I'm a 32 year-old divorced white dude with a young son and I have an undergraduate and graduate degree in accounting from a very reputable school. However, due to some poor decisions, years of addiction brought on by my father's AIDS related death right before my last semester in grad school, and two misdemeanors, I've been reduced to waiting tables and bartending.
Ok, so why was this winter a horrorday instead of a holiday? To begin with, my ex-wife and I tried to reconcile at the end of 2015. That didn't work out well for various reasons so she kicked me to the curb with $25 in my pocket, no car, and no place to go. Luckily I was still employed so I had a way of making money and quickly found a rather shady place to lay my head. Also, thank God, I'm involved in a men's group at a local church and one of the dudes offered to sell me a car on payment with a 1 year payoff plan.
Well, my roommate at the time decided to not pay the gas bill, which he never informed me that he was behind on, so I spent the middle of December with no heat or hot water. Luckily I found another place to live but I couldn't move in until early January. So around Dec 26 I moved all my stuff out and into the garage of my new place, which I had access to while he and his wife were on vacation and camped out in his garage for a week until he came back. A cheap heater and several blankets kept me warm enough. So, every time I was posted up in the garage and had to go #2, I'd have to drive to the closest gas station to do my business. Two days before they arrived home, my boss called me into the office to inform me that I was suspended, and very well may be terminated, because of a $1 discrepancy on a tip. I also need to mention that my "mother" and "sister", my closest relatives, both in distance and relationship, have decided to give up on me and no longer want to help me. So basically I'm stuck with no family, or rather a family that refuses to help me, and a small group of friends who would love to help me but can't financially because all of their money went to Christmas as well. So not only might I lose my main source of income (I have a second part-time job at another restaurant), but I need to pay my old landlord $300 and then come up with $450 for the new roommates, all while trying to remain active in my men's group, pay child support, and make a car payment. While making the money is not the problem, the timeframe in which I need to make the money is virtually impossible to meet given that my main source of income is at best temporarily suspended, and at worst completely lost.
So that's how I spent my Christmas. Living in a slum with no heat or hot water, then living in a garage for a week, then getting suspended from work which could end up being a full termination.
It's getting harder and harder to remain positive.