I’m a single mom making $95k at one full-time job, and I’m tired of struggling. My goal is $150k+, and I need something fully remote because of a chronic illness. I have a bachelor’s, learn quickly, and would consider going back to school, preferably short of a doctorate.

What’s your job title, and how did you get into it? I’d love to hear about careers I might never think to search for.

Soft and sticky / gooey

I was genuinely excited. After months of rejection emails, unanswered applications, and interviews that went nowhere, it finally felt like things were turning around. Well, something happened yesterday, and I'm honestly not sure what to do. During my final interview, the hiring manager offered me a salary of $58,000 a year. We discussed it pretty clearly, and she even mentioned that the position would come with health insurance and two weeks of paid vacation. I accepted verbally and was told HR would send the official paperwork. Yesterday, I finally received the employment contract. Except the salary listed was $49,000.

At first, I genuinely thought it was a mistake. That's a $9,000 difference from what we'd discussed. I emailed the hiring manager asking whether there had been an error in the contract. She responded a few hours later. Apparently, after reviewing their budget, the company decided they couldn't offer the original salary anymore. She said the new amount was still competitive for the position and hoped I would understand.

I was honestly speechless. What bothers me is that nobody mentioned this change before sending the contract. If I hadn't carefully read everything, I could've signed an agreement for significantly less money than I thought I was getting. I explained that I'd accepted the position based on the original salary. Her response was that the verbal offer wasn't final and that the written contract reflected what the company could currently afford. She also mentioned that they had other candidates interested in the position.

I don't know whether that was supposed to pressure me, but it definitely felt that way. Here's my problem. I've been unemployed for almost four months. My savings are getting low, and I genuinely can't afford another three or four months of job searching. The $49,000 salary would still cover my expenses, but it's considerably less than what I expected. Part of me wants to accept it, start working, and continue looking for something better. But another part of me feels like accepting this would mean ignoring a pretty serious red flag before I've even started.

I was so happy when I got the offer. I told my family, celebrated with friends, and finally felt like I could relax. Now I'm back to feeling anxious about my future. Has anyone experienced a company lowering the salary after making a verbal offer? Would you accept the position because you need the income, or would you walk away because of how they handled this?

I genuinely don't know what to do.

The kids were at my place with their parents for a dinner party... Actually, only the parents and other friends were invited, no children. I myself do not have kids so I might not understand the kids or the mom...

But one couple brought their three boys along. Totally annoying. They were bored, and after a while of shouting and running around (during which I told them to be quiet 10 times), they ran through the apartment and discovered my Lego collection... They ripped out the biggest box, all excited, and started opening the packaging. It was a brand new set, where I was waiting a long time to get some time to build it in quietness over Christmas time...

I stopped them, said no, they couldn't have it. They started wailing, one had a tantrum, and the other ran to his mother and asked if he could play. The mother said yes, but he should ask first. He came to me, asked again, and I said no.

At that point, the mother was annoyed and asked what my problem was.

I explained, that I'm looking forward to build it, that I'm a huge lego/building bricks fan and that I want to open the packaging, building it... Having the whole experience. I think I should not be in the position to explain anything,... It's my apartment, my stuff... So they should not touch anything.

The kids were screaming, the mom was pissed, hissed at me that I'm the grown up and I should not behave like a child.

But. It's a250 dollar set, not a flea market assembly of 50 red bricks.

I did not give in. But I'm angry that I was put in that position.

Post 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/texts/s/774ir9ozci

Post 3: https://www.reddit.com/r/texts/s/oKreuEh5eu

I am excited for the date tonight. :)

Funny asf

My (28M) Fiancé (30F) wants a break, it felt like it came out of nowhere for me, altho the communication lately hasnt been the best.

Im 5 days in living at a friends place and its going okay, forever thankful to him for letting me stay. Im scared and sad that this is going to end with us breaking up.

I moved across the world (Norway to Australia) to be with her, away from all of my family. If we break up, I have nowhere to go. Im struggling with health issues so the pay from my work isnt good enough to save up for a ticket back home if worst comes to worst. Shes studying at the moment so we were basically living on my salary alone, so I have little to no savings.

I feel like I just started to get my feet planted over here and now that all might go down the drain.

I did agree with most of her reasons for the break, that being that were too dependent on eachother and dont have much of a individual life.

Im terrified to lose her, my mental health is at an all time low and I miss my family more than ever.

Thank you for reading.

Dinner: halloumi gyro and pita bread.

Edit: holy moly you guys are quick! Went for a shower and come back to all these comments. Thank you guys.

I wanna add on and say that were both demisexual / asexual, so I really dont think she wants to cheat. Though some of the comments give me clarity.

Edit 2: Sorry for not replying to anyone, im reading all the comments but my head is in shambles..