When did you realize the system is rigged?

[TheRegalMachine]

I always knew but like the naive mark walking into the carnival I thought I was too smart to get worked. Everyone else was doing it wrong, picking the wrong games. Thought I was picking game where I could get one over and win the big prize. I was so so wrong.
Post secondary schools I went to were charging me out the a$$ for stuff I could have learned on my own and at a quicker pace.
All my past jobs were "temp to hire", promising regular employment, and each one was using me to play catch up. Concluding with me being toss aside like yesterdays newspaper.
It took awhile to realize but I shouldn't have been playing the carny games at all, I should have been starting my own carnival.

 

[TheCj]

For me coming from a traditional south asian household, Realized the life was living was not my own in late teens. Having worked in the family business and then going to university for engineering when I was not interested in school at all. I literally looked up and found universities the night that the forms were handed out at high school. I had no idea..

During second year engineering, one of the prof's said something along the lines of your peers in the class will be your life long colleagues... That is a moment i remember since i didn't relate to most if any of them.. I never finished that second year.. Around the same time arranged marriage was coming up for discussion with my parents.. That was point I made life choice to leave that system.. I remember having to go to family engagements where everyone would just sit and drink.. Like seeing the ghost of future to come..

After that I thought I was free.. didn't have to work hard, could work were I wanted, date who I wanted live a simple life, learned to be efficient self sufficient wondered why people worked so hard for material positions, expensive trips when could enjoy life much simpler..

I got bit sidetracked there, moments i realized system was rigged, was lots of little moments like realizing the sales people for said engineering companies could be making more than the engineers when they had only a fraction if any formal degree.. As in engineering was 40-45hrs classes where as business guys that was a month's worth of classes hrs..

Seeing banks bend over opening late for yearly tax retirement deadline time, why would they do that unless was good for them..

Seeing nepotism in work places... Bosses family member's like the story earlier about the uncle CTO.. Personally have seen people in charge of multi-million dollar projects and it is there first project of this type and magnitude, and they have no experience or expertise at all in relation to there job..

Not being hired for jobs, but then starting on my own and being able to do the same work and pay myself more.

Crazy world... Has been layers of scripted for me that have been pulled back over time..

Just my 2cents.. been enjoying this thread!

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Come end of October the system is ready to roll out. Happy times for all of us. My core team of 19 developers and I put in huge weeks, gave up on life, did everything so we could realize this system. We knew it would make millions for the company and save in overhead and time. The company planned a big Halloween party in the office and encouraged us all to come to the office in costumes. Party came, we were done, spirits are high. 3PM I got a call to go upstairs meet with CEO and President before the party. Go up, and he broke the news to me. They were going to lay off all the developers since they were not needed anymore and they wanted to start November off right.

FTE!

It took awhile to realize but I shouldn't have been playing the carny games at all, I should have been starting my own carnival.

Tah dah!

Sorry, I didn't even introduce myself on the forum and the grammar... I wanted to earn something before I did...

Welcome to the forum.

 

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[Almantas]

"Where's my Curry?!"

It happened roughly 7 years ago. I was working as a waiter at a 5 star Hotel while studying. One day I came across a food stand in a back store and inquired why it's not being used. I've raised my query to upper management and they asked if I can bring this stand to life by selling take-away food for two hours outside. I saw it as an opportunity to learn sales and be recognized by a management. At first it was weird, standing outside with a bulky stand and pitching foods, but soon I got a good grip of it.

First week resulted in like 20-30 sales (1 order averaged €6). Upper management was happy, probably because none of the sales were officially recorded and everything was paid in cash. I am pretty sure it was a nice pocket change for the big guys.

It took me few weeks to warm-up and I was killing 80-100 orders in just two hours. Management was shocked. My co-workers were jealous of all the recognition I was getting and kitchen chefs were giving out to me that they can't manage such an inflow of orders. I was nominated as an employee of the year, got a bottle of champagne that costed €10 across the street and a big smile from a General Manager himself.

So, my life continued and I was killing 80-100 sales a day. Standing outside in a rainy day I decided to move back into restaurant, because I became ill. The response I got? "If you stop selling food outside, you may as well leave company altogether". This was a moment I realized this affair ain't gonna end nicely, so I turned into a mob, lol:

I precisely calculated how much inventory I needed each day prior to moving outside. I always made sure that I needed to get back into the storeroom to get some more stuff in the middle of a rush hour. I was carrying money box with me everywhere I went, so while going down to a store room I decided I was due a salary rise and pocketed €50. This happened on a daily basis.

