Notices by Melancholic Mediocrity :v_bi: (libertyforward1@beige.party), page 2

"..and when I'm elected, we will *outlaw* the classification of 'raisins' being considered a 'snack' in any way, shape or form.."

Good news and bad news:

Good news is, WE GOT APPROVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bad news is, we need $1250 in the next 24hrs if we want to get $750 knocked off the total move-in cost.

I should have planned this better.

The silver lining is, suprisingly they're not requiring a full month's rent for the deposit.

EDIT: Per wise advisement, I'm including donation links below. Thank you everyone!

Venmo: https://venmo.com/thegizmotwins
Cashapp: https://cash.app/$thegizmotwins
PP: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/gizmo1982

Hello Everyone,

I'm sorry, but it's already time for another #begpost. We've been safely housed this week thanks to the incredible generosity of our friends here on the #Fediverse. What little wages I was able to earn from my shifts earlier this week went to the monthly storage unit bill to avoid a hefty late fee.

Consequently, we've exhausted our grocery supplies and my "E" (low fuel) light is on in my car.

While we're somewhat content where we're currently staying, it is a 40-mile round-trip commute and we were a little dismayed to learn that this motel's policy is no more than 30 days in any given room before we have to change so that it can be "deep cleaned".

I don't feel the policy is unreasonable given the demographics for a low-budget motel, but the thought of having to switch rooms every few weeks is exhausting to even consider. Dragging our microwave and mini-fridge (which I don't know with complete certainty whether we're technically *allowed* to have said items) and our stuff over and over is not the most appealing.

If we don't stay here, our only other options (besides living in our car) are an extended-stay type hotel that in multiple google maps reviews was referred to as a "trap house", or an apartment complex which I'm afraid could potentially be referred to as the same.

We were disappointed last month when we tried and spectacularly failed to secure an apartment at a complex we'd fell in love with, and have been sort of floundering on that front since.

But I think we've both had our fill of motel/hotel life, and it's time to settle down again. We don't want to rent a room in anyone's home, at least not for a very long time, after our past couple of experiences with that.

So, I'm leaning towards the semi-sketchy apartment complex, if they even have any rooms available now. I can't say I'm very optimistic about living there being a pleasant experience, but we're worn out. We're tired of nearly all our belongings being locked away in a storage unit halfway across the valley.

Like everywhere else, there's an application fee for both of us. We may have to be creative at addressing the rental history problem. Both our credit scores are atrocious but my gut instinct is that this complex won't be as concerned about that.

It might save us a tiny bit of money monthly, but the downside is we can't just pay the rent daily or weekly. We'll likely have to fundraise an entire month's rent before we can get moved in, plus any deposits (the specifics of which I can't recall at this moment).

And, with hours at work being the way they have been and seem likely to continue for the immediate future, I don't know how easy it's going to be to keep ahead of that monthly rent bill.

I don't know whether we'll actually be able to pull this off. I don't know if we're "jumping out the frying pan and into the fire". But I do know we're pretty burned out and I'm not sure what else to do.

In summary: we need funds for food, gas, application fees to what will likely be a dirty, musty "ghetto" apartment, so that at least we can resume having a semi-permanent address.

As always, thank you all in advance for your help and support.

If you're willing AND able, please boost and if possible donate. If you can't donate, *do NOT feel guilty* for being in the same boat as us. Your feelings about it are valid but rest assured you needn't feel bad.

Venmo: https://venmo.com/thegizmotwins
Cashapp: https://cash.app/$thegizmotwins
PP: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/gizmo1982
GFM: https://gofund.me/12171be3

#MutualAid #MentalIllness #Poverty @mutualaid

You know, I have to use a crosswalk at my place of employment dozens of times per day where people often speed carelessly and recklessly, sailing right by signs that say "Slow - Pedestrian Crossing". But no matter what I do, the inconsiderate bastards still haven't hit me yet

For a few days this week, I felt alive.

My daily pay advances were suddenly much larger than they usually are. I'm such a fucking idiot, I allowed myself to believe that they must've promoted me to Team Lead on the payroll side before they had officially declared me the new TL, maybe as a suprise or a fluke or something.

Nope.

Of course not.

A 44 year old man should know better.

For two or three days, I felt like a human being again for the first time in.. I really don't know how long. I was able to actually place the grocery order that my partner had prepared, without culling it down to pop-tarts and sandwiches. I was able to pay for our storage unit. I was able to fill up the gas tank in our car, all without having to beg for donations to survive. I was able to pay for the motel room without needing to pray we had enough to cover the additional hold fees for the visa charge.

For those couple of days, I felt like I was actually getting paid what I was worth. It's also amazing how much more pleasant work can be when you seem to be getting paid enough to stay independently fed and housed.

I hadn't realized the crushing stress of trying to survive on $16/hr. It isn't enough for one person to live on, let alone two. I'd become inured to the fear of not knowing if I could raise enough money to keep us housed.

