Being working poor means toiling through “pure hell” for next to nothing.

[inanna]

Article is from 2014, but still highly relevant:

Earlier this year, 55-year-old Glenn Johnson was making about $14,000 a year — or $7.93 an hour — at a Miami-area Burger King. He’d been in and out of the fast food industry for more than 30 years. Recently he watched as his employer reported a 37 percent increase in its quarterly profit, while continuing to resist a minimum wage increase that workers like Johnson have been fighting for.

Johnson described his daily routine as “pure hell.” It’s a nonstop effort to keep the store clean and the customers and his managers — most of whom are less than half his age — happy. “Sometimes, I get home and I’m so tired, I eat dinner, take a shower, lay down to watch TV, and I’m going to sleep,” he said. “Next morning comes. I’m tired, but I’m trying to make it.”

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/19/working-poor-stories_n_5297694.html

[Doctor_J]

1. Glenn is one of the people whom conservatives hate so much.

I used to say "...whom republicans hate...", but du has opened my eyes on that subject. These are ones whose lives would be manageable with free public education, Medicare for all, a living wage, and social security expansion. Or, in the words of conservatives, "free stuff".
Rec

[valerief]

5. Only the rich "deserve" free stuff in the U.S.

[SusanCalvin]

8. "When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich"

(I'm on a Yip Harburg kick.)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027878766

https://m.

[valerief]

15. "When a rich man doesn't want to work, he's a bon vivant.

"But when a poor man doesn't want to work, he's a loafer, he's a lounger, he's a lazy good-for-nothing. He's a jerk."

Thanks for the clip. I'd forgotten how good this film is.

[Doctor_J]

2. BTW, do you notice that the Clinton supporters seldom comment on stories like this?

Their only posts are about how things effect Mrs Clinton.

[SusanCalvin]

11. I haven't been keeping track, but it wouldn't surprise me. nt

[arithia]

12. Because you can tell who supports who every time?

Thanks for the hasty generalization and claim of omniscience. That kind of needless antagonism serves no constructive purpose.

I would rather be posting about the content of the OP (which was my intent before I started scrolling through the comment section) than reminding fellow DUers that not everyone has their preferred Dem candidate pinned to their signature line or profile picture... but here we are.

Perhaps I'll go back to my other news sites till the primary season is well past over. This is getting old.

[Doctor_J]

13. First of all, since you have 39 posts, of course you don't know who's who.

Second, if you check the greatest page, you'll see that none of the posts by Clinton supporters have to do with issues.

[arithia]

14. Does the term "lurker" mean anything to you?

Post count doesn't indicate knowledge of other posters one way or the other.

It's just a post count.

I read this site daily (multiple times a day) and have done so for many more years than my 2014 "join" date. As a person with social anxiety, it's hard to engage people in general- let alone ones who are happy to make assumptions about me and my knowledge base in order to dismiss what I'm saying (much like you just did).

But hey, you keep painting with that broad brush if you like it so much. No skin off my nose.

[arithia]

18. thank you

and I appreciate the encouragement.

[inanna]

19. Welcome to DU, arithia

I too suffer from anxiety, so I know how it is.

[dembotoz]

16. Do b careful dr j. If or when hrc gets her delegate count we r supposed to fall in line

[appalachiablue]

3. K & R. The working poor is becoming the norm, and this must change.

[Cassiopeia]

4. So many on both sides continue to fight to keep this way of life as well.

They cheer it even. So many from our party keep making the same excuses that the Republicans make for why this must be kept. Why we must not help the poorest working class among us.

[tom_kelly]

6. Yes. And the shrub would say "it's uniquely American." n/t

[SusanCalvin]

10. .

[Politicub]

7. Fast food is very hard work

Don't let anyone tell you it's not. Standing all day wrecks your back and feet, and you're always lifting this or that. You get burned by grease. You have to put up with a lot of shit from people who bully you so they feel better about themselves.

[SusanCalvin]

9. Absolutely. nt

[inanna]

20. I would assume it is hard work

though I've never actually done it.

I might go a bit further and say that many jobs that involve serving the public can be...stressful.

[Politicub]

21. Don't even get me started on retail

It changes your perspective on who the public is.

I worked the WaltMart service desk for a couple of years. Then they would take anything back. Now it is like a different place.

[inanna]

22. I have witnessed (first hand) the abuse of employees

by idiot "customers".

Eye-bulging, fist thumping "customers".

Drunken fool customers, as well.

Not pretty.

Had to step in a time or two to intervene.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

23. This is sadly true.

So many work for minimum wage, or not very far above it.

I long ago noticed that the very hardest workers out there were those at the bottom of the rungs. They worked hard. They weren't always paid for all their hours. They put their bodies on the line. And they were pooped on by management, and the owner class.