I was still killing sales, in some cases sold more than 100 take-away dishes in 1-2 hours and made like €600 for the big guys, management was happy seeing superb results and I had a reason to smile and be happy standing outside,lol.

I know, this was unethical, immoral, yada-yada. I've made a decision based on how I was being treated and nobody got hurt or disappointed at the end. So win-win, right?! lol.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Some food for thought...

MJ DeMarco on Instagram: "Something to think about free of your biases and cultural programming. . THE BUSINESS MODEL OF EXTRACTION . As with anything, the institution might have noble purposes, but I trust dogmatic ideological humans about as much

933 likes, 35 comments - mj.demarco on January 13, 2021: "Something to think about free of your biases and cultural programming. . THE BUSINESS MODEL OF EXTRACTION . As with anything, the instit..."

www.instagram.com

 

[TonyStark]

This is sort of like the FTE thread but I first realized the system was rigged when I started university. I couldn't believe that the classes I had to take in college were exactly like the ones in high school.

I said, "I'm out!"

I wasn't about to drop 4 grand on material I could easily learn on Wikipedia + Google.

 

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[Iammelissamoore]

There's a reason why people become entrepreneurs. I guess it's this ability to be self-aware and a propensity for self-improvement. We read. We question how things are done. We want to keep being true to ourselves. We don't care about how people judge us.

How else would you want to spend your time if you're wired that way or decided to be that way?

This is why we hate not being in control of our time. There is just no other viable option but to do things our way. It's like having your a$$ lit on fire.

On the other hand, the others have been under massive social conditioning. Couple that with a lack of self-awareness and a lack of self-development program, it's obvious why many get stuck in the system.

We had to break through and keep fighting that social conditioning too. Along with being a part of a minority.

So you see, that's what makes it hard for everyone.

Between the 1% and the 99%. The difference is in how reality is understood.

It seems to me that there is a glass ceiling to all this :

All it takes to break through is a true shift in perspective.

Absolutely, perspective genuinely IS everything.

You know how our airwaves are crowded with all these judging shows - America's got talent, X Factor, Miss Universe, Miss World, then all the games - Sunday night football, Monday night football, basketball, this, that and the other, then general shows (they say entertainment) it's so crowded that it is strategically stretched out from Sunday to Sunday nonstop, simply to keep the comfort zone getting even more comfortable and the perspectives to remain the same.

To simply take a step back and recognise that "this just can't be all there is to life," is a HUGE step, what we do with it thereafter is the make and break of our livelihoods.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

That said, I love my slowlane job. It's an excellent company with a good mission and I enjoy the people I work with.

Nice!

Could be a double-edged sword though, inspiring change from a place of comfort can be difficult. Sounds like you're in a good situation.

 

[• nikita •]

Same thing for me. Also I had the chance to travel and do fun stuff at some point in my life, so that was great motivation to escape that 9-5 life. I recently started a new slowlane job to pay the bills and make money to invest in a business, I feel physically sick when I'm on my way to the office in the morning.

I can't even put into words how sick I felt going to my slowlane job, like my life had ended or something. Every time I would ask how people could take this for years they would just get mad or say "suck it up, you get used to it". Used to a useless, boring life?

 

[MattR82]

I was fortunate in many ways realizing the Unscripted life early and quitting college, doing my own thing and loving it. I been more than happy with my life many times. But when I was young I didn't know how scripted the world was, how indoctrinated it was into the people around me, and I still thought a good job was a good thing. This is the story of one of those instances where things changed for me.

I was consulting for a while but decided to sell my consulting business. It as in Software Development and for some dumb reason I was not enamored with running it anymore even though it provided a good income. So I decided to take a few months off and start to build my "dream" home for that time. During the process of finding and funding my dream home I ran across a small mortgage firm that did specialized loans which was what I needed. For some reason the CEO convinced me that my skills would be helpful for them and to come work for them and build out their IT Infrastructure, their Software platforms, everything. It looked challenging so for some god awful reason I accepted this. Mind you this is after I was essentially retired, unscripted , building a multi-million dollar home with a small mortgage.

WTF was I thinking taking a job?

I have no idea. Briefly I bought into the notion that someone as young as I was at that time shouldn't be lounging around. My parents were on me that I need to work and my money wouldn't last. Insurance was expensive and a job would help me pay for it. I could build my retirement fund up even faster if I had the company 401k match and all. Yeah, I knew how to make money, but I was NOT smart about money, what I had, the value of time. I took the job. What ensued was a series of madness that got worse and worse over the years.

