In most businesses, seniority is important. The older, more experienced workers in a company have learned things, on the job, that the younger workers have yet to learn. However, that’s not really the case in many Internet related operations. The guy who’s just out of the right college courses has learned the theory behind cutting edge things that the older workers may grasp only dimly, if at all. As a result, the young guy has important training and can make as big a contribution at work and also make as much or more money, than the older guys.
I’m Mack, one of the guys who graduated from the right college, with the cutting-edge training in the right areas. I’m tall, lean muscular and handsome (I’m also modest as hell!) Because of my appearance and my potential to provide the good life, I manage to snag Janice as my wife.
Janice grew up as a poor girl and wanted something better, a lot better, out of life. Janice had two realistic options, Miss Universe or a college degree. Janice decided that four years of hard work and a college degree beat the chancy option of trying to be Miss Universe (However, I think she could have made it the other way, if she had tried!)
Janice and I graduate from college, get married and start out as two starry eyed kids, on the golden road to the good life.
I get a good job with an Internet startup company, with stock options and the whole works. Better yet, it turns out that I’m really good at what I do and my financial future is bright.
Janice gets a job as a legal secretary (no, actually that’s not the opposite of an illegal secretary.) She works for a lawyer and makes pretty good money, for a secretary.
Janice and I find and buy our dream house. It’s a largish house, on a view lot and it’s what I thought we might buy in perhaps five or ten years. The builder went bankrupt and we picked it up at a bankruptcy sale for a lot less than it’s worth. However, the payments are still a lot for a young couple just starting out, even for a well-paid young couple.
Janice and I are pretty much living our dream. Well, there’s one problem in that dream for me. Janice has always been the object of a lot of attention from the boys around her. Perhaps as result, Janice is very uptight and slow to commit to anything that might be just a result of her face and body. Thus, she’s rather cold and mechanical in bed. Attempts to discuss the matter with her just make things worse. However, a little time will surely take care of the problem.
After a year and a half, the Internet startup that I work for goes under, with zero warning. I get laid off and my big salary suddenly goes away. I then use my industry contacts plus my good work reputation, and I continue to work as a temporary, at whatever I can get, and I make a little money. However, what I make isn’t enough to pay the mortgage, not even with Janice’ secretary salary.
Janice and I review our finances and we can see that our current income isn’t enough to continue our lifestyle. Without my former income, we’ll probably lose the house, to foreclosure.
Janice isn’t going to lose the house, no matter what. Our house is not just a house, it’s too much a part of her lifelong dream for her to even consider losing our home.
We talk a lot about the matter, but either Janice works at the Roadside Pub, or we lose the house. Thus, Janice quits her secretary job and goes to work as a dancer out at the Roadside Pub, out by the highway.
