Living in Eastern Europe on a Budget

  • Guest, it's time once again for the hotly contested and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!



    Go here and fill out your bracket!
    Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Once again, only you can decide!

a_skeleton_05

<Banned>
13,843
34,508
whatever, i dont care, infringe all the copyright you want. i do it for movies whenever i feel like it. but i dont sugar coat what i'm doing.

Nor do I. I pirate loads of stuff and have for decades now. I also know it's wrong and do it anyways. I do my best to actually put money towards stuff I really enjoyed, but even then I take advantage of the works of others. But never do I feel the need to feel that I've harmed them in some way, or deprived them of something they've owned.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

Chukzombi

Millie's Staff Member
71,527
212,732
i think you do it for the tv shows
w=414,h=303,crop=auto

enhanced-buzz-30961-1332788382-100-e1335064215106.jpg
i think the last TV show i streamed, was an episode of Better Call Saul. i was going to do season 3 of True Detective, but i realized, i dont give a fuck. like at all. youtube pretty much killed everything on TV.
 

Utnayan

I Love Utnayan he’s awesome
<Gold Donor>
16,269
12,027
Yes, Lambourne, and it is more tragic than that in Romania. Because 46% of the Romanians have 264 Euros minimum wage and 16 % have high wages of 455 Euros, everyone in between has salaries that are higher than the minimum wage, but the difference is minimal.
First of all, a lot of jobs are pushed right to the minimum wage, jobs that are not payed as such in Western Europe.
There are profession that are payed more than the minimum wage, but the difference in pay is less than 30 Euros per month, less than the price of a freaking Xcom game collection.

A primary school teacher has minimum wage in Romania.
A high-school teacher has a salary with 20 Euros higher than the minimum wage. And must be university graduates, with masers degrees.
I know teachers are not well payed anywhere, but they are not payed just 20 euros above minimum wage.
University teachers, with doctorates earned in Western Europe Universities, earn a whooping double the minimum wage, but that is just 264 Euros more than the minimum wage.

The sound engineers at the company I work for earn minimum wage. Janitors are payed bellow the minimum wage because they are not hired with work contracts.
Telemarketers, minimum wage.

An accountant in Romania, during the first five years gains like 50 euros above the minimum wage. A buyer that works in the procurement office at Celestica, an multinational company that opened a factory in my town, earns 25 euros above minimum wage. And Celestica has a net worth of 1 point 3 bilion dollars. The factory workers that work in the Celestica factory from my town earn... you guessed it.. minimum wage.


Edit... Yes, sorry, Utnayan Utnayan , I will stop now and I will no longer reply to this thread. Thank to those that had kind words for me.

Sorry bud I thought this was in the xcom 2 thread. Those people might want to talk about the game. Looks like someone pushed this to a new thread I’d like to learn more and participate. :)
 

The_Black_Log Foler

Stock Pals Senior Vice President
<Gold Donor>
42,771
39,985
Don't stop posting because of a couple flamers. If no one has called you a retard on this board then you are just not posting much. I for one would like to hear more about the situation there and what options like working in the west look like to you. Do you know why the economy is so depressed there? I think we used to have another poster from Romania who talked about their awesome internet which was nearly free but maybe it was you.

I was also surprised by the strong reaction to this since there is tons of talk about pirating movies/TV/Music/Sports and even threads dedicated to it on this board and I have personally been flamed/negged for suggesting that people should pay for their TV shows and whatnot.

He's right you know. I don't even keep track of who calls me a retard anymore. I generally like everyone on this board other than those troll libs in politics.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

The_Black_Log Foler

Stock Pals Senior Vice President
<Gold Donor>
42,771
39,985
Come on. You just presumed that i live in the US or Western Europe and, while i have tons of disposable income and I could afford to buy this game, I just dont because i am a freeloading fuck ?
Well, let me ask you something, X-Com 2 Collection is 33,25 Euros right now, at 73 percent discount. That is 10 percent of my income, income that is 100 percent necessary, does not have a cent that is ”disposable”. That means if i buy this game now, I don't eat three days.

Now, what percent of your income does 33,25 Euros make ?

Bro maybe u should spend less time gaming and more time working?.... Time to use those bootstraps
 
  • 1Worf
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 users

Sebudai

Ssraeszha Raider
12,022
22,504
Alright, Ill try to answer for Seananigans Seananigans , but I will spoiler so that people that are not interested in the topic can easily skip it.

Here is precisely how things differ in my country. I live in Romania, in a small town.

The minimum wage in Romania is 407,45 Euros a month, before taxes. Taxes are 35 percent of that amount. The net income for a minimum wage is 264 Euros a month. I make a little more than that, I have 289 Euros a month net income. But now comes the most interesting part:
About 46% of the employees in Romania are paid the minimum wage. Added link for reference.
Almost half of employees in Romania earn the minimum wage | Romania Insider

But wait, it gets worse. That 46 percent is the national average. In small cities, the minimum wage jobs represent a much higher percentage than that, because the distribution from the big cities influences the average. In towns the size of my town, it is more like 70%. Seven people in ten make minimum wage.