1. At first as we were smaller everyone was pretty nice but it didn't take long to realize company politics were incredibly toxic and nepotism was high
2. Work hours started at a leisurely 40 hours per week, but I was constantly asked for more and more and told to build the group
3. I hired over 40 people for IT/Software and hand built the entire company IT from the ground up including all the wiring/networking in a new office building
   1. 100 plus hour weeks donated to the company for that "sweet" 40 hour per week salary
   2. I had a IT Director title which I thought was important
   3. I had to manage everyone without another layer in between and I was constantly stressed out
4. Shortly after I got everything working and built up the CEO decided we needed a CTO.. I really thought it would be me
   1. He put his Uncle in charge as the CTO
   2. He gave his Uncle a huge salary that was orders of magnitude over mine
   3. His Uncle didn't even use a computer and had no idea how to push a mouse, double click or anything and then said the technical stuff was why I was there

OK so at this point I started getting frustrated and it was obvious. In a last ditch effort to keep me from leaving and the place from falling apart the CEO called me to his office with "Good" news. I was like maybe this is the bonus or something that I deserved. I quickly went up to his office and he told me that he was so happy for the work I been doing he will give me a much needed raise. He bumped me $3500 dollars. A YEAR. This is after working to the bone. He then gave me a basket of Oranges as bonus. Mind you I live in Florida. Oranges are not hard to find in Florida. I have them in backyard for free. I was shocked. He then said that over Christmas (few months away) I would be excited for what was coming and to hang tight.

I was disappointed but I thought a job was what I needed at this time so I stayed on. Believe it or not as bad as it was, that wasn't the thing that got me.

We were finishing a big paperless mortgage system that tied into an automated underwriting system. It will save the company millions and was a huge important project. I loved the work I was doing and loved the challenges so I doubled down. My home was being built and nearly finished and I was excited for that. I still had most of my money in the bank. Didn't need the work. But I thought the work was important and I needed to do it because that is what you are supposed to do at my age. Work until you can retire at a decent age. I was retired but still I bought into the script for unknown reasons.

Come end of October the system is ready to roll out. Happy times for all of us. My core team of 19 developers and I put in huge weeks, gave up on life, did everything so we could realize this system. We knew it would make millions for the company and save in overhead and time. The company planned a big Halloween party in the office and encouraged us all to come to the office in costumes. Party came, we were done, spirits are high. 3PM I got a call to go upstairs meet with CEO and President before the party. Go up, and he broke the news to me. They were going to lay off all the developers since they were not needed anymore and they wanted to start November off right. I had to bring them up to the room to deliver the news with HR so before the party started they would be out. They didn't want to damper the spirits.

Disbelief... Anger... Couldn't believe it.

I did what I was told. I took them up to the main conference room. Head of HR was there with packets. We were all in costumes. Hers? A clown outfit. Yes. It was that surreal. Everyone in my group were handed their papers and told to discreetly pack up and walk out. No severance. Nothing. Nearly a year of grueling work and that was the reward. They were highly compensated in at least they made Florida market rates for Developers, but again based on a 40 hour week not the 60+ that was required to get the job done on time. The reward? Getting kicked out so the company could save money.

The best part was the CTO, Uncle Bob, was coming into the building for the party about the time everyone was leaving. He rode up in a limo to the front of the building just as a couple of my guys were walking out, in costumes, boxes full of personal effects. He looked at them and laughed, then commented that he expected them to be gone before he showed up. It was so awful. I was escorting the poor guys out and he does that.

I couldn't contain myself. I thought, why am I doing this? I had it. I made more in my consulting gig working hours I chose to work (sometimes they were excessive then) in a month that I would get in a year. If I wanted an extra $3500 dollars then I would just do a little more work. Yes it was still changing time to value, but at a much higher level than any job. I happily sold the business. I happily retired. I then bought into the script that I was supposed to work. In return I had mostly misery for several years. I used my reputation to bring excellent developers into the business only to watch them get treated like shit and thrown out. All the while the CEO, President, and their relatives were benefiting and making millions off the company growth and stock.

My house was finished being built and I wasn't even home enough to enjoy it. My daughter was growing up and I rarely saw her. I would get up 3AM go the the office and come home at 9PM in time to kiss her goodnight. That day they let half my group go just to save a buck after this group gave them the software key to the mortgage universe, was the final straw.

It all became excessively clear to me in an instant. As the CTO was walking into the building and going to the party, I ran back inside and upstairs. I turned in my resignation. Avoided the arguments the CEO was making. Packed my stuff and walked out with my team. Shortly later nearly all of my team that had remained left.

By December their stock was delisted, Feds investigating, and lots of major issues found in the company. I didn't know how bad they were and how toxic that environment was. I for some reason bought into the job concept at a weak point in my life when I never needed to. I don't know why to this day. But I knew at that very moment it would never happen like that again.

I learned a few things out of this incident though so it was not a complete failure:

• My time was more valuable than any dollar amount
• I will never work a job unless I have control of it
• There is a concept of enough money and there should be no shame in it
• There is no shame in retiring early even if others think you are being lazy
• Time spent with your family pays back more than money could ever buy
• I am in control of my own destiny and no one anywhere will ever control it for me and as a result this period in my life was my fault as I allowed it to happen and I will choose to allow it again
• If I want more money, then start my own business and create my own things
• No excuses - seriously.. none

I left, took time off. Used that time to start a new AI based voice business that patented some items that sold to Nuance. Used that to build things for the biometric world. Not all success, but each thing built to the next. I worked hard, smart, and on my schedule. There were days I would stop, look at my daughter, and just be like.. let's go to Disney. We would up and leave that day, that moment, sometimes for a week at a time. That was living. No job allows that.

This is a long post and I left details out.. but I had to share.

TL DR
F*ck a job, shitty bosses, horrible toxic work environments. Leave all your excuses at the door and make your own life what you want of it. There is no reason for you to deal with a shitty situation for a moment. There is every reason for you to work hard for yourself and no one else. Don't work hard to make your boss rich.

HO... LY... SHIT.

That is just unbelievable. Like a scene from a movie.

 

[Van Halen]

I've had a few of these moments. One of my favorites:

At one point I thought about getting a job. I was done with college. One of my ventures failed. I still had passive income in the form of about $20,000 a year, but everyone was telling me that I was underperforming, that I should get a job, and I believed it.

So I applied to a handful of places. One of the places I applied to had an intense interview process.

Day 1 was meeting with the two directors. They grilled me on my resume, why I wanted to work there, etc. At the end of the interview, one of the directors took me aside and told me: "Why don't you just become an entrepreneur? You're obviously a smart kid, you don't need to get a job."

I should've ended the interview process there, but I thought screw it, I'll continue on and get experience interviewing with companies so that I can develop the interviewing skill set.

Day 2 was an informal coffee meeting with another two people under which I'd be working. Nothing too bad. Flew threw it.

Day 3 F*cking sucked. 6 hours of straight interviews. They had every single person in the company interview me one by one. They'd ask me questions. I'd answer with more or less the same response to each person. Then they'd ask if I had any questions for them. Then they'd leave and the next person would come in.

Each person I'd ask the same question at the end "What's great about working here?" And half of the people would have the same response: "Well, there's a lot of rewards. For example, if you're number 1 in the office, you get a bonus of $5,000 at the end of the year. If you're in the top 10, you get a paid trip to Cabo! It's really amazing. I was one of the ones that got to go last year and it really made all of this hard work feel worth it."

Meanwhile I'm sitting there thinking: "Are you F*cking serious? You work 60 to 100 hours a week all year, so that one week of the year you can go to Cabo? And that's what makes it all worth it? F*ck. I'm technically unemployed and not making that much money, but if I wanted to, I could be in Cabo tomorrow. And I sure as F*ck could afford to splurge for one week even though I only make a fraction of what you make. My highlight of the year would be same as yours but it wouldn't come at the cost of quasi-slavery."

So around the 6 hour mark of being interviewed, I had enough. And as someone was asking me a question across the conference room table, I unconsciously closed my eyes, put my head down, and laid there for 10 seconds before I realized what I was doing. Then when I looked up, I saw a really confused look on the other person's face. I apologized. Said I was tired. They said no worries. The interviews ended, and they told me to send an email if I was still interested in working there. I was not and never did send that email.

When I left that office I realized how shitty peoples' lives are. They have these "prestigious" jobs working downtown, where they wear a suit to work, make "6-FIGURES!!", get to walk around the office like a hotshot, but end of the year only thing they appreciated was going to Cabo for one week out of the year to forget how miserable their day to day is.

