WHY I WILL NOT VOTE THIS YEAR

Myself -- | 4/6/2004 | migjagger

[Migjagger]

The following e-mail was sent to a friend who's an expert on certain political issues and editorializes (as I have) for many renowned newspapers--including The Wall Street Journal.

Dear friends:

Had a talk with a Chilean best friend this morning regarding Bush, etc. She believes that he won't get reelected because the economy (which the administration refuses to discuss) is in dire straights. They say that 350,000 jobs were added to the economy but over three million have been lost. This is insane! People I know are literally going crazy with worry.

I have to tell you that I've just about had it trying to survive from month to month. My saving grace is that I have a big house (although it's mortgaged) and rent the guest house out back and have a roommate. Not the most desirable situation, but there you have it. I need to work and find myself constantly looking for a job without ever finding anything that pays barely above minimum wage--like retail. Had to quit my retail job because being on my feet all day on upscale pumps and slides to comply with their dress code was killing me and my knee swelled up so much I couldn't put my foot down. I have reapplied to UCLA Law School in hopes that I can get some kind of job after I graduate--assuming I get accepted there because apparently everyone else has the same idea and UCLA has a huge and excellent pool of applicants. In the meantime I am trying like heck to get decent work. Looking for work and is depressing because since it's mostly done electronically, it's impersonal. Therefore, I never hear back from anything or anyone. It seems, you need contacts to get a job at McDonalds these days.

To illustrate my point, here's a note I got from someone from whom I was seeking some assistance in her large company's Human Resources Department.

"As I explained when we met I don’t have a local contact for hiring. I had suggested to you that you go on the internet and see what jobs are open. I did forward your resume to External Affairs, if they have and opening and exhaust internal applicants they will call you. Mine is a large organization and there is no local H.R. person that I can refer you to. But I thought I could send your resume off and you may get lucky. Try the website and see what they have open and good luck."

I tried the website and never heard back. You need a contact from within the company--any company--and this woman who wrote me back is not someone I know well at all--so that's the way it all goes.

Frankie lost his job at Disney a year ago and has been struggling by with free-lance and living off credit cards ever since. First time since age 14 that he's been out of work. This is the pits. With our academic and professional background (and related credentials) we should be able to at least get employment. Why is this happening?

Love --

Mig

[Solson]

Public interest law? Seems like you want a living wage as well? How quaint. Hey, does the "f*ck you" ya sent me in e-mail jibe with your response to potential employers??

Diapers and a bottle anyone?

[TheBigB]

Howdy, 4mc! :-) Howya been?

[EggsAckley]

I take it that you, as I, do not believe that this thread is legitimate. Something very suspect about this person, membership date or not. I suspect either a "borrowed" screen name or a sleeper troll.

Something's just not right here.

[EggsAckley]

You left out the most telling part: "Public Interest Law." Nothing spells lefty like that!


This person, IMHO, is bogus.

[EggsAckley]

Did he/she/it REALLY send you an FU email?? This changes the profile and credibility tremendously. LOL!

[Migjagger]

Funny but true.

[Solson]

Yup!

[xsmommy]

i am a lawyer, have been for over 20 years. you are nuts if you think going to law school is the answer. you are going to go further in debt for tuition and let me tell you there is NO guarantee of a job at the end of those 3 years. do something practical where there is actually a demand not a surplus in the field.

i recall having seen your name around for some time, so i don't think you are a troll, but this vanity post is rather inane. as everyone else has said, your job situation has absolutely no bearing on this election. i live in northern VA. the economy is doing fine here. i have one friend whose husband lost his job for a defense contractor. Guess what? he is going to head up utility management at his kids Catholic school. read glorified janitor. his wife is fine with the adjustment, she is a can-do sort. you might try that mentality.

[xsmommy]

Public Interest Law." Nothing spells lefty like that

excellent point! and, moreover, that area of the law DOES NOT PAY. so you go in debt to do that? makes no sense. go work for Greenpeace or PETA.

[EggsAckley]

I have an arrogant lefty nephew-in-law who is determined to go to law school so he can be a "poverty" lawyer. Since it took him about six years to finish his BA, I can see him spending about ten years in law school. Meanwhile his wife works two jobs, goes to school and continues to bring home the bacon. Ah, the idealism of youth! (lazy s.o.b.)

[F.J. Mitchell]

"Why is this happening?"

It sure as heck isn't the fault of President Bush.

Maybe it's because the Democrats wear out their tonsils talking down the economy.

If you think refusing to vote is the answer to your problem or will bring you satisfaction-it won't, unless you find pleasure in feigning helpless victimhood. In which case voting for Kerry if successful would keep you in the ecstactic state of tearful "poor me" for at least four years.

[xsmommy]

heck, i was still a democrat while in law school and even then i knew that the Equal Justice foundation etc. was for leftwingers and i wanted no parts of it.

kind of strains credulity to hear someone bellyaching about not having a job, while living in an expensive house and intending to flush $$$ down the toilet at a law school with no guaranteed job at the end, and with the stated goal being PUBLIC INTEREST LAW. what was the point of this thread again? i kind of lost it while meandering around through the guest house, law school and retail sales.

