Five Thousand Dollars for Your Vote? Five People Answer.

Saturday we stood in a grocery store parking lot with a recorder and a few questions. Over about a half hour, five people answered. One of them would take the help and cut the strings off it first. One would invest the five thousand dollar check. The rest would believe it when they see it. Here is who they were and what they said, in their own words.

Linda

Linda has worked thirty-one years in production at a factory, and she is a union member. We asked what is hitting people hardest right now, and she said food, and jobs, and then she told us why.

"I was just on strike for five months at my job and went back in February and it's... it's a struggle. Five months is a long time. And nope, you don't get paid while you're on strike. But by the grace of God, our union paid our bills. All we had to do was turn them in. And people lost their cars, and they were close to moving their homes. It was rough. And now our company just announced Monday that they shut down four machines... The struggle continues. The writing is on the wall."

One of Linda's grandmothers was a registered nurse. The other stayed home and raised the family. Her mother worked the job Linda works now, at the same plant.

"She worked 41 years. And she started making $1.75 an hour. They didn't have a 401k there when she was there. And she never got into it when they did offer it in the early 2000s. I wish she had, but she had kids to take care of."

What she has that her grandparents had is the union, and it is not a museum piece. It paid her bills this year. Linda's daughter worked for another company in factory production, and got caught up in a union campaign there.

"She lost her job over a union thing... that little outside company, they wanted to go union and they fought her over it and she was not the one that started it, but... she got caught in a crossfire. She's one of the three that lost their job... I know unions are tricky. And I told her, I said, if you're going to stand for it, I said, you're going to have to watch your back. I said, 'cause there's 20 of those small companies all over the world that supply... I said, and that man told you, none of them are with you. He's going to fight you on it. So, I respect what she was trying to do."

Now Linda carries two households, hers and her daughter's, on one factory paycheck.

"My daughter lost her job and I'm helping her, you know, and I keep telling myself, I cannot sustain two households... I said, I gave her $1,000 last week. I keep doing it. You know, I just, it's like, you know, I... I know I'm gonna do it. That's my child... but I do. You have got to get out here and get a job. You have to."

And the five thousand dollar offer from Trump if his party wins the election? It never even landed on her as a question.

"I try not to listen to anything that man says. I ignore it. Somebody said it to me and I was like, I'll believe it when I see it. I said, I'm not banking on that. I look forward to nothing from him."

And we asked Linda what she would change if she could snap her fingers and make it so. Her snap of the fingers was the day's shortest.

"Lower the prices... and housing for a lot of people. I mean, it's rough."

Tina

Tina is out of work and looking hard for it, and a mistake on her record follows her into every application.

"Getting jobs... some people got stuff on the record and stuff like that, right? And a lot of jobs are off-limits... and I feel like that shouldn't be a thing because some people do change once you do your time... you shouldn't be judged off it for the rest of your life... I couldn't even come in here [the store we were standing in front of] to work. So it's only certain places, and I think that's not good. And it makes you feel like you're being judged, and even though you already got punished, it's like, damn, my one mistake, or a couple, you know, whatever it is, is I got to deal with my whole life?"

"Some people do change. It's not a life sentence."

Then we asked about the five thousand dollars, and Tina was very clear.

"I would say whether he wins or not, I feel like he should do that anyways, just to help the economy and people that are out here struggling because it is very... every price is going up on everything. There's a lot of people out here that need help with groceries, clothing, things like that. So yeah. I don't think it should be, if he wins. I think it should be either way."

Tina is the exact person this offer was built for. Out of work. Priced out of housing. Standing in a parking lot where they won't even give her an interview. If anyone on that lot had five thousand reasons to take the deal on the deal's terms, it was her.

And she took the help and tore the leash off it in the same breath. She never argued with the money. She argued with the strings attached to it. If help for struggling people is the right thing to do, then it is the right thing to do on a Tuesday, in an off year, with no election anywhere in sight. Help that only arrives if you vote a certain way is not help. It is a purchase, and Tina, with nothing in her pocket, refused to be the merchandise.

"I think it should be either way."

What would she do with the money itself?

"Children, necessities, things that are needed... Wants, they're nice too, but no."

And the one thing she would fix with a snap of the fingers was the thing she does not have.

"Housing. My problem."

What kind of work she is looking for?

"I would do any type of work, like even in stores, whatever... I'd be happy with a job."

Kim

Kim retired from managing a retail store and has done a lot of different things in her working life.

"Inflation... groceries, everywhere. Gas prices."

What happened to the things her grandparents had?

"I don't think there's as much community as there used to be. And I don't think that the American dream is possible for people that... each generation does better than the one before them. That doesn't happen anymore, unfortunately."

The five thousand dollars?

"I think that's another one of his ridiculous lies. Yeah. There's no way that's going to happen. The money's not there. He's an idiot. You want my honest opinion, right?"

If the check came anyway?

"Well, I won't. But if I did, I would pay off some card debt."

What would she change with a snap of her fingers?

"Lower prices, raise wages. Trump would definitely be out of office. The Iran war would be over. There'd be all of that."

Steven

Steven is a teacher. How are people hurting?

"I mean, the economy in general, but groceries, gas."

The grandparents question got his attention.

"It all became prohibitively expensive when... rich people didn't have to pay taxes anymore. We focused all the wealth in the hands of the few and now there's not anything for everybody else to do. Everything costs money. Everybody has to work three jobs to do what our grandparents could do on one job."

The five thousand dollars?

"I don't think he'll do it. And even if he did, I'd much rather that just went into the things that everybody uses. 'I'm going to give you $5,000, but I'm going to make your health care cost $20,000 more.' Great. That's not helpful."

If it cleared anyway?

"I mean, pay some bills."

And the snap of the fingers?

"It'd be nice to just get rid of the whole idea of capitalism. Yeah, just... I was gonna say make it so everybody has enough, but there is enough that everybody could have enough already. So. Redistribution of wealth and resources."

A Retiree from Sales

We asked a man retired from a lifetime of retail sales what's hitting people hardest right now.

"You know, it doesn't hit me hard so I don't really know."

What did his grandparents have that he doesn't?

"My grandparents did not have cell phones."

The five thousand dollar check, he answered without hesitating.

"I think it'd be great."

What would he do with it?

"Invest it... Maybe go to dinner. It wouldn't be life changing for me, but I'm sure a lot of people would be."

And the one thing he would fix with a snap of the fingers?

"People be nice to each other."

A man with money to invest and time to think about an expensive dinner, wishing for kindness. He sounds like a man who voted for the man offering the check, and he took the offer at face value. The check doesn't need to change his life, or even show up.

The Porch Light

Five people. One man, retired and comfortable, liked the check fine and wished the world more kindness. One woman out of work, blocked from the store at her back, took the help and threw the leash in the yard. A retired manager with a card balance and no faith. A teacher who knows there is enough in the world but not in people's hands. And a machine operator of thirty-one years who looks forward to nothing from any of them, and keeps her union close.

The check is still on the porch. This weekend it got picked up, turned over, and weighed by the people it was written out to. One of them would take it with the strings cut off. One of them would invest it. The rest would believe it when they see it. The verdict belongs to them.

The comment board is open, unmoderated, and yours. If any of this sounds like your life, or doesn't, say so there.

The porch light stays on. The leash stays on the porch.