Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

Struggler wrote:I was often reminded that I didn't have children.

Some C of C parent would tell me I had more free time than they did because "you don't have children." So? I told one of them we should trade schedules for a week, and see who has the most free time. He never took me up on that.

When a young father died, one of the ladies said to me that his death was tragic because he had little children, followed by, "you don't." I was aware of that, and was tempted to ask if she thought my death would be less tragic, or if I should feel guilty for being alive when the other guy wasn't.

The company I worked for fired several employees, including me. One lady went to great lengths to remind me that I should be grateful I didn't have any "little mouths to feed." Lost count of how many times she said that.

In a similar vein, while I was interviewing for jobs (which takes time, as any rational person knows), one of the biddies told me that I'd take any job I could get if "you had cryin' babies t'feed." Wished there was a crying baby nearby to use her for a toilet. She was a mean person anyway.

Sean wrote:I understand the point that the pressure can be increased when you have kids and dependents. But it doesn't really help sometimes to hear that "things could be worse" even if it is true. I recall when I was young and single, the guys I worked with were getting paid more and got bigger raises. We really should not have know what each other was being paid, but for some reason we did. The boss told me that I had to understand that since they were married and had kids they needed more money. It was sort of a social justice thing where "livable wage" was being considered. Of course I was pretty hacked because I wanted equal pay.

This is the disconnect/tension between "equal pay" and "to each according to his need".

roddma wrote:Men have historically been paid more than women because the women were expected to marry..