I hear my cashiers and associates tell me about how they’re struggling, about how they can’t afford to make it to work, but that they can’t afford not to either. They’re not alone; I struggle to pay rent on the hours Walmart gives me. They won’t give me full-time, so there are times when I have to skip paying some bills, like student loans, electricity, and car payments—at least until my car was repossessed—now the money I thought I’d be saving on gas and car insurance, goes to paying for public transportation to get me around the cities to take care of things like applying for healthcare and food stamps since my employer won’t give me enough hours to live off of what I’m making now. 

It’s because of living on the edge like this that I decided to go on strike; I’m not going to keep living my life like a victim, struggling for scraps and crumbs. I’m a hard working American and a human being. I have an education and I deserve the opportunity to live off a paycheck, not hoping and begging for the government to extend welfare hand-outs. Many of my co-workers at my store support me, but they can’t afford to stand up and go on strike with me. They’re scared because every paycheck at Walmart could be your last. And when you’re living on the edge, it’s hard to take risks with your life. But we can’t keep living on the edge and expect that things will get better, and it’d be foolish to think that things would even stay the same. It’s up to us to make change happen.