Turns out they bumped the minimum pay rate at my location by fifty cents, and since I've been here for more than two years I got a one-time "fuck you, the teenagers are now making as much as you" wage compression bonus. It's the one time in almost three years I've seen them make income other than hourly wages available through the pay advance.

I also got a thirty-two cent raise, which taking inflation into account means another penny or so of actual income increase.

Fortunately I somehow managed to resist going on a spending spree, and for good reason; since I had received advances that totaled more than my actual wages, they clawed back the pay for my entire shift on Wednesday. I spent my day off yesterday fuming because it felt like I had just worked an awful, miserable shift for *free*. I'll be lucky if I get anything for today's shift either.

I calculated what my pay would've been if those pay advances had been wage income, and it equated to roughly $22 per hour - approximately six dollars more per hour than my current pay rate.

Our Team Leads don't even make quite that much.

That's all it would take for me to not spend the vast majority of my waking hours being irritated that I continue to wake up alive and breathing every morning.

Six fucking dollars per hour.

Amidst all of this, Wednesday night I was struck by an epiphany as I dove head-first into an emotional meltdown over being given contradictory instructions; I was overwhelmed with the realization that they will never *ever* let me be TL, because a) I can't handle criticism b) I can't handle conflicting or contradictory instructions, and c) I wilt in a crisis.

Team Leads here might potentially be responsible for the safety of an entire store full of employees and customers, all for less than $22/hr.

That's what it feels like I *should* be getting paid in my current position *now*. I shouldn't have to make potentially life or death decisions regarding dozens of people for a piddly $5/hr raise.

Regardless of all of this, I realized I've reached my limit for surviving on starvation wages. I've had a taste of life without being on the edge of homelessness. I'm not doing it anymore.

One way or another, I am not going back to that. I'm tired of going hungry on my lunch breaks. I'm tired of relying on charity to survive. I'm tired of seeing our dog age prematurely because we can't afford to get him vaccinated so that we can take him to places to exercise him. I'm tired of this goddamned fucking sore the size of a pencil eraser on my tongue because of another cracked tooth constantly rubbing it.

All of these things seem like such luxuries, and compared to billions of people they truly *are* luxuries. I know I should just be grateful for living in suburbia instead of war-torn wastelands.

But for fucking fuck's sakes, I just want to have enough money to eat and live.

One way or another I am done with all of this.

Except there *is* no other way. I am quite possibly in the best possible employment situation I will ever be able to obtain. I'm a middle-aged man with no skills. It's only downhill from here.

This isn't an acceptable quality of life for me. It isn't worth it.

Anyone know if Kevorkian is still alive? No? *sigh* I wonder if there's any sort of advance sign-up for Kilmeade's homeless reduction program.

Six dollars an hour more is all the additional wages I would need to feel like a functional human being.

Fml.

Yikes. Guess my partner and I made it out just in time:

"I stayed for four nights without hot water. Management did not want to talk to me and left it to the person at the front desk to tell me that there would be "no reimbursements for any of the guests".

https://maps.app.goo.gl/joNjTqqg7SXrw14p7

I think our review of this former-paradise-turned-shithole has been shadowbanned from Google Maps; if anyone has a minute to give this guy an upvote so others might see be more likely to see it please do so.

Hello Everyone.

If I were single and by myself, I wouldn't even be bothering to panhandle anymore. Believe it or not, being an "online grifter" isn't as glorious as they make it out to be. Typing this #begpost today, especially after everything that's happened in the past few weeks, makes my skin crawl.

The guilt is sometimes overwhelming, but the worst part is noticing the drop in interaction I'm getting from *anything* I'm posting as people finally get fed up and mute me.

If I were by myself, I would've given up by now and resigned myself to living in my car.

But I'm not alone.

I have a fragile partner struggling valiantly to survive despite his #CPSTD and a suite of other #MentalIllness symptoms that makes him very vulnerable. And we have a severely co-dependent, overweight Border Collie (who likely also has PTSD). They are extraordinarily bonded and it would devastate my partner to get rid of him.

Regrettably, I only make $16 per hour currently which isn't a livable wage in our area anymore. I'm too unstable and uneducated to expect or to qualify for anything better.

So I must summon all the effort I have within me despite the crushing guilt of burning up everyone else's funds, and beg for even more.

Please forgive me everyone, but for the thousandth time I must plead for #MutualAid support. I've backed us into a corner and we're out of groceries, and the icing on this shit cake is I have two days off in a row tomorrow and Tuesday and no way to pay for it.

The funds from the $350 money order for the apartment application that was laughably denied will be tied up for at least another week (at least I think that's what the woman at the counter said).

We're currently in the cheapest accommodations we could find that wasn't frequently referred to as a "trap house" in the online reviews. (Again, if I were alone I would probably just join them but I don't think it's the most ideal place for my partner and his crippling CPSTD). The room does hover around 80 degrees (~26 celsius) 24/7, and it's roughly a 40-mile round-trip commute but it's relatively clean and safe. If we pay weekly, it isn't substantially more than we would've been paying the for the apartment we wanted anyway.

