Nextdoor Begging

Nextdoor is kind of an interesting idea for an app to let neighbors post and communicate. It’s mostly boring stuff, but on rare occasions something gets people going. Usually, it’s politically charged or something big going on locally. In this case, somebody finally got tired of seeing too many posts about fundraising and posted, “When did Nextdoor turn into post after post of others requesting financial support from the community? Is no one capable of working a 9-5 anymore? I get it, everything is expensive these days. But there are literally ‘now hiring’ signs out all over town. Even KFC had a sign stating starting wages are $17/hour...”
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See, I don’t think they do, actually get it. Everything is more expensive, but needing help with an emergency doesn’t mean someone is not working. That’s an idiotic thought process to just assume any job can pay for any need and any emergency.

Here's the fallout of people agreeing and disagreeing:

First comment: “I swear ND has become nothing more than gofundme’s. 95% start off with, and I’m paraphrasing, “I’m 20something and have made bad life decisions, help me!”

First response to that comment: “It’s capitalism, baby. Maybe if young people were paid livable wages they could survive without help, but nowadays $20 an hour is barely a live-able wage for a single young person.”

Now, I have seen a few of the posts the first commenter quipped about and, yeah, sorry, but in many instances I can see and read through those cases where you can tell the person has made several bad choices in life and lifestyle to know they’re probably going to be needing some kind of financial or resource help several times throughout their life. They’re not in a good position and it won’t likely get a lot better; but I wouldn’t ever comment that publicly in a forum like that because we don’t know all the details and it’s just rude.

Ok, here we go. I’m going to color code original comments and their follow up responses that I found entertaining to read through.

“I agree. I have seen many posts of people asking for money but I have not seen one post of people asking for a job. Hopefully these people will see that coming onto this site to beg for money will do them no good and it will stop.”

I have seen many contractor-type people advertising their services and soliciting efforts to drum up some business, but I don’t think the average person is going to Nextdoor to look for jobs. That’s more of an “Indeed” or “Linkedin” type place, so kind of a dumb comment.

“It's the era of handouts in the US. If you can get people dependent on the government, they become way easier to control. Not a big secret.”

There were A LOT of comments like this with the “Nobody wants to work” attitude, blaming government and handouts. This is where a lot of the push back came from.

“Many now reject the concept of starting at the bottom and working up. When I entered the work force, I had every s* job delegated to me. Now, it seems like even those starting out expect $20+/hr. If they don't get it, they stay on the sofa, smoke dope, and play video games. No worries with government subsidized housing, free health care, free food, etc. Those still with a work ethic are an endangered species.”

Response: “Because $20 is the very minimum for a basic living wage without getting any assistance from the state….. that’s not entitlement. That’s survival.”

“I want to hold up a sign that says I work 2 jobs and still can't afford anything. See if I get some handouts too.”

This person really is working two jobs and the first response to this comment really said, “You are working in the wrong places then. What kind of work do you do?”

Yikes. I hate this comment. When pushed they continued, “They are hiring in every type of position. Seriously I wouldn’t work at this point in my life for anywhere near minimum wage. Once I had a job I continuously worked my way up. I really truly don’t understand why this frustrates you. I work for an agency that will pay 55 dollars an hour and up. We are hiring.

You can look at any home health website. All of them are in desperate need of end, LPN’s, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and social workers. Yes, there is some education required, but it is well worth the time and money to get the education. If you work for (local hospitals) they offer student loan forgiveness. It only takes about 18 months to become an LPN. Agencies are LITERALLY in a bidding war for social workers. Right now, (local hospital) is offering me 60 an hour with full medical benefits and a matching 401k if I will work for them. Part of my day consists of driving around the valley listening to my favorite music while I’m going to people’s homes. I get paid for that. If you like to help people, the job is fun and easy.”

Of course! Of course the job requiring master’s degrees and years of specialization and experience are struggling to hire. Of course she assumes anyone can just jump right into this! Gee, thanks we’ll get right on that!

One individual came out strong against these “Nobody wants to work” attitudes and made her own comment: “Cost of living has skyrocketed. Wages have not. This is a platform for COMMUNITY. If you don't want to help, don't, but a lot of folks DO need help on top of having a full-time job, or even two! ESPECIALLY a job paying under $20/hr. Helping our neighbors is WHY this platform exists. This all for me, none for you attitude is gross. Also, GoFundMe is totally accepted here by Nextdoor guidelines.. Just keep scrolling if you don’t want to look at it.”

First response: Do you help them? I remember when there was nobody asking for help and all of a sudden everybody's asking for help. Too many people have too many other things to pay for and still help others; but we don't need to keep scrolling, they need to find a job. Sorry, but that's how I feel about it. I was a single mom once and I made it by working and still got assistance living on HUD housing. They came to us, we didn’t go to them. So maybe you need to keep scrolling! 😊

“You can’t be serious. Things aren’t remotely the same as how they were when you were growing up. Cost of living has increased astronomically over the last couple of decades and wages have not. I often do give away hard earned money to houseless, go fund me pages, charities, etc. not that that’s any of your business…it’s not a hand out, it’s a hand up. I was, until recently, a single mom as well. Bought my house at 21 by myself. Never had HUD, never had welfare, WIC, or unemployment. We barely scraped by for years and I hope with the limited extras I do have now, my kids see me giving and showing grace to those who need it. Getting by is hard now. Surviving is hard now. Helping people should always be something we strive for. Shaming people keeps them down. It’s not encouraging in the least. Encourage giving. Encourage loving. So to scroll by the public shaming of those struggling/in need would not be very merciful, loving or compassionate now would it? We stand up to bullies in my home and defend the less fortunate. Because that’s the right thing to do.”

Then there was a string of a few troll responses like:

• “I do not like people asking for money. Too many jobs available.”
• “I agree. It’s kind of sad seeing people expecting handouts here. I understand there is a shortage of willing workers in this area. I don’t come on here as much because of all the people asking for assistance. I’ve talked to a few employers and they said they can’t get people who want to work.”
• “Why work, when the government, state, county, city give them everything free, even cigarettes? We're living in a state of 'WHY WORK' when we can get support from all these different agencies.... what a sad state of affairs. Born in 1932, I started work at 13 years old, collected unemployment once in my life for 2 weeks, otherwise worked for 55 years straight thru......WHATS THE ANSWER?????”

Ah, yes. The typical “Boomer” responses, but that last one I think is even older than boomer. I do understand the base of feelings where this original post is coming from, because sometimes the frequency of donation requests was getting high and many of them did, in fact, read like the stereotype these people complain about – meaning it’s people who clearly on not on a secure, successful path in life and they’re just looking for assistance to get them to the next spot where they’ll most likely need assistance again in a relatively short amount of time.

But where they lose me is when they start making wild claims about how anyone asking for financial assistance just needs to get a job. It’s shocking to me that some people assume having a job means all your needs will be met. These two response comments highlighted that:

• “…holding a job doesn't mean you aren't in need of assistance.”
• “Pathetic. ‘I have an emergency to correct an unforeseen, unexpected issue. Guess I should go get a second or third job to pay it off over the next 8 years,’ instead of people rallying for like, $5-$20 each?”