Microstory 331: Steady Income

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Competence

There are six major aspects of living in a capitalistic society that everyone needs to tackle to thrive in it. They’re interwoven with each other, and each one will help accomplish the other ones. They are, in a somewhat particular order: steady income, freedom from debt, the ability to save money, economic participation, job security, and the ability to provide for others. In the end, having a really good job is going to let you check off each one of these, or render them irrelevant, but let’s start with steady income. This can come from having any job with a regular schedule. It does not include day labor or odd jobs, or one that relies entirely too heavy on ad hoc contracts. It doesn’t necessarily pay all that well, and you might struggle with making ends meet, but it’s what keeps you from the constant fear that work will just suddenly stop being available. Temporary positions can qualify for this, as long as you’re in a position to move from one to the next. If there is too large of a gap between appointments, then it does not. On the other end, this doesn’t necessarily include fulltime jobs with benefits, or job security. This is just about getting something going that prevents you from feeling like you have to spend every non-working moment looking for something better. I have had nearly a dozen different jobs, and they all lacked something that could have made them the perfect job. It was great pay, but only temporary; it was fulltime but didn’t pay all that well; I loved every second of it but I was just a volunteer, and it couldn’t last. Right now, however, I can check off this first box. Though I can’t live without the support of my family, I go into work five days a week, and I get a paycheck every Friday. I still owe people money, though, so now I need to work on the second box.

Freedom from Debt