*sigh* My partner just reminded me that because I didn't get a paycheck today (I now in fact owe *them* $20) we don't have funds for the motel room in the morning. I somehow didn't connect the two in my head so now we're up against a time crunch. I truly have no idea how much my pay advance will be until the morning now that things have been so weird lately with my pay thanks to this damned "wage-compression" bonus. I *think* the $20 I now owe them will come out of the next paycheck, but I don't know for certain. So, worst case scenario: if they do short my pay advance tomorrow (or now today rather since I wasn't off work until almost midnight) to cover the supposed overpayment, I'm looking at roughly $50 available. The room is roughly $90 (which is far more reasonable than $140 for today). We have to use a prepaid visa debit card to pay and, irritatingly they place an additional ten percent or so above the charge itself so we'll need at least $10 in order to actually make the payment. I'm disappointed with myself for not planning better. However, this has been a useful learning experience because it never occurred to us that we could make several individual single-day reservations ahead which should hopefully allow us to somewhat avoid skyrocketing "peak demand" prices. Anyway.. long story short, we have roughly 8 hours to make the motel room payment. We simply don't have enough room in my car to transport two humans and a dog and all of our stuff which is even more complicated now that we have a bit of a commute; in other words, I would only have a couple of hours before work to drive at least 40 miles round-trip to our storage unit and hurl everything on top of our already overflowing pile of crap. Plus I would really prefer not to have to drag the mini-fridge and microwave downstairs after just bringing them up yesterday. My back is still sore from the climb. With all that said, I must once again humbly ask for help somewhat urgently to keep us housed. Please forgive the overly-frequent begposts. You know the drill.. If you're willing AND able, please boost and if possible donate. If you can't donate, *do NOT feel guilty* for being in the same boat as us. Your feelings about it are valid but rest assured you needn't feel bad. Venmo:
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 GFM: https://gofund.me/12171be3 #MutualAid #Housing #Poverty @npub19lsu...t9fz
Struggling to get the podcast up and going. This poor little $30 used laptop doesn't seem to be powerful enough. But we're going to try and make the best of it. Here is a little sample of our Codependent Border Collie attempting to help troubleshoot our audio issues.
For a few days this week, I felt alive. My daily pay advances were suddenly much larger than they usually are. I'm such a fucking idiot, I allowed myself to believe that they must've promoted me to Team Lead on the payroll side before they had officially declared me the new TL, maybe as a suprise or a fluke or something. Nope. Of course not. A 44 year old man should know better. For two or three days, I felt like a human being again for the first time in.. I really don't know how long. I was able to actually place the grocery order that my partner had prepared, without culling it down to pop-tarts and sandwiches. I was able to pay for our storage unit. I was able to fill up the gas tank in our car, all without having to beg for donations to survive. I was able to pay for the motel room without needing to pray we had enough to cover the additional hold fees for the visa charge. For those couple of days, I felt like I was actually getting paid what I was worth. It's also amazing how much more pleasant work can be when you seem to be getting paid enough to stay independently fed and housed. I hadn't realized the crushing stress of trying to survive on $16/hr. It isn't enough for one person to live on, let alone two. I'd become inured to the fear of not knowing if I could raise enough money to keep us housed. Turns out they bumped the minimum pay rate at my location by fifty cents, and since I've been here for more than two years I got a one-time "fuck you, the teenagers are now making as much as you" wage compression bonus. It's the one time in almost three years I've seen them make income other than hourly wages available through the pay advance. I also got a thirty-two cent raise, which taking inflation into account means another penny or so of actual income increase. Fortunately I somehow managed to resist going on a spending spree, and for good reason; since I had received advances that totaled more than my actual wages, they clawed back the pay for my entire shift on Wednesday. I spent my day off yesterday fuming because it felt like I had just worked an awful, miserable shift for *free*. I'll be lucky if I get anything