There's your problem right there. We rail on people constantly for overextending their financial circumstances (mortgages bigger than they can afford, etc), but rarely do we rail on people for overextending their life circumstances.
If you're in a vulnerable position to get fucked over, don't be very surprised when you do. The trick is to avoid those positions - in this case, leaving yourself no room to maneuver financially.
Note: This is not to justify the deplorable behavior of the other party, but rather to say that this sort of thing will keep happening regardless, in any industry. Caveat emptor is really the most productive and relevant thing here.
I concur, people should work hard to avoid being in this situation. This means working hard to maintain savings and postponing having children until you are financially ready, amoungst other things.
With that said, there are ways that even generally well prepared people can wind up in bad situations. The obvious one is being unexpectedly hit by catastrophic medical bills. Another is being laid off and not being able to find more work for longer than your savings holds out, even if it was a reasonable amount to start with.
I have had both of those happen when I was younger and but for the generosity of friends and family I would have been in bad straights even though I had set aside savings ahead of time.
There's your problem right there. We rail on people constantly for overextending their financial circumstances (mortgages bigger than they can afford, etc), but rarely do we rail on people for overextending their life circumstances.
If you're in a vulnerable position to get fucked over, don't be very surprised when you do. The trick is to avoid those positions - in this case, leaving yourself no room to maneuver financially.
Note: This is not to justify the deplorable behavior of the other party, but rather to say that this sort of thing will keep happening regardless, in any industry. Caveat emptor is really the most productive and relevant thing here.