\n\n Loading<\/title>\n <desc>Something is loading.<\/desc>\n <path fill=\"#111\" d=\"M43.935,25.145c0-10.318-8.364-18.683-18.683-18.683c-10.318,0-18.683,8.365-18.683,18.683h4.068c0-8.071,6.543-14.615,14.615-14.615c8.072,0,14.615,6.543,14.615,14.615H43.935z\">\n <animatetransform attributetype=\"xml\" attributename=\"transform\" type=\"rotate\" from=\"0 25 25\" to=\"360 25 25\" dur=\"0.6s\" repeatcount=\"indefinite\"\/>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg><\/div>\n<div class=\"success-container__mobile d-none\">\n<p>Thanks for signing up!<\/p>\n<p>\n Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you’re on the go.<br \/>\n <button class=\"rounded-button headline-bold white-button download\" type=\"white\"><br \/>\n download the app<br \/>\n <\/button> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<p><em>This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Candice Davis, a 39-year-old teacher from Statesboro, Georgia, about her side hustle at Starbucks. It’s been edited for length and clarity.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I grew up in a single-parent household with my mother in Thomaston, Georgia, but my father still supported my brother and I. My grandmother and aunts were also vital in my upbringing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We always had food on the table, but seeing how other kids grew up and seeing the things they had motivated me.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>I wanted to save the world from injustice<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>After I graduated high school, I went straight to college at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro and majored in sociology. I wanted to be a social worker and solve all the injustices of the world.<\/p>\n<p>After I graduated with my degree in sociology, I interned for a few months at Henry County’s Division of Family & Children Services. It was depressing, and later I considered joining the Air Force. Instead, I decided to get my master’s in special education from Georgia Southern University.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>I began to teach before I finished school<\/h2>\n<p>Other than my internship and tutoring a younger cousin, I had no experience in education or with children. But I worked as a teacher before I started my master’s program because schools were desperate for teachers at the time.<\/p>\n<p>I was nervous on my first day as a teacher \u2014 I’d always had trouble with public speaking, and I was sweating. But I was assigned a mentor who told me that I couldn’t treat my students like friends. She said that it was my job to help them, and that it was important to set the right tone on day one.<\/p>\n<p>That advice stuck with me. By the end of the day, I thought that maybe I could do it.<\/p>\n<h2>I had a house and bills were piling up<\/h2>\n<p>I got married and bought a house with my husband, but the marriage ended a few years later. After the divorce, I kept the house \u2014 and the expenses.<\/p>\n<p>Eventually, I became a full-time special-ed teacher, then a special-ed coordinator at my school. I am still in that role today. Of course, it came with a bit of a pay raise, but not much of one.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Despite the pay increase, I was no longer in a two-income household, and my credit-card bills were climbing. That’s when I started a second job tutoring after school.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I’ve suffered from uterine fibroids for years. The only relief for me are myomectomies, which are surgical removals of the fibroids.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I had the first surgery while I was still married. About a year later, the fibroids grew back, and I was still paying the deductible from the first surgery. A few years later, I knew I had to do something. But I couldn’t keep having surgeries and breaking the bank trying to pay hospital bills.<\/p>\n<p>I found out Starbucks has healthcare far superior to my school’s insurance plan. It offers coverage to partners who work an average of at least 20 hours per week.<\/p>\n<p>I applied at the Starbucks outside of Savannah, which is about a 45-minute drive from my house, but it was the closest one that would hire me. My friends and family thought I was absolutely nuts. They couldn’t believe I was driving so far away from home, three to four school nights each week, to work.<\/p>\n<p>I felt like I didn’t have a choice. My medical bills had to be paid and my health issues weren’t over. I commuted for almost a year, then was finally able to transfer to the Starbucks three minutes from my house.<\/p>\n<h2>My paychecks are $0.00<\/h2>\n<p>My Starbucks income doesn’t cover the full monthly cost of their premium insurance plan \u2014 but it’s worth it.<\/p>\n<p>I selected the most expensive premium carrier because it does not require my doctor’s office to submit pre-authorizations before procedures. Other carriers require documentation to prove I need certain meds and procedures.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But the top plan also means my paychecks are $0.00 because all of it goes toward paying the premium. Starbucks won’t make employees pay the remainder of a monthly premium even if their paycheck doesn’t cover it. It just goes into arrears. And if I ever leave Starbucks, the company won’t try to collect the arrears unless they rehire me. In that case, I would just start paying the arrears again during my employment. Of course, I don’t see myself leaving any time soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>This is not how I pictured my life<\/h2>\n<p>It’s a very generous company, and I’m super grateful to it. Sometimes it’s depressing because it feels like it’s never-ending and feels like I’m alone. Though I have a nice home, I have no significant other or children to share it with because I don’t have time for people in my life outside of work. I don’t even have time to visit my mother and grandmother, and that breaks my heart.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This isn’t how I imagined my life at this age. It’s so fast-paced, and it’s been hard, but I have to move forward and press on until my condition is under control.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/__i\/rss\/rd\/articles\/CBMiZGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJ1c2luZXNzaW5zaWRlci5jb20vZ2VvcmdpYS10ZWFjaGVyLXdvcmtzLXN0YXJidWNrcy1uby1wYXljaGVjay1tZWRpY2FsLWNvdmVyYWdlLTIwMjItMTLSAQA?oc=5\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Special-education teacher Candice Davis got another job for insurance when facing medical issues. She had considered joining the Air Force, but returned to school instead to become a teacher.\u00a0 At Starbucks, her medical plan costs more than she makes, but she said it’s worth it. Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing up! 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