A friend of mine is quitting her job .. a job "Mary" truly loves that provides a paycheck she desperately needs.
The problem is that Mary lives in Akron but the job is in social work in Medina County. With gas prices, Mary can no longer afford the drive back and forth to work .. so she's turning in her two-week notice.
It's the sad reality of today's high gas prices .. yesterday hitting $3.79 here in Akron.
I not only hurt for Mary and her family ... but I wonder how those families she was helping in her job will cope with Mary no longer there to guide them through the system.
Anyone who thinks the high gas prices aren't having an exponential impact on our community needs to stop sniffing the fumes at the pump.
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5 comments:
Eric,
Believe me, I can completely empathize with "Mary". Both my husband and I commute an hour one-way to work, so we spend almost $600/month on gas now thanks to the increasing costs. Unfortunately, the job market where we live forces us to commute to earn a better living, and it isn't a good time for us to sell our home, uproot our children and move closer to our jobs. "Mary" made a tough decision... I wish her the best of luck.
This is really starting to effect people. One thing I'd like to see companies start to offer is a 4 day / 10 hour workweek to employees. That would knock a full day of commute time and miles off of an employee's schedule, but still allow the company to get a full* 40 hrs out of the worker.
*Definition - a companies mistaken belief that an employee devotes a full 40 hrs. to work, discounting smoke breaks, checking personal email, etc.
Regardless of gas prices, I would prefer the 4 day, 10 hr work schedule
"Mary" here. Just wanted to say thanks to you, Eric for bringing up this topic on your blog. It is interesting to hear other people's situations and thoughts on possible solutions. I am still trying to find one for my situation. My husband drives from Akron to Mentor 6 days a week now so we are spending about $800 a month on gas. That was before it hit $3.79 the other day. If you figure that out a year it is over $9,600 a year in out tanks! Our family is taking a real strain over this because it is money we have had in our pocket for the last 8 years. Hard to take a family of four's budget and downsize by nearly 10 grand overnight. I am afraid to look at the gas station signs when I drive by!
Eric,
I am sure it won't take you to long to figure out who I am :)
I am sympathetic to a point about the cost of gas, until I hear the complaints coming from a SUV driver, with a $30-$40 a week Starbucks habit. There is plenty of oil right here in the U.S. that we do not drill for. mainly because we don't want to upset the mating habits of some yellow breasted, pink billed something or another.
There are plenty of ways to help your fuel consumption.
For go the hip 4 wheel drive SUV. 99.9999 percent of these SUV drivers are not going to use it off road anyway, and Ohio winters tho they can get bad, do not get bad that often.
Priorities, how much of that fuel bill goes towards driving the kids to soccer practice, baseball Practice, Ballet, or other extra activities.
You really can't blame the oil companies for the demand that "You" have created. and certainly don't fall for some politicians promise to remove or reduce the .18 cent federal gas tax, it is $1.80 per ten gallons, $3.60 per 20 gallon fill up or one cup of Starbucks. and you can bet that if the oil companies get stuck paying the gas tax, it will be passed on to you.
Trade in the big SUV for a smaller however less hip fuel efficient car.
Gas will never be $1.12 a gallon as long as the demand is so high, and we don't allow more drilling and building of more refineries. once we start doing that, I will bet that the OPEC countries will lower their prices as well. prices only go up when there is no competition.
Sorry, but we are also responsible for the gas situation.....we created the demand.
Semper Fi
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