I recently got sucked down the rabbit hole of the "Choosing Beggars" sub on reddit.

Here's one job description that was reposted from a Provo FB page --

"I'm looking for a person to drive me to and from my various places I need to go each day for the next several months. I work 2 full time jobs, have church and family activities, and voice lessons. I'll also reimburse for hard on top of the $100/month that I'll pay you."

By "hard" I think this person means gas? What a deal!

https://old.reddit.com/r/ChoosingBeggars/comments/bykles/100_per_month_to_drive_this_woman_to_her_two_full/

I enjoy the "choosing beggars" channel on you tube.

That doesn't sound like much of a deal considering that cab or uber charges would run into the hundreds or thousands using the same type of service. Or rather a deal for the chauffeur that is.

If someone is going to be a chauffeur, it would pay to be for a high end employer. Not a bargain basement cheapskate looking for a freebie.

$100 a month is less than it would cost to drive himself & otherwise pay for their own traveling expenses. What a farce!

And on demand too? Anyone who'd do that has a fool for a chauffeur. It wouldn't be worth their time.

Not to mention that voice lessons from a qualified instructor are not cheap. If this individual needs to cut corners, that's the first item I would look at.

Yeah, for sure.

This dude or dudette doesn't need a chauffeur. He needs a f/t mommy.

Q: How do you make a million dollars in Provo?
A: Work a million hours.

This I believe.

azsteve Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Q: How do you make a million dollars in Provo?
> A: Work a million hours.


You were there in the 60s? Cuz that was the literal truth, as well as a funny line. I worked one night on the BYU custodial crew, running a floor buffer, for the magnificent sum of $1/hour!

Then ghawd rewarded my sinning ways by getting me the job at Mr. Steak, where I started at a busboy and ended up as the broiler cook, five nights a week, at $90/week! Our two bedroom rented house in Lakeview, on 3/4s of an acre was $75.

I took a real financial hit by graduating.

If you want to make $ millions in America, start a church.

Q: How do you make a million dollars in truck driving ?
A: Work a million hours.

Unreal that this could be real. Wow.


Some of the attitudes I read on RfM about the working poor, attitudes by no means unpopular among many Americans, make my stomach turn.

If you give 40 hours a week of yourself to somebody or some company or corporation, in ANY capacity, you ought to be able to live.

Anything less than a living wage for workers is cruel, in my opinion.

Human, unhappy that Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle is still relevant

It sounds like the OP can't drive for several months due to a specific reason -- perhaps a health issue. If the OP discontinues the voice lessons (which can be very pricey) than a more realistic fee for a driver, or Lyft/Uber, or public transport becomes an option.

When I was young, it was something of a shock to me that a full time job was not necessarily enough to be self-supporting, even while living with roommates and sharing expenses. I quickly got introduced to the notion that "nobody owes you a living," and worked my way up in the world from there. I do support regular, small COL raises to the minimum wage, as many years can go by without an increase.

The notion that "nobody owes you a living" is true enough. However, if you work you ought to be able to live.

Wealthy Americans have gotten away with “up by your bootstraps” propaganda for far too long. Besides, not everyone has boots or straps.

The actual cost of living in Provo like Utah has outpaced the payrate in Utah. Look at housing alone. To rent or to buy is astronomical for someone earning a minimum wage, enrolled in college living on student loans and grants, and just scraping by.

I honestly don't know how young people today are able to get by starting out unless they have well-to-do parents or relatives giving them a hand up to get a jump start, or they are so gifted that they get full scholarships and the best job offers as college recruits straight from their graduating classes.

It is a jungle out there. It hasn't gotten easier to "make it" by any means in the past couple of generations. It has only gotten more difficult IMO given the staggering economy. When you figure in the student loan debt many college grads leave college with today, their income to debt ratio is so severe they cannot obtain credit if they wanted to. For many it takes decades &/or a lifetime to get out of the student loan debt they got themselves into just to get a higher education.

That makes an even harder burden for them finding housing, suitable jobs, and supporting themselves let alone a family.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/2019 01:33PM by Amyjo.

Brought to you by the same mindset that many LDS members have.

"As long as I'm doing something FOR "the church" shouldn't it be near free if NOT free?"

Examples:

Babysitting when attending the temple. I've heard many stories about the couple not paying much at ALL for babysitting services.

Attending church. Picks ups should be free by a fellow member.

Church Magazines should be free, but they do charge, but it's nominal.

Basic copies of the BoM should be free, but they do charge, but it's nominal.

