Bob, His Job, and Welfare

BASED ON A TRUE STORY: Names have been changed in order to protect individuals' blah blah blah...

Once there was a man named "Bob." Bob had graduated high school and had worked several jobs, got married and having kids, until one day he was offered an opportunity that he felt could turn into something big.

Bob took that opportunity and joined the company. After nearly seven years of hard work, loyalty, and overtime, Bob eventually was promoted to manage the entire small operation. He worked hard and long. So much so, that Bob was losing time with his family. His marriage begin to sour and his children barely knew who he was anymore.

Bob, being a family man, decided to look for something else. After nearly half a year, Bob found another small business that would offer him what he wanted at a slightly higher wage (with less hassle). Bob jumped at the opportunity and immediately begin working hard.

After a few months, Bob had overheard someone mention a KKK rally in town square. Bob, being an anti-racist, made a simple statement that "such activities are truly embarrassing to American values." The entire room turned silent. Two weeks later, Bob was asked to leave the company due to things "not working out." Bob was given two weeks extra pay and sent on his way. Afterward, Bob was told that he would be given a "good word", but that he was not to come back.

. He couldn't land a job after a week. He owed people right then. So, he challenged the fellow at his regional D.O.L. Bob won and collected unemployment. While, collecting, Bob vigorously searched for a job. Bob went on his search, but due to pre-employment screens, he had to list ALL his employers. He did. After six months (and dozens of resumes and applications) NO ONE called on Bob (even though his qualifications were excellent). The market in his area (and region) was horrible and Bob was afraid that the last employer was giving him a bad name.

Bob then decided not to list that employer. That didn't work out either as Bob was accused of "not being honest" by failing to list all previous employers.

Bob ran out of unemployment. He was at a loss. Broken. Bob tried selling as much of his stuff as possible, Ebaying and more. When none of these worked, Bob got a job with a contractor as a helper (even though Bob had never worked in this area). The contractor had a warrant and was hauled off to jail. Bob had one more alternative... welfare.

Bob got on welfare and waited to find someone, somewhere who'd give him a chance again.

Ok, guys...RIP 'ER APART.

 

- He couldn't land a job after a week. He owed people right then -

Bob didn't save any of the money that he made over the years.

 

It sounds like Bob needs to move to another area with more opportunities for this job skills, and where employers are not bias against him.

Can companies actually check to see where all you have worked?

Now if there was not as much government regulation it might be easy for Bob to start up his own business.

On the bright side he got what he wanted, more time with his family.

 

sad fact is ,,, very few people can save enough to live off of over any length of time.... arent the statitistics something like a month of no income will put your average middle class family on the streets....

its amazing what companies can do anymore... scary to me

bob falls into the vortex of depression, goes to various doctors and gets happy pills ... To his amazement they dont make him happy enough, so bob finds more pills and becomes a complete zombie. Bob can no longer work and files social security for mental illness. Bobs family splits . Bob is denied. bob goes off the deep end and takes to the bottle . Bob is out of control . Bob purchases a gun and several rounds of ammo and fed up goes to take care of his troubles the only way he has deemed fit... Bob kills ex boss, bob kills exwife and children and bob goes to DOL and is taken out in a blaze of glory?????

 

Bob should kill himself. That will solve all his problems. Wait! What if guns are made illegal? :H

 

sounds like the all-american story to me. the last two places i worked didn't like me cuz i'm anti-war. and i didn't run around offering the information either. they practically had to drag it out of me cuz i don't like discussing politics at work...for obvious reasons.

 

rip what apart, the story kinda rambles, which part are you asking our opinion on?

 

Basically only dilligaf and Freak Lady see what is going on.

The rest of you live in fantasy land.

"Bob should move" - It takes money, Bob does't have it.

"Bob should've saved" - When it took every penny he had to make ends meet and then has a catastrophic medical emergency? Yeah, alll Bob's fault, huh?

"Bob should start his own business" - What? Selling his wife and kids?

"Bob should kill himself" - Beautiful answer. Is this what you would tell every person who loses everything? To kill themselves? Maybe you should set an example.

 

Oh, I am sorry I got it wrong. What is the right answer, that the government should give everyone a job?

It sounds like he is going to have to move either way unless he owns his house. Does Bob not have friend or family that could help him out until he can get a job?

If Bob was in management and still could not save anything he had his priorities messed up. Most Americans do, though.

I have no idea. What kind of skills does Bob have? Can he make things to sell or does he have skills he can sell? If Bob cannot think of something then he probably was not that great in his management position to begin with. Though he would not be the first is such a position I have known who was not.

