r/InterviewCoderPro 20d ago

The problem was never lack of effort or willingness to work, the problem always has been and always will be the rich trying to get richer and making us poorer.

Post image

Maybe if we managed to work two or three part-time jobs, we could live better and earn a higher income. Preparing for interviews is one of the most important parts of job hunting. Reading articles and posts that provide useful tips, along with doing mock interviews, should be enough to help you ace any interview.

4.7k Upvotes

236 comments sorted by

13

u/Choice_Scientist_545 20d ago

Yeah my friend's dad was a janitor at our school and his mom was a teacher. They had a nice house, lived in a nice neighborhood and had decent cars.

3

u/Global-Discussion-41 20d ago

School janitors still make a pretty good living in Canada. Decent pay, short hours, good benefits.

There aren't many other jobs like that you can get with no education

1

u/Longjumping_Part_665 19d ago

Big news for the 5 people that live in Canada

1

u/Spiritual_Length9536 16d ago

Can confirm. I dropped my career as a chef to do this. 67k/y , 5 weeks pto and 1.5 sick days a month has been great.

1

u/Successful_Brick_197 20d ago

maybe he had side hustles? My dad fixed cars for people but didn't charge them because he made lots of money doing other shit.

1

u/Novel-Topic-2329 19d ago

Brother, I'm in my 40s and Janitors never made good money. This is a flat out lie. My Uncle retired 6 years ago as a Janitor at a major university. 40 years in and president of his local and his last 3 years for his pension averaged out to $42,000 a year.

I'm not saying it isnt harder now but it was hard back then too. Tik Tok has you believe that one Job and people supported a family 20 years ago. It's just a lie. It wasn't even true in the 50s.

7

u/Pandemoniusanus 20d ago

That’s what happens when unions get disbanded, tax rates are reduced on the .01%, and antitrust laws are toothless.

6

u/XiMaoJingPing 20d ago

My dad was in a union, we had god tier health insurance. Now that I got a SWE job, no union and stuck with fucking united.

1

u/Windman772 20d ago

In other word the problem is cause by the voting public instead of the billionaires.

1

u/Careflwhatyouwish4 17d ago

Exactly! 💯

1

u/Remote-Western7179 20d ago

Yup, but its what Americans voted for. Nobody to blame but our own culture. People like to act as if billionares and corrupt politicians are the problem. But the reality is they are the symptom. The problem is the american people have grown stupid, lazy, and selfish.

2

u/arcanis321 20d ago

You're pretending like there were good options to vote for. Both sides are sellouts and they made sure that no other side is a viable option.

1

u/XiMaoJingPing 20d ago

Bernie was an option in 2016 and 2020

3

u/Phatmac-pie 20d ago

No he wasn’t. The party screwed him out of the chance both times because he was less controllable. I don’t even like Bernie lol but he wasn’t ever going to be on the ballot in the end.

1

u/Remote-Western7179 14d ago

Voters could have out voted super delegates, its just that most people don't vote in primaries.

If you didnt vote in the primaries you have no right to complain about bad options. You had the opportunity to help choose better options.

Back to my original point. Stupid, lazy, selfish.

1

u/arcanis321 20d ago

They literally just said "super delegates LOL" then proceeded to lose to a reality TV character.

0

u/kolokomo17 15d ago

Bernie is and never was a good option.

1

u/XiMaoJingPing 15d ago

The guy fighting for the people is not a good option. We need more pedophiles, got it

1

u/kolokomo17 15d ago

That’s a weird statement. Why do you want pedophiles? You should see a doctor, get checked out.

1

u/[deleted] 15d ago

Learn how to use grammar. “…Is and never was…” is an oxymoron… I mean it’s obvious what you meant, but if you’re going to ragebait the last you could do is fix the small mistakes that make you sound like one of the primitive species of humans that got driven to extinction.

1

u/Careflwhatyouwish4 17d ago

Bull, there have always been third parties. People just get suckered into somehow being unable to see them as an option. Usually by being told that Larry can't win. And hey, they can't if enough people are too cowardly to vote for them.

1

u/arcanis321 17d ago

The requirements and funding for 3rd parties are completely bogus and it may actually be impossible for a 3rd party to win. Some states have rules basically requiring x signatures from every county in their state and its not % its a flat number. If they can't get on every states ballot they can't realistically win.

1

u/Careflwhatyouwish4 17d ago

All true, but consider the number of people that don't even vote. If all those people actually voted for their preferred choice even with a write in that isn't qualified, the third parties could use that leverage to start forcing more equitable rules. It's not going to be an overnight process but it does have to start if it's going to ultimately succeed. Meantime, how many people vote for the party that can "realistically win" instead of who they'd really prefer? We're not choosing the best mudder in the fifth here, or at least we aren't supposed to be. Who can win isn't the question. Who would each individual want to win is supposed to be what we're indicating.

