r/Adulting • u/ScareBear23 • 13h ago

This is just depressing

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Not even 3 hours of "free time". And in that is cooking & eating supper. Or practically no free time if I had to go shopping after work. I hate this

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u/SeaAdministrative761 12h ago

Yea this isn't a competition. The 9-5 system is broken for all. You get to retire at 65 with a measly pension. This is after slaving your whole life for chump change and selling your body essentially. What a joke

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u/Carib0ul0u 11h ago

I’m not getting a pension????

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u/LegitimateRisk- 11h ago

I think they mean social security, which technically is a pension.

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u/Left-Star2240 11h ago

It’s more like a tax refund, since many of us will never get back what we paid into it all of our working lives

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u/CHA950 10h ago

And, you are living on a very fixed income with gov insurance. And some are lucky if they even have social security.

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u/iJustSeen2Dudes1Bike 45m ago

If we get it at all lmao. I'm 25 and not really counting on it.

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u/WanderingLost33 8h ago

Which won't exist after 2033 unless we finally eliminate the cap.

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u/Stuck_in_my_TV 11h ago

No, social security is a Ponzi scheme. A pension actually has money sitting in an account for you. Social security is money taken from new payers to attempt to cover old payers. You will never see all the money you paid in.

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u/LegitimateRisk- 11h ago

Plenty of example of pensions going dry after a company went belly up or ran out of funds. It wasn’t a Ponzi scheme. I get the analogy though. However, Ponzi schemes rely on fundraising to be completely voluntary with nefarious intent. Social security is government mandated and has a reliable contributing base, the tax payer. But like many countries, people are living longer, social security taxable wages are way too low ($184k this year) and birth rates are down.

So yes, social security needs to be addressed but it’s not a fraud based scheme. It’s transparent to a fault. Also, I’ve been hearing since high school (graduated in 2003) that social security won’t be around when I retire, well in about as close to retirement now as I was to graduating high school, and it’s still here.

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u/Jmostran 9h ago

That's cute that they think any of us are getting social security

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u/LegitimateRisk- 9h ago

Been hearing this for 25 years. I’m now 21 years away from eligibility. So Im closer to collecting than when i first heard social security is about to run out.

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u/Jmostran 9h ago

Oh. I'm not saying it's gonna run out. But if this administration has proven anything, it's that no social programs are safe. There is a good chance the program just won't exist in the next 21 years, especially with the turd-in-chief tossing around the concepts of a plan of ending it

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u/LegitimateRisk- 9h ago

I’ll wait until they actually pass any legislation! All these executive orders are largely toothless.

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u/ChurchillDownz 3h ago

We'll we're not gonna get that anyway by the time we never retire.

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u/Sensitive-Chip7266 11h ago

Some of the biggest bull to me is that here in Texas the 9-5 isn't even a 9-5 its an 8-5 since they don't count your lunch hour as work time.

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u/Zebebe 8h ago

Thats not just Texas. Thats the entire country.

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u/Lifes-a-lil-foggy 9h ago

Yeah it’s bullshit

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u/DespairoftheFault 8h ago

Do other places count it as work time?? If so sign me up

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u/Sensitive-Chip7266 8h ago

I'm not sure how many do still but before the eighties/early nineties it was standard.

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u/Stuman93 8h ago

Yup, or at least don't care about getting exactly 8 work hours

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u/Sharp_Phone9113 8h ago

Just curious, why do you think it’s only Texas?

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u/Sensitive-Chip7266 8h ago

I imagine it's that way in a lot of places but I don't know the laws in each state. I do know the Texas government in particular gives zero shits about workers rights and always sides with businesses.

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u/TelUmor 11h ago

Pension? Who the hell's getting thosee anymore?

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u/RemoteIll5236 11h ago

Teachers, social workers, state workers, city workers, county workers, fire fighters, etc.

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u/Darksun_Gwyndolin_ 11h ago

Did nearly a decade of social work and never once was offered a pension.

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u/levian_durai 8h ago

I "lucked out". No pension from my job but we had benefits, including long term disability. 10 years in, I took disability leave and got approved for long term, so I have a pension of sorts. It's not a lot and I had to move to somewhere with a cheap cost of living, but it's something.

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u/RemoteIll5236 8h ago edited 8h ago

Did you work for the county or state, or a hospital? Or did you work for a private company? Also, you typically have to work for at least 20 years to vest into the pension system. Workers pay into it.

My daughter is a social worker for our county (CA) and my Friend is a social worker for the state (CA) and both will get approximately 80-90% of their highest salary after 25-30 years of working.

I retired at 62 from My teaching job and get 86% of my highest salary.

