> OK, if we are doing an income poll, who do we do it?
>
> Btw, some of us who are paid absurd amounts of money
> don't have particularly cushy jobs. As a mid-level
> associate at a large law firm, I make a lot of money,
> but I work brutal hours, and the general circumstances
> are not what I would descibe as "cushy." Job security
> is questionable. Work is gringing and endless. I was
> here working to 8 pm on New Years eve. Thanksgiving
> vacaition I got a call to get hopping on a case that
> needed attention RIGHT THEN. (Managened to dodge that
> one.) I am not am not asking for sympathy. Thsi isd
> what I bargained for. It's better than plucking
> chickens. But the "cushy" has certain implications one
> does not associate with life in a large law firm. Also
> with being a junior professor, which I also used to
> be. It's better than a lot of jobs. But it is pretty
> sucky nonetheless.
You make a good point about the trade-offs involved in working full time. Often not working as much and having free time is more "cushy" than having to work long hours at a job you hate even with high pay.
But one thing you have as somebody with a job is more freedom than a person like me. You have assets and recent job experience. While I'm lucky that I'm not out on the streets and I get to work on anything that interests me, my lack of income and assets has kept me housebound for much of the last three years. Now I have access to a car on occasion, and I have Internet access, but I'm stuck in the suburbs without my own car or residence. I can't just go buy a car, even a junker, nor can I get an apartment. After looking for work for nearly four years, you just tend to give up on the job search. I've applied to several library jobs recently, the UPS last month, and some temp agencies, but nobody will touch me. My most recent income from an outside job was $50 I made in November being a guinea pig for a smoking study. So I'm stuck here in my room in my parent's house, with no car, no assets, a long resume, and an income last year of less than $1000.
"Cushy" to me right now would be having any kind of job and my own place to live.
Chuck