First job in 20 years

Congratulations! I bet you are performing better than you think. We generally tend to see our mistakes more often than our successes. Relationships at work are difficult to navigate. As time goes by you will find what works best with each employee. I really hope it doesn't effect your disability payments, and that you can find that sweet spot of earning enough money while being able to stay on benefits while you need them.

Congratulations Tucson! Best wishes for your continued success. I bet you’re doing a fine job.

Now a third day at work. I am forcing myself to do all of it, instead of the trainer doing it for me. I ended up getting dizzy and stomach upset right near the end of my shift. I have tomorrow off. I kept making mistakes, Simple mistakes.

Congratulations on your job! Well done! Don’t beat yourself for making simple mistakes - everyone makes them.

May I ask how much your gross income
Will be a month
Before taxes? I really worry you’ll
Make
Too much
Money

$13 per hour x 20 hours per week makes for $260 a week. There is at a maximum of 4.43 weeks in a (31 day) month. So this makes for earning at most $1152 a month. The SGA begins at $1260 for 2020.

The calculator that I used for this in the past appears to have given me erroneous results. Must be a brain fart on my end. So now I see that I am cutting it really close! I still have two months left where I can make unlimited earnings before SGA applies. So I can see how the first two months of the job goes with this buffer in mind.

Can you check my math here?

The only thing that I do not like is the clock will start ticking for me, using up to the total of 3 years. This is where if I earn at or over SGA, I will not receive my SSDI check. However, since I will be under SGA, I will continue to get the disability check. From what I understand, after three years, if I make more than SGA for just one month, I am kicked off of disability. IOW if I continue making below SGA, I should be OK, but I do think this job will put me on their radar.

Here is the part that I like. I will be making $13,520 a year, gross. Lets say maybe about $10,000 after taxes, or $834 a month. . This assumes each week will be 20 hours, but in reality it will be less. I collect $1620 a month in non-taxable SSDI benefit. So this gives me a total of $2454 a month after taxes. I have huge debts that I need to pay off with this extra money, something on the order of $60,000. Yes, those are four real zeros that you see. Will I live long enough for this? Probably not. I find myself somehow amused by this last observation of mine.

So I hope I can keep this job, or a job like it, a good part into the future. I cannot afford to be fired. It is hard finding easy jobs that pay anything, and work you 20 hours or less. Part time work usually means over 20 hours a week.

I got the same total. Have you already called social security to let them know you started job? You can check with them but they will send a review form to see if you can still receive disability

Yes, thank you. I forgot about calling them up for this. It is good to double check this with a call to SS.

I know this may sound cliche, but everyone does make mistakes. We are also our own worst critic.

For what it's worth, though, people who are new to a job will rarely, if ever, do things perfect in the first month they're there and that's because working at a new job is always a learning process. Sometimes we make the dumbest little mistakes, but we eventually learn from them and get better as we go.

I'm confident you'll get better at this. The first month of any job is always rough for me, and I know that making mistakes makes me self conscious a lot. HOWEVER, I always remind myself that everyone had to have started from scratch at some point in their life and it's always a good thing to ask other people for help because they can teach you what they've learned from their mistakes, which can help you do better at your job. You'd be surprised with how "okay" most people are with you asking lots of questions!

I have been thinking about how I did not disclose that I am disabled and on SSDI as a consequence,. As I mentioned earlier,, this is with a big box store. I hope this decision of mine does nor come back to haunt me.

I too have anxiety so I can't imagine what it must be like to be starting your first job in 20 years. Good for you. That is so wonderful. I don't know the rules of SSDI so don't know what this will do to that. I think you will be given some type of vest to wear to identify yourself as an employee so maybe khaki's and a polo shirt. As far as your debts, have you thought about bankruptcy? I filed in 2000 and of course there was shame involved but I have moved past that. Tell yourself how brave you were to apply for this job after all these years and that millions of people have started new jobs and that there will be people there to help you. And try to be compassionate with yourself as you are learning like you would be with a friend. Good luck to you.

This is just my opinion about disclosing BP to employer.

I’ve seen it time and time again .. Bosses are “ okay” about it.

But a month or 3 down the road you get written up for being 5 mins late ... punch back in 2 mins late from lunch another write up. Maybe you make a minor mistake ? Normally it might just be pointed out , but disclosed ?? it could be your 3rd strike.

Ok yes the ADA , sureeeer it’s supposed to protect people like us , right?

Honestly they are not going to worry about the lil guy just working a part time job.

My advice ? Keep it under your hat.. go in , do your job , smile and collect your paycheck

Quote:

Originally Posted by ~Christina This is just my opinion about disclosing BP to employer. I’ve seen it time and time again .. Bosses are “ okay” about it. But a month or 3 down the road you get written up for being 5 mins late ... punch back in 2 mins late from lunch another write up. Maybe you make a minor mistake ? Normally it might just be pointed out , but disclosed ?? it could be your 3rd strike. Ok yes the ADA , sureeeer it’s supposed to protect people like us , right? Honestly they are not going to worry about the lil guy just working a part time job. My advice ? Keep it under your hat.. go in , do your job , smile and collect your paycheck

^^^ Exactly my husband's experience. He had disclosed to his supervisor about having an anxiety disorder. He disclosed because they wanted to hire him as a supervisor, but the anxiety was too much. He was in a constant state of heightened anxiety because of being written up practically every week. He has OCD that's pretty severe, so it takes him longer than others to do tasks because he gets "stuck" with the OCD and extreme anxiety.


They couldn't fire him under Calif state law, but they sure rode his a$s. After 17 years of being underemployed and harassed by management, he resigned.

I’m sorry that happened to him, but it’s just typical.

Did you call social security and inform
Them you’re
Working now?