u/blackHOLEofalife

I finally left my minimum wage retail job as of yesterday. I've gotten so tired of making $18/hour in 2026 in a goddamned vhcol area after finishing my cs degree. I made $18/hour in 2019, before college (close to $30/hour in 2026 dollars in terms of purchasing power). I'm free, finally. No savings or anything. I had to pay off like 30k in student loans making $18/hour.

I have been making less than 66% of what I made as an 18 year old in terms of purchasing power 7 years later, after graduating college and everything. I was horrified at the realization. That's why I quit.

The Despair I felt from this is what creates criminals, what causes the end of lives... this Despair is causing 10x the level of Deaths to Despair compared to the Great Depression. *That*, my friends, is the true state of this country.

Many econometrics are approaching or have reached 2008 recession levels. Some, are approaching Great Depression levels. it's game over for our economy. And there is no epilogue, nor a respawn button.

I'm now unemployed. I'm a NINJA. No Income, no Job, no Assets. I'm the dark of the night. The Despair that haunts humanity, that will end our society as it stands. The second biggest mistake of my life was going to college.

If I was kicked out at 18, I'd have become a homeless criminal and/or a drug addict by 19. I cannot afford rent, so given that, it's financially irresponsible to exist. This is the end of my career, or lack thereof.

I can't even get a gosh darned sales role that pays $25/hour. What a dream that'd be, over a 33% pay bump from what I've made this year... only to still make less than what I made when I was 18.

I have no money for another round of schooling, nor any real work experience. Just swe internships... and retail. I can't pivot with that. So what do I do?

I finally left my minimum wage retail job as of yesterday. I've gotten so tired of making $18/hour in 2026 in a goddamned vhcol area after finishing my cs degree. I made $18/hour in 2019, before college (close to $30/hour in 2026 dollars in terms of purchasing power). I'm free, finally. No savings or anything. I had to pay off like 30k in student loans making $18/hour.

I have been making less than 66% of what I made as an 18 year old in terms of purchasing power 7 years later, after graduating college and everything. I was horrified at the realization. That's why I quit.

The Despair I felt from this is what creates criminals, what causes the end of lives... this Despair is causing 10x the level of Deaths to Despair compared to the Great Depression. *That*, my friends, is the true state of this country.

I'm now unemployed. I'm a NINJA. No Income, no Job, no Assets. I'm the dark of the night. The Despair that haunts humanity, that will end our society as it stands.

If I was kicked out at 18, I'd have become a homeless criminal and/or a drug addict by 19. I cannot afford rent, so given that, it's financially irresponsible to exist. This is the end of my career, or lack thereof.

I can't even get a gosh darned sales role that pays $25/hour. What a dream that'd be, over a 33% pay bump from what I've made this year... only to still make less than what I made when I was 18.

I have no money for another round of schooling, nor any real work experience. Just swe internships... and retail. I can't pivot with that. So what do I do?

I made $18/hour in 2019, at a menial warehouse job. 7 years later after finishing a CS bachelor's, doing internships projects and all I'm stuck making $18/hour in a retail job.

I'd need to be making $27/hour to keep up with the inflation of cost of living right now. Maybe $30. God forbid I had to pay for gas with this job...

Meaning, I was effectively making the equivalent of 55-60k in today's dollars when I was 18. And I make 40k in today's dollars. This job has given me "raises" that don't even match inflation, too.

Not much more I can do. More schooling? Rofl. I make $18/hour in the big 2026. The level of DESPAIR I felt having to pay off my student loans from a retail job... it's no wonder deaths to despair have increased exponentially starting at the turn of this century

Wow, oh wow. Making about the same nominal dogshit wage. Jesus Christ. It never occurred to me until now.

Making me consider becoming a vigilante and/or a criminal tbh

I've been making minimum wage in a dead end retail role for a while after finishing my cs degree. vhcol area. Haven't had any interviews for anything else. Hell, I did internships, projects, the full course. Didn't work out.

I'm making the same wage, nominally, that I made back in 2019 before college. What year is it right now? It's 2026. We've had close to 30% official inflation. I, frankly, see it as double that.

I've been at this role for two years now, and each year the annual "raise" it gives me is less than inflation. This sums up the real state of the UCA (United Corporations of America) for the last 50-60 years btw. I'm making less as a college graduate 25 year old than I was as an 18 year old straight out of high school. Likely 50% less.

What year is it again? 1990? 2000, even 2010? No, no, no. It's 2026. I had to pay off the tens of thousands of student loans from my computer science degree with minimum wage. I'd already be a homeless beggar panhandling for nickels and dimes out on the curb with this lackluster pay, and this job in a vhcol area btw. But paying off student loans? Can you fathom the DESPAIR one feels from that?

