As a full time college student with a full time job, it is difficult to balance work, school and general day to day life. All the school work is frustrating. I have to tell myself that it will all be worth it. I have three classes this term. Two of the three have material about critical thinking. It is not just a small amount about critical thinking but chapters and assignments pertaining to. This is in addition to the Critical thinking class that I had to take. I get it. Critical thinking is necessary. I would just like to take the courses that pertain to my degree. I have 9 classes left after this term. I just have to keep at the classes to get the degree. I am tired of science and writing. I am tired of trying to figure out what the instructors want. They are all different. They all grade a different way. I need this to be over. I have so much left to do and so little patience to do it.
I have too much to do to rant for any length of time.
Now back to my regularly scheduled unnecessary class.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
My thoughts on Higher Minimum wage.
Over the last few months I have heard many thoughts and opinions on the issue of raising minimum wage to $15 an hour. I have several opinions on this subject. First off, I do not have an issue with people earning more money. It is not a bad thing to want to earn more money. There are several issues that I do have. Seattle is one of the first areas that has raised their minimum wage.
One of the effects of this is the debate over tipping servers. Here is a little bit of what is being reported on this issue. http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/seattle/2015/07/13/seattle-minimum-wage-increase-ignites-tipping-debate/30113825/.
In New York a paramedic posted something in support of the increase. In that the paramedic made a point that businesses want us to fight and argue about a wage increase in hopes that it wouldn't happen. http://www.someecards.com/news/politics/paramedic-minimum-wage-fast-food-workers/.
Do I believe people should be able to make a decent living? Yes. I do not believe that a kid that is working at McDonalds in high school needs to make $15 an hour to ask me if I would like to get my order as a combo.
There are so many of these workers that absolutely have no clue what they are doing. You don't have a clue when you start working. People fresh out of college a lot of times only know what they have learned in their course of study. It has taken several years of experience AND a college degree to get where I am today.
I understand that it is impossible to live on the minimum wage of today without assistance. I get it but raising the minimum wage to $15 and hour is not going to make it any better. There are aspects of it that will be worse. If you know anyone that is in management in a fast food restaurant you may know that even they do not make the wages that workers are claiming they deserve.
I am only barely above the requested minimum wage amount and I have a degree. People don't realize that in the event the wages are mandated to be increased, business will raise prices and/or employ fewer people. Corporations are not going to give up their profits to pay people. Most corporate goals are to make as much money possible with the least amount of money. Seattle raised their minimum wage to $11 and it has already had an impact on their job market. There are fewer jobs available because restaurants are not able to pay more money without cutting labor costs. Here is an article that shows some of the effects of the increase. Read through more than the first few paragraphs. Restaurants are closing and that is just one of the effects.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2015/03/16/we-are-seeing-the-effects-of-seattles-15-an-hour-minimum-wage/
I know this isn't going to change the mindset that all these people deserve more money. I am sure that many of them do deserve it. Make an effort to better your life though. Don't just expect it to be handed to you. People that deserve more money are more than likely not people that cant understand what to do when your order comes to $4.76 and you hand them $5.01 that you get a quarter back. sometimes you can see the distress on employees faces when presented with this type of situation.
You don't have to have a college degree in order to make a decent living but you might have to be willing to take a job that is less than glamorous. I have worked in extreme conditions as well as disgusting, stressful jobs. At this point I have a great job in a field that I am very happy with. I was not satisfied many jobs before this one. I didn't make enough money to cover expenses. I received assistance for food and lived in metropolitan housing. I used the assistance while I was educating myself. That is a whole other story that I may go into another time.
For now, I have exhausted the thoughts that have been floating around in my head over this. I don't know how many will see this, but if you do, think about the whole picture. A lot of the response to the subject is based on emotion. Decisions based on emotions often do not have good results.
One of the effects of this is the debate over tipping servers. Here is a little bit of what is being reported on this issue. http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/seattle/2015/07/13/seattle-minimum-wage-increase-ignites-tipping-debate/30113825/.
In New York a paramedic posted something in support of the increase. In that the paramedic made a point that businesses want us to fight and argue about a wage increase in hopes that it wouldn't happen. http://www.someecards.com/news/politics/paramedic-minimum-wage-fast-food-workers/.
Do I believe people should be able to make a decent living? Yes. I do not believe that a kid that is working at McDonalds in high school needs to make $15 an hour to ask me if I would like to get my order as a combo.
