Remember the 08 Financial Crash? How bad did it get you?
- Thread starter ☑︎#VoteDemocrat
- Start date
I was working in the mega-yacht industry, straight out of jail, 22, 18 months in a halfway house, finally got a job with benefits, full time employment. It was a labor job, 7:00 AM start, grinding, sanding, wiping down, on these yachts that were 300 ft plus, some of the biggest names in tech, finance, world powers owned these yachts, hundreds of millions to purchase, 125,000 for the gas, to fill up. 100,000 on teak decks, just the most grandiose and opulent you can imagine, the height of decadence.
Everyone was buying houses, guys I worked with, maybe making 60k a year, blue collar guys, were buying multiple properties. The guy who drove the damn lunch truck we ate at, got a real estate license and was selling houses to his customers. Insane, in hindsight.
After that fateful September/October day, it was over. There was maybe 6 months in 2009 where I worked everyday, one more big project. The entire business went into a death spiral, all those yachts pulled out, their owners were ruined, in some cases, many just went to cheaper yards, internationally. Crippled the business. 60% of the employees went home that week. People with families, multiple children, just devastated. We were told we would collect "work share" benefits, for working partial days, and missing work, those benefits didn't come til late March. I went the way I learned how to make money at 16, and I remember I had like 10 unemployment checks saved up when I finally cashed them.
Everyone was buying houses, guys I worked with, maybe making 60k a year, blue collar guys, were buying multiple properties. The guy who drove the damn lunch truck we ate at, got a real estate license and was selling houses to his customers. Insane, in hindsight.
After that fateful September/October day, it was over. There was maybe 6 months in 2009 where I worked everyday, one more big project. The entire business went into a death spiral, all those yachts pulled out, their owners were ruined, in some cases, many just went to cheaper yards, internationally. Crippled the business. 60% of the employees went home that week. People with families, multiple children, just devastated. We were told we would collect "work share" benefits, for working partial days, and missing work, those benefits didn't come til late March. I went the way I learned how to make money at 16, and I remember I had like 10 unemployment checks saved up when I finally cashed them.
Low-key, I seen everyone NEVER stop looking for work these days
no one is ever caught off guard anymore in my friend-circle. People stay interviewing even in long term jobs.
Yachts with helicopter pads, 60 jet ski's, all marble floors, so big you are lost on them, you may only see one side of the boat, one portion of the top deck. Just google some of the worlds biggest yachts, and I've been on them, or similar ones. Paul Allen's yachts, Bill Gates, a lot of wealthy European billionaires, and leaders. A family member was a mid level exec, and he got me the job. So, I'd have some inside information, I hung out in the upper offices, and knew the CEO, about owners and prices. The whole exec staff flew to Monte Carlo in early 2008, which was another dark, hilarious image of the height of the bubble.
I have this memory of working in the pouring rain, soaking wet, on a yacht, on hands and knees wiping down a teak deck, that I knew cost like 150k, easy, with some solvent, and I wasn't angry, or bitter, I just said this won't be my life, wiping down the deck of some millionaires's yacht....One boat bought "us" like 400 pairs of shoes, because they thought ours were too dirty to be on the boat.....nevermind we had to take our shoes off anyway to even go aboard....
and the optics were indicative of classism, racism, capilasim, all white boats, all white owners, with all white crew, and all brown/black working on it....
I have this memory of working in the pouring rain, soaking wet, on a yacht, on hands and knees wiping down a teak deck, that I knew cost like 150k, easy, with some solvent, and I wasn't angry, or bitter, I just said this won't be my life, wiping down the deck of some millionaires's yacht....One boat bought "us" like 400 pairs of shoes, because they thought ours were too dirty to be on the boat.....nevermind we had to take our shoes off anyway to even go aboard....
and the optics were indicative of classism, racism, capilasim, all white boats, all white owners, with all white crew, and all brown/black working on it....
Doobie Doo
Veteran
Laid off 3 jobs in 4 years. I hate remembering those days
1 other person
Superstar
Next crash might be worse
Made it back
I was a teenager, my parents weren't affected as far as I could tell.
Gas was $4.76 for regular
GOAT would imply anyone believes him lmao
Hijo de luna
Superstar
I worked in automotive parts. That industry really thrived during the credit crunch since more people opted to fix their old cars instead of buying new. I was working mandatory overtime 60+ hrs some weeks.
I really didn't understand how bad it had gotten until years later.
I really didn't understand how bad it had gotten until years later.