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u/Beneficial_Layer2583 8h ago
I’m not tired of working, but I am tired of being poor despite the fact that I’m working.
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u/72chevnj 8h ago
Same, I grew up believing i could support a family selling shoes
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u/ChickenNPisza 7h ago
What sucks is every time I seem to get over a salary plateu some crazy world changing event happens and the price of goods goes up to where I feel like I haven’t gained a thing.
Chased $100k salary my whole young adult life. I am finally achieving it and that number. Which is great don’t get me wrong, but it’s not the finish line I saw at 16
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u/ColdCruise 5h ago
Same. I came close this year to hit 100k, and I'm moving to second shift for next year to get there, but damn, it still feels like I can't afford anything my dad could when he was my age.
He had a four bedroom home with a pool, two cars, and supported a wife and two kids on a entry level factory job with no college education. Granted, the house was in a pretty rural part of Ohio, but I'm still in a one bedroom apartment.
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u/ChickenNPisza 4h ago
My grandfather was a forklift mechanic at the GM factory in Youngstown from 17-65. Retired with a great pension. Had a lot of health troubles towards the end and he never had issues with money. Two kids and a wife, beautiful suburban two story home with a pool.
“Record profits” can kiss my ass. I think everyone would be okay with paying more to go out to eat when you have an actual patio and bbq grill at the house as an alternative .
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u/thisyellowdaffodil 3h ago
There's a beautiful century house on almost 60 acres the next street over from ours. I decided to look into the history, as the house as intrigued me since we moved to the area. Came upon an obituary of the gentleman who bought the house and land the '50s. He was a factory line worker, supported a wife and four children.
The property is currently valued at $1.8 - 2 million. What factory line worker salary today is going to buy that and support a wife and four kids?
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u/0069 6h ago
Samesees. I know I'm not poor, but I'm so much closer to it than it felt like I would be when I got to that number.
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u/Deep_Distribution_31 6h ago
Hey doing better than many of us, I've been excoted for my new job making 32k a year, my old one was only 27k a year
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u/ChickenNPisza 6h ago
This is what I was trying to avoid with my comment. I almost didn’t post it because I don’t want to gloat.
I am incredibly grateful to make the money I do, and it pains me to see others struggle more that work just as hard as I do. Millienials are now the glue at a lot of small businesses…It’s just wild how far the goalpost has moved for all of us.
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u/itsmiddylou 3h ago
I know that feel I stayed somewhere for 18 years and I left making $36k to go to a job making $38k 😅
Now I make $56k, but I work M-F and 7a-3p, which I will fight tooth and nail to keep that schedule. I don’t even have kids. I just like being able to do shit and get home before it gets super late
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u/squirleydan 6h ago
Bro are you me? Because I feel you. I was ready to buy a house going into 2020. The world changed that.
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u/A_RAND0M_J3W 5h ago
Same here. Finally got a decent payrate, had some savings, and then Covid and super inflation happened, and now my dream salary is pennies again and I'm back to square one.
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u/SCOTTGIANT 5h ago
Yeah, what sucks is doing the math on a six figure income and realizing that take home is so low that after the cost of living you'll never be able to save enough to retire. Oh and that cheap house that you bought for $110,000 in 2017 is now worth two and a half times that so your taxes are as much as the mortgage was when you bought it but you can't sell it because even downsizing at this point would cost twice as much because of interest rates. I'm really not trying to complain because my parents, and many others have had it worse. Just seems like the goalposts keep moving.
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u/EastTyne1191 6h ago
The Game of Life had us believing that was GOALS.
They need to update it a little. Add some "graduate degrees become undervalued, go back 12 spaces."
Also "have nervous breakdown, get a job as a barista because at least you don't take that work home."
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u/wildwolfay5 7h ago
CUTCO was supposed to be my way out...
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u/Neveronlyadream 7h ago
I feel for anyone who fell into the MLM pipeline.
Predatory bullshit, all of it.
