The lowest point in my life

Great story, OP. I hope life has been kinder to you since. Your story isn't too far from what many people caught in the cross hairs of life challenges experience today.

How did you make it back?

[quote]How did you make it back?

I haven't really R1. I still ride the bus and I can afford more for food now but I'm not eating caviar and fillet minion. I'm getting by like everyone else has been for the past 20 years.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

I hope those two nasty people got hit hard by karma. Or a bus.

fuck you R3 fuck you

Way to go, someone shares vulnerability, and you come for them with snarky shit.

Don't worry OP, you are getting by just like the rest of us. You have grit and self reliance. Keep on.

And yet you had a job and the promise of future income.

Not a sad story by any measure.

OP, if that's the worst you've experienced, you certainly have led a charmed existence. However, new challenges await.

What is wrong with a couple of these DL posters?! Hardasses! OP, I am sorry this has happened to you. I absolutely hate people who prey on the weakest. I have been where you are and it wasn't easy. When there have been incidents like this where I live, they often are reported in the newspaper. They often bring out more comments than other news stories; everyone expresses complete disgust at the perpetrators. In addition, everyone wants to know what happened to the victim and if they could help. This gives me hope about society in general.

OP, where do you live? You don't have to be too specific.

OP, those people are shit and you are champagne, honey.

Wishing you some filet mignon and similar treats in the near future.

My lowest point was the death of my dad and three friends within 18 months. Unable to function, I started an affair at work and that ended badly. The guy I had an affair with decided he was straight and got engaged and started making my life hell and I was on the verge of losing my job for yelling at him in the office. I went to counselling and as I stood on the sidewalk after a session which I cried through much of, a car-full of guys pulled up at the lights and started calling me a fucking fag and asking if I took it up the ass.

I'm OK now, though so you know, you have to just take that stuff on the chin and look ahead to brighter days.

I'm giving out full-size candy bays for Halloween this year. OP, if you come by my house, I'll save a Snickers for you.

[quote]What is wrong with a couple of these DL posters?!

They're people who don't know what it's like to live in poverty.

I don't understand. Why didn't OP go back to that store again and buy all that stuff ? It's just 53 dollars for God sake. You don't have to lock yourself up for 10 days for losing a Snickers bar. Grow a pair and behave like a man.

That fucking sucks, OP.

I hate people. And people are the reason I hate people.

And R14 is one of the reasons I hate people.

OP, thanks for sharing. I have, unfortunately, been there. Experienced three layoffs in a period of four years. I know what it's like to walk into a grocery store with a pocket full of loose change, to survive on nothing but dry $0.39 boxes of pasta for weeks on end without a single piece of meat or a fresh vegetable or fruit, to wait anxiously in line as the cashier rings up your groceries - praying that you calculated the tax exactly right so that the total doesn't go above the $5 you have in your pocket; to sell your car, your tv, your beloved music and book collections, virtually every piece of furniture just to be able to make your rent and have $50 for a full month's worth of groceries all the while hoping your electricity and gas don't get cut off. You survive, because you have to, but that stuff wears on your soul after a while. I had no idea what situational depression was until I went through that. Hope things are more manageable for you these days.

Hugs, OP.

I'm sorry I truly don't mean to sound nasty. But it wad almost 20 years ago and you talk about it like it happened yesterday. Move on. I'm sure great stuff has happened in your life since then.

Thanks for sharing your story OP.

The lowest point of my life was when I was laid off in the summer of 2009 and the state of MI did not want to give me unemployment benefits because I quit a part-time job earlier in the year. The scam the state runs is that in an 18 month period of losing a job and wanting to claim unemployment, you could not have quit a job. How the fuck did I know in February 2009 that quitting a retail job that was only giving me 7 hours a week, would lead to financial disaster a few months later. So when I was laid off from my 'real job', MI said I did not quality for unemployment benefits. I applied everywhere! I had two degrees at the time. I wound up working housekeeping at a Holiday Inn, earning hourly wages equivalent to what I earned in 1992! I also found another p/t retail job to make ends meet.

I basically worked 70 hours a week, lost 14 lbs (I'm already a petite sized female) due to stress and working too much, and I barely made ends meet. This situation lasted 10 months.

But that time toughened me up - I'm in a much better place now, but I'll be moving out of Michigan soon. I hate it here.

R19 - that unemployment rule is AWFUL. I thought dealing with the CA employment development department - who decided to randomly audit me and hold up disbursement of my unemployment benefits for SIX MONTHS was awful, but at least I got the funds in the end. Sorry to hear about your shitty experience in MI. Clearly those are rules written by bureaucrats who have no real world experience outside of secure government jobs.

OP, I cried reading your story. Sadly yours is not unique. I am going though what you went through 20 years ago. I am thankful that I at least have a roof over my head. By the time I pay for rent and everything I have very little for food. I know things will get better and I will look back at the experience is a learning experience that will make me more charitable to those in need.

R21 and OP, a lot of us have been where you are...more than we care to admit. I was basically homeless. I scrambled and hustled (not sexually), and endured some...well, I won't say humiliating...but challenging gigs. And it was not all for naught. I'm secure now, but not wealthy.

I see everything that I have as a gift that can taken away at any time. So I appreciate it.

I've seen rich and powerful men die alone and unhappy. In the end, money and status are truly meaningless. What matters most is how you treated other people. That's the true measure of success. This world is too distracted by the kardashians and other bs to realize that.

Hang in there. You're not alone. It will get better...one day at a time.

OP, so sorry you went through all that, but thanks for posting (watch out for kids at bus stops.) R16, thank you for your post; is slightly similar to something I went through a few years ago; VERY helpful to read another's situation and coping.