It was at that point that I decided I'd rather be a $20k a year passive income bum than a $100k a year brainwashed corporate slave.

Thats got to be the best comment I've read on this forum. Ever. Period. Brilliant, just Brilliant.

 

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[Aaron T]

FYI, America was created by a conspiracy.

Regardless.. not the point of this thread.

Let's get it back on topic please.

 

[WJK]

For me, I discover it by watching and understanding the comedy speech by George Carlin entitled, Life is Worth Losing and observing my parents and peers on what they are doing in their everyday lives.

His speech was almost fit the definition of the SCRIPT.

My life has never been fair except in one way -- each human has 24 hours per day. It's our ONLY point of equality.

 

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[Jon L]

Sometimes I feel like my company sat on the committee to write The Script.

In many ways, I can defend the pharmaceutical industry in good faith. But there are days when I know thegood things we do don't outweigh the reality of it all.

I was so enamored by my job.

I was a rock star.

Walk into an office with Starbucks in one hand and a briefcase full of drugs in the other hand. Cute receptionists smiling big and waving at me. A nurse gives me a big hug and grabs her venti skinny soymilk late and calls me a life saver. I got my fat bonus check yesterday and on our morning conference call the regional director said I'm the one to go to for clinical knowledge.

Then I see the doctor, "Oh (insert name of drug), how about you go into this room and tell this patient who's dying why her prescription costs $1,200 a month"

All I can do is parrot back the party line, "blah blah insurance companies suck blah blah patient assistance program blah blah."

Suddenly, Im not a rock star. I'm the face of a company who makes a great drug for really sick people... and the price keeps going up every month.

And then I meet the husband of the patient and he tells you it's ok. Because he'll pay whatever he needs to to keep his wife alive. And then he tells me that none of the hospitals will put her on a transplant list because she's too sick.

And then my day just goes to shit.

Combine that with:

• Your CEO testifying before congress then getting fired with a $30 million severance
• Realizing that you're not getting paid for almost half the prescriptions you sold
• Realizing you're not going to hit quota because you're not getting paid on half of the scripts you sold
• Getting sold the dream of middle management only to be told you're not qualified when the position opens up

That's when I realized the system is rigged. And it sucks. And the only reason I go to work in the morning is because I can put 20% of that pay check towards my business.

When did you realize the system was rigged? More importantly, what did you do about it?

Keep in mind that the overall profit margin for most large drug companies is 15-20%. So...on average, the most that drug company could discount that $1,200/month prescription for and still break even is $960 a month. Sure, their gross margin for that particular drug is probably sky high, but that isn't the only consideration when looking at the company as a whole. They have insane levels of costs in other areas. (R&D, for example) And, that $30m severance package? Even if you took it completely off the table, you might get down to $959/month.

 

[amp0193]

Yes, I'm still trading hours for dollars, but at a much higher rate right now. Next step will be to scale it.

When you look to scale, won't you basically be trying to do this:

The engagement they booked was something like $100 an hour for our bookkeeper to be there. We were paying the bookkeeper around $20. That meant the firm kept $80 an hour just for making the connection. $3,200 a week if it was full time.

So do you think the system is rigged? Or do you just want to be the one rigging it?

 

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[OldFaithful]

For me, the realization occurred after being laid off from a medium/large company during the recession and moving to a very small company. I didn't really understand that there was a script, per se, but realized that the path I was following would not end up where I wanted to be. At this small company I had exposure to the owners and saw their involvement (or lack thereof) in the day to day operations. It was the 2 owners of the small company that had the lifestyle I wanted, and I realized that if I want to get there...I'd have to own the company...not work in it.

 

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[Sean Kaye]

@Scot - Slight tangent, but I'm a small person, so it's the little things in life that make me snigger.

Every year or so, it brings me inordinate amounts of pleasure to watch the Australian Government bend over and rape the entire pharmaceutical industry. Some drug company says that they will not be selling their latest whizbang drug in Australia because the price the Australian government wishes to procure it at does not cover their costs.

In exchange, the Australian Government then identifies said drug makers three largest products by margin and suggests that maybe the price on that product will need to be adjusted downward significantly or perhaps it may even fall off the national program and be replaced with a third party generic.

Said drug company capitulates and goes back to whatever rock they hide under for the rest of the time.

As I said, I'm a small person so seeing that play out every couple years brings me joy because I'm a sad human.

Your comment about charging the sick person $1200 made me think of that.