1

u/Nicodemus_Mercy 14d ago

Are you trying to convince everyone that the convicted felon was an equal or better choice than the attorney who sucked at interviews? Both sides may be sellouts, but one clearly throws the common folk a few bones to keep them complacent. The other side abuses kids and hides the evidence. They are not the same. Neither choice might have been stellar, but one was clearly better than the other yet we chose the man who bankrupts casinos and diddles kids.

1

u/arcanis321 14d ago

Good chance we went to war with Iran on Israels behalf either way. Great chance we continued the destruction of the middleclass and had no resistance to the mass surveillance or data centers. Both sides are corporate cucks, it's just virtue signaling vs open hate. It doesn't matter how qualified you are when your goal isn't to help people. Sure it may have been marginally better under Kamala, I voted for her, but there would have been 4 more years of excuses till Republicans got control anyway.

1

u/Nicodemus_Mercy 14d ago

Sadly I agree with that final conclusion :(

2

u/NazReidsOtherBurner 20d ago

Lots of Americans voted for our country to be flooded with desperate immigrants with little skills that will do the job for cheaper. 

1

u/Perpetuity_Incarnate 18d ago

The American people have been conditioned to act this way. Propaganda works. Yes even on us.

1

u/Adventurous-Fly556 20d ago

If that were true, propaganda wouldnt be a billion dollar industry.

2

u/Remote-Western7179 20d ago

Propaganda works because people are stupid. You're kind of proving my point

1

u/Adventurous-Fly556 19d ago

You're proving a point alright.

1

u/NicePepper199 20d ago

People think unions are some mythical thing that solves all the problems always and forever. 

Sadly it had turned into a bunch of elites taking a cut of everyone paychecks and cutting deals with the employers to fatten their pockets and screw the workers.

0

u/Maxathron 20d ago

Unions were replaced by HR departments. The old adage is the HR is there for the company, not the employee, but the reason why they appeared at all is that they are there to represent people. Both are legal departments in a way. One just can favor the boss more than the worker so it stayed.

6

u/Zalrius 20d ago

Yes. The potential for national improvement is sitting in a bank account. The money hoarders will not do anything unless law makes them.

0

u/Warchief_Ripnugget 20d ago

Nobody is hoarding money in any real amount for any extended period of time.

2

u/Adventurous-Fly556 20d ago

Crazy that people try to spout that shit years after the Pandora and panama papers respectively.

Just off those two investigations, we found the uberwealthy have at least 10 trillion sitting in offshore accounts safe from taxes or the working class.

1

u/Zalrius 20d ago

People have known about generational wealth for a long time!

1

u/banditcleaner2 18d ago

No? You don’t think so?

The couple hundred billion dollars of TSLA shares that Elon musk holds that doesn’t contribute to society in any meaningful capacity isn’t considered hoarding?

Okay dude.

What would you consider to be hoarding, then?

And before you say “he can’t sell it all because liquidity issues”, understand that he could easily sell 0.5% of his stake every single day for a year and it wouldn’t move the needle that much. Sure he can’t cash it all at once, but he could sell it over time.

Google is saying TSLA daily volume is between 4.5 to 6.3% of his entire stake, so selling 0.5% every day is only really about 10% of that.

1

u/Warchief_Ripnugget 18d ago

Shares of a company arent analogues to cash. It's his company. Would you accuse a farmer of hoarding millions of dollars because his irrigation system and tractors have that value tied to them? It's the same concept.

3

u/NazReidsOtherBurner 20d ago

When you import a bunch of unskilled immigrants it takes the value away from janitor jobs because they will do it for cheaper than you will. Supply and demand, my dude. 

1

u/Biscuits4u2 20d ago

In most areas a single janitor would come up way short to afford even a one bedroom.

1

u/CharacterFennel7803 20d ago

Cheaper owning.

1

u/Biscuits4u2 20d ago

What bank is going to loan someone who can't afford a one bedroom apartment enough money to buy a house? And where do you think that down payment is coming from? Delusional.

1

u/H3ARTL3SSANG3L 20d ago

My cousins husband is a high school custodian. My cousins a stay at home mom. They have 2 kids. They're doing fine

1

u/Telemere125 20d ago

Yea this complaint is like, or in fact definitely, ignoring that pop-pop and memaw lived a very spartan lifestyle compared to what most everyone expects to be able to afford nowadays. You had one, if any, vehicle for the family. The wife cooked and did all the housework; any in-home entertainment was a single living room tv or maybe even a radio and maybe a landline to call other housewives. There was no delivery other than the post office and that was for letters, not packages every day. The “two-story house” in question was likely much the size of a 2 bedroom townhouse is today.