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u/odellrules1985 7h ago
I mean unless you had an unlimited supply of brand new customers you could go to and how they required you to get customers, by referral and acceptance of referral only, it is not a great way to make money since their products are actually decent. I still have everything from my demo kit except my steak knife, I think an ex took it, and besides the chef knife, I have not sharpened anything and it still cuts well. The sheers even still cut pennies.
I never saw it as a way out. It was a quick job I tried and then moved on to something vastly more promising(IT).
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u/KimbersKimbos 6h ago
My mother bought a set off of my sister during her brief stink as a Cutco saleswoman.
My youngest was about 7 at the time, and my mom warned her when they were delivered that she had to be really careful because the new knives were really sharp. And this girl dead ass grabbed one, ran it across her palm, and then turned to my mom and said “wow, these ARE sharp!”
(And she grew up to be a delightful and well adjusted human being.)
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u/Justdoingitagain 8h ago
Ah to be Al and Peg Bundy, living the dream.
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u/StaticSystemShock 7h ago
A house, car, wife and two kids and a dog. And bunch of insufferable neighbors. The later can be fixed.
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u/elevendyelves 8h ago
Became a lawyer thinking I’d be able to support a family, yet here I am barely able to support myself. Fun times all around!
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u/Aromatic-Taste2516 8h ago
That’s the difference between us and older gens. Not the working young. The fact that it got us nowhere and it got them houses and cars and such.
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u/Doc_Shaftoe 6h ago
Well it's definitely our fault. I mean we're obviously the ones who chose to be born after a singularly prosperous period in human history that led to vastly expanded wealth and opportunities available to lower- and middle-class households. What we were thinking?
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u/MirandaScribes 8h ago
Exactly this. I’m happy to keep working. But working and not making a living is exhausting
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u/Significant-Trash632 6h ago
It's just a hamster wheel, and if you fall off or get sick you're screwed.
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u/PatriotRDX 8h ago
I’m tired of working now that it turned from me doing the fun parts of my job to me trying to write prompts for an AI to do all the fun stuff instead…while I write boring fucking paragraphs to it.
And then if the AI can’t do it I get blamed. If the AI can do it the AI gets the credit.
Hard to feel like I’m valued anymore.
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u/rosievee 6h ago
Yeah, I'm literally being asked to train AI to do my job. I assume that when I'm done, my career--which I've done for 30 years, and at which I'm top of my field --will become a junior prompt writing role tweaking all the knowledge and experience I've dumped into an LLM. And I'll be jobless long before retirement age, with no chance of salary replacement. Everything feels pointless. I'm so depressed I can barely get out of bed in the morning.
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u/Helldiverticulitis 6h ago
Bezos said we can have a 3 day work week though! More like a zero day work week, with the poverty to match.
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u/Maxed_Zerker 5h ago
yeah my job is asking me to do exactly the same thing right now and the job market is too bad for me to even jump ship before it sinks
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u/ReverendRevolver 7h ago
Yup. Tired of 60-70 hour workweeks on salary with inconsistent schedule and my electric bill jumping from ~$200/month to $450 while everything else goes up in cost.
Working would be fine, if the cost of literally most of my waking life wasn't being exchanged for barely scraping by paying utilities/mortgage/feeding the kids.
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u/LPQ_Master 6h ago
Yeah it's wild. My electric bill in the summer is ~$700. 5 years ago it was ~$350 doing exactly the same thing.
That's ONLY ELECTRICITY. That's a 100% increase in 5 years for something you need to live. I really doubt anyone's pay increased more than 1/10th on average during that same time.
Now add every other little price in our nation increasing.. How TF people can afford to live anymore?
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u/SuchAKnitWit 8h ago
This part.
I'm making more than I ever have before but I still feel like I'm drowning.
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u/Scary-Friend-5494 7h ago
This part! Like and I know I’m not making a lot but 25.83 an hour should be able to support me while also allowing me to have a nest egg at least! But nope nothing like that. It’s sad that my hope for my retirement is the world ending.
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u/sarnian-missy 7h ago
I'm 45, I have now been working for over 30 years. I'm just tired.
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u/tripleDzintheBreeze 8h ago
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u/Am_0115 7h ago
literally the meme for our generation. sad honestly.
