We Are The 53%

I started to hear about this on the radio this afternoon. Kurt is ahead of me with this…check it out…I did and I am in the 53%. Read about it here at CulturalOffering.com

There are two quotes that come to mind…”The Harder I Work, The Luckier I get” and (Courtesy of Jim Rudolph), “It’s Better To Be The Hammer Than It Is To Be The Nail”

I’m pretty sure that I will get some hate mail for this, but……

I got my first, seasonal, full time job when I was fourteen…and was paid $1.65/hour. I worked all through high school as a lifeguard and cook at a Perkins Pancake House. While in college, I worked four days a week on the 3-11 shift at a local hospital in the ER and when I was home on break, worked at a funeral home and medic unit. At mortuary college, I lived in a funeral home in Cincinnati and worked every night and weekend. When I graduated, I had a student loan and can’t recall how much it was for, but I do remember when I paid it off and my wife and I celebrated.

While married, I always worked at a funeral home, but for a couple of years, I also worked 30 hours/week at night as an EMT for an Ambulance service, (Monroe County EMS).

My wife and I have worked multiple jobs and once, during 1992, I was unemployed for four months…just before Christmas. I was doing menial jobs and finally decided to go to the Monroe County, PA Unemployment Office. I walked in there, stood there for a minute or so and turned around and walked out. I wasn’t going to do that. I went back home and made some more telephone calls. One of those calls (to Preston “Chip” Ray) lead me to the job that lead me to the job that lead me to the job I have today.

When we were able to buy the funeral home, we did so with zero equity. I knew some bankers who I had worked with. They were willing, based on my work record, to lend us 100% of the money to buy the business. There have been two occasions that we had to put payroll on our personal credit cards, because the money wasn’t there to pay our staff…those were scary days….and I’m glad they are but a memory. Yup, the harder I work, the luckier I get…and I’m in the 53% and I keep asking the question, “Who is John Galt?”