“I Have No Food” — Woman Who Earns Double Minimum Wage Says She Still Can’t Afford Life

Ray Winstone's beloved character from Martin Scorsese's The Departed, Mr. French, once famously said, "This is America. You don't make money, you're a d**chebag."

But this TikToker probably won't take too kindly to his view of securing one's financial positioning in the USA. Drew Rose (@drew.rose6) posted a viral clip on the popular social media platform explaining that she can't afford to live despite earning double the amount of her state's minimum wage.

In a video that accrued over 1.7 million views that was published on August 8th, 2025, she delineates the state of her bank account and how quickly her earnings go out the window. Several folks who replied to her video sympathized with her plight and agreed that they too believe America's economic standing could better serve its citizens.

She records her clip while seated inside of a vehicle as she speaks into the camera.

"For whoever wants to know what it's like being young in 2025, here it is," she says at the onset of her video, before delving further into her explanation. "I just got off an eight-hour shift at work, where I make double minimum wage in my state. I hop in my car, check my banking account, cool, I've got $50 to last me till next week," she says, opining on her financial situation.

Drew went on to state that her finances were further assailed by recurring undergarment expenditures, along with cosmetic product replacements and groceries. "Then I remember, oh sh-t, I have to run to Walmart because the wire in my bra snapped. I don't have underwear cause it keeps going missing. My eyelash curler broke, and I have no food," she tells viewers.

She then went on to detail her shopping venture, which ended up being a significant blow to the amount of money she had left in her account. "I bought four things, four f---ing things, and it came out to $40!"

Following this, she gives a wry, cartoonish laugh and says she's "living off granola bars."

"But I hop my depressed a-- back in my car and I look at my banking app again. Oh, cool, I've got $10 now to last me till next week," she shouts into the camera.

Unfortunately, the hits kept on coming for the young woman. "I try to drive, but my car keeps misfiring. I can't afford to fix that," she laments in her social media post.

To further detail how her living situation is less than ideal, she went on with her story. "So I keep on parking, turning off my car, turning it back on until it decides to act right. Thirty minutes later I'm finally heading home. To my four roommates. I pay $850 a month. Now given that's everything included, but $850 a month with four roommates," she shouts again, her voice cracking as she does so.

"Remember back in the good old days when a man could afford to feed, raise, house his family, on minimum wage!" she yells. "And he had a second family on the side," she adds in disbelief. "Who he also housed, fed, and raised. You know what I say to all that? F--- you," Drew screams.

She went on to state that earlier generations had a much easier time making ends meet, and that life is much more difficult for folks trying to secure gainful employment where they can actually make enough cash to support their lifestyles. "You guys had it so f---ing easy, and then you destroyed everything behind you. F--- you," she says again in the camera before her video comes to a close.

Questions surrounding labor and compensation in America have become a point of debate for decades, but especially so in recent years after inflation rates skyrocketed between 2021 and 2024.

Furthermore, another fact that has been widely spread on the internet is that, as of 2022, it was cheaper for Americans to purchase a home during the Great Depression, which appears to have been confirmed by analysts who've researched housing market trends over the years. Additionally, this Substack post contends that even during the Great Depression, housing costs remained "relatively stable."

Some commenters who replied to Drew's post expressed that their hearts went out to Gen-Z laborers. Like this person who said that folks in Drew's age group can confidently look back at Boomers and Gen-X'ers and tell them that they had a less difficult time earning money than they do today.

"Gen Z is the first generation in quite a while that's able to look back on the last several generations and tell THEM they had it easy," they wrote.