 

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[Iammelissamoore]

Not exactly the same, but when I told my parents I was dropping out of college, they refused to pay for anything else, and were ready to kick me out.

In their eyes, it was better to spend 40k at a university, than to save that money for a rainy day.

Thing is, most of our family members and parents see the college degree as security for the rainy day.

 

[Scot]

@Scot - Slight tangent, but I'm a small person, so it's the little things in life that make me snigger.

Every year or so, it brings me inordinate amounts of pleasure to watch the Australian Government bend over and rape the entire pharmaceutical industry. Some drug company says that they will not be selling their latest whizbang drug in Australia because the price the Australian government wishes to procure it at does not cover their costs.

In exchange, the Australian Government then identifies said drug makers three largest products by margin and suggests that maybe the price on that product will need to be adjusted downward significantly or perhaps it may even fall off the national program and be replaced with a third party generic.

Said drug company capitulates and goes back to whatever rock they hide under for the rest of the time.

As I said, I'm a small person so seeing that play out every couple years brings me joy because I'm a sad human.

Your comment about charging the sick person $1200 made me think of that.

The reason why drugs cost that much in the US is because no other country will pay for them. Socialized healthcare cannot afford to pay for research and development. So countries with capitalist healthcare have to foot the bill. The United States healthcare system subsidizes the price of drug development for the rest of the world.

No one pays cash price for drugs. If they cannot afford the drug, most drug companies give the medication to them for free. Over half of my drugs prescriptions are free.

And let me know when you find a way to foot the $2.56 billion bill to develop a new drug with $5 generic pricing.

The Cost of Developing an FDA-Approved Drug Is Truly Staggering, Study Shows -- The Motley Fool

 

[Duane]

I think the biggest thing is that I had no idea what I was capable of. I severly undervalued my potential until I came across the millionaire fastlane .

When I went to school I knew exactly how much I would make. Start pay for my degree is $60k, average pay is $100k. When I got my first internship, there was a potential job offer after completion for $75k/year with a $15k annual bonus. At the time I thought this was amazing money and there wouldn't be any way for me to make more money. This job was at a coal plant.

The switch for me was when I actually worked that internship. I hated it. Being in a tyvek suit in a boiler in the middle of the summer in Florida, I thought I was working in hell...

There had to be a better way to make money. What all of my other colleagues would have died for, I quit shortly after getting it and started researching better ways to make money and ran into MJ's book.

 

[Philip Marlowe]

To the OP, I talked about it in my intro to the forum, but basically had an epiphany while watching some investing gurus talk about what to do with a few grand you have laying around (hint - it was not build a business like they had, but rather giving them your money to invest in a mutual fund for 40 years).

Not sure why but it hit me like a ton of bricks. Began "searching" for something and what I found was TMF ...

That said, I love my slowlane job. It's an excellent company with a good mission and I enjoy the people I work with. I'm not implying in any way it's stable and I see the script everywhere around me - that's why I'm here - but it doesn't change the fact that for the most part, I really enjoy what I do which I'm thankful for.

 

[unaided]

Health insurance plans have never really been tailored to the low volume, self employed business owner. [....] Configuring the system so that health insurance is tied to employment works great to keep people enslaved to a job.

Health is the one thing that I recommend unscripting first. MJ hits on this in Unscripted . Unscripted freedom is nothing without health.

Health Savings Accounts (not flex spendimg account) are high deductible, "low" premium plans where you build a retirement account for health expenses. At 65ish (check your tax rules), you can withdraw from it like it was a conventional retirement account without penalty.

You can pay for you, your spouse and kids expenses with it. You choose which doctors you want to see, and the money used for "qualified" health expenses is NEVER taxed.

It carries with you from job to job, year over year etc.

My slowlane job for a small 5 person employer hired a broker to help them with choosing plans.....

Some thoughts on the effects of this company decision

1. Nobody (outside of myself) knew how to wager deductibles, copays, coinsurances, prescription credits etc to even pick the plan in the first place.

2. I was the only one requesting an HSA eligible plan. The broker told me "oh yeah our whole company is on an HSA policy, I love it!". Yes the broker agency that makes its living selling all of these traditional plans insurance chooses HSA for themselves. Yes, your employer can make contributions on your behalf too...up to the annual contribution limit. Dont count on it, it is still better to choose the HSA from an unscripted perspective as it can carry with you beyond your indentured servitude in the slowlane.

