adults who don't have to work C/D

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Everyone knows at least one--someone with a trust fund or parents who continue to send them money even when they are well into their thirties and beyond. I know one 33 year old who has never ever had a job in his life. As someone who has had to work nonstop since 17 or so I can't help but sometimes have a kneejerk irritation with these people. They get to travel, sleep in, all the things that are beyond my means.

C/D?

I guess C if you're one of the lucky ones, D if not...

shookout (shookout), Saturday, 2 July 2005 15:47 (nineteen years ago)

I know no one who even remotely resembles this.

milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Saturday, 2 July 2005 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

only the ultra-privileged few know ppl like this

mark s (mark s), Saturday, 2 July 2005 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

I know one person like this, but I suspect there are other for example: people who stay in school forever, people who stay unemployed for months and months and don't starve, people whos suddenly take long trips, etc.

shookout (shookout), Saturday, 2 July 2005 15:58 (nineteen years ago)

What do I care? It's not like if they had a job, my workload would be any less?

Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Saturday, 2 July 2005 16:03 (nineteen years ago)

I didn't even know there were really people around like this, except in old films starring Hayley Mills.

Huey (Huey), Saturday, 2 July 2005 16:05 (nineteen years ago)

there seems to be a billion people like this in nyc. i wouldn't care but when you're unemployed and struggling they're like the only people you see. they're probably the only demographic group of people in this town that i regularly wish greivous bodily harm upon.

...people who stay unemployed for months and months and don't starve...

not really sure what this means except to say food stamps ain't no badge of honor, bro.

hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 2 July 2005 16:06 (nineteen years ago)

i have a friend who quit his job almost a year ago. i know he had a bit of savings, but it has to be gone by now, yet he lives in a nice apt and is constantly taking vacations. from what?! example: he is in vegas for a week right now

tehresa (tehresa), Saturday, 2 July 2005 16:10 (nineteen years ago)

I know someone who is quite blatantly waiting to inherit - it will be a fortune - and has been unemployed and livin at his parents since he left college in 1987.

I don't envy him. He's 42/43 now and has spent years doing nothing more exciting than watching TV.

Bob Six (bobbysix), Saturday, 2 July 2005 16:11 (nineteen years ago)

example: he is in vegas for a week right now

maybe he's not living off teh savings no more?

hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 2 July 2005 16:15 (nineteen years ago)

i think he's living off his roommate, actually...

tehresa (tehresa), Saturday, 2 July 2005 16:16 (nineteen years ago)

Dud.

What is classic though: people like this slowly watching their parents' fortune collapse and slowly realise they have to enter the real world and get a proper fucking job.

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Saturday, 2 July 2005 16:17 (nineteen years ago)

i was implying he may be living off his "winnings."

hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 2 July 2005 16:21 (nineteen years ago)

anyway welcome, everyone, to Dubya's OWNERSHIP SOCIETY!!!!

hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 2 July 2005 16:21 (nineteen years ago)

i've never heard him brag about any large winnings there, so i don't think that's it.

tehresa (tehresa), Saturday, 2 July 2005 16:22 (nineteen years ago)

I mean without food stamps, hstencil, who said they were a badge of honor?

shookout (shookout), Saturday, 2 July 2005 16:22 (nineteen years ago)

also yeah, while we're on it, why do you think being in school means someone doesn't "work?"

hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 2 July 2005 16:27 (nineteen years ago)

Only dud because I'm jealous of them. If I could do it, it'd be wonderfully classic. A friend's new girlfriend is one of those. Her occupation is "traveller." How nice for her.

Candicissima (candicissima), Saturday, 2 July 2005 16:29 (nineteen years ago)

I didn't mean someone who works and is a student, I mean someone who is just a student for many years, who goes to school here for a while, and then there for a while, and then goes to Prague for a month or something...most people aren't paid to be students are they? Some are, most aren't.

shookout (shookout), Saturday, 2 July 2005 17:01 (nineteen years ago)

people that spend forever in school getting doctorates or something are generally paid enough to survive by some kind of assistantship. i don't think you should count them. if they go to prague for a month afterward i'd imagine they'd have a grant to do research or something, anyway. it's work, not vacation party time.

caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Saturday, 2 July 2005 17:37 (nineteen years ago)

I what he means is people whose parents support them as they drift from program to program, with no real ambition to prepare for a profession.

