re: #38 Justanotherhuman

In 2008 my husband had a job as a regional maintenance manager for a fairly large company that owns luxury apartment complexes from NYC to FL. He worked for them for 15 yrs. Started as a single property maintenence guy and worked his way up to middle management. He made (very)low 6 figures. Was promised(though not on paper) a VP of operations slot. Then one Monday morning he called me in shock. He had been let go, 6 months of severance pay, see ya, bye, bye. He was unemployed for 5 months.

Since then, he has had three jobs. No more middle management, nope. He’s been a maintenance supervisor for single properties because it’s all he can find. Each job has paid less than the one before it. He left each job after being laid off. After all is said and done, with taxes and the cost of health insurance, if he clears 35-40K this year we’ll be lucky. I’ve been a full time parent for 20 yrs and I’m 53, I have filled out 45 applications in the last 2 months and have not received one call for an interview. My age and the hole in my employment(and lack of references, do you know where your bosses from over 20 yrs ago are?) are keeping me out of even the service industry, which is what I left to do that Mom job. Retail management and customer service management is where my expertise is, I can’t even get hired as a part time cashier now. Also note, when I was working, I actually was able to be a single mom supporting my daughter as a floor person/cashier at KMart. And I had health insurance, good health insurance. Those days are over. So, we’re surviving on less than half of what we were 5 yrs ago.

The Husband is looking for another job,because this one is godawful and they’re treating him like shit. Working nearly 80 hours a week and getting paid for 40 is bullshit- salaried- which was never discussed during hiring- only an hourly wage was discussed in the interview process. What he does is physically demanding, requires skill and serious problem solving skills. Not to mention a list of contacts a mile long of contractors and other skilled tradespeople to fix what breaks. They treat him like a lot of day laborers get treated, because he gets dirty for a living.

We’re not alone, I know that, but it sucks. We did everything you’re supposed to do. You know, get married, have the kid, buy the house, get a couple of cars, work your way up. We did that, even put money aside for the future(that’s ALL gone now, between losing money invested in Lehman Brothers-shitty 401K investments and having to live off the rest to keep our house and fix things that broke…)and none of it paid off. We never lived beyond our means either. This isn’t a mansion, we don’t have expensive vehicles, the roof need replacing soon, etc, etc. What stuns me is how little my husband’s experience in his field matters- he’s been doing this work for over 25 yrs. We’re as middle class as you can get and we’re losing ground. I’m scared.