I’m a cis het white old. Nothing is happening to me as long as I keep my liberal mouth shut in this new era. But I am so scared for the women in my life, because I know way too many “compassionate conservatives” who want nothing more than women as slaves.

I get really scared when I think of what a Trump-picked replacement would look like. Like crushingly depressed about what will happen to people I care about. 

I grew up in that district. It’s a lot of old white people, D and R, who would never vote for a D woman and will hold their nose about an R woman just to have the R win, and bonus points if the old guys in their NRA hats can leer at her.

She’s my hometown congressperson, which isn’t saying too much identifiable because her sparsely-populated district is probably larger than some states. She’s generally seen as a empty-suit carpetbagger with a rich family that has an Adirondack place, but as long as the “R” is next to her name, a good portion of the…

My parents were undereducated blue collar workers who lived in fear of making the boss mad. They taught be very bad lessons about what was acceptable, because having a job was always more important than self-preservation. 

My first (on the books) job was a local grocery store. It was one of the first times in my young life that no one cared if I was smart or competent in anything but moving boxes from A to B. But it was also the first time I was around kids my own age who were from outside my small town (store was next town over) and I…

One of the best experiences for me was getting fired from my first real (ie, working papers and paystubs) teenage job. I’m not sure I’m all the way to (c) yet, but it really brought home (b) and made me rethink what I wanted to do with myself. 

It’s always the same in the comments.

I’m still seeing a disconnect, if anecdotal, because all of the people I know that fit your first paragraph are max 15%, unless there’s cleavage, and then my FIL goes up to 50%. 

Not disagreeing with your general point, but the factories in my area can’t get unskilled labor to fill numerous open vacancies. In many areas there is a dearth of truly unskilled labor. 

I’m okay with that. I’d rather everyone paid equally than getting an angry server after Church People left 0% on a $150 bill. 

I really want to highlight that last point. Most of the people I know who are waiting tables are reasonably intelligent people doing it because the money per hours invested calculus works in their favor. Some make okay money. Some make limited money but like the hours. There’s this idea that everyone waiting tables…

Same, except for the part where you’re competent and remember to mention it. I just end up throwing down some cash and hoping to recoup it elsewhere. 

I love the holiday and all the beige food, but you really nailed the whole dynamic. My aunts and uncles used to complain about how their mother couldn’t cook and then they got a little older and it’s “Mom never...” to complain about any change from their traditions. 

As a JD that routinely gets shot down when inquiring about professor hirings, I get this. I know there are some topics that need an advanced theoretical knowledge that my real world prosecuting/defending experience doesn’t fit, but that stuff also doesn’t fit with the kids in the program who just want the number of…

Some of my inlaws have (more legit than mail order, but shady) PhDs and I’m always tempted to buy a junk one from someplace obscure they can’t check on just so they lose a topic to look down on me about.

I used to work for myself, but I quit because the boss was an asshole.

This is indisuputably accurate. 

Thanks for the message. And you’re absolutely right. At least I can say (or should I not?) that at least I married into it and it’s not my birth family. 

I had that at some steakhouse, which then prompted my SIL to complain that they must have just given us a limited event menu and I was screwing things up by demanding attention.