Recession Impacts Pt.2

     Last we left off I was still living under Douglas Dam in a tent.  It was no doubt cold now.  We where at the end of November, and the winter had come on.  I had managed to save enough money to rent a hotel room in a very low-budget hotel.  It was really bad.  Like Gatlinburgs' own little Harlem.  This hotel had a life of it's own.  I really missed the peace and quiet of the campground.  Imagine that.  All I heard all night was baby's crying and people fighting.  The cops where all ways there because of drugs, child neglect, you name it.  This place was $110.00 a week and really should be condemned by the city.  The worst part of it all is After a couple of weeks of being there I had began to drink and make other bad choices, as I fell in with the wrong crowd.  It just so happens to get a little busy during the holiday season in Gatlinburg.  I was making more money and had a roof over my head.  I could afford to eat and other than trying to feed all of the kids at the hotel was doing ok.  The problem is the parents that live in this place are usually drug dealers and drug addicts. They stay messed up and the kids end up doing with out.  It is a very sad situation in that particular place.
     I ended up staying there through the winter.  It was close to work and I just dealt with everything else.  I did gradually slip into becoming an alcoholic.  I still had all of my belongings in a storage unit and was having to make those payments as well.  Come the spring time in 2008 I was offered my old job back at the rental company.  Also with a raise.  Wow!!! I am on my way back up.  I knew this was my time to get back to that place that I was at.  So I started working for the rental company again.  I was making all kinds of money.  I eventually left the hotel as I could afford to pay rent on a better place.  I found a studio apartment that had 2 levels.  It was perfect.  It was $600 a month and I had my privacy back.  I was settled in by mid summer 08 and was going out drinking every evening.  I had made new friends again.  That's right I forgot about that Acquaintance area I created.  Seems like I forgot about a lot of things I had experienced.  Drinking everyday will do that.  My job performance did not suffer though.  I always maintained a level of professionalism and never drank on the job.  Things where great for the time being.  After a while my boss started making certain advances at me.  My boss was a female in a very difficult relationship.  I did not respond to the advances and it wasn't long till I was replaced and out the door.  Funny how that happens isn't it?  By this time though I was a full blown alcoholic and had just met my special someone.  Yep, I met the girl of my dreams.  I walked into a restaurant and she was the waitress.  We hit it off.  I didn't tell her I was an alcoholic, but she didn't tell me she was either.  We kind of found out about each other together,as  we moved in together within 2 weeks of meeting.  I started working at the RoadHouse again.  I was serving.  It wasn't so bad this time.  I noticed that there where more people starting to come on vacation.  I was making really good money as a server.  She was working as a server at another restaurant.  Things where only getting better.  Then all of a sudden we come home and there is an eviction notice on the door.  We paid our rent what was the problem?  I called the land lord and she said that since I didn't work at the rental company anymore that we could not live there anymore.  Wow once again.
     So she and I moved into a weekly hotel rental.  It was the fastest thing we could find that was in our budget.  However it was a much nicer hotel.  Still a weekly rental but on the other side of town.  A downgrade none the less.  We fell further into alcoholism.  No surprise there right.  I was promoted to bartender and my significant other started working at the Road House with me.  We where making a fortune.  Loved our jobs and was doing what we wanted to do.  We didn't bother anyone and didn't want to be bothered.  We stayed to ourselves and worked our butts off.  Also drank our butts off.
     Everything was going great.  We had plans to get another place in the next couple of months.  Things where really looking up.  All until I found out about an ABC sting that Sevier Co. does.  They came in when we where slammed out the door and I was the only bartender.  The guy sat down and asked for a beer.  At that moment I poured the most expensive beer I have ever had to buy.  When I set the beer down he stood up walked out the door and in less than 3 minutes I was whisked away to a private area in the restaurant.  The people waiting on me there where not nice at all.  I was cited for serving a minor.  The guy I served was 2 weeks from turning 21 and he was an undercover officer in training.  Needless to say I was in big trouble and unemployed again.  This time was going to be a little harder to find a job.  I also incurred a large amount of fines, Intensive Public Service, and on probation.  All on a first offense.  That's right.  Not even a speeding ticket was on my record.  Later I found out why I got slammed with all of that.  The judge I had also owns the probation offices and has a vested interest in the intensive public service program.  I would say there are some crooked things going on but who are you going to get to fight it.  So I was stuck with it and had to complete all of this, and also pay my fines.  All of this for going to work.  Minding my own business.  I learned about how our government really oporates.  I started learning from the guys who had been in the system a couple of times about the coruptness that go's on.  We paid all of this stuff off and I finished all the things the court had me to do.  Then we got the hell out of Gatlinburg.  We thought we would be able to find jobs in another town in North Carolina.  What a day that was when we pulled in to Asheville, NC.    That is where I am going to have to sign off.  I will be writing the next blog over the next couple of day's.  I hope you enjoy.
The Social Buy Spot

