Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

I've had my first customer service job for about two months now. I work in the deli of a grocery store. It's been different than what I'm used to, which is warehouse work. If it was up to me, I'd still be in a warehouse. That environment is familiar and friendly to me and I'll always think back to it fondly.

Yesterday, I was really down about working because a lot of things hit me at once.

At my work, there are people working there who can't afford to live off of what they're getting paid. Two of them have second jobs and another gets unemployment whenever she gets under 32 hours. The fact that these people have jobs, but can't afford to live, depresses me to no end.

For me, this job is extra money. I need it, to a certain extent, but I've never been the type to worry about that kind of thing. It goes with my "things will be okay" attitude. Things like "Oh, I'm not getting enough hours" hasn't entered my head. When I hear about them having to work two jobs just to get by, it saddens me a little.

It shouldn't be this way and it really hurts to know that it is.

I wish I could work as an employer and pay my employees what they deserve. So that they don't have to worry about filing for unemployment or food stamps, or having a second job.

When I think about this, it brings me down. That companies are as big as they are and they treat their employees so poorly. And this kind of thing just happens. Sure, people worry about it, but everyone turns to the 'government' to fix it. And it isn't a problem government can fix. Raising 'minimum wage' doesn't mean that people are going to get the money they deserve.

The problem lies in a company's lack of empathy for the people that work so hard to keep it running. I can't believe there are people out there that really try to limit the amount of spending they have to do.

In this respect, capitalism really upsets me. And it's not like I've ever been all about it. But when I see this kind of thing happening...