Rough times, eh?

[AmericanWeiner]

Yeah, prepare for whining.

I've been working since I was fifteen years old (I'm 18 now). Running cash registers and stocking before the store closed down and I had to move on, mostly. I started working on my dad's vinyl siding crew. He neglected to teach me anything, and eventually decided that I should be doing his bookwork instead. Well, that's what he said. In reality, he just wanted me away from the site so he could go see his mistress whenever he wanted. He left with her and I haven't seen him in eight months, other than a "hey dad" when I saw him outside of the courtroom. Why'd he leave, though? That's an interesting question. A year prior, my mom got sick and had to quit working (she still has a hard time operating the house's basic functions). Turns out she'd been supporting my dad all of their life and with the money gone and my dad's business starting to look good (he grossed $200,000 in 2004), he took off.

He's been avoiding court orders to pay child support and alimony (well, child support for my brother. He claims I should be able to support myself). Now I'm painting houses, and the people I work for have stopped building for a couple of weeks. I applied at Lowes to work on a stock crew and didn't make it past the first interview.

I don't know. I guess I'm just wondering how in the world people make it. I'm extremely smart and good at figuring things out, but I get bored with school.

How did you "make it?"

[ZooTech]

I'm a single dad raising three kids by myself {ages 5, 6, and 8}. My oldest has autism and doesn't speak a word. He also still wears diapers and has to be prompted to go to the restroom. The ex-wife decided the whole "mommy/wife" thing wasn't her cup of tea, so she cheated on me and took off to be a stripper. The court only ordered her to pay $318.00 per month in child support for all three kids because strippers make cash wages and the amount cannot be traced, therefore they recorded her at minimum wage. And because the support is not garnished, I'm pretty much at her mercy as far as if she feels like paying in a given month.

Meanwhile I work full-time and attend college full-time. I have next to no social life and no woman in her right mind would hook up with a single dad sporting three kids, one mentally challenged, so I have resigned myself to being very much alone for a very long time.

Life is hard...but give it half-a-dozen decades and you'll get over it. Whenever I'm feeling like throwing a pity party for myself I try to remember that there are far more people worse off than me than there are people better off. I have a steady job with good benefits, a safe home, a motorcycle (my only real stress relief), a nice truck, and most importantly, three great kids who think I'm the moon and stars. It's easy to focus on the negative...what you don't have. But keep in mind, as bad as things may seem, there are millions of people who would kill for your life. Keep your chin up and remember, when life has you on your knees you're in a perfect position to punch it in the balls!

Take care.

[9000white]

do whatever it takes to get back to doing "dad's" books then while you are doing the books do him too.

[AmericanWeiner]

do whatever it takes to get back to doing "dad's" books then while you are doing the books do him too.

Is that a suggest murder or incest? Either way, I'm guessing it wouldn't look to good on my permanent record.

Besides, you're closer (location-wise) to him than I am.

[iwannadie]

life just sucks, but you cant dwell on it. sure feel pain and get emotional but dont let it ruin your life.

[my sob story]
i got a new job and bought my first bike and meet my current gf and we were having the time of our lives, everything was great. then i was in an accident. some women in a big truck ran a red light and plowed through me.

i nearly died(the hospital brought me back 3 seperate times across 2 days but i was dead on arrival at the hospital) i lost 8 units of blood over those 2 days. i had 4 broken ribs, broken and displaced right collar bone(which they didnt set so its healed uneven and very noticable), uncountable broken bones in my right foot(it was bent in half), Shattered right pelvis(which will forever have 2 plates and 9 screws in it), major internal bleeding form a Shredded artery(forget the name, but left hip area), road rash on my back,forearms(with road debry in the wounds), nerve damage all down my right leg/foot(i still cant feel my big toe and have nerve issues in my leg),huge gash in my head(with more debry in the wounds) i had an IV going directly into my heart for almost 8 days and my b***s were swelled up the size of softballs(impact from a gas tank to the groin is bad).

i woke up in a hospital no clue what was going on the first 4 days are a blurr id wake up for a minute before surgery then pass back out. spent 4 days in ICU another 6 days in the hospital stuck in bed being told i wouldnt walk for at least a year. every few hours i had a blood draw/general probing to see how i was doing it was hell no other way to describe it just hell and pain, like no pain you can begin to imagine.

i moved out of the hospital to a rehab, but the rehab didnt know what to do with me(but the hospital didnt want to keep me cause i had no insurance). i was to injuryd to start walking they said or do any real therapy. at that point i couldnt even sit up in bed on my own, couldnt move my leg etc. but off i went to rehab for about a week i spent there as they showed me how to move my leg again, it was basically dead i had to learn how to controll it. my shoulder was so banged up i wasnt allowed to move it so it could heal, so i was just stuck in bed with an occasianal therapy session. the day before i left i had my first meal, up untill then i was eating only jello and drinking water, i lost all the muscle in my right leg and lost about 50 pounds(210 down to 160). again i got kicked out because of no insurance.

i was sent home in a wheel chair and within a week pulled off all pain meds. they treated me like a junkie seeking pills when i went to the doctor, they wouldnt look at my chart or care about my injuries, just said you dont need these pills take a tylenol. at this point i was still getting 2 injections a day in my stomach to prevent blood clots. my stomach was bruised so badly from 2 shots a day for that long. i had to inject myself a few times because my sister was the only one(a nurse) who had the stomach for it and she wasnt around every time.

