can instead spend that 3 months homeless but then pull a programming job for even a month.
- ryandrake 8y ago
  Your post points to stronger minimum-wage enforcement being appropriate. It's ridiculous that there are so many legally grey (and legally OK) loopholes that employers use to get around minimum wage law, and that being economically disadvantaged means one is more likely to be exploited by these. What part of "minimum" is so difficult to understand and enforce?
  - linkregister 8y ago
    Some types of farm work are paid by the amount of work performed, e.g. bushels of cherries. This method is permitted in federal labor law. It might also be possible that being a 1099 contractor also avoids minimum wage laws by having a contract based on the job's completion, not the time taken.
- lozaning 8y ago
  At least in CA there is literally no such thing as a 'bartending license'. The requirements for getting a job as a bartender in california start and stop at convincing a bar owner to let you tend their bar.
  - baby 8y ago
    I was there for a bit and I got carded in almost every bar I went. They are very anal with it.
    - lozaning 8y ago
      Yea, you'll get asked for ID to prove you're of drinking age. That's totally different than some kind of state proctored or recognized bartending exam that a bartender must have passed in order to work at the bar.
  - isaiahg 8y ago
    Even if there's no license, there no way someone can just walk into a bar and get a bartending job. I should know, I went to bartending school. Bartenders are almost always hired from lower level employees. Usually you start by cleaning tables, then you work your way up to a barback, and then you can move up as a bartender.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
chrissnell 8y ago
Indeed. I'm sitting here at a cafe in my small Kansas town. There's a landscape company across the street with a sign offering $12/hr. They are desperate for people. I know this because I've hired their competitor to mow my grass and they can't get it mowed often enough because they are understaffed. This is a small town, probably about the same size as OP's. You can walk or ride a bike anywhere, so transportation is no problem. I suspect that there's more to OPs story than what was told. Substance abuse, etc. Not faulting the guy but I think that he needs to make an honest assessment of his situation. It's not the lack of work, I know that. Good luck, OP. My parents were both drug addicts and I moved from house to house for most of my life, too. I know how hard it can be. But, I clawed my way out and I know you can, too.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- watwut 8y ago
  Landscape companies here require you to have car, so that you move faster and can take tools with you. Also, economy in your city being good and job opening for lanscape available does not imply same economy in other cities.
  - leke 8y ago
    Do many Landscape companies not supply work vehicles or pair you with employees who do have them?
    - watwut 8y ago
      Often not. I would not be even sure they could afford leet of company cars given how seasonal work is. The pairing may happen on individual basis, basically when most of work is teamwork and they don't need you to go around alone anyway. A lot of work is single person work. Or when boss is nice and willing to help you out and organize more. So I guess that depends on what exactly the company needs you to do. Plenty require car so that you are flexible whether there is acute need for it or not. And don't forget prejudice against people without cars, it is out of norm and suspect for many people. (Same with being homeless, they may not give you job for fear of you being trouble).

by eric_b 8y ago

RobertRoberts 8y ago

I was homeless for a while and I can confirm, if you want a job, you will get one. Period. Employers are permanently desperate for good help. I know felons with difficult histories that find work, if they can then anyone can.

