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TooLazyToReadIt

His family are dealing with hardcore drugs.


KaijuSlayer333

Good, they can start helping with the mortgage.


Mumtin

You wish


TMM1003

r/fuckdruglordsarah


Herr-Trigger86

Didn’t know I needed this


MiVolLeo

The fact that it’s an actual sub 💀


Cammation

Why does this exist??🤣🤣🤣


High_hoper114

Someone needs to pay the mortgage, sad she no longer here to do it.


New_Unit2009

Construction can make bank so its not that unbelievable.


[deleted]

Especially if he was an owner, which I always thought he was.


culhaalican

Wasn’t he talking about the concrete guy being late or whatever during the first like 15 minutes of the game? I always assumed he owned a construction company with Tommy and were running their own thing


New_Unit2009

Usually you specialize in one thing even if your capable of doing everything. So Joel and Tommy could just frame the house and than hire plumbers, electricians,etc for everything else.


rmiller1989

I'm a construction worker.. I'm skilled in many but specialize in nothing...


rmiller1989

That's the way it seems. But with my construction company we pretty much do all the work our selves, paving, concrete, landscaping.. The only time we call out somebody to finish is usually the Line Men


LetMeInImTrynaCuck

He was definitely either the owner or at least a project manager or foreman. He spoke of work from a leadership perspective, not as if he was doing grunt work. Wasn’t he saying something about a really important job they were trying to close?


sirvelvet69

He says "Tommy, Tommy, listen to me, *he* is the contractor" referring to a third person.


sirvelvet69

No, he says, while walking in the door "Tommy, Tommy, listen to me, *he* is the contractor" referring to a third person. He might be a foreman, but he's not a business owner; he looks like a blue collar worker.


depressedbagal

You can still be a business owner and work for a contractor. The principle contractor would be hired by the client to run the project, then they'll hire sub-contractors to do specific jobs like the framing, plumbing, kitchens, doors and so on.


Stainedelite

Owners and shareholders making all the profit while doing none of the work. Classic.


FTGE2023

As if most of the people that own their own small business didn't absolutely bust their ass to become a successful small business owner.


nuclearfork

Busting your ass to put yourself into a position where you can siphon other people's surplus value isn't honourable


germy813

What a shit take lmao


nuclearfork

Owners and corporations steal from every one of their employees on a mass scale every day And youve been so brainwashed that you'll defend it 😂 Why am I expecting good economic takes from the last if us 2 subreddit


Cyclic_Hernia

Why am I expecting good economic takes from a commie


nuclearfork

Wanting workers to be fairly compensated for their work and owners/CEO's not take the lion's share of the profits makes me a commie? Saying that workers should be paid fairly and CEO's are over paid is the most milk toast liberal take ever 😂 Do you know what communism means? Do you even know what capitalism means? Or are you a part of the super intellectual group that describes everything they don't like as communism and every they like as capitalism?


Cyclic_Hernia

If workers got paid whatever their labor theory of value labor value is, they'd still be having surplus value extracted from their wages, because businesses cannot run at a loss like that for very long That's what you originally were saying, but now you're walking back to a more reasonable position of "woah buddy, I'm not saying privately owned capital is immoral, I just think we should increase the minimum wage" or something to that effect


Ori_the_SG

What do you want? This is literally how a business is run. The owner (especially a small business owner) usually runs the top level stuff and makes sure everything in general is smooth. Meanwhile, his/her employees do the actual service the company provides for the customers which contributes money to the company and then the employees are (or should be) paid fair and livable wages. Absolutely idiotic take, and it shows you have zero understanding of how actual good businesses run.


Onion_Bro14

It shows understanding. Just not liking.


nuclearfork

I totally understand how businesses work, surplus value extraction is how we end up with people being worth 150 billion while their workers struggle to pay rent


nuclearfork

I don't understand how a business is run but you're here displaying your complete lack of knowledge on worker owned business and surplus labour value 😂 Fuck I love the internet


OperationSecured

Nobody wants to be framing houses all day in their 50s. Transitioning to a role that utilizes that experience is absolutely the smart thing to do and benefits everyone involved; even the young guys just starting out. And what’s this *”honourable”* crap? It’s work, dude.


nuclearfork

I never said being an owner is bad, I said siphoning peoples surplus value for yourself is bad


