Lexie Firment TikTok video goes viral as Cleveland, Ohio teacher explains she has to have 3 jobs to be able to afford rent and general living expenses amid overall rising prices.
Have you applied for your second or third job yet …? In viral TikTok video, an Ohio teacher has revealed that she works three different jobs to pay her bills amid rising national rents and sky high inflation.
Lexie Firment, 22, from Cleveland, Ohio, is a first year middle school teacher, who like many other teachers, has been forced to get multiple jobs to cover her expenses because her teacher’s salary wasn’t cutting it.
Lexie took to TikTok to share her ‘teacher to server second job pipeline story’ where she posted a video of her dancing with an overlay text that read: ‘Today two tables didn’t tip me, I have $1,600 in rent due in 15 days, and I cried mid shift today. Can’t wait to play restaurant and broke teacher tomorrow again.’
The middle school teacher pleaded for help in her caption and sad: ‘Y’all I just can’t today. My venmo is lexiefirment.’
In a second video Lexie shared that on top of teaching and serving she also works for Instacart, which is a grocery delivery company, to make some extra cash.
@missfirment Yall i just cant today. My venmo is lexiefirment #servertok #broketeacher #teachersecondjob #teachersummervlog #teachertok #serverlife ♬ Oh oh oh my gosh – angie❤️
New realities forcing traditional safe employees to seek out other new jobs
The text overlay read: ‘Going straight from serving to Instacarting all night because I refuse to let myself settle for less than what I want for myself on a teacher’s salary.’
The middle-school teacher further revealed that she’s sacrificed her sleeping schedule to cover her expenses, and added that she’s ‘tired’ but ‘has rent’ due.
Lexie noted that once she got a teaching job, she then got a ‘second job’ because she couldn’t ‘afford life on a teacher’s salary,’ and even made another video advising other teachers to ‘Instacart or nanny’ just to make ends meat.
And with rent prices on an unprecedented surge, Lexie isn’t the only teacher who is sacrificing her sleep just to afford her lifestyle.
Median rents in the US crossed the $2000 mark last month for the first time ever, while rental markets surged 15% – 20% in a single year depending on the region.
According to the Ohio Education Association, an entry level teacher salary can range anywhere from $25,671 to $31,715, which is $20,182 less than the $45,853 annual living wage in Ohio.
The housing crisis has caused Ohio’s monthly rent prices to increase by 12.3 per cent in the past year, which brought the typical rent of a one-bedroom apartment to $1,219.
@missfirment Reply to @siginside teachers matter!!! And i love my profession and it brings me so much joy!! #teachertok #teachervlog #teachertruth #teacherproblems #teacherpay #broketeacher #teachersecondjob #youngteacher #firstyearteacher #education #educationinamerica ♬ original sound – Lexie Firment
Run-away Inflation killing the American dream
Inflation has caused the prices of basic good to skyrocket, including the prices of meat and poultry, which went up by 10.4 per cent, cereal, up 15.1 per cent, and fruits and vegetables, up 8.1 per cent.
Gas prices are another point of pressure for many people around the country, up nearly 60 per cent over the past year, with the cost of air fares up more than 34 per cent and price of used cars up more than 7 per cent.
Apparel costs are up by 5.2 per cent, overall shelter costs went up 5.5 per cent, and delivery services have gone up 14.4 per cent.
And although Ohio is reported to be one of the states with the lowest cost of livings, the state has suffered the consequences of the housing crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, Ohio has an average of 10,655 people experiencing homelessness on any given day.
To avoid the effects of the housing crisis, many teachers like Lexie have also taken up multiple jobs.
Forced to juggle different jobs just to survive
In a survey of 1,200 teachers conducted by the Teacher Salary Project, 82 per cent of teachers noted that they had juggle multiple jobs just to make ends meet, and at the time of the survey, 53 per cent of teachers said they had multiple jobs.
And although the comments were disabled on her original video, TikTok users shared their similar experiences while working in education and one user even shared what they believed to be a harsh reality for Lexie.
‘I’ve always wanted to be a teacher but I’m scared about the money,‘ said one user according to the dailymail.
Another user added: ‘I have 2 other jobs, besides teaching, including night janitor at my school.’
‘Girl you get no lifestyle because all you do is work lol choose one job,’ commented a third user.
