And how will I keep my non-paid internship? I can&#x27;t show up reliably, because my McDonald&#x27;s job has variable hours and I only get a day&#x27;s notice.<p>And how will I afford my studies for chemical engineering? I can&#x27;t even afford community college on minimum wage, and no one will hire a Chem E without an accredited degree (for good reason). I can take EdX courses (not free if I want certification), but they can&#x27;t ever equate to in-person courses and real college students are holding protests to ensure that doesn&#x27;t change.<p>And how will I set aside time for nightly coding? My McDonald&#x27;s job is a zero-hour contract, so I&#x27;m not guaranteed <i>any</i> work on a given day and can&#x27;t budget. Meanwhile they&#x27;ll fire me if I turn down a shift, so I&#x27;m on TaskRabbit and Mechanical Turk trying to make quick cash at $3&#x2F;hour because I can&#x27;t accommodate a second real job.<p>In the meantime, my job isn&#x27;t a stepping stone to shit except nightshift manager, because the post above that requires a college degree and doesn&#x27;t privilege current employees.<p>Sure, there are jobs out there to get, and there are ways to self-study and get ahead. Granted. So yeah, lecture your unemployed cousin about playing Call of Duty instead of getting a night job. He&#x27;s a lazy slob and he ought to do better.<p>But it&#x27;s the height of condescension to say that structural unemployment and negative real wage growth are happening because people suddenly got lazier. Don&#x27;t come and tell me that &quot;work is a four letter word&quot; when we have the same 13% poverty rate we&#x27;ve had for forty years. That&#x27;s not lazy teens, that&#x27;s the world you live in.