The Working Poor. A Frustrated Vent.

[davidthegnome]

A little over a month and a half ago, I started working for a local hotel. It's nice enough for Northern Maine, fairly quiet, clean, generally a safe working environment. It's the first time I've worked full time in over a year. At first I was excited, thrilled, I felt almost rich to be earning about 250 a week. From torn up clothing and rags to fresh new attire from Walmart and secondhand stores. From no mobility to a shiny 2008 red Ford Focus that only shakes when you go over 50. It was exciting, at first.

Yet day after day the little things are piling up until I want to scream, or break down and cry, quit my job and live in my parents basement. I complained to a fellow front desk clerk the other day that I was going to have to work eight days in a row without a day off. He told me he'd worked four months without a day off. I stared at him blankly for a second and said, "No way in hell would I do that." He shrugged, "Then they'd probably let you go."

For one thing I think that's illegal, isn't it? For another... the job we have isn't a bad one, we are fortunate compared to many. Yet there are no breaks, neither for fifteen minutes nor for lunch, dinner, or breakfast - and it is a twenty-four hour gig where someone has to be behind the desk at all times. When the manager is in, we can break for a minute or two to go to the bathroom - some times, if she's in a good mood.

It's on your feet night after night, swallowing tylenol and advil so you don't collapse - because you cannot sit down. Now they want me to do more, and be grateful for it. I'm already working weekends and a 3 to 11 shift that gives me very little time with my girlfriend and her three children. They want me now to work two or three weeks in a row without a day off - and to start working over-nights as well. Is that legal? (weeks without a day off part) It shouldn't be, if it is.

The money runs out a few days after I get it because life is expensive as hell. And there is no where I can look to for help. Even my parents, earning 8 grand a month, have expenses of 7600. I can't even imagine how they can manage that.

No insurance, in medical and college debt up to my eyeballs, and I feel like I'm headed for a breakdown. Maybe for perfectly healthy, normal people, this is life as usual and I should be grateful that I have the chance to work full time - many do not. It just sort of makes it a whole new level of screwed up when you throw my PTSD on top of everything else.

Last year, going to college for the first time, in school for the first time in eleven years... I was happy, optimistic, looking forward to my future. At the end of the year, the money ran out and I realized I was thousands of dollars in debt - including out of pocket expenses that have to be paid (some time in the next thousand years, if they're lucky) before I can go back to school.

My boss is a millionaire with three homes, owning two hotels, half a dozen cars. And he's a total jerk who makes everyone around him miserable. When he comes up to visit for a weekend, everyone tiptoes around, speaks softly, and kisses his ass - myself included. For all that, at the slightest mistake he has a way of making people feel like slugs, even breaking down and crying.

Maybe I'll go live in the woods like a hermit. Has to be a cave somewhere with my name on it...

Does it ever get any easier? Does life, at some point, suck less? I'm more or less becoming resigned to the fate of the working poor, it sucks, but I don't feel that I have many options. Just want to break down, cry like a baby, and sleep for a week, wish I could.

What qualifies as working poor anyway? At eight dollars an hour, roughly 12,000 a year, do I? I wonder if there's a "Man, you suck" category.

[cantbeserious]

1. Welcome To Oligarch America - The 1% Versus The 99% - It Won't Get Easier Until Americans Say No More

eom

[woo me with science]

8. +1

[Nay]

2. It is entirely illegal for your employer to not give you breaks. And if you are working weeks

without a day off and on many days you work more than 8 hours, how on earth do you only earn $250 per week? Is he not paying overtime? If not, then that is illegal, too. I'm not sure if the no days off is illegal, but it should be.

May I ask how old you are?

Oh, and....

[davidthegnome]

5. Generally it's eight hours.

If I start working the over-night, it will be more like ten hours. I'm 29. Still fairly young, but wishing I could even begin to think about things like some day having my own home, helping my girlfriend get out of low income housing.

Thanks for the hugs, I sure need them right now.

[Nay]

7. A good deal of what your employer is doing is illegal. Does he pay you your overtime? If not, he is

in VERY serious trouble if he is turned in and it can be proven through timesheets and check stubs that he has been underpaying. It is also very illegal to not allow breaks.

It will be up to you whether you talk to a state labor board or not, but you should at least make an appt and talk to one, if only to know exactly what is illegal and what is not.

[kelliekat44]

19. It's illegal but no one is enforcing labor laws or non-discrimination laws since 2008.

The EEO Commission was left in disarray after the Repug Chair left when Obama became President. Since then, the administration has been tied up in knots with the bailout and all the battles with the GOP over governing the nation. The Justice Department is also bogged down in responding to and battling with the Congress. Until the appointed Dem heads of the various agencies and bodies responsible for overseeing employment and worker issues get cracking on this no one will be enforcing fair labor laws as they should be enforced.

[grasswire]

3. I can't imagine it is legal, even in rural Maine, under state laws.

The owner has you at his mercy because of your location. Jobs are few and far between, there.

I'm so sorry for your situation. You are underpaid and overworked, and treated miserably.

One suggestion (I know you didn't ask for advice): Be very careful not to make a baby with your girlfriend. Child support would make your life even more hellish.

Back to the dilemma. If I were you I would research the state law, and then report this guy. If you are wiling to take a risk, he could be mightily shamed by social media.

I also would write to Ed Schultz. You are a poster boy for the working poor.

I wish I had a magic wand.