Temple clothing rental. It SHOULD be free, but they do charge, but it's nominal.

I might not be explaining my thought well though.

Maybe the poster forgot to add a zero ?
Even then, being at someone's beck and call for so little is an insult.

Reminds me of these people who try to hire live-in babysitters for a pittance and expect them to be on duty constantly.

A future chauffeur is born every minute.

Hey! Maybe it's a code used by an out-call escort service, and $100/month really means $100/visit?

..including rides to church activities?
Hope his windoes are tinted.

Polygamist church activities!!

Is the phrase "Sexing the beast" from mormonism?

I'm obviously making a generalization here, but my experience has been that many Mormons are beyond frugal, and are actually cheap. I don't think I played piano for a single event at which my services were procured by a member of the church when person with whom I contracted didn't first express an assumption that I would do the event for free, then try to haggle over the price. The same was true when I performed minor handyman tasks.

I didn't do this sort of work once I finished medical school and was earning a steady salary. When I worked at odd jobs, it was because my wife and I were trying survive on her 3/4 teaching salary. She attended law school full-time and taught at 3/4 time and salary. Our parents paid our tuition, but we were leery of debt, so we survived on 3/4 of a miniscule Utah teaching salary and whatever odd jobs I could pick up during breaks. We were poorer than poor, but even people who had ample disposable income didn't want to pay me what the work was worth. After my not being paid twice, my wife began typing up contracts for me for even the smallest jobs. I took a guy to small claims court over non-payment for providing live music for his daughter's wedding reception. After that, i always demanded payment BEFORE playing a single note for any musical engagements and was never stiffed again, but I still had to deal with people who wanted to negotiate.

A lot of the issue over fees for musical service was rooted in the whole LDS practice of everyone working for free in the church. I understand and accept that for any quasi- religious service occurring in an LDS chapel, it must be comped. I didn't and still don't play for such events unless it was or is for a family member or close friend. Just because that's official policy for church events, which include anything taking place in the chapel, however, doesn't mean anyone was or is entitled to my services for free under any other circumstances. In most cases the people actually know better but are just trying to get away with stiffing the musician (or handyman) because they're utter cheapskates.

One of my sisters is a highly skilled seamstress. She's a credentialed teacher and supported her family through teaching while her husband attended medical school, but she also accepted sewing jobs to keep their heads above water financially because Utah pays its teachers such abysmally low salaries. People expected her to do the sewing either for free or for whatever pocket change they chose to toss in her direction. She told clients that it wasn't worth her time to work for less than $6.00 an hour (this was from 1998 to 2002), and that she would quote the person a maximum fee for any given project, but unless the hourly rate would otherwise have caused the job to exceed her maximim fee, the actual charge would be the hourly rate of $6.00 multiplied by however many hours the job took her. Her bishop's wife actually asked her , "How do I know you're being honest when you tell me it took two-and-one-half hours to finish this?" My sister's answer was that if the woman didn't trust her to correctly keep track of or honestly calculate the number of hours, it would be better for the woman to find someone else to take care of seweing tasks in the future. My wife actually typed up a legal template for my sister to use for her insignificant sewing projects because so many people stiffed her. When my brother-in-law did his residency in Nebraska, she never had that problem again. People there usually paid her more than the amount she requested.

Some LDS people are as generous as the day is long, but a whole lot of them do not want to fairly compensate anyone for work.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/2019 02:52AM by scmd1.

It's amazing how cheap and presumptuous some people can be.


"You're only going to be playing/singing/whatevering for 5 minutes!" But you have to set aside a big chunk of your day to make the commitment, and you've spent years of training and practice to reach the level of proficiency where they'd actually want you to perform...


A good friend of mine is a phenomenal artist. It's mind boggling how often people expect her to paint portraits for free! Sometimes they even offer to pay for the paint and canvas. They acknowledge that even the paint and canvas have value, but not her time and talent (not to mention the aforementioned training and practice).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/2019 02:00PM by Gordon B. Stinky.

the choosy beggar will probably get what they pay for and then some.... Because anyone willing to take that offer will have more than a few screws loose and may bring their own special definition of "hard" to the table.

"Wait! Wait! I said turn left. Why are you heading out into the desert? I don't want to go to the desert! Can't you hear what I'm saying? Why are you driving like a madman? Do you need something for that twitchy eye? Seriously....I don't want to be out here in the desert...oooh noooo....This is not good..."

+111

LOL!

Wait until he rubs on the lotion.