There are so many of these workers that absolutely have no clue what they are doing. You don't have a clue when you start working. People fresh out of college a lot of times only know what they have learned in their course of study. It has taken several years of experience AND a college degree to get where I am today.
I understand that it is impossible to live on the minimum wage of today without assistance. I get it but raising the minimum wage to $15 and hour is not going to make it any better. There are aspects of it that will be worse. If you know anyone that is in management in a fast food restaurant you may know that even they do not make the wages that workers are claiming they deserve.
I am only barely above the requested minimum wage amount and I have a degree. People don't realize that in the event the wages are mandated to be increased, business will raise prices and/or employ fewer people. Corporations are not going to give up their profits to pay people. Most corporate goals are to make as much money possible with the least amount of money. Seattle raised their minimum wage to $11 and it has already had an impact on their job market. There are fewer jobs available because restaurants are not able to pay more money without cutting labor costs. Here is an article that shows some of the effects of the increase. Read through more than the first few paragraphs. Restaurants are closing and that is just one of the effects.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2015/03/16/we-are-seeing-the-effects-of-seattles-15-an-hour-minimum-wage/
I know this isn't going to change the mindset that all these people deserve more money. I am sure that many of them do deserve it. Make an effort to better your life though. Don't just expect it to be handed to you. People that deserve more money are more than likely not people that cant understand what to do when your order comes to $4.76 and you hand them $5.01 that you get a quarter back. sometimes you can see the distress on employees faces when presented with this type of situation.
You don't have to have a college degree in order to make a decent living but you might have to be willing to take a job that is less than glamorous. I have worked in extreme conditions as well as disgusting, stressful jobs. At this point I have a great job in a field that I am very happy with. I was not satisfied many jobs before this one. I didn't make enough money to cover expenses. I received assistance for food and lived in metropolitan housing. I used the assistance while I was educating myself. That is a whole other story that I may go into another time.
For now, I have exhausted the thoughts that have been floating around in my head over this. I don't know how many will see this, but if you do, think about the whole picture. A lot of the response to the subject is based on emotion. Decisions based on emotions often do not have good results.
Thursday, July 9, 2015
It been a while
It has been longer than I would have thought since my last post. I believe I had just started a position that was remotely close to the degree that I had acquired in 2011. I have since moved on to 2 different employers from that point. Each job has been a step in the right direction for me. I now have a job that I worked 3 years to get. I am not disappointed in the transition. I believe my wife is also on her 3rd position since graduating from massage school and getting her license. Unfortunately for her, she may be transitioning to something else within the next few months. She will continue to work as a massage therapist in the same capacity that she is now. She loves helping people and is very good at her profession. As an LMT she is licensed by the state medical board and follows their regulations. We both have worked very hard to get to where we are. Our work is not done though. She only has 2 classes left to get an associate degree and hopefully will be able to get those completed by the end of the year. I however have been back working on a bachelor's degree since the January of 2014. I should be able to finish in the spring of 2017. The last year has been kind of a whirlwind. We were able to move into a bigger place in a nicer neighborhood. My middle child graduated high school and is leaving for school at the end of August. We lost her dad and my step dad in this last year. My dad had a horrible car accident in February that he is still having issues as a result. There have been many ups and downs over the last year.
Of course the people that are close to us already know most of our life events. We still work at the Ohio Renaissance Festival, which we will be starting rehearsal for this years run in the next week. I guess they figure we aren't leaving there anytime soon so we were placed in long term roles. We are also involved with Chillicothe Civic Theater and I played my first on-stage role ever. I had a lot of fun and look forward to when I am able to do it again. It will be a while though with school and everything. I am sure it will seem like no time with everything I seem to be involved in. Sometimes you don't realize it until it is put in writing.
Anyway, I may try and keep up with this a little better than I have been lately(in the last 4 years I guess). I cant guarantee but I will try. Until later.
Of course the people that are close to us already know most of our life events. We still work at the Ohio Renaissance Festival, which we will be starting rehearsal for this years run in the next week. I guess they figure we aren't leaving there anytime soon so we were placed in long term roles. We are also involved with Chillicothe Civic Theater and I played my first on-stage role ever. I had a lot of fun and look forward to when I am able to do it again. It will be a while though with school and everything. I am sure it will seem like no time with everything I seem to be involved in. Sometimes you don't realize it until it is put in writing.
Anyway, I may try and keep up with this a little better than I have been lately(in the last 4 years I guess). I cant guarantee but I will try. Until later.
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