3. If you already are sick (and "need" preSCRIPTions and routine visits for bloodwork etc), an HSA is often out of the question because you cannot build up the account prior to expending it amd get stuck in that cycle. The sick person could be your spouse or a kid. Things you dont always have control over.

4. Also, you do need to put aside the money in the first place, another hurdle

5. It is now required to have insurance....so as a self employed person it really does become the crux reason why people stay slowlane. It can be a big % of income...early on, that's money that cannot be reinvested, little control over future premium increases, etc. It's like having an adjustable rate mortgage where the rate goes up 5 to 25% a year lol!

6. 67%+ of bankruptcies are related to health expenses. 75% of which HAD health insurance at the time of their bankruptcy. This was pre-Obamacare stats. It is worth actively hedging for that kinda risk.

7. How many companies do you think slow or delay full-time hirings bc of this? How much more output do they need to squeeze out of you because of your employee sponsored plan?

Cost of living increases (big whoop), bonus incentives etc all came off the table once our small company gave us healthcare. It not only locks you into dependency, it also decreases your future income/benefit ceiling in that slowlane vehicle.

Fight/negotiate for profit sharing, incentive based pay over benedits like that in my opinion...you maintain more control of your future that way. Once you get healthcare benefits, there is too much uncertainty in the year to year costs for your employer to give you much else....but they will weight perfomance based stuff much differently in their head and even potentially feel good writing you those kinda checks.

 

[Fpm9]

When I started my first job and realized that I was miserable, and I couldn't fathom doing this for 50+ years. I hated that place with a passion, having to force myself to fit the culture, to kiss my boss's a$$, etc etc. But even if I loved my job I still couldn't have imagined being slowlane forever. Just watching my parents bust their a$$ for decades, the hardest working people I know, and still just have an "average" salary and talk about "beginning to enjoy our lives when we turn 65"... It made me sad. Like, they work so hard for so long, and in the end only get a few """good""" years of their life to enjoy? When they're old? Sounds like the shittiest deal in the world.

Same thing for me. Also I had the chance to travel and do fun stuff at some point in my life, so that was great motivation to escape that 9-5 life. I recently started a new slowlane job to pay the bills and make money to invest in a business, I feel physically sick when I'm on my way to the office in the morning.

 

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[Van Halen]

When I started my first job and realized that I was miserable, and I couldn't fathom doing this for 50+ years. I hated that place with a passion, having to force myself to fit the culture, to kiss my boss's a$$, etc etc. But even if I loved my job I still couldn't have imagined being slowlane forever. Just watching my parents bust their a$$ for decades, the hardest working people I know, and still just have an "average" salary and talk about "beginning to enjoy our lives when we turn 65"... It made me sad. Like, they work so hard for so long, and in the end only get a few """good""" years of their life to enjoy? When they're old? Sounds like the shittiest deal in the world.

Same here, its all that time and effort for nearly nothing.

I remember 1 lunch break looking up at the beautiful green hills in the distance and realising "Shit, theres a whole world out there right now. right this moment, and most people are just stuck in an office. Just because its a weekday doesn't mean shit, theres life and freedom out there"

 

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[Raoul Duke]

I knew it was officially rigged when Taylor Swift won Best Video of the Year (VMA's) in 2009 over Beyonce! I was angrier than a Kanye.

 

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[jon.a]

Wow.. that was an old man ramble if there ever was one. I guess that place really angered me. I am sorry friends.

Yup, but I bet that you feel better.

 

[96wells]

Sometimes I feel like my company sat on the committee to write The Script.

In many ways, I can defend the pharmaceutical industry in good faith. But there are days when I know the good things we do don't outweigh the reality of it all.

I was so enamored by my job.

I was a rock star.

Walk into an office with Starbucks in one hand and a briefcase full of drugs in the other hand. Cute receptionists smiling big and waving at me. A nurse gives me a big hug and grabs her venti skinny soymilk late and calls me a life saver. I got my fat bonus check yesterday and on our morning conference call the regional director said I'm the one to go to for clinical knowledge.

Then I see the doctor, "Oh (insert name of drug), how about you go into this room and tell this patient who's dying why her prescription costs $1,200 a month"

All I can do is parrot back the party line, "blah blah insurance companies suck blah blah patient assistance program blah blah."

Suddenly, Im not a rock star. I'm the face of a company who makes a great drug for really sick people... and the price keeps going up every month.

And then I meet the husband of the patient and he tells you it's ok. Because he'll pay whatever he needs to to keep his wife alive. And then he tells me that none of the hospitals will put her on a transplant list because she's too sick.