komali2 8y ago

The implication is that the majority of homeless are just lazy, yea? Just pick apples! I've been exactly there. You're not making minimum wage when you show up to the farm to pick apricots all day. Bars - need a bartender license. Yes, you do, nobody is risking it in 2018. Restaurants, sure, but again, you're not making minimum wage, and if you whiff of hobo you're not working front of house and getting tips. Cleaning jobs are usually cornered by some immigrant class . If you're an immigrant and have friends/family with the hookup or maybe can speak their language, congrats, you're in (not making minimum wage). If not, move on. Roofing - you need to bring your own tools. Speaking from experience. Also, this isn't just a "show up and do it job," the shysters that manage to sell shit crews to homeowners never last long, so you'll have to get on with a crew that know what they're doing, and they're not going to want to bring someone on that wants to just do it long enough to "get their feet under them" and then bail. Decent pay, sure, but it's a "career." Painting - this means standing outside of home depot, just like OP said. Not minimum wage. Other forms of low skill construction - like what? It's not "low skill," the immigrants you see doing it get trained up by their cousins on the job, and once again, it's bring your own tools. Landscaping/yard work - market cornered by immigrants and highschoolers. Nobody wants a random hobo mowing their lawn. Maybe you can get on with an immigrant crew. Non-minimum wage. >unemployment rate so low Yea, because people are being paid like it's still 1991 (the 2009 raise was putting a finger into a ten meter diameter hole in a dam). This guy didn't have a family to support him. That's how the immigrants do it, in case anybody is wondering - they stay with families, get jobs due to families, and afford life here because they're all supporting eachother. Random hobo programmer dude is going to have a MUCH harder time scrabbling out of the hole. Yea, you can scrabble a life, but you're not building a ladder out of the hole for yourself. I'd argue, if you can program, the 3.75/hr you'd make for 3 months is meaningless if you can instead spend that 3 months homeless but then pull a programming job for even a month.

ryandrake 8y ago
Your post points to stronger minimum-wage enforcement being appropriate. It's ridiculous that there are so many legally grey (and legally OK) loopholes that employers use to get around minimum wage law, and that being economically disadvantaged means one is more likely to be exploited by these. What part of "minimum" is so difficult to understand and enforce?
- linkregister 8y ago
  Some types of farm work are paid by the amount of work performed, e.g. bushels of cherries. This method is permitted in federal labor law. It might also be possible that being a 1099 contractor also avoids minimum wage laws by having a contract based on the job's completion, not the time taken.
lozaning 8y ago
At least in CA there is literally no such thing as a 'bartending license'. The requirements for getting a job as a bartender in california start and stop at convincing a bar owner to let you tend their bar.
- baby 8y ago
  I was there for a bit and I got carded in almost every bar I went. They are very anal with it.
  - lozaning 8y ago
    Yea, you'll get asked for ID to prove you're of drinking age. That's totally different than some kind of state proctored or recognized bartending exam that a bartender must have passed in order to work at the bar.
- isaiahg 8y ago
  Even if there's no license, there no way someone can just walk into a bar and get a bartending job. I should know, I went to bartending school. Bartenders are almost always hired from lower level employees. Usually you start by cleaning tables, then you work your way up to a barback, and then you can move up as a bartender.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

chrissnell 8y ago

Indeed. I'm sitting here at a cafe in my small Kansas town. There's a landscape company across the street with a sign offering $12/hr. They are desperate for people. I know this because I've hired their competitor to mow my grass and they can't get it mowed often enough because they are understaffed. This is a small town, probably about the same size as OP's. You can walk or ride a bike anywhere, so transportation is no problem. I suspect that there's more to OPs story than what was told. Substance abuse, etc. Not faulting the guy but I think that he needs to make an honest assessment of his situation. It's not the lack of work, I know that. Good luck, OP. My parents were both drug addicts and I moved from house to house for most of my life, too. I know how hard it can be. But, I clawed my way out and I know you can, too.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
watwut 8y ago
Landscape companies here require you to have car, so that you move faster and can take tools with you. Also, economy in your city being good and job opening for lanscape available does not imply same economy in other cities.
- leke 8y ago
  Do many Landscape companies not supply work vehicles or pair you with employees who do have them?
  - watwut 8y ago
    Often not. I would not be even sure they could afford leet of company cars given how seasonal work is. The pairing may happen on individual basis, basically when most of work is teamwork and they don't need you to go around alone anyway. A lot of work is single person work. Or when boss is nice and willing to help you out and organize more. So I guess that depends on what exactly the company needs you to do. Plenty require car so that you are flexible whether there is acute need for it or not. And don't forget prejudice against people without cars, it is out of norm and suspect for many people. (Same with being homeless, they may not give you job for fear of you being trouble).