Underemployed

I've worked at my job for six years, starting out at $6.75, the minimum wage back then. Up until 2008, mostly things were going fine for me, and I thought I would be able to get another job soon. Then the recession hit, and my hours started going down the drain. Worse, they would always tell me that there would be more hours available during the summer. Then, they hire more people, more hungry mouths to suck up those precious hours. It makes one wonder what's the point of even trying anymore.

This year, it has gotten worse thanks to harassment from the owner of the building. I now have the least amount of hours of anyone at my workplace, all because my boss wants to protect me from this guy. At least she cares.

So I go from place to place, some of them saying that they are hiring, but when I come back with my application, they tell me they aren't hiring after all, even though I have the experience - even know a decent amount of Spanish. I apply online, offline, sometimes getting an interview, sometimes a second one, but it doesn't really matter. They don't care how much these applicants need money, they don't care how we are struggling to pay our bills - they just want to hire a bunch of kids who are only out to get some money for a new video game or some other gadget that their parents won't spring for.

This is the 'change' and 'hope' that was promised? This is the America that His Highness envisioned? People in their thirties now are being helped by their parents, creating an economic strain on them. They are losing hope, and can only find solace in their computers and a pack of cigarettes. They tried, and all this effort has amounted to nothing.

Even my cousin, who has a two-year-old kid, doesn't get enough hours at work to pay her bills, even though she served in the military. This is the thanks she gets. There are many others just like us who are scraping to get by, and we can't see much of any silver lining.

Is this the America you wanted when you voted in 2008?

The Republicans are no better, nominating weak candidates instead of ones with the cajones to actually do something right. We take money for the social security pyramid and give it to those who never paid into it, and we expect it to be sustainable, and not collapse onto those unlucky enough to be on the bottom?

Well, you voted. Being a Californian who didn't vote for the popular Candidate, my vote didn't mean a thing. Because of you, people like myself can't make ends meet, nor can we get out of our dead-end jobs. We have little prospect unless things shape up in 2012.

Thank you so much.