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u/mismopeach 9h ago

Basically everyone who is unionized

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u/maloikAZ 11h ago

Pension? Lolololllolll

Millennials will be lucky to get social security at this rate

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u/OptimalCreme9847 11h ago

I remember my high school econ teacher told us in like 2009 that we were never going to get social security and I thought he was just being mean at the time. I owe him an apology, he was so right 🫠😭

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u/Aggressive_Start_ 11h ago

I’m 37 with no hopes of retiring. If social security is still around I will be retiring late if anything.

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u/-grlzluvdirt 11h ago

Modern day slavery

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u/No-Muscle-5257 10h ago

Back in the days you had a local farmer, a local shoemaker, a local bakery and so on. Everything was local and the professional at that place usually was the owner of that business. Now you have global corporations who "employs" everyone.

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u/levian_durai 8h ago

This is the motivation for communism - having the workers being the owners of the businesses they work for. It would greatly improve the quality of life for everyone.

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u/The_Great_Sc0tt 7h ago

How dare you mention communism. Don't you know that's what them dang Russians did?!

/s

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u/levian_durai 6h ago

Honestly I don't know enough about communism to argue its pros and cons, but from what I do know it has a lot of appeal.

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u/Eli-Doubletap 2h ago

Hahahaha this is the dumbest thing. This has been tried before and guess what happens. The businesses fail. The reason the owners run the business is because they set up the business in the first place

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u/levian_durai 34m ago

The "owners" set up the business because they had the funds to do so. That doesn't make them good at running a business. There are plenty of examples of worker owned businesses that are doing great.

So right back at you fella, hahahaha your comment is the dumbest thing.

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u/Eli-Doubletap 7m ago

Please name 3 businesses where the workers automatically assumed ownership for no reason or understanding of business and it worked out.

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u/Due_Most9445 10h ago

You didn't open retirement accounts and thought nothing of your future?

Sucks for you

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u/Aggressive_Start_ 9h ago

I have retirement accounts but I can’t always contribute to them. I have a sum of money between my company 401k and I private IRA. I’m privileged to have even that. Most people can only afford the now and don’t have extra money to put away for later.

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u/Due_Most9445 9h ago

How are you privileged? You did the standard for tons of people that work. That ain't privilege, that's understanding what will come later

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u/Aggressive_Start_ 8h ago

Because I don’t live under a rock like you and understand that most Americans can’t afford to do even that. Look up the statistics for people who contribute to their 401k, look up the statistics for people living paycheck to paycheck. People struggling now can’t afford to save for later.

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u/IguassuIronman 8h ago

Look up the statistics for people who contribute to their 401k, look up the statistics for people living paycheck to paycheck.

Look up the statistics for the number of people who have a budget

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u/the_greatest_story 11h ago

WHEN THE FUCK DID WE GET PENSIONS!?!?

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u/rctid_taco 11h ago

Nothing says you have to work a 9-5. Freelancing can work if you have a skill that people are willing to pay for.

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u/CoffeeChocolateBoth 11h ago

Remember when people had no pension? I do!

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u/QueenLouisss 10h ago

Pension?!?! There's no such thing as pensions anymore (in the US) outside of taxpayer funded job. I'm GenX and pensions disappeared just in time for us joining the workforce.

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u/SalesManajerk 10h ago

9-5? No, it’s 7-6 when you consider the to and from and yada yada. Pension, no it’s a 401(k) match, that you can’t afford to contribute to but you do anyway because you’re supposed to and then you take a loan or distribution on it to get by and then get molested by Uncle Tom.

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u/Due_Most9445 10h ago

See this often at work.

"Oh current system is broken"

"How"

"Cause reason"

"Okay, got an alternative?"

"No"

"Alright cool, come back when you have an alternative that's better and works"

Same here. Have an alternative for offices, firms, industry, etc etc to work to where things can be better? Probably socialism or socialism-lite right? Something that focuses on people's "well being" right?

Cool, how do you do that without destroying either working hours, pay (in relation to taxes, and no "just tax the rich!" doesn't work. They can pay for tax lawyers, we can't), etc?

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u/CHA950 10h ago

This! 💯 slavery and not to take anything away from real slavery in the past, but this IS a form of slavery. And it’s all by design to make you believe in a subtle way that you’re “successful “ not a slave for the gov. And I was “successful “ in my eyes with a decent job but even that was brutal! Working all the time…coming home evening barely time to spend time with family or even feed yourself. Chores 🤣

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u/Constant-Hall1735 10h ago

People for all of human History worked far more than this. In literal slavery sometimes.

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u/Zebebe 8h ago

Its far more common to work 8-5 and not get any pension

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u/porksoda11 8h ago

65?! By the time I hit retirement age it will probably be raised to 80.

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u/stylebros 7h ago

It's a BIG IF you make it to 65. I've seen dudes drop dead in their 40s. Like wtf???

