This is totally dog-unrelated, but I need to vent about this, so I'm picking you poor people to vent to
On the news I am seeing all of these fresh college graduates protesting in NYC and DC because they can't find jobs. They claim they are overqualified for what is out there but during an interview, this is what they are saying "People like totally don't understand how hard it is an' stuff. They like don't get what it's like to have student loans and all that stuff to pay for and we can't find jobs. There's like nothing out there for us because it's like noone is hiring and now I have to do things like work a job that umm like I could have gotten with like no college degree. It just sucks ya know!" I wouldn't hire them with those grammar "skills" either! All the while, they are living alone (rent $) wearing $70 GAP Khakis, have rings in their faces and are driving newer model cars- and complaining that they can't make over 50K a year. According to them, a single person can't live off of that.
What gets me is that I am in contact with families of 5 and 6 people who are living off of less than 20k a year, happily working the behinds off doing hard, physical labor AND sending extra money to family members so they can obtain higher education in poor nations.
Why is it that these "kids" (who are only about 4 or 5 years younger than me) Feel that having to give up some luxury items means that they are going to die of starvation or end up homeless? I just don't understand the mentality. Is it a city kid thing, a generational thing, or just a spoiled rotten parents messed up thing? You would think that in today's economy any unemployed person would be more than happy to work as a research analysist, or even a coat checker at a posh hotel, but not these guys! They want their corner office right out of college. Thoughts anyone?

And now there are news articles that some of the "protesters" are being paid to be there......things that make you go "Hmmmmmm"...

Anyone want to bet on whether they have enough money to pay their smart phone bills?

They'd be lots better off if they used their time to brainstorm about creating jobs. Sheesh people, Steve Jobs started out in his garage - he didn't even have that fancy college degree! There always seems money and work for creative people who think outside the box.

I'd comment further, but I need to go to work. Actually three different jobs today. Cleaning house, yard work and packing apples. Then in my free time tonight I'll work designing more knitting patterns to sell.

WOW, Amy you are dead on IMO.
They can come out here any day and farm. With 2 full time men, my farm would sing. AG profits have never been higher, but it takes men who work hard.
People in the generation protesting have IMO no clue of what "work" is. Not
Seinfeld, or something like you see on TV shows about "office". Work =up before dawn, do jobs that the boss does not want to do , or do a skill/service that other people don't have. When you get home it's dark or nearly dark and you are tired and need a shower.
The world only needs so many folks whose skill set is thinking and talking on the phone and typing on a computer.

I've completely stopped believing in anything said about the unemployment rate. We've had numerous articles here locally and I personally know several employers who all say the jobs are there. They just can't find any applicants who are able to pass a drug test or are willing to be at work on time or work a full 40 hour week. Go figure.

As a recent addition to the unemployment statistics, I shouldn't comment, but I think I will anyway.

I was laid off because my job was merged with another. I have a BA in Psychology. I am willing to work full time, I can pass a drug test, my grammar appears to be adequate.

I am not griping or whining or crying "poor me." I don't know about the protests and don't want to. Those of us that are truly affected, are too busy trying to find work and don't have the time or the energy to "march on Wall St." Things like this take away from the real picture - and make it into a joke. Unemployment isn't a joke- it's a real thing and affects too many people to laugh at it.

I've only been unemployed for 3 weeks - but it does scare me. I was secure with my job- it didn't pay all that much, but it paid the bills. I have never had any of the "luxeries" that some refer to so I can't give those up to save money. I don't have parents to turn to to live with or help with the bills.

I worked for 6 years slinging dog poop for Ed AFTER earning my degree. I, like many others, are willing to do what we need to do to survive. Please, don't make it into a joke, or make us look like we aren't trying. We aren't on the news every night- but we ARE trying. We DO matter. Many like me are unemployed through NO FAULT of our own. We need your support- not criticism.

--Kelly

If you a person who was once willing to clean a kennel, then IMO you know how to work and in short order you will be snatched up by a business who values and recognizes that. So enjoy your time off, I'd predict it will be very short lived!

Didn't mean to step on any toes here, especially yours, Kelly. Heck, I went through a brief period of unemployment myself. Just saying there appears to be a sizeable population out there that could get jobs but don't or can't because of a faulty work ethic, personal appearance, or jaded past. Showing my age but that didn't seem to be so prevalent a generation ago. That definitely does not take away the fact there are honest, capable people looking for jobs who deserve some level of understanding that they want to work and I wish them all the best. My wife's a teacher and tells me that they have hundreds of applicants for just a few teacher's aide's positions, many of them certified teachers with Master's Degrees. Times are sure interesting.

Oh Kelly I hope you don't think I am talking about all unemployed people. Just those who have been camping out for days to protest against a lack of jobs. (Some taking time off from their current, unglamorous jobs to do so) I just feel a certain disdain for those young people who can find jobs, just not the ones they want right away, so they choose to whine about it publicly so people feel bad for them.
It is those people who have no fear of slinging poop or milking cows or working at the local McDonalds that I have the utmost respect for. There is a job shortage, yet we have no American born citizens applying to work at the dairy. Our hire rate for American born (white is what I am trying to say gracefully) has been 100%. We have 1 person who fits this category. He is 52 years old. For this harvest season, we put ads everywhere for well paid temp work. We had many applicants and they were all out-of-work 35-50 year olds and they have my respect completely. We did get 1 college boy and he was great, but he was the only student to call and we advertised at the local primarily Ag University.
I was set on being a stay at home mom when we had kids. We had 2 by the time we were 22. My husband was in college, working 2 jobs- 1 on the farm and another hiring himself out to other farmers and I was taking the kids to garage sales and digging through old junk piles at farmsteads to find antiques I could sell my in parent's antique store. We lived in a trailer, and didn't have pop or ketchup in our fridge for 2 years, but we weren't protesting, we were surviving and did so when he graduated and could not find anything local that would pay a decent wage. He drove truck for months (and very little money) before someone liked his work ethic and offered him a good job. Fast-forward 6 years and now we are our own bosses and have the opportunity to have some of those luxuries.
It just frustrates me to see the entitlement in these young people who are probably working their first jobs ever. It's my belief that they are being passed up for a reason.

The Odd thing is they are laying off people in India too. The company I work for is an US based company. Every week I feel lucky that I am still employed. They laid of 45 people a month back.

And yes I do work for a fraction of what I used to get paid while I lived and worked in San Antonio. Still , I am on shaky ground.

I am so fed up with being worried, I have stopped thinking about it.