re: Austin counter worker sets me straight.

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This is the entire problem summed up. Dude can’t afford his half of $1500 rent because he’s working the type of job that should be filled by students, not by adults with actual living expenses or dependents.

Safe bet this guy works the counter at an arcade because of some combination of not finishing high school, being lazy as frick, and/or not being able to pass a drug test.

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i've posted this a few times, but it's something that definitely encapsulated why some people are stuck where they are. sometimes it's their fault. sometimes it's not.

my wife and i went up to New Hampshire to take in the fall colors back in 2023. we spent a couple of days in Portsmouth, NH and Portland, ME. Absolutely amazing coastal cities filled with history.

and it's white AF.

we had a ton of good food and drinks, but noticed that each and every single bartender/waiter/barista was about the same. pink haired, scrawny, tatooed, and piercings. and those are fine. They don't define them.

every restaurant and church had BLM, rainbow flags, etc.

but as we walked around the cities, we noticed how quaint a lot of the apartments and houses were. nice, but way smaller than our house. decided to look them up on zillow and realtor.com. all were highly in excess of $500k. we thought, "where do these people live, because no bartender or waiter can afford those? we asked one friendly waiter and they said they live out of town in an apartment with 3 roommates and they come here for money because there's really no other types of jobs available other than service. most of the property in downtown, nicer areas were owned by old money or people who rented and airbnb'd, went down south for winter, etc.

all that really clicked to me. no crime, less than 1% minorities, everything is old and beautiful and completely unaffordable to 98% of the local population.

no freaking wonder they're all socialist. they can't afford to live in their own town, there's no jobs to move up the social ladder, and they depend on rich out of town assholes to share an apartment 20 minutes away with three roommates.

all the minorities they deal with are on the same social standing as them with almost 0 violent crime and the exact same social upbringing. of course the south looks racist when they deal with inner city violence and don't want to tolerate it. it's nothing like what they experience.

a real kicker was driving through Cape Elizabeth. a whole bunch of 25-40 YO LL Bean soccer moms picking up their kids at the front of their $5mm seaside mansions that has come solely through inheritance or some venture capital bro outbidding the next one.

some poor girl busting her arse to bring oysters for $15/hour will never ever ever have the same life that some mid sorority girl got by marrying a frat daddy nepo baby.

i think your counter worker and these people are wrong in how to fix things, but their complaints are valid.

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It's a shite hole

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It’s consistently ranked as one of the best places in the country to live. But ok.

I’ve always found Austin to be nice. I started going there inthe 1970’s when I was visiting a a hot young girl who was from my hometown. Later, I was going there doing business with SxSW. I’ve always enjoyed my extended stays there. I don’t get the hate. I’ve never dealt with any extreme politics there.

I'm shocked.
Not at the OP's story, but by the fact that half the responses aren't "That never happened".

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Ironic coming from a "man" playing games at an arcade

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maybe one day you will find a girl that actually is willing to have sex with you

That would open up the possibility that you have children

THEN you will understand

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I’ve never dealt with any extreme politics (in Austin).

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well, to be fair, your idea of “extreme politics” is a little different than most of this forum…



I’ve been to Austin once, it was decades ago and it was for a bachelor party of a good friend - it was awesome back then

It sucks but that’s life. When he was a kid Austin wasn’t that expensive. Then, all the California hipsters moved and drove up prices. Happening in a lot of metropolitan areas.

He got priced out of his city. He should move somewhere cheaper and/or get a better job.

Them’s the breaks.

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Nonetheless, people need a place to call home, so when rents become so high that people working those jobs can't afford to work those jobs, then what?

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You answered your own question

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Besides the fact this is a grown-assed man in a pimple-faced teenager's job

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TL;DR but

I'm happy for you tho

or

Wow that's crazy

or

I'm sorry you're going through that

I hear what you're saying, but I kind of feel sorry for kids these days. When I graduated in 2001 I was making $35,000 a year, I could afford to buy a 3 bed 2 bath house on one salary and save a little, too. That's next to impossible now.