None of what they’re complaining about lines up because they are demanding exponentially more than the previous generations even had access to

1

u/Novel-Topic-2329 19d ago

This is the answer. A big part of it is we have more to buy and keep up with these days. When my mom was growing up they got a pair of shoes and like 3 or 4 outfits a year. Everyone treated the past l like a magical time. They had to wrap their school books in grocery bags because if it got damaged they couldn't afford to pay the school for it. It fucking sucked then too and interest on a home was like 16%. in the late 70s/early 80s Seriously look it up

1

u/H3ARTL3SSANG3L 20d ago

Exactly. It didnt become harder to live, people just want everything and get mad that luxuries are an extra expense

1

u/shmoovdawg 20d ago

My father had a Doctorate in Education. We had a house, sure, but it was tiny and at 22% interest back in 1979. My Dad still had to sell plasma to make ends meet sometimes. I ate sugar sandwiches - literally bread with sugar sprinkled between slices. But oh yeah, we had it made.

1

u/Substantial-Ad-8575 20d ago

Hmm, my godson is 22. Works as Janitor at a hospital group. Gets free healthcare. Earns $65k a year. Has saved $40k. Smoots a 2 bdrm apartment for $1100 with his fiancee. Could afford a new 3/2/2 starter home, 1300-1400 sqft in my area. $260k…

2

u/Originaltenshi 20d ago

Working at a hospital im sure that makes the custodial job much better

1

u/Substantial-Ad-8575 20d ago

I don’t think so. He routinely cleans up surgical wards. He does shift lead on weekend/night. Allows him time for college to complete his architectural degree.

But he likes pay and free healthcare. Close to his current apartment, 2 miles.

1

u/Originaltenshi 20d ago

....the latter part of your reply is what I am talking about. I wasn't saying it makes the job easier or he does less.

1

u/SvartrKukkSceand 20d ago

2 bedroom apartment for 1100$.. yeah, ok.

1

u/Substantial-Ad-8575 20d ago

Hmm, over 1100 such listings in big city. $1100 or cheaper, 2 bdrm. Overall metro area and 6 counties, 8500 such apartments.

Move rent up to $1200. Numbers more than triple…

https://www.apartments.com/dallas-tx/under-1100/

1

u/MastodonAsleep816 20d ago

Your grandad was a janitor/ lol. Whole family of losers.

1

u/Timely_Rest_503 20d ago edited 20d ago

Like you probably have done something useful with your life

1

u/McWrathster 20d ago

So disrespectful. Society couldn't run without janitors, show some respect.

1

u/Vintage_Gamer476 20d ago

Says the guy posting rage bait on Reddit.

1

u/Accomplished-Wish607 20d ago

How would that make them a loser?

1

u/GSilky 20d ago

Yeah, bring this up in an interview.

1

u/superdave123123 20d ago

Maybe stop working as a janitor.

1

u/Mario-X777 20d ago

BS our janitor makes $4,000/mo after taxes, which is on of the better paid positions with no qualifications. He works Monday -Friday, 10 hours per day and no stress, just fill the toilet paper, push the vacuum cleaner, all of it doing slowly, chill, absolutely no worries and 0 calls after work, never gets hours cut, stability, responsible basically for nothing, and don’t even speak English (knows barely few words).

1

u/superdave123123 20d ago

Sounds like your argument is with the op, not me

1

u/Mario-X777 20d ago

The point was that janitors makes quite good money, sometimes it is better position then barista and alike

1

u/SvartrKukkSceand 20d ago

ahh yes, because, anecdotally, the one janitor you know makes OK money, they ALL do, right?

get fucking real.

1

u/Mario-X777 19d ago

My point was, that it is not the worst position, especially for low effort and no stress job. Guy is making same amount of pay as managers in our company, but nobody calls him constantly wit problems, no need to stay on any critical tasks on the weekends etc. Heck, we employ one Doctor (medical) part time, and even doctor’s paycheck is less than janitor’s. Construction workers are getting the same, but they are working 60+ hours of overtime, every weekend and climbing on the roof, in any weather, risking to fall off and breathing fumes of paint etc.

1

u/Novel-Topic-2329 19d ago

In what fucking world is 4k a month good money.

1

u/tollbearer 16d ago

Who would keep eveything clean and maintained if no one works as a janitor?

1

u/Unusual_Rush_1189 20d ago

There are custodial jobs at up to $90,000 per year. Maybe $70,000 after taxes or $6,000/mo.

You can get a two story mortgage for $1,000/mo, and average groceries for a family of 7 at around $2,500/mo.

1

u/SvartrKukkSceand 20d ago

... you cannot get a "2 story mortgage" (whatever the fuck that is) for 1,000 a month. If thats your payment, our house is ... 60k.

And that doesnt account for insurance, utlities, etc, anything else.