for today's shift either. I calculated what my pay would've been if those pay advances had been wage income, and it equated to roughly $22 per hour - approximately six dollars more per hour than my current pay rate. Our Team Leads don't even make quite that much. That's all it would take for me to not spend the vast majority of my waking hours being irritated that I continue to wake up alive and breathing every morning. Six fucking dollars per hour. Amidst all of this, Wednesday night I was struck by an epiphany as I dove head-first into an emotional meltdown over being given contradictory instructions; I was overwhelmed with the realization that they will never *ever* let me be TL, because a) I can't handle criticism b) I can't handle conflicting or contradictory instructions, and c) I wilt in a crisis. Team Leads here might potentially be responsible for the safety of an entire store full of employees and customers, all for less than $22/hr. That's what it feels like I *should* be getting paid in my current position *now*. I shouldn't have to make potentially life or death decisions regarding dozens of people for a piddly $5/hr raise. Regardless of all of this, I realized I've reached my limit for surviving on starvation wages. I've had a taste of life without being on the edge of homelessness. I'm not doing it anymore. One way or another, I am not going back to that. I'm tired of going hungry on my lunch breaks. I'm tired of relying on charity to survive. I'm tired of seeing our dog age prematurely because we can't afford to get him vaccinated so that we can take him to places to exercise him. I'm tired of this goddamned fucking sore the size of a pencil eraser on my tongue because of another cracked tooth constantly rubbing it. All of these things seem like such luxuries, and compared to billions of people they truly *are* luxuries. I know I should just be grateful for living in suburbia instead of war-torn wastelands. But for fucking fuck's sakes, I just want to have enough money to eat and live. One way or another I am done with all of this. Except there *is* no other way. I am quite possibly in the best possible employment situation I will ever be able to obtain. I'm a middle-aged man with no skills. It's only downhill from here. This isn't an acceptable quality of life for me. It isn't worth it. Anyone know if Kevorkian is still alive? No? *sigh* I wonder if there's any sort of advance sign-up for Kilmeade's homeless reduction program. Six dollars an hour more is all the additional wages I would need to feel like a functional human being. Fml.
Alright.. Change of plans. Maybe? Help me decide. We're almost at our goal for a hotel room for the next five days, but it finally occurred to me that perhaps rather than dumping all this money into even more hotel costs, we should instead do the mature thing and put it towards the apartment application, initiation fee, etc. etc. to get the ball rolling. It might mean spending a night or two in the car if we can't raise additional funds, but it's a third of the way to us being in *an* apartment.
Hello, my friends. I've stared at this screen for five minutes trying to figure out how to write this. It's getting to the point where the thought of having to write yet another begpost (especially one of such an amount, again) makes my skin crawl. But I must do this because I need to everything I can to keep my family safe. My only hope for ceasing this constant digital panhandling is a promotion at work that I really, really need. My family desperately needs an income increase. Yet my only hope for that promotion is rest, and my only hope for rest is to be safely housed. Realistically, no one is going to co-sign on an apartment for a total stranger so my only practical option right now is to continue staying in hotels. Our most reasonable option for a hotel is impractical if we don't pay several days at a time. So.. I'm attempting to raise funds for a week's stay at said hotel, and to cover a haircut and beard trim so I look presentable at work. Goddammit I hate doing this. Especially such a large amount. But I need somewhere to sleep. If you're willing AND able, please boost and if possible donate. If you can't donate, *do NOT feel guilty* for being in the same boat as us. Your feelings about it are valid but rest assured you needn't feel bad. Venmo:
Venmo | Andrew Checketts
Venmo is a digital wallet that lets you make and share payments with friends. You can easily split the bill, cab fare, or much more. Download the i...
 Cashapp:
Pay me on Cash App
Instantly exchange money for free on Cash App
 PP:
PayPal.Me
Pay William Simmons using PayPal.Me
Go to paypal.me/Gizmo1982 and type in the amount. Since it’s PayPal, it
 GFM: https://gofund.me/12171be3 #MutualAid #Housing #Poverty #MentalIllness @mutualaid group