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u/timmy6169 6h ago
Me as a 41 year old that has been working since 15 when my boss asks me why I havent filled out my yearly goals.
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u/tripleDzintheBreeze 7h ago
First job at 15… I’m now about to be 41
Fuck all of this .
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u/timmy6169 6h ago
Just turned 41 and started at 15. I feel you. I fucking hate it daily, but gotta make sure the spawns survive.
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u/sipstea84 8h ago
Since I was 15.
Yet my parents think I'm a lazy piece of shit because I don't own a house as a 40 year old single mom. The "starter" homes in my area are like 500k.
I'm honestly exhausted.
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u/stegotortise 8h ago
I am not a single mom, but I am a mom, and I honest to god have NO IDEA how you guys do it. Hats off to you. 🫡
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u/Scary-Friend-5494 7h ago edited 7h ago
Right?! I see my sister doing it solo without help from the dad what so ever and damn I don’t see how she does it. Works full time with OT daily takes them to school helps them with homework cooks dinner all the time every day.
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u/sipstea84 6h ago
This is me. Every few years my kid's dad sobers up long enough to tap out a rage text about what a piece of shit I am for not letting him be a father (literally never did anything to stop him, told him to file for custody and let a judge decide if he's fit to care for a child). Like bro, I'm too tired for this. I'm the one who is supposed to be mad. You have no responsibilities, pay no child support and there are zero expectations on you. Why are you even this mad at 11am on a Tuesday?
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u/PassiveAgressiveFlop 7h ago
Im not a single mom or a mom, just a dad. But i was raised by a single mom and well..... they do it with love and magic i guess. As a 40 year old father of a 7 year old with a spouse, i have a deep appreciation for single moms that do it.
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u/Coloradoryda 8h ago
Our parents exploited a more abundant world. Now we’re fighting for the scraps while boomers buy up all the affordable housing for overpriced rentals and vacation homes
This mentality will not be missed
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u/Forsexualfavors 7h ago
It's not even boomers, it's corporate rent-till-you-die as a business model. Probably boomers are in charge of those companies, but there's also a big proportion of boomers with nothing but social security as an income. This is not just generational its a system for funneling wealth to the wealthy. People of all ages are doing bad.
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u/Snoo_54991 7h ago
Yup, a lot of times inflation is just for the purpose of draining the public of any advancements being made in profit. Think about it, you keep doing such a great job that you get raises, then prices jump up overnight and take any gain you made through advancing yourself away from you.
It's the ultimate form of parasiticism.
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u/putasidedevil 7h ago
Same, working since 15, and everyday all I want to do is stay in bed, but I got pets and they got to eat
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u/Alarmed_Cod_5009 6h ago
Same. Been working since 15, and I just want to take a break.
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u/The_madd__hadder 7h ago
My mom was all sad that they were selling the house and it was going to someone random and not one of the kids. Even though when I offered to buy it from them they scoffed at me and said I didn't have any money
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u/sipstea84 7h ago
My dad won't even let me build a mini bunkie house in his backyard because it would be inconvenient for his dog, but then expects me to come stay with him every few months when he has his various surgeries and needs a caretaker. My mom literally put some kind of stipulation in her will that none of the children can buy out the others and keep her house because "none of you would keep up the maintenance to our standards"
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u/SparklyLeo_ 7h ago
Caring more about the house over the kids is fucking insane. Have they always been like this? I’ve noticed the older ppl get the ruder and colder towards ppl they get.
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u/sipstea84 6h ago
Yes. My whole life. They are both narcissists who got into the housing game by pure luck. My mom through her third marriage and my dad through some kind of thing back in the 90s where he could use his Navy pension as a down payment. Neither ever saved, both smoked a pack a day, made terrible relationship decisions and drank a drive-thru coffee daily. But they preach as if they are serious financial gurus.
My dad is literally letting his house rot to the ground. I make enough to buy the house for a discount, have offered to renovate the basement for him and let him live with me for free for the rest of his life and he refuses because "I had to work hard to buy a house, I'm not buying one for you too" Which literally makes no sense. I'm asking to buy it. So the house in a beautiful neighborhood with a huge, spacious yard with a greenbelt in the back is just sitting there turning into a shack that the neighbors consider an eyesore.