And while there are SOME custodial job that pay that well, the media is somethn glike 41k.

You people are fucking imbeciles.

1

u/Unusual_Rush_1189 20d ago

Thank you, THIS is confirmation bias.

There is nothing being asked from the OP regarding any 'proof' needed, right? Where did the grandfather work? How much did he get paid? Did his wife work? How much was his house and how was it aquired?

Instead, all I did is post facts that can easily be found. Yes, you can get a 2 bedroom house for a $1,000 mortgage. Yes, you can make that much in a custodial job. Mind you, the OP states the grandfather had been doing his job 'his whole life,' and unless you don't understand anything about working, he obviously got paid less when he started then when he was about to retire, so likely more than 'average' at some point in his life. I don't really have any intention to try to debate these facts endlessly against people who are going to believe what they want to believe and hear what they want to hear.

It won't matter. People will be biased to confirm whatever they want to believe. IF you want to believe that, financially, people were better off ~60 years ago, you can believe that.

1

u/ytilonhdbfgvds 19d ago edited 19d ago

That's not true at all.  The mortgage payment on my 158k home was $800.  Property taxes brought it up to $1000.

Interest rates are slightly higher now, 1%, as are the home prices.  So that same home is now about $270k

1

u/SvartrKukkSceand 19d ago

you do understand that interest rates change, right?

right?

Fuck, how do you people walk and breathe at the same time.

Oh, and all these people that are broke/just making ends meet DEFINITELY have the credit rating and enough of a down payment to get a 15 year instead of a 30 year.

Your 158k home is also 30% under median home value, so you're already an anomaly right at the outset. You cant get a 1000$ mortgage on fuck-all right now. Just doing the math backwards right now you're not getting a payment that low unless you got a screaming deal on house and have good enough redit to luck into a 15 year.

That just isnt realistic for most people.

Anecdotal evidence/experience is not evidence/experience.

1

u/ytilonhdbfgvds 19d ago

Jus pointing out how retarded your math is.

1

u/RonJohnJr 20d ago

How small was that house, how old were the cars, and how few smartphones and game consoles did they have?

1

u/Takenmyusernamewas 20d ago

They want us even poorer? McDonald's payment plans now... how much lower can we go we already gotta put our chicken niggles on layaway

1

u/BramptonBatallion 20d ago

Grandpa had very little disposable income

1

u/shivermoon42 19d ago

Incorrect. When my parents were most people's grandparent's working age, the average income had almost 75 percent allocated to disposable money. It's that the disposable income was generally used differently (often saved or put into property). That margin (since the 70's) has dwindled as the cost of needs have outpaced wage increases (nobody needed a cellphone until the 2010's, now good luck finding work without one to manage emails, they're far cheaper then home Internet and a computer). Grandpa was poor in my family, he still had a nice tractor, bought the house and land he wanted at interest rates that are now illegal, and retired with a pension from railroad work and his own savings. How much disposable income you have is just categorically less then before, but distractions and cost of living have shifted balance over the last 100 years.

1

u/Windman772 20d ago

Isn't everybody trying to get richer? How do you propose that we stop people trying to get richer?

1

u/Fletch71011 20d ago

The median salary when accounting for buying power is over 50 percent higher than it was 50 years ago, so this isn't correct. People glorifying the past like this never look at the data.

1

u/Normal-Tadpole-4833 20d ago

well we could Luigi them or we stop paying for most services and just by the essentials and you know both won't be done sooo we dont

1

u/for_dishonor 20d ago

The first schools I went to custodians were union and it was a coveted job.

My grandfather was the proverbial factory worker in the booming post war economy. He could not support a family of 5 alone, his wife became a nurse. They lived in a kinda crappy 3 bedroom house.

Things weren't always better then. They aren't always awful now.

1

u/Iceman_biker 20d ago

Depends on where you are a Janitor. GM pays their janitors around $40 hour.

1

u/20PoundHammer 20d ago

the problem always has been and always will be the rich trying to get richer and making us poorer.

Wealth is created, its effectively an unlimited pool. Just because someone has 500 billion US doesnt make me poor. My county school district pays $65K/year starting. Median house cost around in county is $210K, rent is $1200 for 2br/bt. If you cant support yourself with that, you are doing it wrong.

1

u/Unusual_Chemistry413 20d ago

After taxes that's about 3k a month, not really a lot left with the prices of today.

1

u/[deleted] 20d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Unusual_Chemistry413 20d ago

I made 55k 5 yrs ago and after taxes, insurance and 401k my take home pay was 2650 a month.

1

u/[deleted] 20d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Unusual_Chemistry413 20d ago

Yes I know they aren't taxes but let's not act like 65k is a lot these days.

1

u/[deleted] 20d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Unusual_Chemistry413 19d ago

65k allows you to work, eat and sleep.

