We are going to have to get a 2nd job just to afford gas to drive to our career job

overhead this in the teacher's lounge today.



Teachers are paid decently...not wonderfully, but decently and the more education and the longer you have been teaching the higher your pay scale is.


We were in the teacher's lounge today for lunch and one teacher who as a Masters + 30 and been teaching 20 years said this...

then went on to complain that her mortgage went up 300 dollars too...


(guess who she voted for in 2004)


naw I didn't rub it in did not feel the need to

I did offer her an alternative solution with our local teacher's credit union...

I feel for her

not to mention, a pint of blood and a kidney to boot.

That is good isn't it?

Higher tax assessment? sometimes thats built into mortgage payments (as technically the bank owns the home)

but again, I didn't ask because it is not really my business

balloon mortgage on the condo from hell - don't even ask.....).

still owning my own home near my work is just a fantasy at this point. At this point in life my parents had a house, 2 cars and 4 kids supported on 1 teachers salary:(

on less money than I bring home

Hubby and I make better money and it seems we have less to spend

I bought the only home I could reasonably afford and then a year later I changed jobs to a mile or so up the street..

If everyone in all places of employment would do this

they would damn sure get the cost of gas down

Same with healthcare

Most of the employees live within 4 miles of the place but choose to drive.

One employee lives about 10 miles out.

What things at the company should be cut and how fair would that be?

Also, should the people who live within cycling distance get a cost of driving increase?

Please elaborate.

Nah, that would be un-American. :eyes:

as for driving a fuel efficient car and riding a bike, people who could do that have been doing that for years, the economy didn't just take a dive last week, it's been in the shitter since 2001

there is no more to cut

to me it's un-american to "blame the victim" but that's just me, i'm starting to understand that many americans would rather crap on the guy on the bottom rather than criticize the actual leadership -- after all, demanding REAL change from the top is dangerous and might annoy agent mike while shitting on joe blue collar for not riding a bike home from work after 9 hours of hard labor is cheap and easy...

don't people ever get tired of taking the cheap shot?

can you just see 55 year old female teachers riding a bicycle 8 miles across an urban city at 5:30 AM with mountains of graded papers, a laptop, lunch and supplies for the day's projects...



sometimes it boggles me the condesending comments that as you say blame the victims.


oh and our public transportation starts at 6 AM...and does NOT go to our school.

No thanks.

and the bus service does not service that area...


plus our school starts at 7 AM and no way would I get up at 4 or 5 just to get to work



people don't stop to think that major purchases such as houses and vehicles were made before this hell of an economy and maybe we are stuck where we are

but he lives in the neighborhood.

He is also quitting at the end of this year. Sad, cause he is a good teacher.

I think the interview went well, but I will probably turn down the job if offered because it involves "floating" and teaching 3 classes of Freshman then 2 classes of Sophomores.


I hate the freshman curriculum and I do NOT ever want to float again.

I have a really nice room currently but because of budget cuts we are down to one SS teacher for each grade level so I have to teach 7th grade SS...blah

I absolutely never want to leave elementary school.

I just do not have the temperment for that


what grade level?

I have all grades since I am sped resource. We are k thru 6 this year but will add 7th next year.

Worked in the schools years ago, and it wasn't a good fit for me.

we had 8th grade graduation.

I had them for 7th grade and then looped with them to 8th this year. I bawled my head off.

They have all blossomed into great young people.

I am truly gonna miss them


and now that I have to move back to 7th because of budget cuts, it will be like starting over again.

Who said a bike was the only choice?

There are cheap used cars that get great mileage if you can't afford a hybrid.

I'm poorer than a public school teacher, but with the econobox I drive, gas prices are not a big concern. I drive as little as possible anyway.

You're demanding that an inefficient lifestyle - living EIGHT MILES from work - be subsidized. Sorry, but nobody is forcing you to live that far from work.

I would love to find a liftvan that gets that kind of mileage or better. Bitching about the scarcity and unreliability of handicapped buses to the train station and then to the job does not good. I live 22 miles from work. I have a choice, move closer to work - but moving anywhere less than 10 miles from my job is unaffordable. I could work closer to where I live - I certainly tried. I'd say 70% of the jobs in my suburb are not much over min wage. and for the others No one was interested in a 50something black female in a wheelchair.

I don't mean to say poor little me. I actually feel extremely fortunate to have even survived, and to have found my wonderful employer. But with the cost of living going up MUCH faster than my employer can afford to pay me it does create a special set of problems.

Lifestyle wise, we wheelies started carpooling a long time ago out of self defense. I drive a total of 5 wheelies downtown every day and we share the expense. Which is still getting to be a stretch for all of us.

"as for driving a fuel efficient car and riding a bike, people who could do that have been doing that for years, the economy didn't just take a dive last week, it's been in the shitter since 2001"


I still see lost of people commuting ALONE in big SUVs. All the people who could do better are NOT.

I'm not blaming anyone, just mentioning things that can be done - all things that I personally do.

A bicycle was not the only thing I mentioned - it may not do for work, but it will certainly take you to the supermarket if you're just getting a few things...

Saying that nobody could possibly make any more lifestyle changes is the biggest fucking copout of the century.

In this post and the others. WE are in this position, because people have been living wasteful lifestyles for decades. Things haven't gotten worse, things have actually become like that in other countries. The price of gas is only going down when the rest of the world decides to regress and go back to the 3rd world...not going to happen.

People don't car pool because it is inconvenient. THere is no mass transit because people never used it nor wanted it a few years back...it wasn't as comfy as their 15 MPG SUV. NOw it's biting us in the ass.

Global warming is a bigger problem than the price of homes and the inconvenience of mass transit or car pooling. People need to recognize that.

to me it's un-american to "blame the victim"... :thumbsup:

I live in a huge metropolitan area. It's not uncommon here for folks to drive 50 miles or more round trip to work.

It was costing her too much in gas to get there.

It will be good for both your students and your finances!

I really like being able to get away from the kids I teach when I am at home. It can be such a stressful job; spending evenings and weekends around them would be way too much for me.

I fucking hate him, and his ilk

single mom with a dead beat old man, she works at a store she can walk to, part-time, to get money for gas to drive across town to her other higher paying job.

:patriot: