Welders Can Afford Cake, Land On Their Feet, Sturdily

"Hadji's New Job" by Herr D on heromachine.com. "Medusa's hairdresser would be a blind snake charmer."-Herr D "Jobs come in all forms."-Shelob

 

 [discussion of televised interview] He is upset about losing his job and is blaming Democrats and democratic policies, especially Joe Biden. What is your reaction?

It would just be sympathy for people having a hard time, but, I've a reason to be callous.

What is that reason?

Most of the hardships I've faced in life, including job loss have been caused by Republicans.

Are you saying they are incorrect?

No. If you're a coal miner or working on ANYTHING regarding fossil fuels, eventually those jobs WILL be gone. Cutting them now IS a DNC goal. We LIKE the environment and people CAN build windmills and water wheels and solar panels and get other jobs like I did. Times are tough, just like they always were for me when my jobs were taken away.

He has something I didn't have, though.

What is that?

A welding license. He can work anywhere that needs metal joined. I've welded, but couldn't afford the money to get certified in my twenties, so he was better off than I was.

How did Republicans cause you job loss?

I was working in 'Company H' when short-selling got out of control and burst the housing bubble. That cut 'Company H's profits so badly that my entire department was closed. Short-selling was done mostly by people who vote Republican, and it was finally outlawed to the degree it is by Democrats.

That's it?

No, then I was getting unemployment and couldn't afford COBRA, but I was suffering it. Obama passed the ACA, and the Republican Congress fought so hard to defund it that they defunded my unemployment. I actually got a letter explaining that I deserved to get more but wouldn't, because the federal government wasn't paying up. So, DOUBLE paying for insurance on 2/3 my income went to ZERO. All told, it cost my family between 17k$ and 22k$ before I got another job. I would say it was double that, but Democrats deserve some blame too. They didn't win the elections and vote the other way.

You said jobs.

Yeah. Another job saw my boss come through yelling that he didn't think any of us deserved minimum wage, and now that it was going up, he might have to let some of us go. And he thought that if any of us were worth it, we'd be out starting our own companies anyway. Three of eight of us quit that week. He demanded of me why more work wasn't done. I looked up at him -- he was tall. I said, "I've only done triple what the others do. I USED to do only double, before you drove them off. You have yet to pay me what the others made before you cut them to minimum wage. CLEARLY, I'm never going to make what I'm worth if I wait for people to be FAIR about it. If you don't want me here, I'll clock out now. If you can stop hurting my ears, I'll continue to earn more than you will ever pay me, because I'm worth more than you'll ever pay me." He stared at me with his mouth hanging open for what seemed like forever. Then he walked out. He fired one of the others, raised my pay 5 CENTS AN HOUR over the new minimum, and said not a word. I left for college and didn't try to come back holidays like I did other companies.

ANOTHER job I had? I did the same job at the same desk for approximately the same pay for FOUR DIFFERENT COMPANIES. The morons couldn't figure out how to stay in business. There was, on average, a quarter between each company hiring me. The bosses of three of those failed iterations of the business tried to get all the employees to volunteer their time and lawn space for the RNC. The other one was the one that lasted a full two pay periods.

I don't have time to go into the others. You get the idea.

Yes. Thank you.