Just had the most frustrating conversation with a friend of mine, B.
B works a crappy job for a stable, but crappy, employer. He makes a bit above min wage, has absolutely no prospects going forward, no hope of a promotion or salary raise, even if he leaves the company to do the same job elsewhere.
He almost didn't get his high school, and refuses to go back to school. I think he just plain hates working with authority figures, and a major reason his current job sits well with him is that he's very isolated from his co-workers/bosses. He gets his work done, nothing blows up, everyone's happy.
His sister has managed to get herself fired from every position she's ever worked, and blames the employers/the economy for the fact that she's out of work.
His mother is also chronically unemployed. She's a much nicer, less confrontational person than the sister, so I'm not sure what the issue is there, but she left on bad terms with all her employers and has been out of work for years.
B moved into his current townhouse with his sister and a roommate. Roommate moved out. Sister never paid her share of the rent, sponged off some friends for a bit, and is currently living with the grandparents. B's mother moved into the townhouse. B is now paying for a townhouse on his own - I'm pretty sure the monthly rent is ~$100 cheaper than his monthly take-home. He managed to convince the landlord to lower rent prices for a year while he searched for a new roommate. Min wage in my town went up and he made a little more money. That year of grace period is probably over by now.
I gather that the mother was on social assistance for a bit, that assistance has since been revoked. I'm not well-read on what the rules are for social assistance in my town, I gather that there's not enough money, and unless there's a child involved, cheques will stop coming after a month or two. To get more cheques, you have to pay back the first few. It works more as an interest-free-loan-of-indeterminate-amount and less as a supplement to income/rent.
B and his mother both have a plethora of "allergies" and other health issues which means no one will ever live with them. Min wage raise is going to be repealed since the right-wing politician won the election. B applied to live in a 2bdrm apartment near work, but he doesn't have cash on hand for first + last and probably went to the landlord with a sob story about how he's so poor. The landlord leased the apartment to someone else.
B is now talking about how he "didn't get the apartment, so won't be moving for a while" which he's happy about, because he doesn't actually want to move. I really don't like his attitude. There are other 2 bdrm apartments in the area, even 1 bdrm apartments. If you can't afford to support your mother, you can't afford to support your mother. Heck, when I was making his money, I was living in an illegal room in someone's basement. B is also one of those people who will complain and moan about any overtime that comes his way. He's living below the poverty line, he can't afford to say no to OT right now.
His main plan for the future seems to be to work forever at this crappy job and moan forever about how he can't afford anything. He doesn't adapt well to change, and isn't initiating any changes of his own. I really don't understand, and have no idea how to help him. I suspect anything I say to nudge him in the right direction would just be countermanded by his mother, who lives with him and whom he respects and thinks well of.
I think I'm going to phase out of this guy's life. It's sad, but I don't know what else to do.