My first thought upon reading her essay: If you genuinely want to die every minute of every day, it's probably not your environment.
It's probably you. Evidence: Moving out of that environment didn't make her happy; rather, she finds herself crying in the bathtub; in short, she found herself unhappy in different circumstances. When I was poor, I was often stressed about bills and unhappy about being unable to buy things I wanted, and -- yes -- I can remember crying about specific financial details at times ... but I was never unhappy about my life in general.
She chose her new location, in part, so she could be closer to her dad ... then racked up credit card debt to make the move possible. Why not move in with dad at least for a time? Like maybe the one year she anticipated "paying her dues" by working in this low-salary job. Couldn't that one choice -- even if it isn't what she really wants -- have made all the difference in her eventual success?
She sees her coworkers grasping for frugal ways to live: Second jobs, living with parents. She recognizes these as attempts to "make it", but she doesn't make any similar attempts herself. A part-time job at CVS sounds like a great idea. A job waiting tables could've meant taking home real food instead of snacks. My first couple years out of school, I couldn't "make it" on just one job; most of the young teachers with whom I work have a part-time job (or at least a summer job). Fun? Nope, but also not unusual for a young person on an entry level salary.
They feed her at work?
What a cool perk! I wish I could bypass making my lunch every day! She doesn't seem to appreciate that benefit, even though she hasn't purchased groceries since she moved. I suspect she doesn't understand -- perhaps because she's young -- that this isn't a typical thing, and she should appreciate it.
$20 for a medical co-pay is pretty good. Again, is this her youth and inexperience showing? Still, she's an adult now, and she really should realize that this is a sweet deal. Better than I have.
Do you think she's lying?
Honestly, yes. I don't see how anyone
could qualify for a rental that eats up 85% of her take-home pay. I don't doubt that she's in a difficult situation, but I don't believe everything she says.
She's right though, she's not making enough to live in the bay area.
Time for her to move to a place with a lower COL where a job that pays low is a living wage. She mentions early on in the letter that some of her coworkers had done exactly that.
Yeah, this is the right answer.
Try living on 1400 with no end in sight is pretty demoralizing. It's easy to live off of 1,500 a month when you are making 100k a year, not so easy when making less than 20k.
That's a fair statement. It's not so hard to be frugal when you know that you can dip into savings if you need to go to the doctor or need new tires. And, yes, living in poverty is definitely demoralizing. What I find frustrating about the article is that she doesn't seem to be taking any steps towards altering her situation.
I feel like "breaking into media" is the new "moving to LA to become an actor". 99% end up working minimum wage while waiting to be discovered (by either a studio or the twitterverse).
I think it's also a form of "do what you love, and you'll never work a day in your life". Thing is, most of our hobbies just don't translate into paying jobs -- that line needs to die, and we need to be honest with young people: You're well-suited to do any number of jobs; choose one that you find acceptable, work hard at it, and look for emotional fulfillment from your friends and family. Don't confuse your career for your life.
The overwhelming sense of entitlement really annoys me. She needs to realize she's being paid to do a job - in this case a very easy job like answering phones. The boss isn't paying her because he needs to support her, he pays her because she's doing a job.
Honestly, while that sounds so obvious, a lot of young people have trouble grasping it. I'm thinking about a young lady I know who was VERY upset that she was written up in her job for failing to show up /not calling in. After all, she had her mother write her an excuse note! This person was a high school graduate working full time in a retail job.
Lack of maturity makes her a likely liability for future employers. She does have some good points about the overall ridiculousness of the SF housing & rental market in an economy that combines the worst aspects of market-based pricing and government-induced artificial supply limitations. Hence a place that, though I would like to live in, would never do since being over-worked in paradise is worse than retiring early in a good enough place.
Yes, lack of maturity is definitely a key problem here. However, on the other side of that coin, when I was her age I did some whining too about how hard it is to transition into the world of adult workers. I'm glad I didn't have access to the internet so I couldn't make a fool of myself /limit my future choices by saying something about my employer in a semi-public arena. For that reason, I have some sympathy for her.