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u/Icy-Setting-4221 7h ago
Same and I’m almost 40. Exhausted doesn’t begin to describe it and there’s no end in sight until I die
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u/StaticSystemShock 7h ago
And get a loan to buy one on what? I couldn't even get a loan for a fucking car. My dad had to take loan for it and I was paying him back. How will I get a 30 year loan for a fucking house?
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u/Isnthatneat 7h ago
Bro, I don’t even know how people are getting into tens of thousands of credit card debt. My score isn’t the greatest (680) and I either get denied or approved for $1200 with 3000APR
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u/cryptolyme 7h ago
the worst is people treating you like YOU'RE the problem. fuck those people! I've been sick 18 years now and i'm beyond exhausted. i spend 100% of my energy on work and I still can barely afford rent. I hope one day I will actually be able to LIVE a life.
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u/nedrawevot 7h ago
Its why we rent. We cant afford a house. At least my mom understands as she rents too.
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u/Fifth-Dimension-Chz 8h ago
Yeah when I turned 30 and realized that Ive been working 50 hours a week just to stay afloat with no chance of saving any, it really hurt.
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u/-cordyceps 8h ago
Similar. Ive been in some sort of employment since 15 (id do odd jobs starting at 13). A few spaces between jobs but nothing big
Im so fucking tired
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u/AssignmentMoney8205 7h ago
My parents got land from my grandmother and found a trailer house that we( me and my two younger sister) built around. They still give me grif for owning a town home instead of a stand alone.
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u/mermaidwizurd 8h ago
I'm so tired. I hit a wall a few times a year and my production slips for a few weeks, but someone has to think of the shareholders. The wealth my labor generates for them really keeps me going. Sure gas and groceries are more expensive than ever and my job hasn't given us a cost of living increase in 10 years, but at least the dow is over 50k or whatever.
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u/rob132 8h ago
Just get a new job!
(I feel you brother.)
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u/mermaidwizurd 7h ago
Let me just strap on my job helmet and squeeze into my job cannon and fire off to job land!
Nah, I don't mind my job. I didn't go to college so my options are limited but I do pretty well for myself. I have a great work/life balance and I've been there long enough that I get a bunch of pto. It's just annoying to get daily emails about record breaking profit while our wages remain the same.
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u/pussyeaterx69 7h ago
Be a man stick with your job until your 68 then die of a heart attack, be a man /s
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u/PicknThink 8h ago
Fuck being tired. I'm exhausted. And it ain't just the work. It's being exploited, improperly managed, and treated terribly.
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u/Shark7996 4h ago
The worst part is that I want to work. But not like this. This absolute fixation on a "full time work week" being 40 hours goddamn sucks. I could do 4 days a week, or 6 hour days, but 5 8 hour days every week absolutely sucks and we've seen study after study saying it's too much for people to be happy.
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u/phillynavydude 8h ago
Since 14..
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u/No9No9No9No9 Xennial 8h ago
Same, mowing lawns and weeding every house in the neighborhood
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u/ch33by_ 7h ago
I had a helmet stolen at 11 years old, this was right when we implemented a law for bicycle helmets. I was given a ticket that day and my parents expected me to go door to door asking if I could do lawn work for money. Anyway I had to pay like 300$ since it just sat and accrued for 5 years when I wanted my drivers license. They fucked me bad.
The original ticket was like 45$
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u/choppcy088 8h ago edited 5h ago
Started babysitting at 12. I almost said the only break I had was with a full time schedule in college but actually I was a student worker part time during the semester and full time in the summer. sigh
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u/Forsexualfavors 8h ago
I had a lawn cutting business at 12. $20 each for an acre apiece. Wish I had spent that time doing kid stuff.
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u/Sage_Planter 8h ago
I'm not tired of working, but I'm tired of the optimization. It's exhausting how we are constantly given tools to be more efficient which requires us to do more and more work. That's what's tiring me out.
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u/impy695 8h ago
Yeah, but being more efficient means you get paid more, right? Right?!?