And then my day just goes to shit.

Combine that with:

• Your CEO testifying before congress then getting fired with a $30 million severance
• Realizing that you're not getting paid for almost half the prescriptions you sold
• Realizing you're not going to hit quota because you're not getting paid on half of the scripts you sold
• Getting sold the dream of middle management only to be told you're not qualified when the position opens up

That's when I realized the system is rigged. And it sucks. And the only reason I go to work in the morning is because I can put 20% of that pay check towards my business.

When did you realize the system was rigged? More importantly, what did you do about it?

Still slowlane, still rigged.

In elementary school it was a pain in the a$$ learning english with bad school programs, neglected. Pretty much raised in a single parent household/environment so tv was my constant companion. But the thing is, watching what I liked taught me a little bit of english.... Then I started reading on my own and that taught me a lot.

First lesson, don't rely on others, chase knowledge instead of having the knowledge chase you.

Elementary school was rigged because I constantly felt like there should be a summary instead of a 8-3 pm anxiety generating... plan?

Middle school was rigged because I would fall asleep learning nothing. Teacher tells me to slap myself to stay awake. I got sick and tired of faking my emotions, so I became cynical and distanced myself with books.

High school... finish work fast so I can read...most work there should of just been condensed to a few months instead of 1 year.

College... Just wasn't applying myself. Wasn't interested in the bullshit I had to memorize then forget, the social approval I needed to get some sort of edge.

Then after college I get to...

Analyze bodily fluids! How exciting.

-Repetitive, boring, chance of getting sick from touching blood etc.
-Co-workers gossip like in high school.
-People say insignificant things day in and out. Really groundhog day.
-Some stopped learning, some starts drinking to cope...
-Have debt and am enslaved and is ok with it...
-Happy about the insignificant raise from non-existent salary to begin with...

Need I go more?

-Lives with parent because of insane real estate price...(not too bad, not too great)
-The pressure to work overtime and then get told on how to do my job more efficiently and better (when I haven't been doing it soul crushingly repetitively day in and day out 8+ hr, 5 days a week...golly gee).
-People getting looked up upon because they been there longer...thats it.
-The pressure to be nice to superiors when the truth is there...
-Getting written up for things... not being in total control...despite doing your best.
-Working overtime because other people fail to delegate tasks or do thing effectively...working nights...

I think I can live with these, what I can't live with is not realizing my potential. Not learning significant things anymore (work 8 hours, come home drained to have only ~3 hours of me time)...MJ said something like anything with a 5 to 2 weekend return ratio is just bad.

I just don't want to relate with people that talk about tv shows or being looked down upon when I haven't done much wrong, being under appreciated, fixed salary forever no matter how hard or smart I work... (Not that it's bad to socialize... I just think there is something more, always had...)

Not going to list anymore. The side effects of a job...

The system was always rigged from elementary to work. I'm still in the slowlane and I'm telling you this with anger... (the anger is all under control now...)

What am I doing about it? Browsing this fourm, started emailing suppliers on alibaba. At least I can take some risks with the pay. Maybe action faking; I just can't stand it.

At least at nightshift, I get to hear MJ tell me about how my perception of money is wrong. His voice constantly ringing in my head...paraphrasing...

QUIT THE JOB...

Renounce the event as the path to financial wealth...

Work 9-5 for 40 years so they can tell you to piss off, gee...

Being the millionaire at the retirement home, Golly Gee!...

I just want to be someone that provide value, maybe to be superior in some way (cashvesting 2nd need), have the resources to be at a different environment.
-------
Sorry, I didn't even introduce myself on the forum and the grammar... I wanted to earn something before I did...

 

[MattR82]

Thought this was funny when I saw it on a friends instagram today. My last "slowlane as a life plan" job, working for a contractor for Chevron. Hmmm. What's this picture look like to you?

16 months out and counting

 

[MJ DeMarco]

What's this picture look like to you?

Prison. Alcatraz.

 

[amp0193]

Did I miss it, or has everyone somehow missed the most depressing part of the job search: The gatekeeper to getting an interview in the first place is always somehow a 24 year old girl that you wouldn't let balance your checkbook.

If having to explain your work history to a little blondie that just got out of A&M and still spends weekends at the lake with her sorority sisters doesn't make you question life choices.... yeah.

Back in the day, this person was my interviewee for the lowest level drone position at Target. I didn't get the job.