The_Assimilator
Executive Member
My dad has been out of work for almost 3 years. His problem is not getting work, but that he believes that his previous employer - a property development company that was liquidated due to fraud and is now involved in a court battle - will magically rise again. He's an accountant by trade, so it's not like he's unskilled, and he's also a bit of a handyman/motor mechanic, so getting a job really shouldn't be a problem for him. But he just doesn't bother.
His refusal to work has left me carrying the can. Since he joined the ranks of the unemployed I've been paying the living costs of 4 people - myself, my mom, my brother and of course my dad. The family has been living in a rented house for the past 5 years, and recently the rent has gone up to just shy of R 10k. I earn barely R 16k after taxes, so it's difficult for me to cover all the other expenses - food, medical bills, etc. - and still have a bit left over for myself at the end of the month. (You might think we could sell our home to get out of trouble, but he already bet - and lost - the beach house he and my mother built; a house that was worth millions but had to be sold for a pittance to cover his bankruptcy.)
He disappears most days to allegedly go to work, but he never has any money. (He doesn't drink or take drugs.) He's also been selling things around the house to Cash Crusaders, like old CRT monitors (which of course we never see the money from). Today he sold one of the last possessions we had from my childhood home - our tank of tropical fish.
Strange how such a small thing can push a person over the edge, but it pushed me. When he arrived home after concluding the sale, I told him that if he doesn't have a job by 1 March, he can take whatever crap he still owns and leave. I'm not his retirement fund, it's not my fault that he's broke at the age of 65, and it isn't going to be my problem for much longer.
The strange thing is, after this, I feel... liberated. With him out of my life, myself, my brother and my mom can continue. Since his company closed down we've been living in limbo, waiting and hoping for him to get a job. But now that the decision has been made to leave him behind, we can start living our lives again.
This is a decision I should have made 3 years ago. It's a decision that I should probably feel guilty about, but don't. Does that make me a bad person?
His refusal to work has left me carrying the can. Since he joined the ranks of the unemployed I've been paying the living costs of 4 people - myself, my mom, my brother and of course my dad. The family has been living in a rented house for the past 5 years, and recently the rent has gone up to just shy of R 10k. I earn barely R 16k after taxes, so it's difficult for me to cover all the other expenses - food, medical bills, etc. - and still have a bit left over for myself at the end of the month. (You might think we could sell our home to get out of trouble, but he already bet - and lost - the beach house he and my mother built; a house that was worth millions but had to be sold for a pittance to cover his bankruptcy.)
He disappears most days to allegedly go to work, but he never has any money. (He doesn't drink or take drugs.) He's also been selling things around the house to Cash Crusaders, like old CRT monitors (which of course we never see the money from). Today he sold one of the last possessions we had from my childhood home - our tank of tropical fish.
Strange how such a small thing can push a person over the edge, but it pushed me. When he arrived home after concluding the sale, I told him that if he doesn't have a job by 1 March, he can take whatever crap he still owns and leave. I'm not his retirement fund, it's not my fault that he's broke at the age of 65, and it isn't going to be my problem for much longer.
The strange thing is, after this, I feel... liberated. With him out of my life, myself, my brother and my mom can continue. Since his company closed down we've been living in limbo, waiting and hoping for him to get a job. But now that the decision has been made to leave him behind, we can start living our lives again.
This is a decision I should have made 3 years ago. It's a decision that I should probably feel guilty about, but don't. Does that make me a bad person?
