Re: OT: As if THS is news.....


"J. Clarke" <jclarke.usenet@xxxxxxx> wrote in message news:fpb6tu0sp7@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Max wrote:
"J. Clarke" <jclarke.usenet@xxxxxxx> wrote in message

Paper route, lawn work, painting, dog poo poo pickup, run errands
for
old folks, local hauling (furniture, trash, etc), grease monkey
(don't have to be a mechanic to grease cars)

Have you in the last 20 years or so tried to keep food on your
table
and save enough to take college courses doing any of those things

What has the last 20 years got to do with it.

Inflation, among other things.

Tell me about inflation!! My first "full time" (40 hr week) paid 55 cents and hour. What's minimum wage today?
My sons have done so.

They kept roofs over their heads and food on the table and saved
enough for college doing that sort of work? In the last 20 years or
so?

No, No. they didn't wait until they were married and had a family to support before they started working. That's just stupidity in it's purest form.

And "dog poo pickup"? That's actually a _job_? _Where_?

I live in El Paso and there are several businesses who do that kind
of
business. There are also 2 sisters who borrowed the money to buy a
long wheelbase van which they converted into a pet grooming mobile
service. It wasn't long before they split the business and now they
each have a van and use helpers.

Pet grooming is not "dog poo pickup".

I know. There are more dog poo pickup services than there are mobile pet grooming services

A lot of the problem young people today have is that while growing
up
they never learned any skills. By the time my boys reached 14,
they
could do a good job washing and waxing a car, changing the oil,
paint, do lawn care, rough carpentry, replace a faucet washer,
unclog
a drain.
By the time they were 16 they could do the foregoing and: lay
bricks
&
concrete blocks, build a cabinet, apply roofing shingles and/or
roll
roofing, finish concrete,
install ceramic tile, replace faucets.

And knowing how to do all that, can they turn it into income?

Summer jobs mostly and working as helper for self employed plumbers,
electricians, remodelers etc.
(A little research will reveal that there are lots of self employed
who work on weekends) It got them through college.

It might be worth mentioning that they never used drugs, smoked,
sprayed graffiti, or any of the other myriad assortment of
troubles
young people can get into.

Max

--
--
--John

Well, J. Clarke, if you're convinced it can't be done, it can't be
done. Plain as that.

I'm not convinced of anything. But people seem to be awfully glib
about what someone who grew up in a Welfare household can accomplish.

I'm reluctant to cry about how I grew up but here goes.
We lived in a cleaned up chicken coop for awhile. It was 20' X 28'. My mother was an alcoholic not to mention some other disgusting activities.
My dad, a veteran of WW2, shot himself not long after his discharge.
Most of the time I lived with neighbors, relatives, friends of my mother, and an assortment of others.
I had paper route at 13, did janitorial work at a beauty shop at 14 while setting bowling pins evenings at a bowling alley where they didn't yet have auto pin setters.
At 15, I worked at a Nash auto dealersahip for a guy who was one of the best bosses I ever had. On weekends I waxed cars for some of the customers of the dealership. (they "said" they admired my ambition and my quality of work).
At 16, I was driving a Wrecker for the dealership.
I realize that some of those opportunities aren't open to young people today but there are others for anyone who really wnats to WORK and is not just looking for a job.


Here's a few suggestions. Go to a community college to get the basic
courses (English, Government, Sociology, Math, etc) out of the way.
It's cheaper at the CCs and the credits can be tranferred. The CCs
have plenty of evening and weekend schedules.

Where does the money come from?

The money for what? Haven't heard of the Job Corp? How come I know of guys who have just gottne out of prison and get to go to school taking courses in welding, refrigeration, computer repair ad infinitum.
I'm sorry, my friend, defeatism is contagious. Determination is the key to success.


Once you're thru the basics, apply for financial help to pay for the
tuition and books at a regular college/university.
Keep in mind that you may have to attend evenings and weekends in
order to hold down a full time job.

If the courses you need are offered evenings and weekends.

Have you even checked to see?

It might take a little longer that way but where do you want to go?
I should mention that there has to be a certain amount of desire to
accomplish these things.
Do you do woodworking. Can you build a few things to make some
money,
Adirondack chairs, picnic tables, cabinets, .

What I do is irrelevant. I'm not an 18 year old kid in the projects
whose mother is on welfare and whose father is nowhere to be found.

I turn away lots of
work because it's just a hobby with me but the demand seems to be
there. If you're talking about your kids, can you teach them some
skills?

I'm talking about the hypothetical kid in the ghetto whose single
mother lives on Welfare.

I know a guy who builds model trains out of wood and sells them for
$300.

Carves them out of pallet wood with a Wal-mart paring knife? If he
needs more than that then it's not something that's open to our
hypothetical poor kid.

I remember a time when I would scrounge rafter cut-offs from construction sites to make wooden toys using a coping saw.


--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

Max (that's it for me, your attitude is depressing)

.

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