My husband and I are both on disability. Hubby shouldn't work at all, because his joints are so bad his doctors told him at 17 that he'd be fully disabled and in a wheelchair by 30. He made it to 35 (in a very physically demanding job, only pain killers and stubborness kept him working that long). He's 40 and he uses a cane sometimes, but no wheelchair yet.
He started helping his friend (a bar owner) by bartending once a week (a 4 hour shift). We even went to the Social Security to find out what kind of paperwork he'd have to do (turns out none, unless he starts working more hours and/or starts getting paid a whole lot more).
Sad part is, hubby is basically working for free. He gets tips, $20 and free drinks (and because of hubby's medications that means all the diet Coke he can drink and maybe one or two alcoholic drinks a week). He's there to help a friend and the friend is taking advantage.
Last night he worked (New Years Eve). He only agreed to work if the owner (his friend) made sure hubby wouldn't have to work more than 6 hours, and wouldn't have to work alone (last year he ended up working more than 8 hour shift and was unable to walk the next day.
I was skeptical, but hubby was convinced his friend would do right by him.
Hubby and the only other responsible bartender in the place worked the entire night. The young man who was supposed to work, called in "sick."
The back-up plan was that the owner himself would work so hubby wouldn't have to.
Yeah, not so much. The owner was so drunk that hubby worked the rest of the night so the other bartender (a very tiny woman) wouldn't have to work alone.
To be honest, I suspected as much - but here's the part I am so, so, so angry about. Hubby is in a terrible state right now. We're supposed to go to his father's home for a late Christmas celebration, and hubby is so stiff and sore that can barely stand, let alone walk (He was moaning and crying in his sleep - which is never a good sign).
When he's in this much pain, he's the biggest jack*** on the planet - and I get that. I'm not Mary Sunshine when I'm in that much pain either. But what really irks me is that his friend didn't have his back. Didn't even try. So why is hubby helping the turd out?
The bar owner is a semi-functioning alcoholic, who would lose his bar if he didn't have friends who cared more about him and his business than he does.
What really kills me is that hubby was so proud when he came home and could hand me his tips. Added to what I'd already saved, it was enough to buy the small Nook HD I'd wanted - especially poignant, because my mother had made a joking (more snide than joking) comment to him about why he hadn't bought me the Nook for Christmas. Even though we agreed I wouldn't buy it until after Christmas, I know it still hurt him to have my mother imply that he was a selfish jerk.
It will take hubby a week to recover from this, and it just makes me feel so angry and frustrated.
Rant over, and now I feel much better. Hubby is an adult and can make such decisions for himself, I just hate to see him in so much pain.