Recession Depression?

October Knight

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Fantasy, Horror and Sci-fi. I'll try basically anything though. I also love strange and unusual RP genre concepts. Different is good!

Recession Depression

You hear about it in the news constantly. Everyone is broke, there is no money or jobs. Everything sucks. It has sucked for a long time and will continue to suck in the future.

My question is:

Has the economy affected you and how?



Luckily for me, I was slightly prepared. I had savings when I lost my job (I didn't actually lose it, but I am not working anywhere NEAR 40 hours a week, so It's pretty much like working part time on the weekends)
Anyways, Since things have gotten really bad my life has changed significantly. I have had to find new ways to make money to supplement the income I get from work. Because I cannot afford to live off of available entry level jobs (Its REALLY REALLY expensive to live where I live). I do whatever I can ( Legally) to make ends meet.

Overall, It hasn't been that bad for me - I am happy about the way things are going, and am not part of the shared, depressive mindset that seems to be common to many Americans. It has been quite a learning experience, I am doing many things that I never thought I could do as well as living in a way that far different than I was before.
 
Overall, it's effected my family a bit.

My father's work is not doing well, because not as many people are going to hotels, not as many hotels need or can afford new furnishings. This last month, the phone should have been ringing off the hook.

My mother is no longer selling jewelry. Not enough people are buying anymore.

My brother and his wife are gonna have a kid soon in less than two months, and they're behind the ball because of medical bills.

We're doing ok, money's a little tight, but overall, we're doing well enough.

I'm a little worried though, I need to get a job soon, and I was planning to just do a little ditty in a vet's office, but due to the fact that everyone and their mother is looking for jobs, I might not be able to get to that. Either way, It's Dallas, there's gonna be something at least.
 
When I first moved out of my home about two to three years ago it went smoothly for about... two months. Then I got laid off, couldn't find another job, lost my place to live, and if it wasn't for friends i would have spent the next several months on the streets rather than just a few nights. Finally, I found another job only to get demoted because I was too damn good at it. It didn't take long for me to get really tired of being walked on by my coworkers so... I said "peace out!" and joined the army. Finally, I was having the adventures I had wanted since I was little and actually getting paid to fire weapons and blow stuff up is rather nice.

Today, a little over a year and six months after I joined, I still have a steady pay check and can support my family of three with one paycheck and we're living rather comfortably and can afford to fly back to California to visit more than once a year. Is it the most ideal lifestyle? Hell, no but I don't regret choosing it because despite the fact people would get fireballed five times a day (or more) if I could cast magic, I'm happy. That whole sitting in a gutter depressed attitude isn't for me anyway. Life throws a lot of challenges at you and there's a lot of things you can't change but it's up to you to stand up and move on.
 
depressive mindset that seems to be common to many Americans.

Pardon me for sounding like a dipshit, but I reckon that's the mindset of the people that wouldn't get a job with or without recession anyway.

I mean, hey, I should know about recession, we've had it for the past 20 years.
 
Thank you Darkness for plowing into what I was trying to tiptoe around.
 
Good question. My wife got lucky, she landed a very good job with a non-profit group/pre school for abused and at risk children. She makes good money and that has really saved us. However, it has impacted me greatly.

I decided to turn my life around about the same time the economy started to slip. I went off to Job Corps, leaving my fiance at the time, for a year to get some book keeping, business technology and business finance experience. I sobered up, now having two years soberity under my belt, but it kind of sucks.

I always used to make as much or more money than my wife. Since I've changed for the better I have not been able to land a steady year round job. When I was high all the time I made decent money, now I can't seem to get a job that breaks $10 an hour. Everytime an opportunity pops up, like this last one managing a game center, something happens. This time the business had to move , dropped the restaurant side and consilidated the computer store and game center into one lobby and went back to just having the family run it.

Right now I'm working for a local company seasonal. I had an interview that had the opportunity to be awesome, but unfortunately even though I was qualified I was up against college graduates without a college degree, so it didn't happen. I have another opportunity for a new restaurant ran by a friend of mine but everytime it seems to look like it's going to happen it just doesn't for one reason or another.

To sum up - this is the first time in my adult life I haven't been able to just get a solid job and make regular money. It's been incredibly hard on me because even though I contribute to my household it is such a meagre amount in comparison to my wife its a downer. That probably sounds silly, but, her dad passed away before we got married and I told him I'd take care of her and monetarily she's taking care of me more than I take care of her.
 
@@ Melesiox - Congrats on two years, dude.
 
It'll get better, Melesiox, but I agree with Octy, congrats on 2 years! It'll be worth it.
 
I live in an area where the unemployment is an almost steady 90%. We didn't really notice the recession/depression thing that much. AHUR HUR HUR.