I am a GenXer and I worry about my peers
Yeah, I didn't finish readin all 13 pages before I posted this so if someone else raised the same flag so be it. I come form Todd county, MN. About as poor as it gets. I went to High School and Graduated near the top. I had a hard working pair of parents.
First tax paying job I ever took was de-tassling corn when I was 11. I had to move about 50 miles away. The work was only for a month. I paid my grandparents 10 dollors a week rent. Worked from 0600 until dark. Got paid $5.00 an hour. I didn't care at the end of a the month I had about $1200 in my pocket.
After that I learned there are easier ways to make money. Like Bailing hay and picking rocks for $6 an hour. I worked almost every sun shining day of my life during the summer break of school and then worked nights during the school year. After a few years of being a reliable worker I eventually got my hourly pay moved up to about $10 and hour. Every farm I worked on, lawn I mowed, or factory I stepped into after a few years of hard work I carried with me a real simple set of rules. "Establish yourself as an asset, Learn everything about the job that you can, Work so hard that your boss couldn't fire you if he/she wanted to." That's it. You want to get a raise, you earn it. When I graduated High School my old man said he would put me thru college if I wanted to. I got there and was so bored that after a month I took a job in a factory in town working from 5 pm until 1030 pm. After a year or so of that mess I quit college and joined the Army. So what? After a year in the Army I had paid back my old man the $10,000 that he had fronted for me to go to college. If you ever take anything for free it will cost more than you had originally recieved.
I know my peers that stayed in college all to well. Their whiny stories are all the same. "I have four year degree, I stuggled through some hard times, the price of gas is to high, I couldn't get the car I want because I didn't have enough credit, and why should I take a job that only pays $30 dollars an hour."
I am 26 years old and as much as my generation is capable of I don't think that there is a whole lot of intent on tapping into that potential. Too many parents that foot the bill for college is probably the start of the problem. My old man would have paid if I let him but that's not the way I am. Unfortunately many of my peers will take anything for free that anyone will give them and that is a huge mistake.
If I ever get married and have children the only promises I will make to them is 18 years worth of hot food, a bed, and a warm house. Other than that nobody owes their children any more. If you raised them right they will set out on their own without your help in fact they ought to refuse it when you offer.
By the way anybody looking for a hard worker for summer 2007?