OP, that was not YOUR lowest point. It was the lowest point of the dirtballs who snatched your groceries. Thanks for your candor and honesty.

Thank you r3 -- that was very Jewish of you.

Glad to hear you're doing better, OP. I'm getting a little nervous. I have enough money to get me through the next year assuming none of my teaching gigs fall through (I'm an adjunct). Since I'm 57, it's been difficult to get any type of regular job. I took 4 years off to take care of my parents who died last year and left a mountain of debt. But, thus far, I've been able to hold on. I never thought I'd be this age with 4 Ivy League degrees and have a hard time finding a job. Fortunately I have a lot of friends.

Most of us (not everyone) is just one disastrous period away from homelessness. It shouldn't surprise me but the people I know who have been the most selfish in life are financially secure. I've been lobbying for a bill that will pay family caregivers in my state. It won't help me but it could change someone else's life for the better.

Grow the fuck up!

OP are you the same person who opened thread a few months ago complaining how your father was afraid to make you learn things because he was jealous and that you didn't have TV at home when you were kid ?

Did this happen in Seattle? It just seems like something that would have happened there in 1996.

Glad to hear you're doing better OP. My best friend just lost his job of over 10 years, turns out his boss hasn't paid the commercial rent for 6 months and the landlord evicted them, he lost his job when he arrived to find the locks changed. It is definitely hard to find a new job in this current economy. I don't believe anyone who says it's getting better, many friends are still underemployed or out of work.

That is a great story with great visuals and the fact that it moved me in very few words means you know how to tell it. The coda of the Snickers bar being run over as the last indignity...

Got me thinking what was mine and then it hit me; though I often treat this as a fun anecdote, it really was the moment I knew I was in big trouble. Drunk as a skunk in a West Hollywood apartment at 5 a.m., staring at the clock for a solid hour without blinking, waiting for it to hit 6 a.m. so I could drive down the street and get more beer because I was out. And they didn't sell beer 24 hours, of course. So I drive down at 5:55, wait for the clock to strike 6 in the morning and buy a 12 pack at 6:01 if I even waited that long. Again, that is six in the morning and I wasn't done with my drunk from the night before. Pathetic.

Except I've been sober 23 years now. But remembering that morning staring at a clock reminds me never to go back.

r26 there are great jobs for you abroad in International Schools if you don't mind teaching high school level. Pay is good, the experience of living abroad is good, the ex pat community abroad is great.

R26, teaching in the middle east can make you big bucks, but there are a lot of disadvantages for a gay person obviously...if you don't mind, you should look into it. Very well paid gigs, for teaching english.

My experience is or should I say was a little worse and lasted 3 years. Because it was an awful experience, I will save you some grief and say nothing.

OP and everyone else going through tough times right now, in whatever shape, way or form, never lose hope. It may be a shredded thread of hope, you may be mentally,emotionally and physically exhausted, but hang in.

Reach out to volunteer organizations, find and connect with someone who can be a support to you. Do not, under any circumstances, shut down and grieve silently on your own.

There is an advertising firm in London, U.K. headed by 2 brothers who came to London virtually penniless. They are fierce, strong-willed, exceptionally driven men. The firm is called Saatchi and Saatchi and they have offices around the world. Their motto is simple but powerful:

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!

a great story and very personal, thanks for sharing with us!

OP,It sounds like your employer cared enough not to fire you,so that says a lot about you.What dirtbags those two were to do that someone.I'm sure karma will be teaching them many lessons

Goddamn OP, even if those turds had stolen your food to EAT they'd deserve to have their asses kicked, but the fact that they kicked that shit all over the road? No wonder you were so depressed for a week. I'm sorry it happened to you.

The worthless antisocial idiots involved are likely still petty criminals going nowhere in life, in and out of jail, addicted to drugs. It's probably too much to hope that either one of them is deeply ashamed when they think of what they've done. Maybe though.

That's just shitty, R14/R28. What's wrong with you?

Hugs to all those in this thread who have had to deal with hard times. I've had mine too. Probably the lowest point for me was standing in the cold rain in a long line outside a church waiting for the food bank to open. People would honk horns and make fun of us. Two large belligerent guys behind me kicked and tripped me as I was about to go through the door (after waiting over 2 hours) and trampled me. I lay there a minute or two got up and got back in line fro my eggs, peanut butter and bread.

OP, that never happened. Try again.

R26, sorry for what you're going through. VERY nice of you to have taken care of your parents. But when you say, 'mountain of debt" - none of my business, sorry but I thought one is NOT responsible for someone's death when they pass away? If you mean debt related to their funeral - of course. BUt debts in their name? I'm sure you're asked a lawyer...

my 1st bankruptcy was pretty hard to go through. my 2nd wasn't nearly as rough.

[quote]Two large belligerent guys behind me kicked and tripped me as I was about to go through the door (after waiting over 2 hours) and trampled me.

Sartre was right, Hell is other people. I hope they choked on their food. Good luck R39 and I hope life is going better for you today.

R31 I read your post a dozen times and had to walk away and come back to it each time. You described my brother. Unlike you he never did stop drinking and he died from it. I'm thankful you were able to beat your drinking and that you're alive today.

Thank you both for sharing this with us.

OP: That was a HIGHlarious story. I once shat on a hobo. FAN-DAN-GO!

[quote] fillet minion

Minions are delicious.

March 2010 was the start of 1 year and nine months of unemployment during which my home was almost foreclosed. I drained my retirement savings, and I mostly stayed indoors eating and putting on a ton of weight.Today I am underemployed.

That is so sad, OP :(

Come talk to me in three months.