Karen Roquemore, 48, works two jobs to keep up with her lifestyle. Her full-time job entails pushing paperwork, and answering calls mostly for commercial insurance clients. She’s been with this company for 18 years and makes $15 an hour. Roquemore said she had to pick up a second job, because her office job was no longer able to offer overtime for her or any of her coworkers. Her full-time job takes absolutely no more than 40 hours a week, and she said she supplements with a cashier position at Harps Grocery Store. Her position as a cashier pays $10 per hour. Roquemore is wearing her black Harps uniform and she has a big, inviting smile on her face. She said she is happy to work at Harps even part-time, because it doesn’t take too much energy and they don’t ask for too much out of her. “I make enough to make it worth my while,” she said. The flexibility is what she said she likes most about her cashier job at Harps.
Roquemore is married, but her and she husband have no children. She said that it would be even more difficult to maintain a comfortable lifestyle if she had kids to take care of too. She said there’s probably no way she could work two jobs like she does if she added children to the mix. She said she has some spending habits and that she has a weakness for purses. Roquemore is very independent, she says her husband is able to give her what she needs, but things that she wants are up to her. “When I go home, it’s just me and my dog,” Roquemore said she and her husband are often on different schedules.
Roquemore said her job with the General Agency is more stressful than her job as a cashier at Harps. Her position with the agency doesn’t offer a 401-K, but another type of “stock-like” retirement that fluctuates with the performance of the department. She said it is similar to a 401-k, but her retirement does not compound.
Roquemore said her husband gets tired of her working two jobs and that it can be a stress on their relationship. However she says it’s worth it to give more of her time to a job in order to have more flexibility in her budget. “A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do…I’m physically capable of working 2 jobs, so I’m okay.” she said.
The following map of Arkansas is broken down by county, illustrating the most at-risk black communities to be in poverty. Sharp county has a 100% poverty rate in the black community, but the total number of blacks in poverty is only 11.
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Karen Roquemore, 48, works two jobs to keep up with her lifestyle.
Her full-time job for General Agency Company, an insurance firm, entails pushing paperwork and answering phone calls mostly from commercial insurance clients. She’s been with this company for 18 years and makes $15 an hour. Roquemore said she had to pick up a second job as a cashier at the grocery store Harps when her office job quit offering overtime.
At Harps, Roquemore earns $10 per hour. Wearing a black Harps shirt and an inviting smile, Roquemore said she is happy with the part-time job at Harps. It doesn’t take too much energy, they offer flexibility and don’t ask for too much out of her. “I make enough to make it worth my while,” she said.
Roquemore said her job with the General Agency is more stressful than her job at Harps. But General Agency offers a retirement savings plan that is similar to a 401(k) plan.
Roquemore is married but she does not have children. It would be even harder to maintain a comfortable lifestyle with children in the mix and she certainly could not juggle two jobs. Roquemore aid she has some spending habits and that she has a weakness for purses. Roquemore is very independent, she says her husband is able to give her what she needs, but things that she wants are up to her. “When I go home, it’s just me and my dog,” Roquemore said.
She and her husband are often on different schedules and her two jobs can be a stress on their relationship. However, she says it’s worth the stress to have more flexibility in her budget. “A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do…I’m physically capable of working two jobs, so I’m okay.” she said.