#having to pay out of pocket bc they fucked up depositing the money from my college fund WAS A SIGN!!!

[fwhimmys]

one month into college n i'm already considering dropping out <3

[assorted-words]

As a little test for myself I looked back at the last month of expenses on both my chase debit and credit cards.

I bought food from restaurants 5 times, once buying lunch for my mom when she visited me at work. I spent nothing on coffee or drinks except for one “treat” which was a green juice on a day when my cramps were so bad I couldn’t eat. I didn’t take a cab/Uber ever and got gas once, $20 worth bc I didn’t want to spend the money to fill up the tank but had to get to my moms in the next town over. The only thing I bought on a regular basis (nearly everyday) was parking. <$1 a day to park downtown where I work. Once I get my bike fixed that cost will be very rare. I payed for my subscriptions (nyt crosswords and YouTube). I went to the grocery store twice, <$150 total for the month. I went to the pet store for food, still have litter for the next few weeks bc I buy it bulk. I payed for rent, electricity, WiFi, car insurance, and my phone bill. I still get health insurance from my fathers job but haven’t been to the doctor in years because copays and costs for prescriptions are way to high to consider going for anything less than I’m dying.

I live off a combination of my minimum wage, tips, and free meals from work. I have been trying to save up bc I have to move in a few month and that will cost over $2000 up front (rent, first and last, and security and pet deposits, not to mention other costs of moving). This will be nearly all of my savings to date.

We don’t beg and cry out for higher wages and cheaper healthcare because we are lazy, entitled, or spend our money frivolously. We don’t want small businesses to suffer from a simple wave increase either, I mean why does amazon get tax exemption while my boss Linda has to pay thousands of hard earned dollars to the gov. She raised to daughters on her own then with them opened and a successful restaurant that is welcoming and a loving presence in our community. Every time someone comes in asking for a donation to their cause or comped food for their charity event she accomodates them. She’ll come in on Sunday at 6am and make pots of soup for the shelter down the street. She’ll donate money, hang posters, have us hand out flyers for charity events. And I don’t want her not to be able to do those things because she’s struggling to pay me. Why should she be paying taxes at all? Why should I? Why can’t the people making billions by exploiting and destroying us and our planet pay their fair share? THEY WONT EVEN FUCKING NOTICE, THEY HAVE SO MUCH MONEY.

I rejoice when I find eleven dollars in my pocket before washing my jeans.

The loudest among our generation may have money. Social media “influencers” may say they represent us. But there are millions of young working people who are struggling to live, let alone thrive.

And there are a lot of us, everyone in my class (bc yes class divides exist in this fucking country) I have talked about this with say similar things. They don’t want that much more than they have. They don’t want a giant, pollution creating, ugly, mcmansion. They don’t want multiple cars, luxury clothes, or all the newsest tech toys. They want to be able to afford their rent, they want enough money so that organic vegetables aren’t luxuries to them, they want to feel free to go to their doctor or nurse practitioner or local clinic and not fear for how to pay up. They want to work and feel that they are payed fairly for their time, effort and labor.

We aren’t buying the capitalist, fascist bullshit anymore, we can’t afford it.

The more we’re advancing in this timeline the less fucks AOC is giving and I’m endlessly here for it