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> As someone who now has a cushy tech job but grew up struggling, it’s infuriating to read a post as out of touch as yours. Makes your blood boil. Seriously -

> As someone who now has a cushy tech job but grew up struggling, it’s infuriating to read a post as out of touch as yours. Makes your blood boil. Seriously - someone posited "hey - in most of the US a bike is not a viable commuting vehicle..." to which op just replies (paraphrasing) "yes it is! I jerry-rigged a plastic basket on mine to carry things!" Incredibly out-of-touch and from directly from a place of privilege. This is a person who may have had to ride their bike/budget carefully for a year or two to get on their feet, not someone who's actually experienced poverty.

yellowapple 6y ago
> to which op just replies (paraphrasing) "yes it is! I jerry-rigged a plastic basket on mine to carry things!" Yeah, fuck me for figuring out how to make the best of my situation, right? > This is a person who may have had to ride their bike/budget carefully for a year or two to get on their feet, not someone who's actually experienced poverty. Three years, through both the aforementioned first job and two multi-month periods of unemployment, plus a period of making less than minimum wage as a contractor. But no, apparently I'm "too privileged" to be able to talk about when I was poor. Talk about making blood boil...
- folkhack 6y ago
  In your posts: 1. family fills your fridge 2. $12-13/hr wages 3. didn't pay for health insurance, but still had health insurance 4. have the skills to do IT work (doing it from a bike is moot) > Yeah, fuck me for figuring out how to make the best of my situation, right? In good faith, I am not trying to say "fuck you"... I just don't agree that your past self was actually poor given the above bullet points. We have differing definitions of "poor" as you had the tools to improve your situation, without experiencing food scarcity, and all while having a health insurance safety-net. As someone who's worked around extreme poverty - it's hard to not get flustered reading your posts. Sorry.
  - yellowapple 6y ago
    > family fills your fridge "stock" != "fill". We're talking, like, $50/month, tops. I could've swung that myself. Instead I put it into savings and graciously accepted the help. > $12-13/hr wages In an area with double the rent of the proposed scenario > didn't pay for health insurance, but still had health insurance No, I didn't have health insurance. I specifically said I didn't qualify for my employer's plan until I had already put in my notice. (I was also uninsured after my second job all the way up to my current job, so covering about a 4-year span; given that the ACA's individual mandate was in full effect, this effectively ate hundreds of dollars out of my tax returns, at least for the years where I actually had returns rather than owing taxes on e.g. my less-than-minimum-wage contract work). > have the skills to do IT work That's cold comfort when you're stuck working a non-IT job (as I was), or when you don't have a job at all (as I was later, on two separate occasions, hence the riding of my bike to fix computers and supplement unemployment under-the-table). Keep in mind I didn't (and still don't) have a degree. That probably helped with keeping expenses low (no student loan debt to worry about), but it also made it substantially harder to find solid work (given that even help desk positions typically required at least an Associate's; I got my first IT job specifically as a temp job that turned unexpectedly permanent). > I just don't agree that your past self was actually poor I mean, I obviously can't make you relive my working life (at least up until my current job, which does thankfully pay much better and is helping me bounce back). Nor would I want you to. Still, I definitely think I was poor, both when I was working my first job and after I lost my second job. Really boggles the mind how you'd somehow disagree with that assessment simply because of a marginal amount of support.

yellowapple 6y ago

> to which op just replies (paraphrasing) "yes it is! I jerry-rigged a plastic basket on mine to carry things!" Yeah, fuck me for figuring out how to make the best of my situation, right? > This is a person who may have had to ride their bike/budget carefully for a year or two to get on their feet, not someone who's actually experienced poverty. Three years, through both the aforementioned first job and two multi-month periods of unemployment, plus a period of making less than minimum wage as a contractor. But no, apparently I'm "too privileged" to be able to talk about when I was poor. Talk about making blood boil...

folkhack 6y ago
In your posts: 1. family fills your fridge 2. $12-13/hr wages 3. didn't pay for health insurance, but still had health insurance 4. have the skills to do IT work (doing it from a bike is moot) > Yeah, fuck me for figuring out how to make the best of my situation, right? In good faith, I am not trying to say "fuck you"... I just don't agree that your past self was actually poor given the above bullet points. We have differing definitions of "poor" as you had the tools to improve your situation, without experiencing food scarcity, and all while having a health insurance safety-net. As someone who's worked around extreme poverty - it's hard to not get flustered reading your posts. Sorry.
- yellowapple 6y ago
  > family fills your fridge "stock" != "fill". We're talking, like, $50/month, tops. I could've swung that myself. Instead I put it into savings and graciously accepted the help. > $12-13/hr wages In an area with double the rent of the proposed scenario > didn't pay for health insurance, but still had health insurance No, I didn't have health insurance. I specifically said I didn't qualify for my employer's plan until I had already put in my notice. (I was also uninsured after my second job all the way up to my current job, so covering about a 4-year span; given that the ACA's individual mandate was in full effect, this effectively ate hundreds of dollars out of my tax returns, at least for the years where I actually had returns rather than owing taxes on e.g. my less-than-minimum-wage contract work). > have the skills to do IT work That's cold comfort when you're stuck working a non-IT job (as I was), or when you don't have a job at all (as I was later, on two separate occasions, hence the riding of my bike to fix computers and supplement unemployment under-the-table). Keep in mind I didn't (and still don't) have a degree. That probably helped with keeping expenses low (no student loan debt to worry about), but it also made it substantially harder to find solid work (given that even help desk positions typically required at least an Associate's; I got my first IT job specifically as a temp job that turned unexpectedly permanent). > I just don't agree that your past self was actually poor I mean, I obviously can't make you relive my working life (at least up until my current job, which does thankfully pay much better and is helping me bounce back). Nor would I want you to. Still, I definitely think I was poor, both when I was working my first job and after I lost my second job. Really boggles the mind how you'd somehow disagree with that assessment simply because of a marginal amount of support.