[davidthegnome]

6. I've done a little research.

My understanding is that because I am the only person here at night - and was employed specifically for this position, I am not actually required to be given the thirty minute unpaid break that usually applies after six hours. Other things though, like working from 3 to 11 and then from 7 to 3, (had to do this a couple times) are still illegal, given that 11 hours of rest are supposed to be required.

When I think about one of my co-workers working four months in a row without a day off, it makes me very nervous. Especially as they want to train me for his shift as well. Eight days in a row isn't the worst thing in the world, it's what they'll do next that worries me. I could just quit, but without this job, my options really are either living in a cave or in my parents basement.

Think Ed Schultz would be interested? I know he does some talk radio and has a show on TV as well... maybe I will write to him.

[hfojvt]

24. I never wanted a half hour unpaid break

that just adds another half hour every day to the workday.

If parents' basement was an option, I would take that in a heartbeat just to save on the rent money until I could buy my own place. Other than that, a paid-for house is about the cheapest way to live.

As a self employed person, I once worked TWO jobs for about half a year without a day off. Mostly because my part-time job was seven days a week. Not sure if I wanted the two days off more than I wanted the extra 10 hours of pay. Kind of a toss up, and at least it was only part-time.

[PowerToThePeople]

4. "If you are unhappy, the door is over there."

That is the normative response from HR in all companies I have worked for.

[grasswire]

10. at that point, if the worker has documented the situation...

....and there's nothing to lose, then it's time to file complaints to the labor board or whatever regulatory body has oversight.

Maine needs a union for service workers, apparently.

[woo me with science]

9. K&R

[PowerToThePeople]

12. "Law of Attraction" pseudo-science

imo is a right wing nut-job , tea-bagger philosophy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_%282006_film%29

The movie is ugly propaganda.

[hedgehog]

15. Buses and employment opportunities in Northern Maine are few and far between.

You take what you can get and buy a beater to get there!

[grasswire]

14. Life is awfully short to spend making an asshole richer.

Is there something you could do to improve your future while living in your parents' basement? A computer-based home business? Selling on eBay? Making something to sell to the tourists?

[hedgehog]

16. Check this over, and give these folks a call Monday:

https://www.maine.gov/labor/labor_laws/index.html

Good luck!

[Omaha Steve]

17. I hope you take action with the info at the link above

Good luck.

OS

[Starry Messenger]

18. K&R

[Liberal_in_LA]

20. k&r

[adirondacker]

21. Sad to say, You have plenty of company...

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_and_Dimed


I worked in a project position for a GE contractor several years ago. 80 hour work weeks, 6 days a week, on salary. No overtime pay. A dozen eager college grads waiting outside the door if you don't "conform". I lasted the initial project's 6 months, but came close to serious injury or death on two separate occasions from employees that were "out of it" from exhaustion.

It's brutal for most of us out there.

[ladyVet]

22. I'm sorry to have to say this,

but welcome to being poor. At least you're working poor. Yeah. That's a joke. ha ha, lol, and all that.

What is it that your parents do to make $8k a month? Is it something they can get you into? You don't actually have to say here what they do, just think about it.

I can't weigh in on the legal ramifications, but you've gotten some sources to check into. What's going on with you doesn't sound right, but with right-to-work laws, it's probably allowed. Sadly, your rights tend to be on the bottom of the priority list.

[Nay]

25. AFAIK, state right to work laws cannot supercede federal labor laws. But that doesn't mean that

tons of these asshole employers don't try to screw their employees anyway, knowing that even under a so-called Dem president, laws are not being enforced against business.

[Democracyinkind]

26. You don't suck!! Your employer does big time!

I wish I'd have more to give to you than these words and some good thoughts. Be sure to take the advice from others in this thread (if sensible) about the legal framework, maybe that can help. You're experiencing something that many fine, decent and talented people are experiencing too without it being their fault. You do not suck just because circumstances do!

[Warpy]

27. What your employer is doing is illegal

but nobody is going to stand up for you. The best idea I have is to take bathroom breaks when you need them, apologizing to guests who are waiting when you get back, saying you had to step away from the desk for a minute. There is no way you should be nailed to that damn floor when you've got to take a shit. Some allowance has to be made for human bodies.

You don't suck, at all. You're just living in a place that does in a country does and in an economy that does, but you knew that.

Your employer is taking advantage of you like so many others out there, working you as much as possible, burning you out, and then finding another sucker. You're expected to train for the four months without a day off guy's job because they think he's about ready to tell them to stuff it and leave.

I do hope you're continuing to search for jobs outside your area. If you find a good one, you can move, save, and then have your GF and her kids join you. This job is a dog and you need to leave it ASAP.

[SheilaT]

28. There are federal laws about overtime.

Do NOT let you employer get away with breaking them. Yes, jobs may be few and far between, but every time someone just shrugs and says, "I have no choice" they're making it worse.

I'm not sure about laws governing breaks, although the standard is generally that anywhere from four to six hours mandates a 15 or 30 minute break. You may need to research this.

What is federal minimum wage these days? $7.25/hour? So if you're making $250/wk you're working about 35 hours per week.

Most jobs that involve shift work pay more for late night or graveyard. Usually two or three dollars per hour extra, sometimes more. Do not enable the asshole who owns this place to continue treating everyone like this. Your own self-respect is worth a lot more.

[taught_me_patience]

29. In California, you pay overtime on seventh straight day of work

maybe consider moving out here?

Or you can contact your state labor board and they can advise if your employer is doing something illegal.

[Demo_Chris]

30. Starting October 1st you will be required to buy insurance for yourself...

Apparently our party believes poor people have extra money lying around that we need to give to the insurance companies.