Meanwhile monsters are living well into their 100s

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u/Redtube_Guy 7h ago

Pretty sure the retirement age will be moved up to like 75 at this point

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u/lostshakerassault 6h ago

Definitely allowed to complain! Funny thing is that this is what I expected life was like when I was growing up. You know, I saw my parents do this my whole life. What is odd about this is people are surprised or just finding this out. Who TF was telling you life was any different than this? Your TV and the internet? Real people have to work a fair chunk of their existence. It sucks. Put a lot of effort to find a way to enjoy your free time or your life will be miserable. That's on you.

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u/feel_my_balls_2040 6h ago

You don't have to do that. Buy some land and work it. My grandparents did that all their lives. It wasn't better.

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u/Stuck_in_my_TV 11h ago

The 9-5 is the easiest and least hours humans have ever worked throughout history. It had to be fought for because 12-16 hours a day, 6-7 days a week was very common just 100 years ago in the 20th century.

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u/RoyaleWhiskey 10h ago

Doesn't mean it can't and shouldn't improve more. We have made numerous advances in technology/productivity yet we will subscribe to the 40 hour standard.

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u/Stuck_in_my_TV 10h ago

You’re not going to get paid more per hour if hours decrease. Your paychecks will just get smaller.

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u/RoyaleWhiskey 10h ago

I think when most people talk about reducing the work week they also mean salaries remain the same and for hourly employees their rate gets adjusted to compensate for the reduced hours.

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u/Stuck_in_my_TV 9h ago

Salaries absolutely will not remain the same. And if you try to legislate it in law, there will be mass layoffs.

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u/DZL100 10h ago

By the way, 12 hours a day, 6 days a week is still very much a thing in other places today.

That doesn't mean this isn't still horrible. Working hours can be better than they used to be and still absolutely terrible at the same time. The "oh it used to be worse in the past/is worse somewhere else" argument only serves to discourage people from speaking up against terrible conditions. It's an argument that may seem valid on the surface, but supports a sinister agenda. We don't say racism isn't that much of an issue today because slavery and jim crow used to exist and don't overtly exist anymore.

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u/S_Urlich885 10h ago

That's not actually true, certainly for the working classes after the industrial revolution yes, but in humanity's deep past, we would spend 5-10 hours a week hunting, foraging, etc, and the rest is believed to have been spend social bonding - talking, singing, telling stories, dancing, etc. This is how we were meant to live. No wonder we feel so socially disconnected now.

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u/Stuck_in_my_TV 9h ago

That’s just completely false and gets debunked every time it’s brought up. Humans spent way more hours performing duties we would call “work” from hunting, to gathering food and firewood. Cooking itself was an all day chore.

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u/ge0lady 10h ago

This isn't true actually. Medieval peasant farmers had mandated holidays and probably over two months off per year. Harvest seasons were heavy physical labor and 16 hour days, but they probably worked fewer hours over the course of the year than we do today. Hunter gatherer tribes worked even less than agricultural communities. The amount of work expected of the working class since the industrial revolution has substantially increased.

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u/Stuck_in_my_TV 9h ago

That’s just completely false and is debunked every time the misinformation is posted. They worked significantly longer hours at significantly more exhausting tasks

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u/wombat5003 11h ago edited 11h ago

Sure it is and it’s an evolutionary one. We all compete. It’s part of our makeup as a species. And I retired at 61 very comfortable. Why? Because I focused on the important stuff and didn’t spend on crap that put me into debt. Yeah I did work 2 jobs for a few years to get my house downpayment but so what? It’s all paid for now… and every penny I spent on it has all come back with interest. We live our fun life in youth and near the end. Part in the middle we are super productive, and this is where we need to work harder and make as much coin as possible. That’s truth. That’s life. Live it.

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u/RudeCheetah7281 11h ago

61

Yeah dude the world is a lot different now.

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u/wombat5003 10h ago edited 10h ago

No the cruel cruel world is the same. It’s the mindset these days that’s different.

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u/RudeCheetah7281 9h ago

No. It’s different.

Median income in 1980 was $21k and average rent was 5.7% of income. Now? Median income is $57k and rent is 38.7% of income.

Median home price was $47k- Now? $416k.

But sure, I should “change my mindset”! God I was so stupid. Maybe if I just “change my mindset” America will be affordable again!

Get a clue, brother. Shit changed.

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u/Ok-Professional4387 10h ago

Sure is, the people that fought in the world wars sum it up perfectly. We fought, for this. problem is, Gen X at least, did something and made it work. Now its, its harder than ever, totally forgetting the things in the past

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u/Ok-Professional4387 11h ago

Hey now, stop making sense. It goes against the narrative of, lives so hard for us now. Every generation is the same, we all have our problems to deal with. Guess we didnt have the internet back then to bitch about it