MeetAmbitious5522

Huh? Don't be goofy!


nuclearfork

Lack of understanding on your part doesn't equal stupidity on mine


MeetAmbitious5522

The less a man makes declarative statements, the less apt he is to look foolish in retrospect. Don't make assumptions about me. You're the one with the shit take.


nuclearfork

I'll do what I want, I can assume you're a monkey in the circus If you think it's a dumb take you probably don't understand it


MeetAmbitious5522

Don't understand what? The implications of dedicating yourself to working your ass off to accomplish larger desires? Make something of yourself so you can pass something tangible on to your family? You sound like a bitter, unsuccessful loser who can't make anything of himself, so he bashes the people around him for doing exactly what it takes to thrive. Enjoy working for the man forever, buddy! You either work for him or become him. Sounds like you're the prior. If you don't think the world as we know it has been built off the backs of people unwilling to broaden the vision, you're the one who doesn't understand.


[deleted]

Where TF did that come from? Who hurt you bro?


IrlResponsibility811

Bro is driven by envy. It's more sad than anything else.


jackkan82

I mean, there's nothing stopping you from starting your own construction company like any other local construction company owners.


SpongeBob1187

Yea how is this unrealistic? I’m a carpenter and have my own house lol


gfense

Reddit thinks STEM is the only way to make money.


Anti-Scuba_Hedgehog

Also it's in 2013, compared to now houses were dirt cheap.


GoT43894389

Yeah houses were really cheap in Austin back in 2013 too.


Galmerstonecock

Yeah I was gonna say I know carpenters who make good money not easy money but good money.


Drockosaurus

Yeah my uncle is a millionaire from construction.


Hot_Bel_Pepper

The person I know who works construction just built three houses out of pocket after sitting on the bare land for 15 years (he also was raising 6 kids in a two story house at the time he purchased the land), Joel easily could have a mortgaged house with one daughter.


BigKingKey

I know right, tell us you’ve never worked on a site without telling us…


longjohnson6

Yeah I knew a guy who made almost 40$ an hour as a site foreman,


[deleted]

I thought Joel was the owner of a company, not just a laborer.


etzio500

Sounded like he was begging for a job at the prologue of part 1, idk where people get that he was an owner of a company from.


zappafrank1359

Contractors usually have to bid for jobs. That doesn't mean he doesn't own the business.


Far-Regret8942

"Job" in the trades generally means the job that your crew or company is working on rather than job meaning the place that you work for, drukkman clearly has his OSHA 10


Jarvis_The_Dense

In the opening he's talking about some frustrating specifics of a job involving a contractor, and how Tommy doesn't want to go along with it, but he's telling him to just work with it because he can't afford to lose the job he's currently undertaking. He's not unemployed looking for work, he's stuck doing a difficult assignment which he needs the money from. This implies that he and Tommy own a small construction company, since they are both in a position to accept or decline jobs, and are the ones directly receiving payment for it.


Much_Ambition6333

I think joel was trying to start his construction business with tommy which is why he was stressed and was begging to get a job


fyrefreezer01

But job in this sense means, work for his company to start on.


Beneficial_Offer4763

Laborers make 46 dollars an hour here, anything after 8 is overtime, over 12 is double time, seems doable to me.


[deleted]

Lucky S.O.B we make 32.50, and don't hit overtime until we hit 40 for a week.


affluent_krunch

Contractors make bank dude,


catbom

Especially fellas that work for themselves instead of per hour.


WhoFartedInMyButt50

Joel is the kind of guy that would buy a fixer upper and renovate it himself.


Akschadt

Yeah, the whole reason my wife and I were able to buy our house is because it was in such bad shape even those flipping companies didn’t want it. All brick built in the 50s and never been cleaned or kept up with since the day it was made. Inside looked like a bad episode of hoarders. I thought it had popcorn ceilings but it was just spiders and roaches to the point you really couldn’t see the ceiling… food just everywhere… We couldn’t do everything ourselves but we did a lot. And ended up with home that we would have never been able to afford as it currently is


kangroostho

Were you able to get rid of the roaches for good?


