Whether you’re ready to acknowledge it or not, as a whole, this country is a mean, hateful place. As a nation, we’re greedy and self-serving, and we’re oftentimes a big, fat bully. And not only to the outsiders and “illegals” (though that is a huge issue of ours in and of itself), but we’re big, mean bullies to our own, as well. My last piece covered just a portion … [Read More...]
Underemployment In The Media
Is A Working Class Hero Something To Be?
I've been underemployed for the better part of 25 years now, and I've often thought about the various forces that shaped me, moved me, and led me into a deeply unsatisfying job life. How did I become what I became? Why did I decide to pursue X and not Y? Why indeed. I think many of us have had these thoughts about our lives. Our formative years behind us, we often don't realize until much later … [Read More...]
Featured Post
Hey, We Published Our First Book.
We're proud to launch the first book The Underemployed Life has published. It won't be our last - we have another one coming down the pike from our columnist, Andrea Thompson, but it is our first book, and we want to tell you a little bit about it so you have some background on it. Previous to the book, I had been working steadily for about 20 years, but then I got fired from AT&T in … [Read more...]
In Other Words
Dear Amazon: Don’t Want You, Don’t Need You
Right now, Amazon is deciding where to build its second headquarters based on proposals from countless US cities. Considering many US businesses (I’m talking 285,000 according to The New York Times) have fake addresses in Delaware in order to not pay taxes, or do things like Apple does and move their entire headquarters to increasingly remote places whenever asked to pay the billions … [Read More...]
Underemployment Around the Globe
If You Ever Felt like Screaming When Searching For A Job, This Book Is For You.
If you’ve gone through the frustration of looking for a job in the past 20 years, you know it’s depressing, mostly disappointing, and littered with misleading job ads. How Much Do You Fuckers Pay is a collection of real cover letters sent for real jobs and some of the best responses. These letters weren't originally written for … [Read More...]
Other Post
I Will Never Be Financially Stable
On any given day, I have pervading thoughts about my future, but the one that really sticks with me pops up whenever I see a giant advertisement with a celebrity selling watches or jewelry. Those actors and models can make more money on a single endorsement than I will have accrued over my lifetime. The truth is, I don’t really care that I will never have as much money as Warren … [Read More...]
Politics Corner
Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un: Two Peas In A Pod?
I feel very far removed from life in the US right now. Physically, it’s because I’m living in Japan for the next year. Mentally, not as much news crosses my path as it used to; with the exception of one colleague asking me what Trump meant when he called Kim Jong Un (KJU hereafter) a “smart cookie.” My language skills weren’t advanced enough to explain to him that the … [Read More...]
More Featured Posts
If You Ever Felt like Screaming When Searching For Work, Read On.
If you’ve gone through the frustration of looking for a job in the past 20 years, you know it’s depressing, mostly disappointing, and littered with misleading job ads. How Much Do You Fuckers Pay is a collection of real cover letters sent for real jobs and some of the best responses. These letters weren't originally written for the purpose of a book. They were written by someone who was … [Read More...]
More Politics Corner
I’m A Liberal In A Red State
I live in a small town in Kentucky. When I say small, I mean a population of around 1000 people. The city limits aren’t much over three miles from one end to the other. It’s one of those places where everyone knows everyone. Several of my high school teachers taught my parents, and very rarely can I pass someone on the street or in the store without them not only knowing my name, but my parents, … [Read More...]
More Underemployment In The Media
Wage Stagnation, The Wage Gap, And The Triumph Of Greed
For the American working class, wage stagnation has been a nasty problem, running 40 years deep now. Different year, same pay. Year, after year, after year. Alternatively, productivity for American businesses has risen to epic levels the past 40 years. This quote from the Harvard Business Review sums it up: “though the economy has been growing, the primary way most … [Read More...]
Featured Interview
Yale Strom On His New Documentary, American Socialist: The Life and Times of Eugene Victor Debs
Yale Strom is an accomplished writer, violinist, composer, writer, and more. He is also the director of five award winning documentaries. His newest documentary, American Socialist: The Life and Times of Eugene Victor Debs, is now playing at select theaters across the … [Read More...]
More Underemployment Around The Globe
“How Much Do You Fuckers Pay” Is A Book For The Fed Up Among Us
If you’ve gone through the frustration of looking for a job in the past 20 years, you know it’s depressing, mostly disappointing, and littered with misleading job ads. How Much Do You Fuckers Pay is a collection of real cover letters sent for real jobs and some of the best responses. It takes the piss out of a system that makes … [Read More...]
License
The Underemployed Life by J. Parks is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.