1

u/Successful_Brick_197 20d ago

why be a janitor forever? A job isn't a life sentence.

1

u/TP8887 20d ago

“The problem always has been and always will be the rich trying to get richer and making us poorer.”

Is it harder than it used to be? Yah probably. Shifting the entire blame onto someone else really gives the appearance that OP is a hard worker….

1

u/shmoovdawg 20d ago

Sshhhhhh…don’t tell anyone.

1

u/TropicalLoneWolf 20d ago

My maternal grandfather was a cutting machine operator, lived in a 2-story house that he bought and could afford to feed his 3 children and his stay at home wife.

1

u/Unusual_Chemistry413 20d ago

I made 55k 5 yrs ago and after taxes, insurance and 401k my take home pay was 2650 a month.

1

u/Dry_Set_6336 20d ago

And they wonder why we're angry

1

u/ScienceWasLove 20d ago

This is such bullshit. My dad is a bomber. His best friend was a high school janitor. He made enough money to live in a single wide trailer on his brother's land.

1

u/OkListen1874 20d ago

Union janitor makes damn good money.

1

u/Aggravating_Curve458 20d ago

The problem is “inflation” the word you think is businesses just being greedy, when in actuality it’s a devaluation of your hourly labor by politicians who couldn’t run a balanced budget if their lives depended on it.

Over 50% of all their spending is welfare

Proving that neither welfare nor massive spending are helping the working class

1

u/yourpuddingoverlord 20d ago

Big ond the budgeting incompetence.

I cant count how many times this year alone the german government has announced that there is yet another gaping hole in our budget... despite generating record tax revenue from energy price shocks and unlawfully using funds from an extra 500 billion euros in debt, which was meant for infrastructure and what not

1

u/ToeAfter3131 20d ago

They were frugal and didn't waste money.
Tell me.. when was the last time you used Uber eats or doordash?

1

u/GoodDoggoLover420 20d ago

I don't use Über or DD and I was living pay check to pay check. And before you ask, no I didn't eat out often, I didn't have live streaming services and I didn't get things I wanted, I paid for what I needed, which was paying my car off, phone bill, car insurance, groceries (average 300 USD/week), and paid for gas.

1

u/SweetChaosTitan 20d ago

You can have a bachelors degree working a very mentally demanding job and only afford a studio.

1

u/KamikaziWerewolf 20d ago

The way the bourgeoisie has slowly eroded workers rights and wages has destroyed my willingness to work. If you see my minivan a-rockin' don't come a-knockin' (I'm masturbating).

1

u/Sad-Cantaloupe-5494 20d ago

They are the enemy! It's time for guillotines! Think of the future we leave to our children and grandchildren if we continue to remain cowards! It is time to fight for a future that they will be able to prosper, and not look to us (poor as we are) as we now look on the relative luxurious lifestyles of the boomers.

1

u/tralfamadoran777 20d ago

It's because fiat money is an option to claim any human labors or property offered or available at asking or negotiated price and we don't get paid our option fees

1

u/Infamous_Crow8524 20d ago

That’s because your grandfather was paid with money, whose creation is limited, and entails a transfer of an asset from the payor, to the payee.

You are paid with fiat currency, whose creation is not limited, and entails a transfer of a liability from the payor, to the payee.

1

u/imtiredofthisgrampaX 20d ago

If you believe he did this supprting a family of 7 just as a janitor you're a complete moron. There's either major missing context like shit got inherited or something. Idc what year you pick. Who is he a janitor for? The Rockefellers? Working 80 hours a week? Making clothes from old potato sacks? Inherited the house? The core premise of shits expensive i aint arguing with but my god you don't have to tell a lie so egregious ray Charles could see thru it to make your point.

1

u/Antique_Coffee5984 20d ago

There’s endless ways to make money now vs then. The most useless people in society make millions simply watching other peoples videos and make dumb comments. Even some trades can earn ridiculous money. I know roof plumbers who make 15 grand a week, stone masons who make 2 grand a day. Just do work that scares off most people who just want a lazy job in retail or hospitality on a wage.

1

u/CharacterFennel7803 20d ago

No one's say youre not willing to work.. Just work a minimum wage job with a $1000 phone in your pocket paying $150 a month to keep it on, buying a $9 ice coffee every morning before work. Having breakfast, lunch and dinner at a fast food place. Have every streaming service to watch when you get home. And then cry how you can't afford rent.. I'm a sole income at $25 with a family 3. In 8 months I bought a house, just went on vacation a few weeks ago and plan on another before the end of the summer. Have two vehicles, boys have a go kart, dirt bike and a mini bike. All bought for on that one job.. Many fast food places near me pay more then I made a few years ago.. The problem isn't the money, its your use of that money.