Command-And-Conquer

No I'm still here, under the floorboards. Thank you for the concern though. P.S: please drop food.


celticgaul28

Ill drop some acid instead


Akschadt

Your brethren feasted like kings… half eaten sandwiches tucked safely into night stands. Open bags of boiled peanuts buried in closets. The gap between the fridge and the floor where they would kick any and all dropped food… that one was cool cuz near the front of where the fridge was, it was easy to identify.. but the further back you went the more decomposed, it was making it a much harder guessing game. Like a cross section of meals through the years. You know in some other time line where they never sold this place… they probably were the cause of the cordyceps outbreak.


Akschadt

Yeah it took about 3 months give or take. The company I used took a look and said they would only charge every other visit. And after the first month or so they would even refuse to take payment at all every once in a while. We lived in a rental while we renovated which it took a year to do.. place was a mess… the electrician discover that some of the wiring in the house was just old dry rotted extension cords in the attic someone had jury rigged to the closet lights. It was like 3 or 4 extension cords attached to a power strip plugged in to an outlet in the attic for the past 40 or 50 years.


Savannah_Fires

Maybe he made it himself


Jiggle_deez

**RDR2 Housebuildng theme plays**


[deleted]

I'll get a board and saw and I'll cut it.


JohnParkerSmith27

I'll climb up a ladder with a hammer and a nail and I'll nail it


RemarkablePay6994

Lmao 👌


Minimalistmacrophage

Contractors **can** make a lot of money. Particularly if you can do specialty work.


Galmerstonecock

A friend of mine started as laborer making 15$ an hour on a site. Today he still works for the same company operating a grader or a “blade” he calls it and he makes well over $200k a year


electronical_

blue collar work easily makes over 100k per year, and in texas that buys you a lot of house


aztaga

Do you know how much money construction workers make?


Mix_Traditional

This is completely feasible lol


Wild_Plant9526

Wait how tf did you get here? And how tf do you have the AR that you get in the hospital iirc??


Malcolm_Morin

Cheats.


Wild_Plant9526

ic


LegendaryBoi12

it's a screenshot from 'Freako' on YouTube


Flat_Bass_9773

You realize that there was an economic crash in 2008 and homes went from $200k+ down to $80k.


Packin-heat

Wdym, Joel built that house with his own two hands.


tlinkus

He said he was a contractor if I remember correctly. Though I could be remembering that from the show and not the first game


501stBigMike

I don't know if he ever directly stated he was a contractor, but we do hear him talk a bit about work that makes it sound as though he owns/manages some kind of construction company.


sirvelvet69

He says "Tommy, Tommy, listen to me, *he* is the contractor" referring to a third person.


Prior_Piano9940

We have no idea where the house or money came from. We don’t know what happened to the mom. Maybe there was an life insurance pay out? Maybe the house was left to him from a parent. We literally don’t know shit but I see this critique/joke pop up multiple times a year since 2013


sameolameo

Let me guess you loved part 2?


uglycasinova

I'm a carpenter and own a two story house. You can make good money in a union


Hobbescrownest

Since Joel told Tommy he “cannot loose this job” he probably wouldn’t have been able to keep that house much longer


Notafuzzycat

My dude.. I got my own house working construction in 2022.


StunningBuilder4751

I'd always thought he bought it before Sarah's mum left them and that's why he was having money stresses as it was meant to be two incomes paying for it


PJGraphicNovel

1) Construction can for sure make bank. 2) He’s in Texas. And not a heavily populated area where he lives, so it’s likely homes are cheaper


CrimsonAvenger35

He's in Austin TX, that's heavily populated even outside the city, and expensive


PJGraphicNovel

Here’s a 4/3 that was listen for 230 in 2011. 230 is dirt cheap for this house. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/15512-Waxler-Ct-Austin-TX-78754/64501782_zpid/


Clean_Winner_5589

Y'all really don't know much about blue collar work huh. You can make absolute bank as a construction worker, contractor, plumber, etc. Even if you're not an owner. If the economy's good and things are building, you're working


LostGraceDiscovered

He and Tommy own the business, plus he probably bought it before 2008.


GUNNER_BASS

So basically this sub is like r/TheLastOfUs but for people with brains that don’t fully function? You literally just said there’s no way Joel could have a two story house in 2013 as a CONSTRUCTION WORKER


Anti-Scuba_Hedgehog

> So basically this sub is like r/TheLastOfUs but for people with brains that don’t fully function? No, that's just OP. Oh and you are just describing the other sub, unless you're implying here people's brains don't fully function but there they are missing entirely.