Orbit (Orbit), Saturday, 2 July 2005 17:40 (nineteen years ago)

I what he means is people whose parents support them as they drift from program to program, with no real ambition to prepare for a profession.

Buster Bluth to thread!

I suppose this sort of thing is a mixed blessing - there's certainly a lot of trade-offs. Obviously, it's really easy to be very miserable in that kind of lifestyle.

The thing I hate is when people who have a bit of money and have travelled extensively get all snobby about that and act like people who don't have the money or time to travel are philistines or something.

Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Saturday, 2 July 2005 18:03 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, I know people like this, no, I don't really care and ultimately, most of them end up getting jobs of some kind anyway. 'C' for the good times.

Negativa, True Believer (Sheryl Crow in a Britney costume) (Barima), Saturday, 2 July 2005 18:06 (nineteen years ago)

i'm really glad i didn't go to school to prepare for a profession. then again, i have no money anyway.

hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 2 July 2005 18:08 (nineteen years ago)


One time there was some ridiculous, slanderous gossip that got back to me that I was one of these people, I guess because of where I went to college (on financial aid, please). And then I was a perpetual student, too, because I didn't have any money and because I found it hard to finish because of...what do you know? It was the same slander getting back to me.

VM 9001 (dymaxia), Saturday, 2 July 2005 18:14 (nineteen years ago)


I mean, when I lived in Nebraska, someone told all of these busybody Christians all this bullshit and I sort of got blacklisted because of it. Never mind that believing a bunch of slander and poking your nose in other people's business is the most un-Christian thing imaginable.

VM 9001 (dymaxia), Saturday, 2 July 2005 18:16 (nineteen years ago)

On behalf of John Calvin and Martin Luther, I sincerely apologize for all the psuedo-Christian hypocrites out there, esp the fundamentalist ones.

Orbit (Orbit), Saturday, 2 July 2005 18:24 (nineteen years ago)

Actually, as I think more deeply on this question, I don't mind people who don't have to work as long as they are doing something interesting, like writing, being an artist,going into politics/activism or putting out records, or contributing to the world in some way. It's annoying when they live lives that don't take advantage of their opportunities--it is their choice I suppose, but it is frustrating to me.

Orbit (Orbit), Saturday, 2 July 2005 18:27 (nineteen years ago)

i have some friends like this. they have jobs, sometimes; their parents support them, generally, but they don't live high on the hog, certainly. they kind of get enough money to get by and bounce in and out of school. I don't know what will happen to them. I'm sure they'll be alright. DUD.

kyle (akmonday), Saturday, 2 July 2005 18:33 (nineteen years ago)

I've known a number of these people and I feel a little bad for them.

The life of leisure seems like a mindfuck. Especially if you're massively wealthy.

jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Saturday, 2 July 2005 19:27 (nineteen years ago)

What is classic though: people like this slowly watching their parents' fortune collapse and slowly realise they have to enter the real world and get a proper fucking job.

"Something had happened, a thing which years ago had been the eagerest hope of many, many good citizens of the town. And now it came at last: George Amberson Minafer had got his comeuppance. He'd got it three times filled and running over. But those who had longed for it were not there to see it. And they never knew it. Those who were still living had forgotten all about it...and all about him."