[xsmommy]

PS. hopefully your lefty nephew-in-law will GROW UP and move right! liberalism is kind of a delayed adolescence isn't it?

[Migjagger]

I am a can do sort. Thanks for recognizing me. I have been at the computer too long today. Nonetheless, I am not crazy about Bush for whom I voted--as everyone in my family did. No one I know will now vote for him, so my story was posted as a symptom of a more serious problem.

[hellinahandcart]

There's little or no money and much pressure to sell at the higher end places, like you said.

It is not a glamorous job, no matter how swanky the surroundings. Most people have no idea how much juggling of tasks is involved.

Usually the lower-salary places have high commission potential to make up for it. And selling is the name of the game in retail (or just about any business, frankly), you're not there to be a hostess.

Where most people go wrong is

1. failure to learn the product line, fully and early on---you should always know more about it than your customers. And you will not be able to successfully sell a product you don't understand or like yourself.

2. Showing a customer everything when they request to "see everything". It is not what the customer really means. And it never works either; when you present them with too many options, their brains blow a fuse, and they decide it's time for lunch instead of time to buy.

[prairiebreeze]

You have some growing up to do. You aren't the first to be looking for work, and won't be the last. Shifting blame to the government (in this case the President) or ANYBODY else for your situation is an extremely immature response.

Mostly though, you need to grow up about not voting because you are having a temper tantrum or a pity party, and realize that by willfully refusing to vote you are thumbing your nose at every person in our countries history that went before you and struggled, sacrificed, fought and died so that you COULD have the opportunity to vote!!

If considering the military or fighting forces in this regard is beneath your intellectual appreciation, perhaps you'd like to reflect on the womens sufferage movement and what it's meant to our country and women here and around the world. Maybe you'd like to think about the slaves and what the right to vote meant to them. They certainly found it a worthwhile endeavor to struggle for.

I find the attitude about not voting frankly, despicable.

Either grow up and start acting like an adult or admit that you are a child. Maybe a fully-grown, yet perennial child.

Prairie

[xsmommy]

well all of my family and everyone i know knows that the alternative is MUCH WORSE. don't vote, but you can't possibly think that john kerry is going to improve YOUR lot in life, or anyone elses. NOT if you are truly a conservative. i do wish you well, but you need to rethink your priorities and try to be practical. sometimes you can't do what you WANT, you have to do what you NEED TO DO. and i sincerely urge you to rethink public interest law. you can be a lawyer and do pro bono stuff on the side, but if your financial situation is precarious (that is if you are not independently wealthy and are prepared to incur over $100k in debt for law school for a low paying job at the end of the line) find a legit job instead

[Migjagger]

Yeah. You're right. I had no idea what was involved when I got into retail--having never done it outside of my mom's store, where I was actually working in the office. To be on your feet all day and still look fresh and polished and act interested and polite is quite a task. I knew the line, that was not a problem for me and I wore the clothes even before I went to work there (not the shoes, the shoes were killers). Unfortunately, as hard as the job is, you're not compensated in kind--at all. No benefits except a discount. It's very hard. What gets me is how much the CEO makes--I mean, it's absurd--40 million plus percs. Does that make sense? This guy has no clue and he just tries different things to see what sticks. I believe this particular chain is not even competing effectively. Pathetic.

[Migjagger]

Hi. It's Law. I simply don't know what else to do. Maybe I could teach afterward. Don't know. I just know that I'm not physically able to stand on my feet all day long. That I don't wish to depend on a man to support me, for crying out loud. That I have something to say. No, I will not vote and I'm just being honest. I have come to believe that Bush is a crook and a liar--just like Clinton. And I despise his little jokes at the expense of those who gave up their lives to find the darn weapons of mass destruction. I don't think he's an intelligent man--quite the contrary. I truly believe that he will lose the election to a complete panderer. Instead of the vitriol, my post should be seen as a brave move, after all. My situation is one which a lot of people are facing. I had an inkling about what people would be saying in this forum--the only one at which I ever post, really, because I have no time. It was a risk. Oh, well. Now I'm going to get ready to go to my dance class because this is how I keep my sanity. I can't afford NOT to go.

Mig --

[MacDorcha]

lets see here, there is the medical field (you could get your rn in 2 years and be making 120k a year after that.)

there is "you failed to plan ahead, its been 4 years already"

"you live in the highest priced housign in the USA (and in A LARGE HOUSE)" try making cutbacks, or moving!

try not blaming anybody, because this sort of thing (the economy) happens (as any law grad should know as i beleive economics is still required for them as well)

and as for not being personal, this is a personal statement to a personal statement. deal with it.

this isnt Bush's fault, you're better off than most in this country (even without a job) you have more options than sitting on your stupi thumbs and waiting to get burped.

get off your wimpy butt and find a job!

Mac