Do you know what is the highest percentage of people earning minimum wage by state in USA ?
Kentucky, with four point four percent.

Now, the prices of the bare minimum for survival are calibrated by the market for this minimum wage, sometimes in strange ways. For example, Internet and cable subscription costs 3 euros a month. In total, not each. Food, utilities, etc, they all fit in 289 Euros a month, but only if I am extremely careful and ration everything. And at the end of the month, zero cents in the bank account.
But there are some classes of products and services i just cannot afford, because the prices are calibrated for Western Europe and USA incomes. And 46 % of the people in my country cannot afford them. Let me just name a few:

A 1000 Euros computer ? Never. I saved one year for a second hand 5 year old partial upgrade. My monitor is 9 years old. My TV is 11 years old. Bought second hand of course.

A 2000 euros vacation in a foreign country ? Never in the lifetime of 46 percent of Romanians.
Last time I went to the cinema was like 4 years ago, and a movie ticket is just 2 euros.

I don't want to sound like I am whining, I am just presenting the reality of poverty. Our poor people are in a worse state of poverty than the USA poor people. A poor person in the USA makes what ? 7 USD per HOUR minimum wage ? And our poor people are 46 percent of the population.
It is true, I have the misfortune to be closer to that 46 percent of the population than to the 16 percent of Romanians that earn monthly the amazing net sum of 455 Euros per month. I am entirely to blame for that, made the wrong choices, etc... But when in USA the chances that you will end up on minimum wage are 4 percent and in Romania are 46 percent, I would say the odds were stacked against me.

Thank you for reading.

Teenagers in Utah make at least twice that amount per month working part time at a Chick-Fil-A, not counting the benefits and tuition reimbursement. When I worked at USPS, 18 year olds were making at least three times that amount per month working part time. I don't think you even need a highschool diploma to work for USPS.

I've always wanted to visit Romania. Especially now that I know I'm apparently part of the 1% there.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

Control

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
2,097
5,211
Here is precisely how things differ in my country. I live in Romania, in a small town.
The minimum wage in Romania is 407,45 Euros a month, before taxes.
I don't want to sound like I am whining, I am just presenting the reality of poverty.

So forget about the piracy for a sec. We have the same internet. You're tech savvy enough to pirate, and your English is probably better than the average American. Why limit yourself to min wage in Romania when you could be selling shit to Americans at American rates?
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
<Silver Donator>
14,366
2,139
There's all the classic rationalizing of piracy I was expecting earlier in the thread.
 
  • 1EyeRoll
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 users

Xerge

<Donor>
1,309
1,243
FUck this shit man, pirate up the ass. Here's a site that specializes in low GB size d downloads for you poor fucks. FitGirl Repacks

Doing the best you can do? Fuck it; have fun and give back later. Just do us all a favor and get your vag out of the hole and give back.

Yuours truly, drunk Canadian.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

Hateyou

Not Great, Not Terrible
<Bronze Donator>
16,207
42,096
Teenagers in Utah make at least twice that amount per month working part time at a Chick-Fil-A, not counting the benefits and tuition reimbursement. When I worked at USPS, 18 year olds were making at least three times that amount per month working part time. I don't think you even need a highschool diploma to work for USPS.

I've always wanted to visit Romania. Especially now that I know I'm apparently part of the 1% there.

What’s the point of stating those wages when the cost of living isn’t even close to comparable? His comparison of minimum wages was pointless too, it’s not an apples to apples comparison.

Talk to any legit immigrant who came here thinking they were going to be rich on $8-10/hr. They tell you about how they had dreams of how rich they’d be with that wage, then they looked at housing and food prices and realized they were worse off at the end of the day. Not only are they broke, they’re now working 50-60 hours a week, when they barely worked before.

Anyways, minor nit picking. Hope your get your xcom, it’s good 👍
 
  • 1Solidarity
Reactions: 1 user

Seananigans

Honorary Shit-PhD
<Gold Donor>
11,777
28,479
Alright, Ill try to answer for Seananigans Seananigans , but I will spoiler so that people that are not interested in the topic can easily skip it.

Here is precisely how things differ in my country. I live in Romania, in a small town.

The minimum wage in Romania is 407,45 Euros a month, before taxes. Taxes are 35 percent of that amount. The net income for a minimum wage is 264 Euros a month. I make a little more than that, I have 289 Euros a month net income. But now comes the most interesting part:
About 46% of the employees in Romania are paid the minimum wage. Added link for reference.
Almost half of employees in Romania earn the minimum wage | Romania Insider

But wait, it gets worse. That 46 percent is the national average. In small cities, the minimum wage jobs represent a much higher percentage than that, because the distribution from the big cities influences the average. In towns the size of my town, it is more like 70%. Seven people in ten make minimum wage.