J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Saturday, 2 July 2005 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

a good friend/roomate of mine was like this. he was really cagey about it, very ashamed i think. we had to kind of pretend it didn't really exist in every day stuff, splitting checks, paying rent, etc, even tho i was a clerk and then a grad student.

g e o f f (gcannon), Saturday, 2 July 2005 20:14 (nineteen years ago)

and he was very left wing, a classic freep-target whine-bar liberal, it was awesome, i loved him for it. he was furious about the "death tax" cut.

g e o f f (gcannon), Saturday, 2 July 2005 20:15 (nineteen years ago)

my parents are helping me out right now but it's not because i'm determined to live a life of leisure, it's because i'm having trouble finding a job that pays a living wage and i don't want to be homeless.

the underground homme (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 2 July 2005 20:17 (nineteen years ago)

as long as people are nice and not arrogant about it, and have hobbies and do something (travel works for me), I say Classic

anyone that hates on them is just jealous

breezy, Saturday, 2 July 2005 20:40 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, NYC is filled with these people, of questionable age, all whom seem to spend their days frequenting cafes and playing with their laptops. I used to be one of them. Ah, memories.

Mary (Mary), Saturday, 2 July 2005 20:46 (nineteen years ago)

food stamps ain't no badge of honor, bro.

No shame, either. You can buy anything with them! Beer! Ice cream! What's really baffling to me is people who qualify for food stamps but don't get them. Pride is dumb.

Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Saturday, 2 July 2005 20:48 (nineteen years ago)

all whom seem to spend their days frequenting cafes and playing with their laptops

i do this, but i'm using my laptop to send out resumes! and to be fair, it's not like iced coffee is expensive. you can make your two bucks go a long way in one of those places.

the underground homme (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 2 July 2005 20:49 (nineteen years ago)

One word: bottomless.

Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Saturday, 2 July 2005 20:52 (nineteen years ago)

the bottomless cup of coffee is america's greatest contribution to gastronomica.

the underground homme (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 2 July 2005 20:53 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, see, I meant that if you go into a coffee shop without pants, you get a discount.

Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Saturday, 2 July 2005 20:54 (nineteen years ago)

you HAD to say that while i was eating cheerios.

the underground homme (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 2 July 2005 20:55 (nineteen years ago)

seem to spend their days frequenting cafes and playing with their laptops

heh, i wasn't knocking it! it's a great thing that you can do in cities to get out of the house. it's just easy to think that you are the only person there that is looking for a job, and that everyone else is somehow an extremely successful and artistic alternative filmmaker or something....

Mary (Mary), Saturday, 2 July 2005 21:12 (nineteen years ago)

That's just what they say.

Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Saturday, 2 July 2005 21:14 (nineteen years ago)

orbit that's exactly what I meant.

shookout (shookout), Saturday, 2 July 2005 22:49 (nineteen years ago)

i'd like to be one of those. just a bit less than an adult working my dream job (which i can currently just imagine being a blown-up version of my summer internship).

Maria (Maria), Saturday, 2 July 2005 23:34 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I really think maybe about 50% of downtown manhattan residents fall into this category. And I love them for it. I'm a big fan of anything that seems a throwback to more gentile times.

Wish I were one too though. :(

mouse (mouse), Sunday, 3 July 2005 00:56 (nineteen years ago)

genteel even

mouse (mouse), Sunday, 3 July 2005 00:56 (nineteen years ago)

Dont forget not everyone you see out in the street in the daytime is not-working. You'd see me doing my shopping or having a coffee or lunch - just before I start the night shift I'm doing at work. Meh.

I think in Australia we're "lucky" that being unemployed isnt an end of the world starvation disaster - esp if you're single and prepared to slum it a bit - one can get the dole and stay on it quite some time, we dont have limits on it like they do in other countries. The Dole Bludger's an aussie tradition way more than a trustfund kid would be!

Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 3 July 2005 01:03 (nineteen years ago)

On ILX unemployment threads this mentality has always seemed to dominate. It's been said before but there's a really basic ontlogical impasse between someone who must work even just for food and shelter and someone whose food and shelter are guaranteed and whose job- seeking is simply driven by affinities. What's weird is that most non-Americans on here seem to have a realistic dole so that they can never fall into that first category. I'd be curious to know if anyone on here has ever lived off American welfare.

xpost--ha

king utah, Sunday, 3 July 2005 01:16 (nineteen years ago)

Heh nice xpost. Yeah you can more or less get by on aussie welfare, but the govt have been cracking down hard on it lately, making one go thru totally unhelpful hoops such as training a person doesnt usually need or want (how to use a pc, when you're an out of work programmer, is a bit insulting for eg). Also this "work for the dole" shit which is ridiculous.

I too have never ever met or even remotely known anyone who could live off inheritance money, but I assume they exist.

Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 3 July 2005 01:22 (nineteen years ago)

When I was growing up my family was on (american) welfare. My mom also had a part time job and was in school. It was a temporary situation. Living on welfare is utter shit as, despite what stence may think, there is a grat deal of shame felt by those who use food stamps. And a lot of landlords won't rent to section 8 (gov't subsidized) tenants. etc.

mouse (mouse), Sunday, 3 July 2005 01:25 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, it's just the unbelievable stigma here. I was shocked the first time I heard a European/Brit/Australian casually mention being on the dole. In the US it basically puts you in an "untouchable" class.

king utah, Sunday, 3 July 2005 01:38 (nineteen years ago)

In my experience, there's definitely a lot of trust-fundy people in NYC, but some people in this thread may be overstating things a little bit. There's a lot of genuinely middle class underemployed hipsters balancing things out with the slumming rich kids.

Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Sunday, 3 July 2005 01:50 (nineteen years ago)

Well, yeah, 50% may have been a touch hyperbolic.

mouse (mouse), Sunday, 3 July 2005 01:52 (nineteen years ago)

i have an ex-friend who fits this description. he's tried to go to school but is such a slacker / fuck-up / drunk / etc that all he does now is gamble online. never has had a dayjob to the best of my knowledge -- parents, who are lawyers, bail him out for everything.

you know, it really doesnt bother me because i know im middle-lower class, he's a middle-upper. plus, i work in uni development so i deal with ridiculously wealthy people on a daily basis. its just part of their life, all the lounging about and whatnot.

maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Sunday, 3 July 2005 01:59 (nineteen years ago)

also, my ex-friend never learned how to drive yet owned a car. he let all his friends borrow it and drive him everywhere.

maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Sunday, 3 July 2005 02:00 (nineteen years ago)

my father is living on ak a month from my grandmother it guts me in a way thats totally unsuitable

anthony easton (anthony), Sunday, 3 July 2005 03:36 (nineteen years ago)

Oh among many people there's a stigma to being on the dole here - but its a different one, I've a feeling. You'll hear right wing shockjocks and the like spit venom about "lazy dole bludgers" and such a lot, implying layabouts who never look for work and sit around all day drinking/on drugs/gambling. We dont have food stamps or anythign though - you get money, and you can get rent assistance and govt housing (tho the waiting lists are terrible).

Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 3 July 2005 07:10 (nineteen years ago)

if you're on welfare in the u.s., it pigeonholes you as a crack whore with a million screaming little brats tugging at your dress. there's no romance attached to it.

the underground homme (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 3 July 2005 07:20 (nineteen years ago)

Aye, the very phrase "welfare mom" is a horrible insult really, it is a shame.

Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 3 July 2005 07:33 (nineteen years ago)

I think the situation in the UK is pretty much as it is in Australia (or Trayce's take on it reflects my take on the UK situation, at any rate).

ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 3 July 2005 08:04 (nineteen years ago)

there's no romance attached to it.

Of course not, but no one makes you wear a sandwich board that says you use food stamps, either. "Welfare" in the US is not one thing, it's a system of (quickly crumbling) safeguards that help keep you off the street... um, hopefully. Food stamps are one of these. Food stamps are great. They make food suddenly extremely cheap.

There is a stigma, but it bugs me when people self-apply it. There's a stigma attached to being poor in general, but guess what? You are poor. Get real. Get some fucking food stamps. Don't choose to not take advantage of what your country is willing to offer you because you're afraid of what the woman in line behind you at the grocery store will think. That's just silly.

Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 3 July 2005 08:31 (nineteen years ago)

I guess I kinda know a person like this, but that is only because both her parents are dead. She is 22. I would not say she is 'one of the lucky ones'.

Ally C (Ally C), Sunday, 3 July 2005 11:54 (nineteen years ago)

i think it's funny there is a stigma attached to those that don't have to work. mr. perpetua stated how "there are genuine middle class hipsters" as opposed to "slumming rich", which is to say all those with money that he sees in williamsburg are slumming it? I know a few and they like the lifestyle there, and like their friends there and actually do a bunch of creative projects, trust fund or not I don't know anyone who literally just sits in cafes and watches TV all their life, most everyone who is wealthy and doesn't have to work 9-5 actually does something creative with their time and sometimes even that begins to pay. it's ridiculous to assume someone with a trust fund is obnoxious just as much as it is that someone on food stamps uses crack.

breezy, Sunday, 3 July 2005 13:17 (nineteen years ago)

Sigh. I know quite a few of these. I used to date/live with one of these. I even went through a phase of being one of these, but the trust fund ran out after a couple of years and I had to go and get a job again.

The problem with this lifestyle is that those who live it often don't actually *understand* that others don't and can't live it. Like the "artist" who had the time and the leisure to pursue his "muse" while derriding those who didn't have the time and/or the leisure left from working a real job in order to support themselves. That sort of thing pisses me off.

But generally the people I've known like this have been so spoiled and/or f*cked up that I don't envy their lifestyle.

MIS Information (kate), Monday, 4 July 2005 06:55 (nineteen years ago)

My cousin - who works for an MS charity - inherited property and cash from the deaths of her father, mother, great-aunt and grandmother (the latter two pushed her well into the 'millionaire' category). None of these people lived to see her 23rd birthday.

suzy (suzy), Monday, 4 July 2005 07:19 (nineteen years ago)

I envy them their leisure for creativity - a significant amount of our science, art and culture has been created by these types. I know a few and they are quite delightfully innocent about the whole deal. I find them interesting where I am boring - boring because I do boring work and have nothing to talk about and no time to stretch my personality.

moley, Monday, 4 July 2005 08:15 (nineteen years ago)

with the way welfare or other gov't assistance is perceived in the states, most people have a huge mental block about applying for anything even if they're in dire straits. some years back, at the suggestion of my mother, i applied for emergency food stamps. i ended up applying for welfare, as well, at the urging of the clerks. i didn't really want to go through all of that rigamarole, but i wasn't doing anything else that day and i got my free metrocards immediately if i started the process so i agreed. thus began my welfare week, which is way too long of a story to go into here. at the end of it all, i ended up with $200 in food stamps (or more accurately, a $200 credit on my ny state welfare id swipe card - yes, the kind on odb's album cover) and a lot of aggravation from medicaid. i don't remember what the point of posting this was, but i've spent so long typing it that i'm going to hit submit now anyway.

lauren (laurenp), Monday, 4 July 2005 10:51 (nineteen years ago)

Well, the way the American society works, it's all based on the Protestant Work Ethic and if you are poor and needy then clearly it is because YOU ARE A BAD PERSON AND DARNED TO HECK!!! While in Europe and especially the UK, if you're poor and needy it is clearly because of the class system so you are entitled to recompense from the ruling classes government.

MIS Information (kate), Monday, 4 July 2005 11:06 (nineteen years ago)

God I was on the dole for a year and a half!

Trayce (trayce), Monday, 4 July 2005 11:27 (nineteen years ago)

(and I dont mind admitting I barely bothered looking for work for much of that time. Fuck em. I pay my taxes like everyone else, its my money in a way).

Trayce (trayce), Monday, 4 July 2005 11:28 (nineteen years ago)

Also, moley makes a good point with regards to the creativity. I would dearly love the time and lack of financial constraints to write and learn and train myself in creative pursuits without having to worry about paying my rent and bills. Ah sigh.