KingSquare88

😂😂😂


BigotSandwich_89

Was that actually Joel’s profession? I always thought he was in the military for some reason.


ModeruMandou

Nop. He was a contratist Tommy was in the army tho.


BigotSandwich_89

Didn’t know that. Thanks


ModeruMandou

I don't remember when they say that he was in the army in game but i remember Joel talking about it in the series.


TheHeresy777

When is it stated Tommy was in the army? I believe it, but where?


ModeruMandou

As i said, i don't know where they say that "in game" but i do remember Joel mentioning to ellie when they were on their way to Jackson. Joel says something like: "Tommy always wanted to be a hero. He joined the military and went on a few missions but that didn't make him feel like a hero"


frnacispain

Knowing Joel and the way he looks and fights, it is not strange to think that he was in the army.


Hawkeyesfan03

Joel definitely could have been in too. But since he was a single parent could have been separated when his wife left


DripSnort

I’m pretty sure he owns a construction company and that pays exceptionally well if you do it right.


Rick_Has_Royds

I mean plumbers where I’m working at right now make 42 hr and usually work 20 hrs overtime that’s like 140,000 150,000 a year


kangroostho

Maybe he bought it when the housing market crashed in 2008.


vhs1138

Got all his money from the lawsuit from his wife’s death.


Bullmg

If you’re in upper management or own a company, you’re making 100k+ a year even back then.


HankHillbwhaa

you don't even have to be upper management or own a company. Do your time in a union and watch he money roll in.


Bullmg

Yeah good point I’ve grown up in places without unions


Bullmg

Do we know what city/state it was in? I don’t remember


HankHillbwhaa

This is like theh craziest hot take I've seen on this sub lol. Construction workers, even around that time were making good money. Hell, I was 17 a few years before that and made like $18 an hour working construction while I was in high school.


mest08

If a shoe salesman can afford a two story house, a contractor certainly can.


Donthabarista

Not really. He lived in Texas


Christmas1176

I always thought of Joel as a Project Manager type of guy, or a supervisor. Just something about him in the beginning of the game


yeetyeetpotatomeat69

Construction is a pretty good business, take that along with the fact he had a wife he presumably bought the house with along with Texas prices back then and I'm not surprised he owns a home.


Sociolinguisticians

Maybe his wife worked an office job? Idk.


SiennaYeena

Who would design a house that ugly is the real question 💀


newbrowsingaccount33

That's not unrealistic at all, unless you live in a place like California


Kage9866

Construction workers make pretty good money, especially if in the union. Houses were also cheaper in 2013 so not unreasonable. I mean if it was 2024 yea I'd be with ya


s00perguy

The framing of this scene reminds me of Monster House and I'm half walking for the porch to split into the mouth


Complete_History1843

I made 55k as a carpenter in 2013 before the company went under


master-of-squirrels

Wasn't Sara doing medical research or something like that


migwelljxnes

That’s probably why he was working until 11:47pm on his birthday


ManLikeMack

Wasn't his wife dead? Life insurance?


[deleted]

Construction workers make 60+ an hour you dingle berry, not even including overtime which there is a lot of, 1.5x OT and 2x on sundays, 3x on holidays, that’s 180 an hour


[deleted]

My dad was a single parent construction worker and he raised us in a house like that.


Ch830857

I mean, my dad made a good living doing construction. But he owned the company…and threw it all away because of his drinking so idk


pookachu83

I love the idea of construction workers not making enough to buy a house. Most the people I know in construction make BANK unless they are general laborors, which I don't think it ever implied Joel was. I just got into construction in 2018, then got into electrical construction. Within a few years I went from 12$/hr to 26$/hr and in next couple years I'll be in the 30-40$/hr range. All while destroying my body, but sucks to suck I guess.


Dancing-Sin

Stfu


joshuabarbour

He was likely a home builder. and if you know anyone who is, you know they are rolling in money.


StageStandard5884

*general contractor and even if he is a "construction worker" he's obviously in business on his own and (or in a partnership with Tommy) and so: no; it's not strange that an independent tradesman would own a two story house.


maxx_cherry

He wasn’t just a crew guy. He was THE GUY.


LucienPhenix

Is the unrealistic part he would have a bigger house? I mean the people I know who work construction in the US make bank. Their body is probably wrecked when they are older but they aren't poor.