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u/Sage_Planter 8h ago
Of course. You'll get a 3% cost of living increase and also Susan's job when she's laid off next month.
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u/Timmy98789 8h ago
Ooooops, management is retracting that raise but you get a pizza party in 3 months.
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u/LalafellDisaster 7h ago
“Pizza parties” are so juvenile. Nobody is excited to eat shitty fast food pizza unless they’re in grade school. Fuck off with that nonsense.
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u/AlternatiMantid 7h ago
I was actually very unexpectedly fired from my job over this, where I'd been for 3 years & increased the numbers for my department consistently the whole time. We switched to a new software whose sales reps were VERY good at misleading you on the actual capability of the program vs what it's supposed to do.
My workload tripled & I was very vocal about this to the owner, as well as the software support. They repeatedly kept giving me "bad news" answers any time I had a question or issue. But because the owner is incapable of learning anything for his own business, he didn't care to understand the software & instead blamed my issues on my "work ethic", despite me STILL consistently improving the department through that hellish last 9 months.
I was fired ON memorial day. After a meeting that was supposed to be my annual review/raise the previous week, but turned into a very insulting belittling of me & my work.
I'm on unemployment & honestly enjoying this break. I was so burned out. Money is tight but I'm getting by at the moment.
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u/willacceptpancakes 7h ago
The products been enshittified already and 2 employees are doing the work (poorly) that 5 were doing 4 years ago. So what’s next boss?
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u/SigismundsChair 7h ago
And the funny thing is, almost invariably these things are actively deleterious to productivity
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u/MintyFresh771 8h ago
I started at 14… I’m ready for the sweet darkness to take me.
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u/Xavier_Emery1983 Xennial 7h ago
Started at 15. Worked as many as 3 jobs at a time and still have only an 11 year old Jeep. After living expenses and basically letting my ex-husband take my money, I have food stamps, Medicaid, and 2 toddlers to show for all of that work.
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u/LostinParadise4748 8h ago
EXHAUSTED but also wish I was smarter with my teenage money instead of blowing it on weed, accessories for my car, and name brand clothing.
The power of the dollar back then was amazing, I don't see half as many teens working bc what they make "isn't worth it" or something these days
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u/lt_bgg 8h ago
Those things brought you joy at the time and your happiness was equally important.
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u/___Art_Vandelay___ 6h ago
My wife and I are DINKs, but something I realized yesterday with all of our friends who have teenage children: None of them have a part-time job, not a single one. And none of their pre-teen kids have any unofficial jobs like mowing lawns either.
Not pointing that out to judge, rather my curiosity in understanding if this is an intentional thing and/or what is the cause of the shift. I'm not even trying to state whether it's a good or bad thing, just making an observation with an open mind to the reasons and factors at play.
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u/LostinParadise4748 6h ago
I've asked the question and apparently its a mixture of:
letting kids be kids and not making them have too much financial responsibility
part time minimum wage not being enough to pay for car insurance or a car like we were able to
college becoming more and more competitive and kids needing more available time to focus on studies and extra curriculum activities to stay competitive
Mmmm ok butttttt we also have a generation of kids with increased social anxieties. I was a shy kid but my part time job forced me to get over that whether I was ready or not. I also had to respect a schedule and couldn't just quit because I wanted off for whatever reason. Either i traded shifts or sucked it up. But work with other teens my age was also fun.
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u/alandrielle 6h ago
You also have the chaos of scheduling, ie managers who do not care that they are still in high-school and schedule accordingly. Like finals exist, papers and homework exist. I dont know, I want to say that we made it work when we were their age but I don't think the people managing us or scheduling us were as petty as they are today.
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u/LostinParadise4748 6h ago
The thing is I remember being the person responsible for finding coverage "that's the managers job" was NOT a thing when I was back in high school working my part time job. I remember having to ask my colleagues to swap with me. I also used to work alot of 5-9pm shifts...getting home at 9pm on a school night is crazy when I think about it now. I remember having to cram my homework in the 2 hours I was home before changing and walking to work.
