Sometimes social stratification is absolutely astounding. If you know me, you know I work at a full serve gas station. To be honest no job I have ever worked at ever made that social gap more apparent to me. The more stark it becomes, the anger I fell towards social injustice turns into hatred. It also makes it very difficult for me to perform my job in a few situations a day. Let me tell you about one of those situations and you can tell me if I’m right or if I’m just being too (class) oversensitive.
I get angry when someone comes into the gas station I work driving a Cadillac Escalade and complains about the gas price… While filling up premium gas. At this point in history gas is 1.36 a litre and premium gas is 1.48. I have to stand there fueling his car and washing his windows while he complains how much it costs to fill up his fucking luxury car with the most expensive gasoline. It will become necessary for me to go to a food bank soon, but his fucking gasoline costs too much. I literally need new shoes and cannot afford them, but his fucking gasoline costs too much. “Getting really expensive to fill ‘er now. This gas price is crazy”, he says as he hands me $140 in cash. I can’t afford a car, nor the insurance, let alone the the fuel for it. One of these days one of these assholes is going to get a right hook in the fucking jaw.
I am given only 14 hours a week in which I can work. 14 hours x $10.25 an hour = $143.50 a week. No I can hear the ignorant asshole remark already: “Why don’t you just get another job?” Well asshole, I can’t for two reasons.
1. The unemployment rate where I live is 58%. Those who work, actually work outside the city because they have a vehicle. But I guess its just that they don’t want to work. You must follow the right wing line, there is no unemployment rate, only a doesn’t want to work rate. There is no other work, if there was, the unemployment rate wouldn’t be that high to begin with. But then again, some ignorant fuckwad just repeats, “there’s work out there, there’s people working so it must exist.” THEN SHOW ME WHERE IT IS ASSHOLE! It is always appropriate that those who perpetually state that the jobs “must exist” can NEVER tell you where to find them.
2. I can’t get another job because the boss says I must keep my hours open so that he made be able to call me at any time in case he needs someone. Which has never happened. As soon as I get another job the schedules will eventually conflict. When I can’t make it that one day, the boss of either job will say I have to choose because I can’t just not show up one day because I have other work I NEED to do in order to get by.
So no matter what path I take I’m fucked. So please tell if you’re inclined to do so. Am I reasonably angry? Or, am I just being too sensitive?