So, yeah. I'm considering becoming a criminal. Prison will provide more than I can for myself.

Not sure what to do now. I'm in a vhcol area. It's a dead end role with no growth. I don't get interviews for anything else. Despite having had internship experiences, projects and a good gpa and everything.

I don't deserve to be alive tbh. I don't have the money for another education either. $18/hour. What year is it? 1990? 2000? Even 2010? No, no, it's 2026.

I feel invisible, I don't feel like a human being.

If I had to support myself on the income I make from working full time right now, 2000 and some change a month. In a vhcol area making $18/hour I'd have popped like a balloon. I'd have to "tighten my belt" so much I'd snap in half like a twig.

I put in so much effort in getting a cs degree, building experience with internships, building proof of outside work with projects. Only to have to pay off my loans being funemployed in dead end retail. I can't even afford rent. I've been stagnant for a long time. I ended my career before it began a long time back.

I don't deserve to be alive. I should just quit this job. Fuck it. I should just drop out of the labor force tbh. I won't be counted as unemployed.

This wasn't at all the life I expected to have after putting in so much to build a life. Instead I was spawnkilled. I'm sorry I was born late, I guess. Society doesn't want the next generation to be employed anymore.

I'm a loser. There's not much more effort I can make. Another programming project will be worthless, and the only other lever I'd have to pull would be work experience. Which UNFORTUNATELY, I need a job for. So much for the "land of opportunity." I can't pivot without getting another degree either.

I feel invisible, I don't feel like a human being.

If I had to support myself on the income I make from working full time right now, 2000 and some change a month. In a vhcol area making $18/hour I'd have popped like a balloon. I'd have to "tighten my belt" so much I'd snap in half like a twig.

I put in so much effort in getting a cs degree, building experience with internships, building proof of outside work with projects. Only to have to pay off my loans being funemployed in dead end retail. I can't even afford rent. I've been stagnant for a long time. I've committed career suicide a long time back.

I don't deserve to be alive. I should just quit this job. Fuck it. I should just drop out of the labor force tbh. I won't be counted as unemployed.

This wasn't at all the life I expected to have after putting in so much to build a life. Instead I was spawnkilled. I'm sorry I was born late, I guess. Society doesn't want the next generation to be employed anymore.

I'm a loser. There's not much more effort I can make. Another programming project will be worthless, and the only other lever I'd have to pull would be work experience. Which UNFORTUNATELY, I need a job for. So much for the "land of opportunity."

I'd have to "tighten my belt" so much only taking home 2k a month at a dead end job. I put in so much effort in getting a cs degree, building experience with internships, building proof of outside work with projects. Only to be stuck in retail. Having to pay off my loans making $18/hour. I can't even afford rent.

I don't deserve to be alive. I should just quit this job. Fuck it. I should just drop out of the labor force tbh. I won't be counted as unemployed.

This wasn't at all the life I expected to have after putting in so much to build a life. Instead I was spawnkilled. I'm sorry I was born late, I guess. Society doesn't want the next generation to be employed anymore

I'm working a dead end retail job for basically the minimum wage, in nyc for a while after college. It's not really worth it. I can't get a better job. So, should I just be unemployed? Might as well withhold my labor in protest of the economy. Laboring here won't lead anywhere. Don't worry, I'm sure you six figure earners will be fine without the armada of slaves running around that you rely on.

I literally can't enter any field. And I can't support myself off this job.

There's no next step to work harder towards. So... I might as well become a fat slob doom scrolling 24/7. if not that, I was thinking about becoming yet another vigilante to join the army we've been creating due to systemic collapse

I'm working a dead end retail job for basically the minimum wage, in nyc for a while after college. It's not really worth it. I can't get a better job. So, should I just be unemployed? Might as well withhold my labor in protest of the economy. Laboring here won't lead anywhere. Don't worry, I'm sure you six figure earners will be fine without the armada of slaves running around that you rely on.

I literally can't enter any field. And I can't support myself off this job.

There's no next step to work harder towards. So... I might as well become a fat slob doom scrolling 24/7. if not that, I was thinking about becoming yet another vigilante to join the army we've been cresting due to systemic collapse

Working full time I make roughly 2 grand and some change after taxes get taken out. No 401k, no health insurance from that income.

The government's monthly "thrifty" food budget is roughly $300 a month for a single adult, which is over 12% of the take home.