Lifestyles Today Compared to YesterYear

     How much has our lifestyles changed over the past decade?  How much has it changed over the past 50 years?  Quite a bit right.  In some areas of life that is a fact, but in some way's have we evolved at all or are we just reverting to survival instincts?  Now that times have become so hard on everyone, we are seeing families moving back in together just to pay the bills and have a roof over our heads.  I know because I am speaking from first hand experience.  My whole immediate family has had to move back in together.  Not because we are not smart well trained individuals, but because bills are only going up and jobs are only going down.  I was a very well trained and certified HVAC repairman.  Ten years ago I was making plenty of money, and so was the rest of my family.  My father has been in industry management for his whole life.  Over 40 years in upper management.  Can't find a job.  This is happening all over America.  What does a person do who has dedicated their life to one industry and the industry doesn't want them anymore because of economic difficulties?  When you where making a certain amount of money and now you have to work for 1/2 of that or even a 1/4.  With the way bills are today, how do you keep your head above water?  The answer is the same as it has always been.  Families come together and make it happen.
     It is not uncommon to see a family of 6 or 7 living together now.  That is just how difficult it has become.  What has put us in this position?  That answer is simple.  There are thousands of highly trained people that are voicing out that they are able and willing to work.  There are just no jobs to be found.  So you have to take a job you know nothing about and just hope and wait for something better.  Just ten years ago if you wanted to better yourself you just needed to apply for a job and you would more than likely get an opportunity to improve.  That is just not the case in today's society.  I my self have had to resort to serving and bartending.  It is not the most glamorous job out there, but I have come to realize that I love making people happy.  In the A/C industry I was mostly by myself and didn't interact with the mass public.  Now I have been thrust into the spotlight so to speak.  It is quite a rush I must say, but there are very few to almost no laws that govern the serving industry.  So Servers and Bartenders are worked 12 to 15 hours a day in most cases with no breaks.  This work is done on your feet moving quickly and carrying 25 to 40 pounds every 4 minutes on average.  I know, I do it.  I work for a large corporate restaurant.  You wouldn't believe how hard servers have to work.  Then you have to deal with getting stiffed.  I guess the mass population doesn't realize that servers only make $2.00 and hour.  That is right.  When a server gets a check, 90% of the time it states ( This is not a Check) across it.  The craziest thing is, 75% of the people I work with have masters degrees from very well known universities.  These are the people who are coming into the serving industry with huge amounts of debt and they have little to no serving experience at all.  They often times have  a complete misconception of what the serving industry is all about.  People who have masters degrees in amazing fields can't pass the training of a restaurant a lot of times.  Then many times people just can't handle the pressure.  Either way you get the idea, or are living the same scenario that I have just laid out.
     What I am getting to here is that there are 1000's upon 1000's of people out of work who are more than willing at this point to go back to work in their professional fields.  Jobs are going out of country.  Industries are moving away for cheaper labor and little to no taxes.  Why are they doing this I wonder quietly to my self?  Because the government has made it possible.  If you take a little trip through political history you will find that the politicians that are running this country are heavily invested into all of these companies.  Remember that Goldman Sax issue with them getting bailed out.  Why did they get bailed out?  Because the people running our government where invested and made fortunes to turn their heads while these big businesses ran rampant through the little guy's pockets.  They financed things that people could never afford. Property values where through the roof.  Things where great for the people on top while the people like us on the bottom have slowly watched America descend to the point that we are at now in this day in time. So it is very easy to see who is to blame here.  Our own Leaders.  All we can do is ban together as we are seeing done with the Occupy Wall Street Movement.  It is time to take America back and create some wealth of our own.
     Did you know that a Senator makes $174,000 a year.  Not to mention their little side investments.  That is where the money is.  It is a great time to be in the business of being a politician.  You would have the power to pass the laws that pertain specifically to the businesses that you are invested in.  Why not.  That gives them the power to control the outcome for each industry.  Lets not talk about the charitable donations that come from the companies that these politicians are invested in.  So we see how this is all tied in together.  It is not hard to connect the dots.
     We can get things back to where they where or better if we come together and change the line-up.  There are only 500 people who are elected to represent millions.  Many of these people have been in their positions for over 40 years.  How is it that you can only be president for a certain term and Congressmen and Senators can spend their whole life in the ultimate position of power.  It is time for change if we want to take back our country and what it was founded on.  I do know that doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results is the definition of insanity.  So if you are doing nothing to change your situation you are missing the boat and it is time to be a part of a change.  Thank you for reading and I welcome any and all comments.
   We also have our own designs of clothing and apparel.  Here are just a couple of things we have for sale.  All apparel can be found at The Social Buy Spot.

This is our Peace Love & Occupy Wall Street Brand!!!!

 This is our Knuckle Kidz World Brand The Social Buy Spot

 Peace Love & Occupy Wall Street Hoody'sThe Social Buy Spot

 Our new Knuckle Kidz World HatsThe Social Buy Spot

 Tote Bagz