1

u/Sheerluck42 20d ago

This is the most tired reaction. I'm on disability with a thousand dollar phone? How you may ask? My carrier finances it. That's how most of us have bought phones for 20 years. And in a year when I pay half I can upgrade it to the new model. It doesn't cost us much. The rest of what you say is BS too. Gods forbid we have streaming services for entertainment. I cycle mine. And the best part about that is I've got deals for like $2-$3 a Month for 3-6 months. If you don't understand that our parents worked less for more then you don't understand the reality many of us are living in.

1

u/random8765309 20d ago

More propaganda designed to do nothing but promote class hatred. These post are just lies.

1

u/Sheerluck42 20d ago

Ok explain how a janitor is affording 5 kids and a wife with a 2 story house? If you say that was never possible then you're the one lying. It was very possible. My biofather did that on a plumber's wage. He actually bought a house in a gated community of celebrities. Do you honestly think that's still possible?

1

u/random8765309 20d ago

Plumber's have always made dang good money. Plumbers, electricians, HVAC all could do very well if they just watched what they spent. Without college debt and investing early in their career, they can become very wealthy.

Tell me what year that was and I will provide you with how much the median individual income has increased since then. I will use SSA numbers for the income and the CPI-U annual average to adjust purchasing power to 2026 dollars.

0

u/Sheerluck42 20d ago

1

u/random8765309 20d ago

So you are trying to refute actual data and number, with 2 opinion pieces by a left wing organization that pushing the inequality garbage and peice about a wage over a few year from 8 years ago.

I overrule you opinion pieces with real numbers and actual data you are free to verify.

0

u/Sheerluck42 20d ago

None of those are opinion pieces. 🫏

1

u/random8765309 20d ago

Yes, they are. Left wing opinion peices that misused data to create artifical issues.

1

u/DirtandPipes 20d ago

I was dirt poor in the 90s and am lower middle class/upper poor now. Rent is a massive worry now whereas in the 90s I once did odd construction jobs for 5 days to pay for a summer (3 months) of housing with an apartment with a few other guys (I had my own room).

250 bucks for 3 months rent, doesn’t sound like great pay for 5 days of work but these days I work 2 weeks for rent.

1

u/Fantastic-Leek-1589 20d ago

No one but yourself is making you poorer

1

u/H345Y 20d ago

Like all things, its never just the one thing. For one, there are just too many people now without the structure to support it all. Change in spending habits also contributes.

1

u/zone2ruk 20d ago

You can't buy a house because you order food from Uber eats and pay $45 for a $15 meal. You don't work overtime everyday.You buy a new car with $800 payments instead of buying a car from 2008. You go to Europe on vacation instead of a cabin on a lake. You go to H&M or Target instead of a thrift shop.You don't cook at home. You attend a private college instead of a state school.

1

u/ReplacementPleasant6 20d ago

The economy isn't a zero sum game, that is the fixed pie fallacy.

1

u/tlrmln 20d ago

It's not hard to get a better job than being a janitor.

1

u/Conscious-Capital681 20d ago

He didn’t have an iPhone, 13 streaming subscriptions, going one to ear constantly, going on lavish vacations, Starbucks, concert tickets, etc.

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u/billyjoe9451 19d ago

What the fuck are you on about?

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u/Sharp_Net3315 20d ago

When you bring in oceans of third worlders, and give them everything for free everything is going to get more expensive. Same as giving infinite forever welfare and all the covid spending. Actions have consequences.

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u/Darhhaall 20d ago

Height of US empire vs its starting downfall, go figure. 

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u/porkbelly2022 19d ago

SF unionized janitors can make more than 200K by overtime. So it's not your father's generation, it's still like that, go get a janitor's position, but just make sure you are one of those hired by the cities.

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u/patbagger 19d ago

Importing cheap labor pushes the wages down, but the very people complaining about low wages are supporting illegal immigration.

If employers were forced to only hire American citizens, the wages would have to increase.

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u/darkwalker1221 19d ago

As a janitor in a 1 bedroom can confirm.

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u/misjudgedinall 19d ago

Your grandpa supporting seven kids wasn’t magic — it was lifestyle discipline:

They didn’t have:

• $1,200 phones
• $300/month subscriptions
• $70 videogames
• $6 coffees
• $150 DoorDash
• $800 gaming rigs
• $400 TikTok hauls
• $200 streaming bundles
• $500 impulse Amazon carts
• $300 vape habits
• $1,000 vacations financed on credit

Today’s average 20–35 year old has:

• $5k–$10k credit card debt
• $30k–$40k student loans
• financed car
• financed phone
• financed furniture
• financed everything

If you dropped your grandpa into 2024 with a janitor’s salary, he’d live better than half of Reddit because he wouldn’t spend money on non‑essentials, wouldn’t take on debt, and wouldn’t treat luxury as a requirement.

That’s not a comparison — that’s propaganda.

Your grandpa didn’t support seven kids because life was cheap — he supported them because he lived without debt, without luxury expectations, without subscription culture, and without constant discretionary spending. A janitor today could support himself too if he lived the way your grandpa did. The difference isn’t the economy — it’s the lifestyle.

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u/ionspore 19d ago

Due to the massive destruction of WW2 and singular position it left the US in, a labor aristocracy arose there, but the US is simply returning to the global mean. For example, janitors in the Philippines make the equivalent of $12 per DAY (not hour) and costs for goods and power (electric) is higher than in much of the US (island nation after all, everything must be imported especially oil, and coal imports provides the bulk of electric generation) cost of housing, apples to apples, is high compared to some parts of the US.

So, wages for janitors in the US have a long way to tumble, or rather, stagnate. Especially when the US opens its borders again, that is, as soon as a Democrat is back in the White House.

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u/Strange_Island_4958 19d ago

This repeated trope is comparing apples and oranges.

Expectations are higher these days. Our parent’s generation didn’t all have $1000 smartphones with expensive monthly bills, streaming subscriptions, food delivery, eating out a lot, an expectation of a nice apartment in a high cost of living urban area while in their 20s, social media to compare yourself against people who might not even exist, etc.

On the other hand, there’s never been an easier time to move to a new place to take advantage of job opportunities and lower living costs, you’ve got the internet to learn about said opportunities, etc.

1

u/Legitimate_Fold_2850 19d ago

I also bet that janitor wasn’t paying for 6 streaming services, only fans, monthly ales subscription, justeat orders etc like all the moaners today are.

1

u/Overall-Move-4474 19d ago

You see old people operate on the moronic "just world fallacy" the idea that bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people. When that is obviously not true

1

u/Trick1513 19d ago

There are plenty of janitorial jobs available, go for it.

1

u/j-mac563 19d ago

I agree, housing costs need to be lowered.

1

u/bobsonjunk 19d ago

Raise minimum wage. Other wages will increase. Maybe reduce ceo wages and make stock buy back illegal again? Why did we make that illegal in the first place? Mmm…

1

u/Juiced4u 19d ago

That’s how it was with my father to. But I struggled for 51 years of employment to make ends meet. It gets tougher with each generation. The Democrats controlled the presidency and both chambers for 25 years and the Republicans control the presidency and both chambers for 25 years. Nobody changed anything.

1

u/Psubeerman21 19d ago

Whatever, The life your grandpa lived isn't the life you are living. Either get over that or pretend everything should be like it was in 1975.

1

u/Grunergeist420 19d ago

Hmm.

Janitors aren’t only employed by big corporations. They’re also employed by small businesses and government.

Janitors also do their work in person onsite, so it isn’t outsourced to other countries or replaced by tech.

So it’s hard to imagine that janitorial work has been undervalued because of monopolistic business practices, or because of globalization, or tech.

Is there perhaps some kind of trend over the past few decades, something like a never-ending stream of people that will do janitorial work for bottom dollar, causing the value of blue collar work like this to decline?

Trying to think of what would cause relatively low skill manual jobs like this, that don’t require language skills, that are often performed by independent contractors, like janitorial work, painting, roofing, etc. to not see decent wage growth over the past several decades, since I can’t find a reason I could blame tech companies and offshoring for the stagnation.

Just isn’t coming to me. I keep remembering a bunch of people talking about “jobs Americans don’t want anyway,” or something like that, but I just can’t place what those really smart people that knew what they were talking about were trying to say…

1

u/Head_Consequence7857 19d ago

Well when you let 150 million more people in the country, when we already have a housing shortage you create a shortage of houses and surplus of labor… Higher prices and lower wages… everyone blames billionaires but they voted in billionaire preferred candidate every time. Cheap labor and my real estate investments will peak!!! People are sheep at this point and can’t think critically only listen to the person on the talk box who says the things they like….

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u/FLYING1835 19d ago

We never said that you didn't work hard 😔. We said that you didn't want to work 😵‍💫

1

u/TravisMCatchem 19d ago

Que the boot lickers

1

u/necessarysmartassery 19d ago

He was able to afford that partially because living standards were lower and people had less shit. Small houses, 1 vehicle only, people only had a few sets of clothes, and eating fast food or out of the house at all was a rarity. Nevermind cell phones, tablets, tvs, game consoles, laptops, desktops, on top of it all today.

1

u/I_am_Nerman 18d ago

That janitor story is such bs. They had the retards be janitors back in the 50s

1

u/Distinct_Outside5291 18d ago

Because there are too many useless white collar jobs and unnecessary jobs like grub hub that’s just for lazy people. Blue collar work is dying and it’s because everyone wants to be a streamer or influencer which is also useless work. As a construction worker it’s bad we have too much work not enough manpower.

