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In reply to the discussion: 29 yr old employee burns down Calif Kimberly Clark toilet paper warehouse "All you had to do was pay us enough to live" [View all]hunter
(40,765 posts)... after I was "asked" to take time off from college because I was crazy. Literally.
From there I graduated to moving furniture which paid better. The first time I made $100 in a day was moving furniture. Some of the guys I worked with were crazier than I was. Some had never even considered college.
That's $28.55 an hour today. My rent was $210, which is $830 today.
Gasoline was free. (Not really, but it was nothing I worried about.)
It wasn't union work, and I had no assurances of continuing employment, but my employers were certainly fearful the unions would come to town and figured if they treated us well enough we'd reject unionization.
Things have changed for the worse. I blame Reagan for that and a lot of other bad things.
Sure, I was privileged white guy living in an affluent city.
Everyone should be so privileged.