bleh.

Busy night at work, and closing took a long time but I was able to catch the last MAX of the night, waiting at the stop at that time of night is interesting, there are perhaps eight of us who wait regularly that night, I don't know any of them except by sight, they work elsewhere in the strip and don't spend time in the shop I work at.

I sat with my bike as there are no buses that the MAX connects with that can get me within walking distance of home, so my best bet is to get something that puts me within biking distance. I read my book while I waited and occasionally glanced around, my fellow late night crew did much the same, sitting in ones and twos and reading on their phones or chatting quietly, there is a small building that I assume has something to do with maintenance at the station, it is covered in dust and somebody wrote "Shark Muffins" in the dust, which I assume made sense to them at the time.

I said I didn't know these people, and that is literally true, but in another sense I know them well, I am them really. There are certain commonalities that the late night people seem to share, we are none of us terribly old, we are all tired, in positions of middling to fair amounts of responsibility as we are closers, and probably aren't getting paid enough and have assorted levels of abuse of labor rules happening to us from our various employers.

We make okay money probably, enough to pay rent and occasionally do something fun, but not enough to get out of debt or pay for a house, or raise a family, although many of us might try anyway, I dunno something about the futility of it all struck me while sitting there tonight, we bust our asses, risk getting stranded while working late, and succeed only at (mostly) keeping our lives stable, and that is no small feat!

But it isn't really sustainable in the long run, a holding pattern isn't growth, and there are millions of us, some, hopefully including me, will be able to get into another job or position that does allow for growth and a level of financial sustainability, but most of us have to face the reality that we will spend our lives working like this until either we slip and fall out of even this modest stability, or die.

I hope to not be in the latter category, but I have to face the possibility anyway, it isn't the most uplifting thought, and on a larger scale it's a pretty shit possibility for the national economy too, this sort of barely scraping by doesn't work for long.

I dunno, it's after three and I am tired.