It's crazy, but it's true: I could not afford to go to work today.
I have a 45-minute commute to and from work, which costs me about ten dollars in gas each day. I'm down to six whole dollars, after paying what bills I could with my last paycheck. There are still unpaid bills, but there's nothing I can do about them right now. I'm mostly worried about how the hell I'm going to feed my daughter until my next check on Friday.
This is not a position I ever expected to find myself in. I have a full-time job at a distribution center for a well-known retailer. The company has weathered the Great Recession pretty well, all things considered: overall sales are off by only 1%, a variance which until recently would have been seen as a business hiccup. But I find that the recession itself has given the Powers That Be at my job an excuse to do whatever they damn well please to their full-time employees.
The infuriating details are below the squiggle.