Trayce (trayce), Monday, 4 July 2005 11:29 (nineteen years ago)

lucky australians. when i investigated in nyc, the basic amount a single person with no dependants got was $70 every two weeks plus food stamps and housing assistance (maybe $200/mo - when i told a clerk that my rent was $440 she said i'd need to find a cheaper place).

lauren (laurenp), Monday, 4 July 2005 12:33 (nineteen years ago)

My mom and I were on welfare when I was a kid. For her there was such a big stigma attached to it that she hid it from me and didn't talk to me about it until years later. In the early 80's being a single mom apparently made it much more difficult for her to find apartments for us in DC, and even with her full-time job, and working weekends, and getting help from relatives, she had to be on welfare to make ends meet. I know she viewed this as a personal failure--I don't think it was/is. (I do feel a stigma now, being a student at 27, mostly living on borrowed funds, and knowing that a career isn't waiting for me when I get my degree. I worry about getting lumped into this category of people who are adults and have no job. I have known a few through college--one whose parents died while she was a teenager, a couple others whose parents were very wealthy and who ended up mostly doing drugs, and my lifestyle is pretty far from what theirs was and probably is now.)

ess gee ess (sgs), Monday, 4 July 2005 13:01 (nineteen years ago)

I know a few and they like the lifestyle there, and like their friends there and actually do a bunch of creative projects

People are certainly entitled to their tastes, but I find it kinda icky when people glom on to a neighborhood scene because they like its cultural mythology. To me, it's just totally laughable when people who have a lot of money decide to live in certain neighborhoods under fairly atrocious living conditions for the sake of coolness or being part of some loosely-definined community. I think it lacks vision and creativity - surely you can be part of a community or be creative living on your own terms. Buying into a narrative that's already passed you by just seems narrow-minded and foolish to me, especially if they are paying big money to live in a place that gives the impression of poverty to the untrained eye.

Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Monday, 4 July 2005 13:45 (nineteen years ago)

who says just because someone likes a neighborhood it's because they are buying into some narrative? the people I know with $$$ don't live in dirt hole apts and try to look poor. how is a loft apt in williamsburg "atrocious living conditions"? I think wburg, LES, are so far from being any sort of artist community, that i think it's funny you are even talking like they still exist that way. they are just another neighborhood, but with younger people. you still get more space in brooklyn for your money. you argument is dated and totally off base. I think you are really judgemental and making huge generalizations. why? I"m not sure...

breezy, Monday, 4 July 2005 14:17 (nineteen years ago)

I knew a dude whose family was really wealthy and his parents died when he was an early teen. At the time I knew him (we were both around 19/20), he was getting $100K every January, and would soon be getting a big lump sum.
He worked because he was bored during the day. He was an okay guy, but he had this entourage that leeched off him and got him into coke and pretty much bled him dry by April.
I did see him try to buy new Jetta with cash once. That was hilarious. The guy at the dealership didn't want anything to do with us and threatened to call the cops.

Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 4 July 2005 14:25 (nineteen years ago)

To me, it's just totally laughable when people who have a lot of money decide to live in certain neighborhoods under fairly atrocious living conditions for the sake of coolness or being part of some loosely-definined community.

while i am not inside your brain, i think you're bothered by wealthy people masquerading as middle / lower class.

maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Monday, 4 July 2005 14:29 (nineteen years ago)

I was one of these people for a year. I miss it dearly.

Baaderonixx le Belge (Fabfunk), Monday, 4 July 2005 14:33 (nineteen years ago)

i cant find the section on the nytimes website abotu class, but its certainly linked to what we're talking about. who's read it? what you do you think?

maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Monday, 4 July 2005 14:46 (nineteen years ago)

i think people not having to work is Classic. in the ideal world nobody should have to work. every labour process is replaced by robots and we concentrate our lives on art and creativity. (or just turn into a society of hedonists)

ken c (ken c), Monday, 4 July 2005 14:50 (nineteen years ago)

while I agree, it's annoying when wealthy people fake poor and get righteous about it i don't see anything wrong with having money and NOT living opulent lifestyles, is it wrong for someone with money to not want to come across as having tons of money? is there anything wrong with a rich person trying to live frugally? i don't think so

breezy, Monday, 4 July 2005 15:10 (nineteen years ago)

Given scope for hostility, I'm staying anonymous on this, but I don't have to work, or certainly not a full time job. I do work, although it's no more than about 10-15 hours a week on average, mostly from home and when I feel like it.

