One cousin, her daughter "had" to leave work one day (a job she only had about a week), because her friend just had a baby and she had to go see her friend and the baby.
Needless to say, that job didn't last long. Neither did the next 2 after that.
Same girl can't work long standing, because she has a bad knee. Was going to go on disability...AT 20...but no doctor would sign off on it.
Today, she works at home.
Holding down a sofa.
It seems, that since her knee problem wasn't good enough, now she hears voices.
Qualifies her for a job from the government, that pays her rent, gives her food stamps and some other beni's.
Her sister got knocked up (NOBODY saw that coming (do I need a sarcasm tag?)). The guy, when he works, works at gas station quick marts or fast food joints. Applies for a job, gets "promised" a job to start in 2 weeks, quits the job he DOES HAVE and never gets hired for the job promised. Quits a job, takes $600 out of his girlfriends account and goes to Vegas to play in a tournament for a card game called Magic.
Of course, never has any $$$ for the necessities of his child.
Claims it's not his fault the girl got pregnant. She wasn't supposed to be able to get pregnant if she was on top....SERIOUSLY.
Another cousin, his daughter got knocked up by some guy.
I think he finally got his GED.
Went to some school that taught him how to do oil changes...just oil changes.
Which now qualifies him to be a mechanic...
Couldn't get or hold jobs anywhere, so family members helped get him into a local fruit packing plant.
Second day on the job, his baby hit his head, so he had to leave...and never came back.
My cousin, works at the same plant. Called his daughter to find out about the baby.
Daughter had no idea what he was talking about.
What scares me, is that in their small town area, their are lots of others, just like these.
I have never quite embraced the whole “I’ll worry about rent when it comes due” philosophy. Both my wife and I agreed early on. No one gets bailed out. Ever. Especially not our children who have grown up as spectators to this behavior. So the one destitute sibling is giving money to the other destitute sibling so rent gets paid. Just like my mother did.
I know a bunch of people on SS disability who will lose their free money if they ever have to reapply because this time THEY will have to pay the lawyer rather than the state pay them. I can’t imagine living on that razor’s edge.
I was riding with my sibling when we saw a panhandler on the corner with a sign. My sibling remarked “he looks cold and miserable on that corner. Give him some money”. I replied “Why would I want to pay him to stand on a corner, cold and miserable? That’s cruel”.