UPDATE: GOAL MET! One kind and generous kossack has offered to shoulder the burden. Thank you SO MUCH to you angels who recced this diary. I was about to panic, but it's going to be okay now.
Six months ago--after a long miserable spate of unemployment which some of you may remember my moaning interminably about--a caregiving agency hired me and, with my very first case, I began earning about $1,500 mo. Unfortunately, that case ended in late November and the next one that came my way--my current, steady, permanent gig that's sustaining me while my boss tries to get me into a few 24 hr. live-in gigs (or I leave the agency and take a position entirely elsewhere) is only 20 hrs. a week. Because of this, I have on occasion in recent weeks, been unable to make ends meet. This, alas, is one of those occasions.
Most times though, while money has been tight, I do well enough. I own my home outright (I inherited it from my mother) and I drive a paid-for car. There's not much food in the house, but there's usually enough to get by. I am not starving.
I'm not starving, but this month has been especially hard otherwise. A few unexpected expenses earlier in the month put me quite a bit off-budget--and now here we are approaching the end of January and several more unexpected problems have sprung up. And they're not funny. They're urgent. So urgent, I have to turn to my friends at dailykos again for help. I hate to like mad to do it--but if I don't at least try to get help for myself, I could wind-up really, really hosed. And so I have to ask.
I need $50 to save my sanity and my job. Can you help me? I realize it would seem unlikely that $50 could save anything, much less one's livelihood, one's very mind for heaven's sake. Surely that's hyperbole! But it's not. Here's why:
My phone is out of service and I need it, I must have it, for my job: I'm a caregiver on call 24/7; my boss must be able to reach me by talk or (his preference) text message at all times. So this is my #1 issue right now: if nothing else, I need to find a way to deal with this problem ASAP. (All suggestions welcome.) I'm out of airtime, and this despite the fact that I bought $10 worth online earlier today. That's right, the minutes I bought with what amounted to my last dime did not make it to my phone. I have an e-receipt for the purchase--my financial institution shows the withdrawal. But no airtime has shown up on my phone. It remains heartbreakingly nonfunctional. Clearly there's been a computer glitch of some sort. I've been waiting all day for the customer service unit at my wireless company to respond, by email, to my complaint (I have no airtime with which to actually call them), but so far there's been nothing. And I just got a testy email from my boss saying, yeah, I get it--there's been a foul-up and it's not your fault--but still: I need you to take care of the situation, fix it, like, ah, right now.
So that's why I need $10. It's less than what I normally purchase (I usually get the $30 unlimited talk and text), but as I say--this month's been a toughie, and so $10 was all I could afford. I just have to hope that the auto-texts I get from work--which I cannot refuse because while there's a lot of repetition, some of it's new and relevant--won't burn through the time too fast. At least, not until the 10th. Payday.
What else?
I need $18 because I'm out of my antidepressants and that's what they cost at Costco, and, uh.... I simply don't have it. At no time this month have I had the money to make this very necessary purchase; somehow everything else seemed to muscle in on the meds. I guess I thought I could limp through without them until payday, but as it turns out, at the first sign of trouble (see above), I turn liquid--I become a weepy mushball. But this is serious: I need to pull it together fast or I'm afraid I'll spring a leak at work. (Oh, please, god, no.) Antidepressants--whatever you think of them medically, philosophically or any-other-which-way--do wonders for stopping-up the waterworks. And I desperately need it to stop.
Finally, the oil light came on in my car yesterday. My old 1999 Saturn, bless its workhorse of a heart. Now, I'm no good at car stuff, but it looks like I need a quart or two. What do quarts of oil cost? $8 a piece? I'm freaked out because on Sunday on NPR, Click & Clack ran a segment in which they scolded their listeners who let the oil in their car to get so low the low-oil light even has a chance to alight--because by that time you're already damaging your vehicle, they said, and if THEN you don't hie thee to a OilStop or JiffyLube on the merry-frickin'-double, you'll have a burned-out, irreparably ruined engine on your hands and you won't be driving anywhere anytime soon ever, ever again!
OMG. I need my car, like most people, to get to work. And there's no extra money floating around for fixing a burned-up engine.
Other than that, I'm actually doing okay--and (I'll go into this later) I'm on the cusp of doing better than ever. I'm just about over the hump. I mean really: Here Comes the Sun. I just ... crikey. I just need to get through this damn month! Of course it's possible you won't want to help me for a 3rd (4th?) time--and that's just fine. I fully understand. I really do! If I've worn thin my hat-passing welcome, well--I wouldn't be surprised nor would I blame you. I just hope you'll forgive me for having to ask one more time.
Anyway. That's where it's at. $50 is the amount I need to clear the hurdle that is the month of January. I won't take a dime more than that (not to presuppose you'll want to help me at all). And I thank you most humbly for anything you may wish to give to my (ongoing but steadily improving!) cause, even if it's "just" an encouraging word. In any event, the operative email address is twilithour@mac.com.
Update: I just spent 50 minutes at the mall kiosk where my cell phone carrier's services offered. The (very nice) young man working there today called the company on my behalf and tried to get some satisfaction for me, but it was not to be. They claim they've received none of my emails (I've sent two) and state that in any event it will take 3-5 business days from the day they receive my complaint to determine whether or not I'm deserving of the $10 worth of airtime which I purchased over 24 hours ago (and have a receipt for). At one point the young man gave me the phone and let me try and plead my case, but I too got nowhere. I asked several times to speak to a supervisor, but was told there were no supervisors available.