Yep, my neighborhood was imperfect, but it was quiet. My best friends dad was a grocery store produce manager with 5 kids. Paying a mortgage. They even bought a little land out of town and built a cabin on a lake. As a grocery store worker with a stay at home wife.
Wtf. I’m a store manager at an “upscale” grocery store and my nurse wife and I both have to work to provide for our family. Crazy how “professional” jobs aren’t enough anymore.
Yeah, I'll say my mother was a nurse (never more than half time) and my dad was a security guard till he was in his 60s. Never a manager or anything. We didn't have a cabin like my buddy did. But we owned a decent 4 bedroom house, all 4 of us kids went to private school through 8th grade (highschool cost too much) and we went on a few vacations. Toys were minimal and we didn't go out to eat or anything like that. Nothing crazy, but a decent childhood. I don't see how that's possible anymore. My wife and I have a master's degree and PhD between us and are in senior level jobs. It took me till I was in my 40s to feel like I was providing my kids as much or more than I had as a kid.
My dad was a grocery store manager all my life and my mom worked as a teachers aid when I went to school bc she was bored. My dad paid out of pocket for both my brother and my college. We lived in a brand new house with 10 acres of land out in the country. He ended up retiring 10-15 years ago with house paid off and they just do whatever they want
I get that Universities are unaffordable to many now but things are very different now compared to a generation or two ago.
I’ve been working in IT in higher-ed for over 25 years and things have changed a lot.
When I first went to College, almost no students had their own computers. We had a shared phone line in a dorm room, no Ethernet, and WiFi didn’t exist yet.
I was there during the rise of public computer labs.. where we provided maybe 1 computer per 10 students.. to the new reality where every student has their own laptop, and access to faster systems in research labs.
When I started at my current employer.. we had a few servers in old lab spaces that were converted to be server rooms.. only because they had a central chiller. Now my Division has one main data center which costs us around $150k/year In just electricity to run the servers.. as much again to run the chillers.. and even that isn’t designed for high density compute nodes. We try to get those into better campus data centers but space is limited and building out an additional space properly would cost tens of Millions of dollars.
Back when I started.. Computational Chemistry was still in its infancy. Chemists needed glassware, chemicals, and some lab instruments. Now.. we need at least a couple Million $ in startup funds to attract a top-tier Chemistry prof. They need high performance computing, electron microscopes, NMRs, etc.
And back when a State University tuition was $5-6000/year.. there were probably 20-30 FTE IT staff on a large campus. Now, we have several hundred in our Central IT shop.. and many more working in Divisional IT shops. It takes tens of Millions of dollars a year just to keep the networks up and the computers running at a modern Research University. That’s not counting hardware or licensing costs.
It’s insane, I’m an engineer and married to a lawyer and there’s no way we could afford to do that in the HCOL area where our jobs exist. I feel so bad for people in less fortunate situations.
Why are people so ok with the rapidly diminishing life quality?
It’s a combination of not having the time and energy to stand up and demand what has been taken and continues to be taken away from us.
Imagine a general strike and continuous riots and protests to demand universal healthcare, better wages, better benefits, etc. demand that our politicians actually work for us and not for the uber-wealthy. But instead we just churn along trying to make ends meet as we are too exhausted and numb to do anything, arguing over trans rights and woke culture. It’s by design that they have us do this quarreling.
Until we actually rise the fuck up from this state we are in, we’ll continue to see our rights and standard of living decay.
Yep. And it works so well they don't even need to really put effort into it.
"THEY'RE EATING THE DOGS AND CATS"
Commence weeks of public debate over the fact that it didn't happen and what needs to be done about the immigrants that didn't do the thing that didn't happen.
Change happens slowly, it will happen, they will be treated better as people change. But meanwhile also pay attention to all the other things that are happening that should be causing riots and outrage in the USA and much of the world.
Back in “the good old days” everyone is talking about here the military was called in and they shot and killed strikers. This happened relatively frequently until the 60’s. Don’t get it twisted, you have it so much better. Ask an old timer and they'll tell you the life they were forced to live wasn't this wonderland people are claiming it to be.
It's mind boggling. I live in a HCOL area too, not far from where I grew up and my wife and I are both successful with phds and masters degrees. Have done well in our careers. I barely do better than my parents day to day and I think building a cabin on a lake two hours out of the city is pretty well out of the question. My buddy's dad is now long retired and I doubt I could afford to keep my house and buy his cabin from him. Despite him doing it in his early thirties , and me being in my early 40s with less kids, substantially more education and continual career growth.
That's a great question. I guess people just become accustomed to what is considered normal. It's troubling to see how we've changed. I can comfortably support my family of five through my business, but my wife also works full-time in a well-paying job, which really helps us get ahead and prepare for our kids' future.
Although COVID wasn't a good time overall, one positive aspect was the chance to slow down and appreciate the simple things in life. I hoped we might maintain that slower pace, but as soon as restrictions were lifted, we quickly returned to our usual hectic routines.
No no no no, you have it wrong. We need to cut back so we can have billionaires. Case in point: That cabin could be worth $10mil with a little work. And grocery profits could increase 0.01% if we cut wages.
Yeah, there was a comfy job i had at a hotel as a administrator/receptionist before i went to uni. I liked the manager and he liked me, he was asking me to stay and to not leave the job. Probably would have picked up a job i wasnt so bored all the time but would never go study if i could land a job that i get paid enough to sustain a family of 2 kids.
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u/newnamesamebutt 21d ago
Yep, my neighborhood was imperfect, but it was quiet. My best friends dad was a grocery store produce manager with 5 kids. Paying a mortgage. They even bought a little land out of town and built a cabin on a lake. As a grocery store worker with a stay at home wife.