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My Life as a Retail Worker: Nasty, Brutish, and Cheap
The Atlantic ^ | March 11, 2014 | Joseph Williams

Posted on 03/11/2014 3:29:30 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

After veteran reporter Joseph Williams lost his job, he found employment in a sporting-goods store. In a personal essay, he recalls his struggles with challenges millions of Americans return to day after day.

My plunge into poverty happened in an instant. I never saw it coming.

Then again, there was no reason to feel particularly vulnerable. Two years ago, I was a political reporter at Politico, and I spent my days covering the back-and-forth of presidential politics. I had access to the White House because of my reporting beat, and I was a regular commentator on MSNBC. My career had been on an upward trajectory for 30 years, and at age 50 I still anticipated a long career.

On June 21, 2012, I was invited to discuss race, Republican candidate Mitt Romney, and the 2012 presidential election on MSNBC. I said this:

“Romney is very, very comfortable, it seems, with people who are like him. That’s one of the reasons why he seems so stiff and awkward in town hall settings … But when he comes on ‘Fox and Friends,’ they’re like him. They’re white folks who are very much relaxed in their own company.”

The political Internet exploded. Because I’m an African American, enraged conservative bloggers branded me an anti-white racist. Others on the right, like Andrew Breitbart’s Big Media, mined my personal Twitter account and unearthed a crude Romney joke I’d carelessly retweeted a month before. The Romney campaign cried foul. In less than two weeks I was out of a job.

Five months earlier my ex-wife and I had a fight. I pleaded guilty to charges of second-degree assault, and signed a court order to stay away from her and her residence. Upon completion of six months of probation, the incident would be wiped from my record....

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: media; msm; politico; romney
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Boo-hoo!
1 posted on 03/11/2014 3:29:30 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Yeah, I’m all torn-up over his plight.


2 posted on 03/11/2014 3:31:49 PM PDT by .45 Long Colt
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Bump for later. Cannot WAIT To read this one, LOL! Race-baiting wife beater, feelin’ sorry for his-self...

Man up, ya putz.

Oh, was that racist? *SMIRK*


3 posted on 03/11/2014 3:34:05 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set...)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

12 years a retail worker.


4 posted on 03/11/2014 3:34:31 PM PDT by MUDDOG
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

In less than two weeks I was out of a job.

Uh, sorry Joe, where is the correlation?
I object your honor, speculation on the part of
the witness.


5 posted on 03/11/2014 3:34:41 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Just wait until Obamacare kicks in fully, you don’t know poverty now like you will.


6 posted on 03/11/2014 3:37:04 PM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
He should have just told his boss, "hey, I'm a political reporter."
7 posted on 03/11/2014 3:37:33 PM PDT by Steely Tom (How do you feel about robbing Peter's robot?)
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To: tet68

“$#*+, what’s one more old ****** to the board of education?”


8 posted on 03/11/2014 3:40:03 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (I will raise $2M for Sarah Palin's next run, what will you do?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I only read half of it. He was whining because he has to stand most of the time? The writer of this article is all wrapped up in himself and looks for slights and insults where there are none.

I enjoyed my years in retail. If it was busy, the time flew by. If it wasn’t you found something to do. I liked chatting with customers. It was over 20 years ago, but I found most people were interesting and pleasant (and we would compare notes and make fun of those that weren’t).


9 posted on 03/11/2014 3:42:01 PM PDT by LostInBayport (When there are more people riding in the cart than there are pulling it, the cart stops moving...)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Boo hoo


10 posted on 03/11/2014 3:43:12 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Of course, I had no idea what a modern retail job demanded. I didn’t realize the stamina that would be necessary, the extra, unpaid duties that would be tacked on, or the required disregard for one’s own self-esteem.

What a whiney little bitch...

11 posted on 03/11/2014 3:43:47 PM PDT by Popman ("Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God" - Thomas Jefferson)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I don’t brand him as a black racist....I brand him as a typical, whiny liberal who thinks the world owes him, and others like him, a living. So he had to work somewhere else than at a some soft, cushy, lib-blog that paid him to spout his nonsense. Cry me a river.


12 posted on 03/11/2014 3:44:20 PM PDT by driftless2
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Normally my heart goes out to anyone who has a career change and has to take a couple of steps down the food chain.

This guy? I remember him from the election, not that I was a big fan of The Mittster 'cause I wasn't.

Anyway I see this guy as a demotivational poster.

"Don't be this guy."

13 posted on 03/11/2014 3:44:33 PM PDT by OKSooner ("As the riders went on by him, he heard one call his name...")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

It sometimes sucks to live in the world you made.


14 posted on 03/11/2014 3:45:17 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Obammy should have stepped in IMMEDIATELY and nationalized the store!


15 posted on 03/11/2014 3:45:25 PM PDT by Dallas59 (Obama: The first "White Black" President.)
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To: Popman

He sure wouldn’t like the armed forces, factory work, farming/ranching or construction, then, would he?


16 posted on 03/11/2014 3:45:52 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (I will raise $2M for Sarah Palin's next run, what will you do?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

He got a bonus of a $25 pair of socks.

What I want to know is, did he pay income tax on that? The IRS is clear about wanting its share of non-monetary compensation.


17 posted on 03/11/2014 3:49:10 PM PDT by Colinsky
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

He obviously hasn’t applied for a job with The Regime.


18 posted on 03/11/2014 3:51:17 PM PDT by clintonh8r (Don't twerk me, Broi)
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To: Popman

Extra unpaid tasks? Aren’t most retail clerks paid hourly and punch a clock? So, what’s unpaid?

Is he required to take the bank deposit to the bank using his own car? He should be reimbursed for that. Is he sent down to the mall food court to bring back lunch for the manager? He’s on the clock, isn’t he? Same for inventory and stockroom work.


19 posted on 03/11/2014 3:51:49 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: 2ndDivisionVet


20 posted on 03/11/2014 3:53:39 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -vvv- NO Pity for the LAZY - 86-44)
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