my lawyer faught to get me 6 whole sessions with another rehab doctor, id go for an hour every couple days. he was great though helped me alot, still i was stuck in the chair he gave me crutchs and wished me luck.

soon after i decided i need to walk again no way im being pushed around in the dam chair for a year so i did, it was hell but i did it, soon i was on one crutch then a cane, then walking with a limp. i saw my doctor for my follow up he looked at me when i came in like 'what the hell are you doing out of the wheel chair'. every doctor said it would be at the very best a year before i was walking on my own i did it in like 3 months from the accident and was working again 2 months later.

you have to take your beating and get up ready to go full on back at the world, dont let anything slow you down. theres always some one worse off than you(a guy i saw in the rehab had no arms or legs and full body burns from an accident, i was glad not to be him, someone else lost his leg, another had no function waste down etc.)

my lawyer got me the max the person who hit me was insured for, but the lawyer took 1/3, and the hospitals took another 3rd. sure i got a nice chunk of cash but not what i should had.

[/sob story]

[Sev]

Vita Est Poena

Life is Pain.

It sounds rough, but whenever I'm feeling down, whenever I'm hurting physically or emotionally I just remind myself of that fact. It seems like it should be disheartening, because really, all we have to look forward to down the line is more hurt, more suffering.

But that's the thing, pain is the one constant in your life. In your dreams you don't feel pain. After you die (I believe, please don't argue over this it's just me) that there is nothing. So as long as you're still feeling pain it means that you're still alive, and as long as you're still alive there is still hope. There is always the chance that things will get better.

This is not to say that we should go out of our way to feel pain, or even to enjoy it. But we should appreciate it for what it is. The reminder that we should still have hope.

I'd share my wounds, but they pale in comparison to those already shared.

[AmericanWeiner]

In your dreams you don't feel pain.

No, I just inflict it, which scares me.

I know I've got it good compared to a lot of folks; knock on wood, but I've never had anyone close to me die. I know it's going to happen one day and I hope I can handle it when it does, but I feel extremely lucky that it hasn't happened yet. I've got a great (if rough at times) relationship and I'm in great condition.

Just curious- what did everyone do career-wise? That's easily the part of life that bothers me most.

[ZooTech]

Just curious- what did everyone do career-wise? That's easily the part of life that bothers me most.

Went to college right outta high school. Graduated from DeVry University with an Associates in Applied Science of Electronics at age twenty...married and one kid already. I was hired on at Bell+Howell right out of DeVry and worked for them for four years, then with Kern International for two. I took my current job with the Columbus Zoo 2-1/2 years ago and went back to DeVry shortly after I started. I am now three classes (11 credit hours) and 4-1/2 months away from a Bachelor's in Technical Management.

School sucks...very few people actually enjoy it (I think they're lucky...or really bored)...but it's necessary. An Associates used to mean something, but when the tech bubble burst a few years back it meant squat. Now I'm this close to a Bachelor's and everyone is saying that a person really needs a Master's to be taken seriously any more.

You're just gonna have to grin and bear it (school I mean) or, like someone else mentioned, soak up whatever you can from your papa and get in good with somebody.

I know this much...sitting around feeling sorry for yourself never pays off...unless you're a blues musician or something.

[9000white]

the ticket for the career is doing something you enjoy.working at some boring humbug job just to get a paycheck sucks for me it was working on trucks.not pickups but highway rigs.i worked 16 hours a day for 20 years.then i ran my own mobile truck repair for 7 years,i enjoyed every day of it.the cost of being self employed (insurance)and all the parts suppliers putting everything you need in a warehouse so that you had to wait 3 days to get the most basic parts finally forced me back to a job where i punch a clock and let someone else worry about the insurance and getting parts.it was 1 big party.

[iwannadie]

when i was 17 i was a drop out and got hired to a web company making dam good money working on major websites like sheraton, caesars basically all the major hotels at the time i worked on their stuff. tech stuff being all the rage back then my friends saw the cash i was pulling in and went to school for web junk hoping to cash in.

then about 2 years later a start up company came along offereing me double the money to go work for them, that lasted about a year sadly. but i had been living at home pulling in big time money so i had it all saved up and basically took 3 years off work all together and had some fun. i did do a little contract work for entertainment sites i worked on some band sites for tori amos, tool, the tv show freaks and geeks etc.

then since i was a drop out no formal education and the tech industry no flooded with IT trade school kids who went for a year and had so certificate. added all the jobs being shipped over seas its a dead field. so i went to walmart it sucked but paid enough for what i needed. most of the people there had/have degrees that mean no thing in the job market so i didnt feel so bad being stuck there with them. i worked there 2 years made good money then had a situation and had to leave.

still cant find a job that pays enouch for what i need/want so im still looking for work 5 months later. being out of a job sucks but i have still enough money in my bank to not worry about it.

i dont want another job i hate going to(walmart sucked but it was a fun enviorment). you really do have to do something you enjoy or youll hate it. im attempting to start a company becaues i dont want to work for someone else ha.