In my case I really did just make it work... having a test was my problem to figure out when to study for... my parents didn't really ask much or knew how I was doing in school as long as I was passing. They didn't have the online portals like we do today.
I'm a 2005 graduate so maybe this was just me.
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u/fishyexe 6h ago
I worked at a grocery store when I was in HS. Worked from 4-10 4 nights a week and an 8 hour shift on Sunday. I did my homework on the bus and in class. Made a lot of money selling my classmates bottles of awful booze for 3x the shelf price though haha.
I did buy myself a car and didn't have any debt after college, don't think that's possible nowadays.
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u/ll98105 5h ago
Where we previously lived, it seemed like no teenagers had jobs. Anecdotally, I heard that the types of places we worked in high school didn’t want to hire teenagers and pay them minimum wage (~$20/hr). I don’t know how much it was that or the kids already being way overscheduled and parents just giving them money vs. encouraging them to want to save and earn it themselves.
We’re fortunate to be pretty comfortable, but my daughter was always interested in earning her own money. Where we moved to, it’s common for teens to get jobs, even the pretty well-off ones. She’s excited to get a job when she can.
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u/Am_0115 8h ago
inflation is a real bitch. 20 years from now you're going to think that the power of the dollar was amazing today too. again, inflation is a bitch. buy the stock index, set it and forget it, it is your only chance.
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u/crazysoapboxidiot 8h ago
The crazy part is that all that work and I’m still barely above water
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u/MusicMeetsMadness 8h ago
I’ve been working since I was 14. Do you know anyone with 20 years experience before 40?
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u/Special-Tangelo-9927 7h ago
If we count babysitting, I've been working since 12 or 13. Got my first "real" job once it was legal at 16. Then I worked 40 hours a week to put myself through college while double majoring. I'm 35 now and the one month I took off for my honeymoon is the most time I've had off from work since I was a teenager. I'm feeling rough.
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u/HoodieStringTies 8h ago
Started at 14 as well and am 40. Quit my job 6 weeks ago. Why? I just really didn't wanna fucking be there anymore. No idea what I'm doing.
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u/KnowledgeMediocre404 4h ago
Maybe this is a vibe? Its almost like getting the ick with your employer and I just can't do such demanding work when I now give 0 fucks. Quit my job of 6 years at 37, been in this biotech career for 15 years and I'm just over it.
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u/Automatic-writer9170 7h ago
Since 15 here. More than 20 years of experience in bullshittery
Edit: remember when they did to us what they are doing to gen z now saying our generation was lazy and people don’t want to work?
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u/chuffberry 8h ago
My parents made me start babysitting on the first day I was legally allowed to, on my 13th birthday. I was continuously employed until age 25, when I was diagnosed with brain cancer and my employer fired me.
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u/april_fearless 8h ago
Dude that’s a tough bite to swallow. I’m sorry your going through this or went through that.
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u/BipolarSolarMolar Zillennial 8h ago
Lawsuit..? Or was it at will employment, so they didn't need a reason?
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u/Old-Lingonberry-360 8h ago
I started working at 15 at a gymnastics studio teaching little girls how to do somersaults. Graduated HS and went to college for geology. I worked my way through college as a server and cashier. I held 2 jobs while going to school full time. When I graduated college, I got a job with the state government at a state park. Now I work for the state's Abandoned Mine Land program and get paid to hike and write papers/do permitting and manage reclamation projects. My goal has been to get paid to hike since I was 17. I now get paid to hike.
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u/grandechode 8h ago
I worked at a tjmaxx making 5.15 an hour. What about yall
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u/Mysterious-Carry6233 7h ago
Old folks home serving in the fine dining hall. I think it was $4.50 an hour. Couldn’t take tips even if they tried to give you one.
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u/acelaya35 8h ago
Bussed at Outback Steakhouse for $2.15 plus tip share. I would walk out with $30-40 a night. I honestly don't know how anyone could do that today. I feel for the kids.
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u/FairyFountain 8h ago
Started at 12, never gone more then 14 days without employment, 38 years old now. Just finished college this spring, so damn sick of dead end retail jobs, and didn't want to go back to being a security guard either. Finally have a good job, weekends off, and no more evenings or nights at work! It's wonderful! But man, do I look forward to retirement!