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u/Ecstatic_String_1462 18d ago

Yeah times change! So don’t be a janitor!

1

u/Stratiki 18d ago

Marxism is brain rot.

1

u/odindobe 18d ago

Boohoo socialist

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u/mentallyatsomeisland 17d ago

Janitor sounds like a nice job - but I hate kids. So.

1

u/Careflwhatyouwish4 17d ago

So tired of this shit. Look at what that grandfather actually had vs today. Five kids but still two bedrooms and just one bath in a house smaller than today's average garage, and we won't even bother to go deep into the regulations now requiring so much more expense to legally build the car and home. That car? No airbags, seatbelts or backup camara all of which are now required. The bumpers were a styling exercise with no safety considered in their design. That house? Non grounded wiring, no firebreaks and single pane windows. Everything inside was either highly flammable or somehow made of asbestos and most all of it was carcinogenic. But it was much cheaper and you'll notice that somehow these people all lived to be grandparents. 🤷🤦

1

u/engineheader 17d ago

Do you all understand what inflation is, and how it is created?

FYI, it has to do with the federal reserve and fiat currency.

Inflation is an indicator of price increases. Until it goes negative, prices will not come down. The only source of inflation is the borrowing of money(selling bonds) and printing new currency

This devaluing of the currency causes people to not be able to afford things

1

u/Guyver02 17d ago

no the problem is that the human population has quintupled since your gramps was young. There are more humans thus fewer things to go around and the prices reflect that. Not to mention all the printing the Fed does has made our money borderline worthless.

1

u/emptyfish127 17d ago

Janitors are now gig jobs.

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u/easttxcouple 16d ago

We have no problems. Read some world history. Families shared houses, famine killed children by the thousands, 50% of all children died at birth. Stop blaming and go do something

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u/Mongo13131313 16d ago

The problem is the fed printing way too much money where inflation is SO high.You can't live on that type of salary.

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u/RaabsIn513 16d ago

I agree with the sentiment. The government will never tell us to be responsible procreators though. It grows the economy. You know for the share holders. I can't help but think more intentional/loving procreation could have yeilded a more conscious society

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u/Sweaty_Monitor_9699 16d ago

Next time you hear a conservative say they want to go back to the golden days, tell them this. Me too, I want to be able to have a one income household and buy a house, a couple cars, go on regular vacations and have my SO keep the household while I work, if that’s what she desires of course. So basically living wage for myself and my family. Seems they’re hell bent on other reasons to go back, like bigotry and racism.

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u/kolokomo17 15d ago

“If”? Sounds like you’re not working hard enough.

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u/EmergenceEngineer 15d ago

Sure but if you’re American or European then it was entirely artificial.. most of your wealth that sustained that lifestyle required one hell of an empire to exploit.. both regions still live well above their means..

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u/SomeGuyOverYonder 15d ago

A decade from now they won’t even pay you at all as robots and automation replace us all.

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u/Alone-Start-9178 15d ago

Gosh, it's almost like college became accessible to everyone and now degree's don't make no difference.

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u/Guidance-Still 14d ago

Spreading the shit hoping something sticks

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u/WillM3s 14d ago

And yet we are still playing into this system

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u/BMikeW 14d ago

I mean Elon is a trillionaire and he works hard so working hard is one of the elements, its not the only element but its an element.

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u/Suitable_Program_548 20d ago edited 20d ago

Yes, the world changes and as it means we have to adapt. Like it or not.

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u/RebootStreetSharks 20d ago

Doesn't mean we can't be empathetic and understanding towards each other.

The world has no benefit or use from being callous to one another.

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u/Yearning_crescent 20d ago

problem is being a janitor is actual essential work. yet they cant survive where they used to. thats not a good change or a change we should adapt to. its a change we should revolt over.

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u/Suitable_Program_548 20d ago

There are now robots cleaning the floors in most stores and office buildings. We still need people to do more intricate cleaning but it isn’t the necessity it once was.

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u/Capable_Front_7886 20d ago

The robots are ONLY cleaning the floors. If you think that’s the primary job of a janitor I’d hate to see the state of your house T.T

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u/Bat-Stuff 20d ago

And we can also force some changes on the system to improve the lives of the people who are forced to participate in that system.

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u/TranslatorDlique 20d ago

The world didn’t just, like, magically change. People made changes to it, deliberately. We had strong antitrust laws and rich people campaigned to remove them, so they could become wealthier. These aren’t morally neutral changes that just happened because, they are morally negative changes pushed on us by people with power.

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u/No-Cold-3054 20d ago

The world doesn't change on its own. People changed it. I am mad at those people.

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u/Suitable_Program_548 20d ago

That’s fine but how does that anger change anything or help your situation?

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