I didn't inherit any money but I've made a reasonable amount of it. I'm not rich but have a large house, no mortgage to speak of, other property and investments. My wife is more career minded and very successful - she earns more than I do, although that didn't use to be the case. She doesn't care whether I work or not. I have skills and experience that enable me to earn more than I need. I can easily earn £150 an hour. I could do more, but provided I have around £100k a year I'd rather have the extra time than the extra money.

I have the occasional guilt pang that life is relatively easy for me, but I'm not unselfish enough that I would voluntarily give it up. I've done the full-time job thing, hated it, and barring calamity, won't do it again. Adults who have to work (as opposed to adults who want to) = dud.

I suspect I'm not the only Ilxer in this kind of position and that others are keeping their heads down (even more than I am).

notloggedin, Monday, 4 July 2005 15:44 (nineteen years ago)

I have no idea why anyone would be hostile toward you. I'd take advantage of that situation in a heartbeat. It certainly isn't hurting anybody. More power to ya.

Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Monday, 4 July 2005 16:23 (nineteen years ago)

"provided I have around £100k a year I'd rather have the extra time than the extra money"

wow.

STUNNED, Monday, 4 July 2005 18:30 (nineteen years ago)

If I was earning 100K a year I'd rather have extra time than extra money. Sadly this doesn't look like it's ever going to happen. Oh well.

RickyT (RickyT), Monday, 4 July 2005 20:52 (nineteen years ago)

most people i know who are in some kind of grad-school/law-school/low-paying-job situation depend to differing extents on their parents. sometimes the parents give them some kind of allowance, sometimes they pay for tuition, sometimes they just buy big stuff like computers, furniture, car insurance, etc. but scratch the surface and most people i know will (often reluctantly) acknowledge a fair amount of help they've gotten over the years. i've never been "supported" by my parents since graduate but they sure as hell have helped me to be able change situations without worrying about economic collapse. i'd probably still be stuck in the mediocre job i took after graduate if they hadn't helped me out when i've decided i wanted a change.

Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 4 July 2005 21:08 (nineteen years ago)

that said i don't know anyone who out and out does not have to work.

Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 4 July 2005 21:10 (nineteen years ago)

i don't really care if other people do or don't have to work. i wouldn't want to inflict the various dull jobs i've had on anyone just for spite.

of course the momuslike attitude whereby those who must work for a living have somehow compromised their claims of artistic authenticity is collosal dud.

Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 4 July 2005 21:12 (nineteen years ago)

p.s. one benefit of having a lover who doesn't have to work (much) is that there are more possibilities for scheduling time to be together!

Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 4 July 2005 21:13 (nineteen years ago)

I'd rather rich trust fund kids spent their cash on weird and interesting creative projects rather than pissing it all away on the good life like they do here in Sydney.

moley, Monday, 4 July 2005 21:18 (nineteen years ago)

100K pounds is over 200kAUD. I fucking wouldnt know how to spend that in FIVE years let alone one. My god.

Moley and kenc OTM. If people arent working because they're pursuing creative pursuits, the hurrah! They're often pretty skint anyway. And hell, who said writing a novel (for eg) isnt working? Its bloody hard work! But like Ken said, it is a fucking shame most of us have not only to work, but work full time, and hard, long hours in a job we dont like and often cant even do very well. Why the hell have we let society come to this? Once upon a time large companies survived by forcing kiddies to work 15 hours a day in factories. Now large corporations survive by expecting undertrained and underpaid employees to do the job of 2 or more people each, and work 15 hours a day.