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u/Highway_Man87 8h ago
Yes. And still broke.
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u/Forsexualfavors 8h ago
Yeah. I think we were the last generation that got told we can be anything we want to be, I know now I can be like 10 things and I don't even have a learning disability
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u/linguist_turned_SAHM 8h ago
- Since I was 13.
In my state in the early 2000s, you could work for your family’s business, you just couldn’t sell alcohol or cigarettes. $5.15/hr. Sometimes I would go in to open before school. And during deer season, we were open even earlier. One of the memories seared into my brain in 8th grade was of my mom not wanting to go in bc she was sick or something, so she woke me up, and took me in at 4 am.
Then I went to school at 8. My honors English teacher tried to tell my parents that they were putting too much on me. And they basically told her to fuck off and mind her own business.
Anyways. I haven’t been home in 6 years.
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u/shlisayeahboyee 7h ago
My guidance counselor was the one that told me it would be a better idea to drop out of HS if I had to be working multiple jobs and to just take the tests for the last half credits I needed in order to get my diploma. My parents were livid about that but he saved me so much stress at the time. Was able to get my diploma a month later but holy shit am I burned out now. I'll always be thankful to that man. I'm sorry you were at an age where you had no choice but to do what your parents said.
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u/ladywiththestarlight 8h ago
I didn’t even get a break during the pandemic
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u/Forsexualfavors 8h ago
Same.. essential workers didn't get any break, although the term essential got stretched pretty hard after a month or so
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u/blumoon444 Millennial 8h ago
Me either, sister. And I started babysitting at 11. 😆 Got my first W2 job at 15.
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u/ravage214 8h ago
I just like how every time I climb up a socioeconomic ladder either inflation or some kind of once in a generation disaster happens and kicks me right back down to the bottom rung again
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u/morr_is166 6h ago
Same. I’m making more now than I ever have and I’m poorer than I’ve ever been.
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u/Sunshineal 8h ago
Try 13. Christian camp counselor. I was 13 making $5 an hour. Thought I was rich!!!! And I wasn't a pre-counselor. I was a whole ass counselor with 20 kids I was responsible for. Damn I got played
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u/RImom123 8h ago
I made $6.50 at 16 and I also thought I was rich. I remember crying when I got my first paycheck because I didn’t understand taxes or where all my money went.
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u/CommonJicama581 8h ago
Not tired of working, just tired of living paycheck to paycheck making more than double what my parents were making
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u/flyingredwolves 8h ago
I realised a year or two ago that my parents were so keen for me to have a job at 16 that the jobs I had actually massively inconvenienced them and it likely would have been cheaper for them to just give me a small amount of money each week. Especially considering how little I actually earned from said jobs.
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u/dacoolist 8h ago
I started at Ace Hardware at 16 in 2002, have pretty much worked since (small gaps between moving from Indy to Sac then from Sac to Austin) - I dont think I'm tired, I think I'm just done with BS I guess is how I would put it.
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u/fedsmoker3000 8h ago
I always have this thought when my younger cousins start their first jobs. Like, surely it hasn’t dawned on them yet that they will never stop working from here on out. The thrill of a paycheck is clouding their minds 😭
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u/IncognitoBrowserMode 8h ago
Exhausted. Haven't found my rich boomer to coast on yet. All this "independent" bullshit is overrated.
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u/DreadPirateMK 8h ago
Been working since 14, I dont remember what it feels like to not be tired.
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u/LelanaSongwind 8h ago
*12 and yes, yes I am.
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u/ConcentratedStress 8h ago
14 here - yup, very tired. Started washing dishes in a pizza place and worked all through college. Now just…like…25-30 years to retirement.
I’m tired, boss
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u/millennialmetalhead 8h ago
Been working since I was 18 and I’m 35 now. You mean to tell me I’ve got another 30-40 YEARS of this shit!? Bruh 😭😭😭😭😭😫😫😫
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u/Dependent_Speech3164 8h ago
Did work with my dad when I was 10… used to go around and hustle 😂 plowing driveways and shoveling sidewalks for people, mowing grass, things like that. Didn’t get a “real” job until I was 17… but yeah… I’m tired.
