My Husband Works Two Jobs!

Rochelle
"I don't have to take this. My husband works two jobs!"

Many Americans are going through hard times right now. For some people, it is through no fault of their own, but for some people, they are the architects of their own misfortune.

We fall down, but we get up, and even though many economists are saying this is the new "normal" that we all will have to get used to, some people have decided to stay down by focusing on "the way we were" which is now nothing more than misty water colored memories.

I will share an experience I recently had that speaks to this. There's a lady I know who works in administrative capacity in a local government office. She is usually extremely nice, so one day we were discussing the down economy and I mentioned a part time job opportunity to her where she could make significant money working some weekends.

I was surprised by this usually soft spoken woman's sharp witted response which was remarkably similar to the smart mouthed, always yelling Rochelle character in the TV series Everybody Hates Chris, who often yells, "I don't have to take this. My husband's got two jobs" and quits at the slightest provocation at any job.

I was surprised at her rude "My husband works two jobs, I don't need to work" response. I felt a "no thanks" response would've been sufficient. Her tone of voice and choice of words were totally not called for. Anyway, I went on with my life and she went on with hers.

Soon after that her husband was in accident that put him in the hospital and later on long term disability for an extremely long time. After that he tried to return to his old career, but his post accident body could no longer handle the job duties. So he took some time to evaluate his life and now he's now back in school receiving training for another career.

Through all this time, the lady has been through so much severe financial hardship to the point that she can't afford to maintain her vehicle which normally gets her to work in less than 30 minutes. Now she has to ride three different types of public transportation lasting two hours each way to work daily.

If she had considered what I had said and just worked one weekend day a week, she would not be in this position. As the saying goes, pride goes before a fall. Her response was based on bride. I don't even know what made me suggest the opportunity to her, because I don't normally do that. Maybe God knew what was coming down the line and wanted to prepare her financially, but she chose to refuse the offer. With companies laying people off all over the place, Americans must realize that if you can help it, the one paycheck model isn't a reliable one anymore.

These are trying times. People who are homeless these days are no more the "type" that used to be homeless before. Now anyone can be homeless thanks to a job loss or illness. Like noted author and radio personality, Audrey Chapman said on one occasion, "A sistah must have several gigs going at the same time to survive."

This is a lesson I hope someone learns from...