Do you know what is the highest percentage of people earning minimum wage by state in USA ?
Kentucky, with four point four percent.

Now, the prices of the bare minimum for survival are calibrated by the market for this minimum wage, sometimes in strange ways. For example, Internet and cable subscription costs 3 euros a month. In total, not each. Food, utilities, etc, they all fit in 289 Euros a month, but only if I am extremely careful and ration everything. And at the end of the month, zero cents in the bank account.
But there are some classes of products and services i just cannot afford, because the prices are calibrated for Western Europe and USA incomes. And 46 % of the people in my country cannot afford them. Let me just name a few:

A 1000 Euros computer ? Never. I saved one year for a second hand 5 year old partial upgrade. My monitor is 9 years old. My TV is 11 years old. Bought second hand of course.

A 2000 euros vacation in a foreign country ? Never in the lifetime of 46 percent of Romanians.
Last time I went to the cinema was like 4 years ago, and a movie ticket is just 2 euros.

I don't want to sound like I am whining, I am just presenting the reality of poverty. Our poor people are in a worse state of poverty than the USA poor people. A poor person in the USA makes what ? 7 USD per HOUR minimum wage ? And our poor people are 46 percent of the population.
It is true, I have the misfortune to be closer to that 46 percent of the population than to the 16 percent of Romanians that earn monthly the amazing net sum of 455 Euros per month. I am entirely to blame for that, made the wrong choices, etc... But when in USA the chances that you will end up on minimum wage are 4 percent and in Romania are 46 percent, I would say the odds were stacked against me.

Thank you for reading.

I appreciate the response. I had guessed it might be eastern Europe. It really is interesting seeing which goods/services proliferate throughout the world at relative affordability, and which ones are fairly absolute.
 

Utnayan

I Love Utnayan he’s awesome
<Gold Donor>
16,269
12,027
FUck this shit man, pirate up the ass. Here's a site that specializes in low GB size d downloads for you poor fucks. FitGirl Repacks

Doing the best you can do? Fuck it; have fun and give back later. Just do us all a favor and get your vag out of the hole and give back.

Yuours truly, drunk Canadian.

I love drunk Canadians. In fact, I’m going to go meet some now while I commandeer a modern day sloop.
 

The_Black_Log Foler

Stock Pals Senior Vice President
<Gold Donor>
42,771
39,985
Briefly scanned this thread. Are we trying to prevent this guy from moving to Somalia to take up a life of piracy? Honestly with those wages he mentioned it may not be a bad idea. As someone else mentioned u would need to convert to Islam however. Let us know how it goes bro.
 

Aldarion

Egg Nazi
8,815
24,055
This thread is so fucking funny. Of all the issues to get all morally outraged over: downloading copies of digital entertainment

This is how I know y'all are mostly leftists down deep despite a momentary affection for Trump -- some of you people fixate on the dumbest and least important shit and call it morally important while accepting actual moral outrages as perfectly OK.

Its 2019 and we have people still calling sharing files "theft". Fucking hysterical. Fight the good fight against this very important moral issue!

.. and yeah, copyright infringement is technically illegal, so if you consider breaking any laws to be immoral then it is immoral. I think all rational people can agree it is a far different level of "wrong" than actual theft, though. Since nothing is lost.
 
  • 4Like
Reactions: 3 users

Gavinmad

Mr. Poopybutthole
42,271
50,242
This is how I know y'all are mostly leftists down deep despite a momentary affection for Trump -- some of you people fixate on the dumbest and least important shit and call it morally important while accepting actual moral outrages as perfectly OK.

Maybe 2-3 people in this thread have taken a serious stance against piracy, and one of them claims to be a game developer. Piss off you self-important fuckwad.
 
  • 2Like
Reactions: 1 users

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
<Gold Donor>
40,699
102,080
No, it's your fault that you act indignant and entitled because of your economic situation. Maybe you should brainstorm some solutions that don't involve theft OR thicken your skin and accept the criticism/character judgements that go along with that solution.

Bro pediatricians in Ukraine make $400 a month. All of east Europe is like this.

Of course everyone pirates shit constantly.
 
  • 2Like
Reactions: 1 users

The_Black_Log Foler

Stock Pals Senior Vice President
<Gold Donor>
42,771
39,985
Migrate to Sweden or Germany. Problem solved.
 

...

Goonsquad Officer
5,602
13,421
When I played eve, I had some Russian homies who had no money in rl at all . They told me they farmed in eve and bought time codes then I presume plex with in game cash. Since in eve income in game is flat regardless of your local rl economy. One time I had one farm some boring shit for me and got them a plex. I guess what I'm curious about is if you could abuse some sort of game farming in exchange for some one in another country to buy you a game or some shit.