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u/JadeChipmunk 8h ago
My husband definitely is. Today is his first day back to work after a nice week and a half vacation he hasnt gotten in years and years. And I get to greet him when he comes home with a hole in my tire sigh atleast we got home safe and its not on the side of the road right now, but theres more money to go into something
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u/domesystem Older Millennial 8h ago
Sixteen years till I can draw my first retirement..
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u/zaryaisme 8h ago
I started working at a laundromat when I was 11. Yeah I’m sick of this 💩
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u/Justdoingitagain 8h ago
Babysitting since 11, first job at 14, overloaded with varsity sports and AP/honors classes, worked and went to college for many years… thats just the school and work stress, not to mention all the other shitty things that created stress levels that almost killed me.
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u/zeeblefritz 8h ago
First job was at 14. Finally finished college at 34 after working too many dead end sales and customer service jobs. 39 now and ready to retire.
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u/Fun-Personality-8008 Older Millennial 8h ago
I grew up on a farm. I have never not been working for as long as I can remember. Yes, I am tired. But I also saved diligently and could retire now if I wanted to. So now it is just a matter of putting up with being tired for a better quality of life, as opposed to just surviving like before.
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u/LeRaven78 8h ago
I'm 48
Since my first paying job at age 12 (a paper round) I've never been unemployed since, and I'm definitely exhausted with it all
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u/Vast-Cap-6951 8h ago
I started at 12. And my current net worth is lower than when I started, thanks to student loans, and mortgages. So FML
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u/blaccsnow9229 8h ago
15 years old... And yes, I am
Edit to add: the longest I have ever been unemployed is about 1 month.
And that was after I graduated college when I was looking for a career.
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u/pleboverload 8h ago
First job at 13 because my weekly allowance wasn’t enough for my apparently privileged adolescent lifestyle lol.
Yes, I’m exhausted. No, I don’t have access to my parents’ money anymore (happily independent).
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u/kay14jay 8h ago
15* and yeah dog, but I got me one of them hybrid remotes now. I’m at work right now, but I’m not in an office and haven’t seen the client in 6 hours.
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u/CalicoValkyrie 8h ago
Sometimes until 3am on a school night because my mom wanted to make me drive to school so she could sleep in. I had to pay for my own car.
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u/LilAbeSimpson 8h ago
It’s whatever. Everyone works.
Though I do feel bad for anyone who still doing the same kind of work that they were at 16. That’s rough.
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u/theGOTCH 8h ago
I had 2 paper routes totaling just over 100 houses at 10 years old. Started working part time at 16 and then full time at 22. I'm 40. Shit sucks.
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u/Popular_Raccoon1110 Xennial 8h ago
Since 14yo (born in ‘82) and I’m fucking burnt out. Physician now, before med school worked in multiple labs, three different retail jobs, two restaurants (done everything except host), and even gave door-to-door for clean water action (MI) a try in college.
Only stretch in there I wasn’t “working” was year 3 and 4 of med school. Worked occasional weekends in a restaurant during M1/2.
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u/1gramweed2gramskief 8h ago
Got a paper route at 11, the longest stint of unemployment I’ve had was 3 months. At just 33 I’ve been worked twice the amount of my life than I haven’t. I’m tired boss.
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u/Porcupyre 8h ago
Burned out few years back, slowly getting back to the grind till my coffin time is there
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u/jellyfishrubberduck 8h ago
Yep, single mum. Already had to have 4 months off 18 months ago due to burnout which sucked up any financial 'gain' id managed to get prior to that. Still burnt out. Still cant afford a house.
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u/Damp_Chair 8h ago
My parents made me get my first job mowing lawns at 12 and I’ve been working pretty much ever since. I’m beyond burnt out but it’s not like I have any other choice
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u/kermitcooper 8h ago
I’ve been paying into social security for the past 25 years and I’m not letting it just go away.
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u/Far_Attempt_1505 8h ago
Naw working doesn't make me tired, being a Dad makes me tired.
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