Progress not perfection

At the start of my employment, my boss showed me videos of people stealing, and we both had a chuckle about it. How silly they were! There was a camera overhead, and it’s not to watch the shoppers. See, we can’t actually stop shoplifters. They get away with it maybe nine out of ten times. But we, who are watched and tallied and witnessed? We are always caught.

At first it was hard to hold one hundred dollars bills. An amount I had never seen before. An amount that didn’t exist in my household. It’s normal now. Here is something that is not for me.

“What the hell, I’ll take another,” says the man, pondering our 200 dollar watches. What the hell. Total comes to 580 and not even a flinch in his face. I have been working for 11 hours today and made only 110 dollars. It will go to my rent. Today I work for free, it feels. When I get my check, I will have 35 dollars left for food and saving.

The six hundreds he hands me go into the cash register. For a moment, I imagine having money. Then I put it away, counting out his change.

I know for a fact we sell our products for double what they are worth. That I could be making commission. That they could hand me those 580 dollars and change my life and not even mark the difference in their checkbooks. He’s not the only sale they make today, but I am the reason they made it. He’s not the only one spending 600 dollars, but if I hadn’t spent two hours with him telling me about his life, he wouldn’t have spent any. I go home. I don’t own a watch.

I have watched and rewatched a video on how to make salmon four ways. My shopping list is always the same. Pasta. Rice. Tuna. If I can afford butter it was a good week. I dream of the world I will never walk in, where I can throw the best fish fillet in the cart with a shrug. I hold hundreds in my hand and look up at the camera. I put them under the cash drawer.

I go to work. I scrap together my savings. I eat my bowl of rice slowly. My manager takes a paid week off from work just for his birthday. He owns a yacht. 

i was part of their college program. i moved to the state for it. they legally owned the building i was living in and still charged me rent. i ostensibly was being charged to work for them. it was a 2 bedroom apartment and they placed 6 adult women in it in forced triples.

as many as one in ten disney employees have experienced homelessness while working for the company. despite huge efforts to unionize, strike, or otherwise demand fair treatment; disney has refused to increase employee quality of life.

disney admits publicly that a good portion of their success is because the employees (“cast members”) are dedicated, passionate, and selfless. this is never reflected in pay. even “face” characters (ie those that are princesses etc) make barely above a minimum wage.

at the time that i worked there, i made $8.50 an hour. at one point i was asked to create a human shield around a bag because a bomb dog had alerted to it. for eight fucking dollars an hour.

i now work a very cushy office job. i have bought the salmon and cooked it all four ways.

i go to the store. i am nice to the person behind the counter. she looks up at the camera while she counts out my change. there is nothing fundamentally different about her and i.

Hi, trying to get an aid (or other types of support) when you don't have parents on your side can be really difficult so I feel for you. I'll do my best to give an answer based on my experience and what I know but keep an eye on the comments and reblogs; there's a bunch of wonderfully knowledgeable people in the community so I'm sure someone will have more pointers for you.

As for my thoughts and advice, please keep in mind that I'm a 30-something person who became disabled later in life, I'm likely living in a different country, and I haven't had to work around parents getting in the way. I've read posts on Tumblr from people in similar positions to yours but that's about all I know of it. So I can empathize, but I don't really know what's it's like to be in your shoes...

My first thought was to wonder how old you are and whether you do actually need them involved? Without knowing more about you and where you are, I can't really say what your other options are, but is there any way you can talk to your doctor about this without your parents? Do you have access to a nurse, guidance counselor, teacher, or mentor? Or some other family member(s)? I hope this doesn't come across as invalidating or not believing you; I just want to offer suggestions in case something slipped by without you realizing it was an option.

If there's no way around your parents, my suggestion would be to try presenting a well-reasoned, well-researched case for why you need a mobility aid and how it would help. If your parents are at all reasonable, could you do some reading and thinking, gather a bunch of info, and have a chat with them? Show them articles, videos, whatever you can find that they would trust?

If this is something that might work, I suggest starting a symptom/pain journal; write down the pain and anything else going on every day for a couple weeks. Having the impact of your symptoms laid out clearly will help show the seriousness of it all. (This doesn't need to be on paper; a digital note or using an app is also fine.)

Then do some reading when you're in the right head-space for it. Find some books, do a google search, or find the chronic illness and disability #s on here. Take note of the details that are similar to your situation. What do doctors, physiotherapists, and researchers recommend for people with your symptoms? What have other people who live with your symptoms found helpful? Etc. The more info you have, the easier it will be to talk about it and advocate for yourself.

My final thought for you is to ask yourself if there's something other than an aid that could be helpful? Is there a type of pain relief that you know works for you or could you try some more pain relief options? Can you make sure to keep an eye out for seating at these events? Are you able to bring a folding chair or can a friend bring one for you? There's maybe a few other things you could try but I'm not sure specifically what pain you experience or what else you're dealing with, but sometimes thinking outside the box is almost as good as an aid.

So piracy is at worst not even a problem, and at best it's free advertisement.

Source: (the link to the actual study is in the article)