Its bloody ricidulous and it has to change. I want it to change in my life, I really deeply do. If only I knew how.

Trayce (trayce), Monday, 4 July 2005 23:58 (nineteen years ago)

I also wanna know where all these six figure salaries at. Ive been working since I left school (16 years and counting, now, with only a couple of years break for study/unempoyment) and I now earn the most I ever have - 42kAUD. Its pathetic :(

Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 00:01 (nineteen years ago)

Look we can't ALL be successful ex-porn stars.

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 00:06 (nineteen years ago)

IT is shit.

New teef! Dat's weird (Autumn Almanac), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 00:31 (nineteen years ago)

Hahah, oh my, that was a nicely timed context xpost ;)

Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 00:39 (nineteen years ago)

Americans not taking advantage of welfare isn't simply a stigma situation, it's partially the people assume that they don't qualify for anything. My brother (steady, full-time employment since he was a teen, now making $40k+ USD a year, maybe more) was shocked to find out he qualified for Section 8 assistance when he was in his mid-20s. The assumption is just that American social services are near impossible to use unless you're near-death.

milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 00:39 (nineteen years ago)

My family was on food stamps when my parents divorced and my mom couldn't afford to care for 3 kids and rent, even with child support. I wasn't embarassed by it, but my sister was beat up every day after school for having 'fake' converses.

The problem with this lifestyle is that those who live it often don't actually *understand* that others don't and can't live it.
Yes. Also, like Amateurist was saying. I hate being made to feel that I'm a sellout becuase I have a job. I need money to pay for groceries and rent!

Sarah McLusky (coco), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 18:51 (nineteen years ago)

I know a few people who pretty much refuse to get jobs. At least two of them have college degrees but sit around playing online poker all day. I suppose that is 'working' in some sense, but I also suspect that they get the vast majority of the money that they live on from their parents.

Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 19:07 (nineteen years ago)

Well my best friend works, but his parents still pay all his credit card bills and his auto insurance. So that kind of fits. His cuntbag wife has her masters and refuses to work. f you bitch.

Lupton Pitman (Chris V), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 10:39 (nineteen years ago)

and as another person who has been working since 15, i don't envy these people at all. I slept in cars lots of times because I couldn't afford a place to stay when I was 18-20. Im amazed that im still best friends with T.

Lupton Pitman (Chris V), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 10:46 (nineteen years ago)

I suppose I do see some kind of fine line between people who have earned their fortune and retired on it, and people who have just inherited or otherwise been given their wealth.

Or is there? The problem is the attitude. The latter (in my experience) often seem to lack any kind of work ethic, or indeed, any ability to "see things through". This coupled with the entitlement issues, the inability to understand that others *do* have to concentrate on the mundane aspects of putting a roof over their head, because they've never really had to. Or misinterpreting *their* experiences of vanity jobs to keep them entertained as being representative with the entire phenomenon of dayjobs.

The former... (self made wealthy) ...I've had far less experience of. I would guess that they don't lack the ability to see things through. However, the few that I have known seem to have this smug attitude of "if I had the drive/determination/guts/talent/luck to do this, why can't the rest of you lazy bastards?" (Though this is based on a far more limited range than the trustafarians.)

I dunno. This is probably hypocrisy coming from me, as I've had periods of Not Having To Work for both reasons. I've had windfall contacts that landed me with enough money not to work for a year, and I had that trustfund that unfortunately ran out. My hope my personal attitude didn't change, but I tried to always remember what Working was like, and not to take my Lesiure for granted.

Two weeks into my Proper Job, and god, I miss that Leisure. :-(

None of this has made any sense, and I'm well aware of the hypocrisy of all of it.

MIS Information (kate), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 10:48 (nineteen years ago)

Who am I kidding? I wish I was one again! Curse my grandparents for putting my trust fund in the wrong currency!

MIS Information (kate), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 11:10 (nineteen years ago)


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