I see what is going on just fine. Life sucks. It is not fair. But that is how it is. If someone running a business does not want you working for them they will find a way to get rid of you. Is it fair? I don't know. Is it fair to the business owner to have to employ someone who they feel does not fit in with the rest of the company? Personally I would not want to work for anyone who would hold something against me for disagreeing with them. And I really would not want to work for someone(s) who support the KKK.

 

the moral of the story is - just be satisfied with your role as a cog in the machine or you will pay dearly.

 

Yep, YOU are in complete control. Nice to meet you.

 

The post said Bob got two weeks pay when he was canned, yet was broke the next week when the bills where due. Did Bob buy new SUV's and wide screen hdtv's for each member of his family and live a McMansion he couldn't afford? I have a job similar to Bob's but not so high up in management, yet I have about six month salary saved up and lots of equity in my house. I also drive a 19 year old truck and don't focus on having lots of stuff.

 

Good for you, I hope you never face a financial catastrophe that wipes out that nest egg.

No, Bob didn't buy anything, he faced a situation that dealt a severe blow to him. Oh...and his nearest relatives were wiped out by Hurricane Katrina, I guess they should've picked themselves up by their "boot straps" too, huh? LOL!

 

Bob couldn't save any money because the government stole a chunck of his paycheck by gunpoint to pay for invading other sovereign countries, fighting an unwinnable "war on drugs" that directly infringes civil liberties, and well...the list is endless. I could go on...

 

Oh, the same stolen money that funds police, fire department, and the entire infrastructure of our nation?

I guess you believe in the old "it's all my money" philosophy of the so-called "self-made" man.

I have yet to meet a "self-made" man or woman.

Funny, the same people who complain about taxes use as many public resources as anyone else!

Unless they live in a bunker somewhere in the Rockies...

This whole "dog eat dog" fend-for-yourself philosophy died with the cowboys, bud. No true outlaw philosophy such as that can survive in the Consumer Capitalist society of Multi-National Corporations who eat the small businessman for breakfast, while sucking the life's blood from consumer-sick Americans.

Free-market libertarianism may have been how the West was won, but it was also how the West committed suicide (after it "won").

 

the equity in your house could disappear pretty damn fast if the bottom drops out of the real estate market...which has happened and undoubtedly will again. and six month's salary lasts...what...about six months?

 

"Bob didn't save any of the money that he made over the years."

He could have saved money, but his wife was in a car crash and was left disabled, so they were left to raise a family on one income. Of course, a good conservative would be smart enough to dump her broken bleeding uproductive ass, and marry more cost-productive, cuter poon. As did Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole, Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, John McCain, George Will, Phil Gramm, Dick Armey, Rudy Giluliani, Fred Thompson, and ever so many others.

"Now if there was not as much government regulation it might be easy for Bob to start up his own business."

Which is just fine for big business- no Bobs to compete with ever again. Plus, government money will always be there for the largest corporations should they veer into the red too far.

"What is the right answer, that the government should give everyone a job?"

"False dilemma." Pooling money to share risks doesn't require the elimination of capitalism altogether. There are hundreds of millions of ways of approaching this, not just two.

"Does Bob not have friend or family that could help him out until he can get a job?"

If he pretends to love Jesus, and believe in an invisible man in the sky, someone would probably help him. But maybe he's the "black sheep of the family," a man who believes in reason, science, and logic rather than the ridiculous rantings of ancient goat-fuckers. And the kids! They are even worse! They believe in... evolution!

"If Bob was in management and still could not save anything he had his priorities messed up."

Yes, as above, he should have divorced his shattered wife to cut his losses. After all, libertrarians believe that the market is always the answer to everything, and a wife broken in a hospital room sobbing in pain is really just a business problem that must be discarded for a more cost-effective solution.

"Life sucks. It is not fair. But that is how it is."

Even the Neandertals took care of their sick, old, and injured.

"...be satisfied with your role as a cog in the machine or you will pay dearly."

And you'd better be a happy, smiling, cheerful, enthusiastic cog, too, or you will be replaced.

Nice thread. Personally, I think that if we had a better "safety net," a lot more people would risk quitting their jobs in order to try bold but risky new endeavors, both for profit and for the good of their communities.

 

SunLion, your points are well made.

I don't have all the answers to these problems, but neither do these "know-it-all" libertarians.

 

Funny, the same people who dont complain about taxes are the ones normally living off others taxes.

 

You didn't mention if he owned his own home or if he had been renting and if a landlord was about to kick him out.

Did he only look for jobs that were like the ones he had before? Tell Bob to suck it up and apply to day-jobs at Manpower or Labor Ready. The jobs might be beneath him but at least its a job that will put food in the gut.