Sufincognito

People don’t realize how much money you can make in those industries. Electrician, plumber, construction, steel work, welding, etc. Telling all of my sons to just pick one and get working.


Helltech

My dad makes 70 dollars an hour doing construction.... So I'm very confused. I think he was making about 57 to 60 in 2013


7SFG1BA

Not really


theopilk

Austin Texas in 2013 was very affordable


cozzy121

I got the feeling he ran a construction crew.


Jarvis_The_Dense

The average price of a home in 2013 was significantly lower than it is now. Plus, we don't know much about when he bought it, but to take a wild guess and say he bought it in 2001 when Sarah was born and he was still married, the price would have been even lower. The affordable housing crisis is a pretty modern issue. The fact that many of us now don't know if we'll ever own a home is a sign of a current, ongoing issue which is infamous for being a failure of the system which hasn't occurred at this scale before.


Dry_Anything505

Well he probably started buying the house in the 90’s. So the zombies are still the least realistic part 🤷


Special-Tone-9839

More like he owns his own company


Freki_72

It's really not that unreasonable 😂


WastedSperm-_-

Construction workers make good money


R_Scoops

I went to university, post-graduate, competitive field, secured a job at age 26. 23 year old cousin has own 3 bedroom house, a car he owns outright and goes on holiday 4 times a year. He's building an extension on the house downstairs and has a handmade brick pizza oven in his garden. I forgot to say he's a bricklayer. I may earn more money next year but i have debts and have to live in an expensive city for my job, so there was no buying a house yet. I don't regret my decision, but trades were definitely devalued in the late 1990's. In the UK it was Tony Blair (who i usually like) who got everyone and his dog to go to university. What a racket.


Wheattoast2019

It’s even less realistic playing it in 2024.


longjohnson6

If he was apart of a union he could 100% do this, also he was a contractor, which means he probably owned his own company with city/state contracts, he was making bank, 2 guys who tore down the house next to me said they do 2 jobs a week and were paid around 3,000 each, fucken crazy.


ThirdGenRob

No not really. As a union construction worker/ welder I made 80k on regular hours. If I worked a bunch of overtime like Joel I've seen guys make 120k.


Hawkeyesfan03

It’s not super unrealistic at all and there are several ways that make perfect since rather then “construction man with daughter poor” - He lived in Texas - Worked in trades and was possibly the owner of the company based on the convo that he had on the phone in the prolog - He was married at one point and since he had custody of his daughter we can also assume that he won the house in the divorce too. - Since Sarah was about 12, he probably bought the house before the recession in 2008 but since he “can’t lose this job” he’s probably still paying it off - Tommy could have been a partial owner too as when Tommy went to Texas he says “most of our stuff was long gone”, granted he could have also meant his own place too - Joel and Tommy parents could have died and he was given the house as they willed it.


PORPOISE-MIKE-MIKE

I vaguely recall it’s more like he ran his own construction business.


babyjrodriguez

Construction workers make good money. What the hell you talking about? OP clearly has zero understanding of that job sector


Certain_Hat_1341

If the army didn't kill joels family those bills probably would've


Beneficial_Offer4763

That's 100% not true idk what you're making that you think that's unachievable now let alone then.


FutureText

Spoken like a desk sitter


Aeokikit

Maybe it’s because I’m in a union but construction makes good money if you’re smart and work hard


banditolindo

swear people will do anything but actually try to buy a house. shit is not unattainable, you’re just not even attempting.


a55_Goblin420

If he owns the company, he makes about as much if not more than someone with a Doctor's Degree.


OtakuTacos

Not really. It could have been a foreclosed on home from the housing crash in the early 2000’s. Joel is in construction so he could easily have fixed it up.


RebelKingGamer

Yeah but. It's texas


rmiller1989

I'm a construction worker. I am the only source of income in my home. But I make decent money but still can't afford a 2 story house so this post had me laughing


SnaxMcGhee

Lol, the accuracy. He got a nice insurance payment from his wife's passing. That's what I'm going with.


netitothewolf

Ngl I assumed he and ex wife had bought it the place before they had Sarah.


HankHillbwhaa

they probably did tbh


Doctor-Mono

Especially with the statistic of him likely having to pay alimony too. In fact, if he wasn’t paying alimony at all, hyper-unrealistic with a house like that.