Rent.... literally cannot find anything under $1500 for shitboxes, and for *that* I'd need to be making 50% more than what I make now to qualify for the 40x income to rent rule.

Even if the landlord would be lenient and I *found* a place like that, rent+food is already over 75% of the take home. Now if I needed a car, which is necessary in quite literally 99% of the country, a bare minimum monthly budget for that would be $400 if you include gas, insurance, maintainance, and a car payment. I'd push it up to $600 tbh.

So in totality, rent+food+car would take up over 100% of my take home. And that's if I'm able to *find* prices these low, that my rent would never increase, that the car wouldn't break down, that I wouldn't have an accident or unexpected emergency. No savings, at all.

Tack on the student loans I had to take on to pay to get a CS degree.... and you'd be seeing me homeless panhandling for nickels out on the curb in front of the corner deli next to a bus stop with a cardboard sign saying "ANYTHING HELPS, THANK YOU."

I wouldn't even work this job under that circumstance. Not worth it. This fuckass retail job isn't leading anywhere, it's not worth "grinding" and it's not providing any experience. And I can't get a better job tbh.

When a person is presented with two paths that lead to the same end result of despair, except one is more thorny than the other, the choice is clear. Our economy doesn't work for the common person anymore.

And what may be the solution to this? "You should've worked harder to have been born earlier bro"

I had a six year plan when I was 18. Go to college, build skills with projects, build experience with internships. To become a viable entry level candidate. To make 60k by 24 years old, and move out to create a life of my own after and start a career.

Well. Here I am at 25. I did everything up until getting an entry level role, where I get zero interviews for jack shit. Making less than 40k, in a vhcol city at that. With no career prospects. Still living with my parents. Making a homeless beggar wage.

My heart's only becoming more and more leaden with despair. I see no reason to restart that process. It won't work out. I don't know why I should keep living. There's no joy to be had in life. There's no reason to keep existing.

I'm a disappointment to my parents. They did so much so I could go to college, and it ended up being a waste of time. I'm a grown ass able bodied adult that can't provide for himself. I don't know. I'm considering freeing them of the burden that is my existence and just... leaving.

If anyone attempts to egg me on to "go back to school!!!!" I won't be responding.

I had a six year plan when I was 18. Go to college, build skills with projects, build experience with internships. To become a viable entry level candidate. To make 60k by 24 years old, and move out to create a life of my own after and start a career.

Well. Here I am at 25. I did everything up until getting an entry level role, where I get zero interviews for jack shit. Making less than 40k, in a vhcol city at that. With no career prospects. Still living with my parents. Making a homeless beggar wage.

My heart's only becoming more and more leaden with despair. I see no reason to restart that process. It won't work out. I don't know why I should keep living. There's no joy to be had in life. There's no reason to keep existing.

I'm a disappointment to my parents. They did so much so I could go to college, and it ended up being a waste of time. I'm a grown ass able bodied adult that can't provide for himself. I don't know. I'm considering freeing them of the burden that is my existence and just... leaving

I had a six year plan when I was 18. Go to college, build skills with projects, build experience with internships. To become a viable entry level candidate. To make 60k by 24 years old, and move out to create a life of my own after and start a career.

Well. Here I am at 25. I did everything up until getting an entry level role, where I get zero interviews for jack shit. Making less than 40k, in a vhcol city at that. With no career prospects. Still living with my parents. Making a homeless beggar wage.

My heart's only becoming more and more leaden with despair. I see no reason to restart that process. It won't work out. I don't know why I should keep living. There's no joy to be had in life. There's no reason to keep existing.

I'm a disappointment to my parents. They did so much so I could go to college, and it ended up being a waste of time. I'm a grown ass able bodied adult that can't provide for himself. I don't know. I'm considering freeing them of the burden that is my existence and just... leaving

I'm hoping to make 50k+. I have a cs degree, swe internships, customer service and sales experience. Open to anything entry level. Stuck in a dead end $18/hour retail job right now. I'd appreciate some leads if anyone knows of anything

I got a degree, did internships/projects.... only to be stuck in retail making $18/hour in a vhcol city in 2026.

Is there anything I can enter outside of tech using the degree? Or am I just shit out of luck, and thus, should I just end this?

$600 take home a week. For working full time. For a dead end job.

I'm considering quitting. And just... being an unemployed. I am now. I can't get an actual adult job.

But here I am making less than $20 years after college graduation in 2026, over a decade since I first thought that.

I feel like I'm suffering heart problems. I don't know. I'm dying inside. I don't know how much longer I can handle the despair of being underemployed years after college. I don't know how much longer I can stay alive for