Quoted:
About 15 years ago I took a part time job for peanuts. I took it not for the money, but for chump change and something constructive to do.
The deal was that I would work for them while I was off. I was working a 3 weeks on/off schedule.
The first 3 went OK and about halfway through my second tour they started pressuring me to quit my regular job to work for them with a big to-do about how they needed a guy full time yada yada yada and what good, generous guys they were.
When I asked them if they could even come close to what I was making at my regular job he told me that NOBODY paid that kind of money. When I fished a pay stub out of my wallet he went agape.
Then he threatened to fire me. (Big deal.It meant little to me.)
So I walked out and then told the rest of the people I had met that the outfit I was working for was hiring and several employees applied, got hired and quit him.
When I took the job I was VERY up front about things and he seemed glad to have me. I finally figured out why.
He had selective hearing and heard what he wanted to and not what I said. He wanted to hear that I was willing to work full time for peanuts and quit a high paying job to do so after I had told him I was looking for part time work.
Because of my family and housing commitments, I'm having to juggle a careful balance between wage, hours, shift schedule, and commute distance / gas costs. If I have to drive too far, I don't break even. If I can't work around when my son goes to and gets out of school, I spend more on childcare than I make and I... don't break even. If I'm only getting 20 hours a week and there's not enough time for me to find a second part-time job, I don't break even.
Basically, I need something within 30 minutes drive that's paying at least $13 per hour.
Everything within 60 minutes of here is either part time minimum wage, requires certifications in skills I don't have, or is upper corporate.
I can't move, my wife has to stay within a 20-minute call-in distance of her job (our only family income at the moment).
I think I will burn things instead. Fire makes problems better.