Unfortunately we're out of groceries again. We used most of a grocery gift card we were given to buy a decent supply of dog food for the next week or two, and now my partner and I are tired and hangry.

We don't have the spoons right now to jump through all the hurdles of public assistance and charity, so I must once again plead with strangers on the internet for help.

I'm sorry everyone. I wish I could get my shit together.

If you're willing AND able, please boost and if possible donate. If you can't donate, *do NOT feel guilty* for being in the same boat as us. Your feelings about it are valid but rest assured you needn't feel bad.

Venmo: https://venmo.com/thegizmotwins
Cashapp: https://cash.app/$thegizmotwins
PP: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/gizmo1982
GFM: https://gofund.me/12171be3

Shameless self-promotion: Reno the Co-Dependent Border Collie is getting pretty tired of motel room hopping and would like to have a permanent address (with functional air conditioning, he has a rather well-insulated fur coat).

https://beige.party/@LibertyForward1/115171864786947740

#DogsofMastodon #FediDogs

New team lead at work has already been relieved of their position. Management is finally holding internal interviews instead of hiring off the street.

A former lead I consider a mentor and all-around good person has agreed to help me role play/prepare for the interview.

Folks, @micr0 is the creator and maintainer of altbot@fuzzies.wtf and tldr@fuzzies.wtf, arguably two of the most useful #Fediverse bots I've ever seen, utilizing a locally run, low-power #LLM server operated with #privacy and #transparency primarily in mind.

If I wasn't already living off of charity, I would gladly donate to this cause. So instead, I'm asking everyone who is willing and able, please visit the post below and consider donating to help micr0 continue to provide two immensely powerful and helpful services for #inclusion and #accessibility. They deserve to at least break even on their bills for such (imho) important work.

Additionally, I encourage everyone to follow one or both bots (I'm not tagging them in the post to avoid triggering another loop like I did the last time) if you are overly-verbose like myself and need a concise, abridged version of my babblings, or don't have the spoons to write alt text for images AND videos.

#AltText #Solidarity #FOSS

https://wetdry.world/@micr0/115028873660699240

@MissInformation Well that's probably not a good sign..

Today is my day off to recover from the exhausting misery of retail, which means I don't have enough for tomorrow's payment.

I'm sure most of our friends here have reached their limit of us constantly pleading for #MutualAid, and/or are (more likely) "tapped out" after we've failed to get our shit together and spent all their money.

I get it. While I try to keep it "low-key", it's still a nuisance. It's still taking funds from other people. It's bleeding people we've never met of their funds that they actually *did* work hard for.

I'm aware that I'm a grifter and beggar. It isn't my intention to mislead or deceive, but I also realize not everyone will agree with me about that.

But as I've said many times before, I don't know what else to do with the resources and circumstances we currently have.

So.. if there's anyone else left out there who can afford to donate and haven't (understandably) muted me into oblivion, I would be deeply grateful.

Venmo: https://venmo.com/thegizmotwins
Cashapp: https://cash.app/$thegizmotwins
PP: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/gizmo1982
GFM: https://gofund.me/12171be3

#MutualAid #BPD #CPTSD #fundraise @mutualaid

So much for trying to do this ahead of time so it isn't always an immediate crisis; 🙄 I was reminded today that I had forgotten our storage unit payment, also due today, because the irritatingly persistent leasing office for the unit already called us because the payment didn't go through this morning.

Anyway.. I have probably less than 24 hours before we get slapped with a $50 late fee, and unfortunately my lucrative, soul-crushing $16/hr retail job isn't sufficient to cover it.

So.. Please forgive me for panhandling for the zillionth time, but we could really use some help covering the bill for the unit filled to the brim with nearly all our worldly possessions.

If you're willing AND able, please boost and if possible donate. If you can't donate, *do NOT feel guilty* for being in the same boat as us. Your feelings about it are valid but rest assured you needn't feel bad.

Venmo: https://venmo.com/thegizmotwins
Cashapp: https://cash.app/$thegizmotwins
PP: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/gizmo1982

Jellybeans and their candy corn cousins are just colored, flavored candle wax. I said what I said.

Microwave directions frustrate me. Like.. how can you let food stand? it has no legs, all it can do is sit there

I think they use the term "stand", as in "let stand for 3 minutes", because that's a highly improbable amount of time that I would be able to *stand* waiting before impatiently scalding my mouth

Breaking News: Shit Day Continues to be Shit. This and more at 11.

Evening Update: The Shit Day Remains Shitty.

Forecast:

Tonight: Shit
Tomorrow: Shit

3-Day Outlook
Shit, Shit, and More Shit

7-Day Outlook
Whee!! A Metric Shit Ton of Shit!

Oh dear god it worked 🤣

https://thepit.social/@actuallybot/114848841532405462

BREAKING NEWS: RFK Jr unveils new "Freedom Leeches" medical treatment procedure