In the first place filling out an application is difficult. Each one takes 30-60 minutes to complete and many must be completed. It's hard to get ANY job, even the jobs that people say will hire anyone, that are easy to get. I saw a posting for a minimum wage job shoveling ***t. Literally shoveling ***t. The ad required applicants to be a certified sanitation worker and at least 2 years of related experience, in order to be qualified to shovel ***t. I have to lie about everything to get a job. Fake references and work experience hoping that they won't verify it. I have to lie at the interview. Research common questions and acceptable answers, make up stories about things that happened while I was working in the past, adopt a normal persona as much as possible for those 20 minutes and tell them what they want to hear. The process is grueling.
After a lot of time and effort, and with a lot of luck I am finally able to get a low paying part time job. Every day when I wake up to my alarm I weigh the pros and cons of going to work while feeling very tired. More tired every day. Within the first few weeks, I always call in sick. I do it a few times, actually. Then I get fired for abusing sick time. That happened to me twice before I learned that I can absolutely never call in sick or I will be fired. I decided that if I am sick I will go to work anyway and leave the decision of whether I'm well enough to work to my employer. A while later I got a job as a cashier in a supermarket. I had been very reclusive for months previously so I was very anxious, but could function at a level capable of customer - cashier interaction. I actually wrote a flow chart on an index card and kept it in my pocket to practice. Hi, how are you, fine and you, fine thanks, etc. My coworkers were all teenage women and they seemed upset when I didn't gossip with them about our other coworkers. Several times I was sent outside as a replacement for the cart jockey. I enjoyed that a lot more. The workplace gradually became hostile, after two weeks I had a panic attack and left in the middle of my shift. After that I was fired.
Some people say that it's fine if you aren't social at work. Find a job that doesn't require it and let your ability speak for you. I found a job at a manufacturing plant. I let my ability speak for me. It said that I am not an able person. I was a slow worker and frequently made mistakes. Parts would be cut in the wrong size, they would be packaged incorrectly. I repeatedly mishandled the machinery and was fired in three days. A year later I got a job repairing games in the back room of an arcade. This was a dream job for me. Full time work with enough pay that I would (barely) be able to support myself. During breaks I could also play the games for free. Thinking of moving out of my parents house I was seriously determined. I would go to work every day on time and try my best. Basically, I failed. It took me hours to do simple repairs that other employees could complete in minutes. I repeatedly damaged expensive boards due to poor knowledge of electronics. Eventually I was relegated to cleaning the exteriors and sweeping the floors. When my work was inspected they found many spots that were unsatisfactory to the extent that the manager basically re-cleaned everything himself. I lasted nearly two months before being fired.
Maybe I'm just not suited to this life. I'm willing to work hard to stay alive but it seems like working hard is not enough. I don't have the ability to get and keep a job. Especially with surplus labor and at will employment an employer can hire very selectively and fire at a whim for any reason at all. I don't know what to do with these feelings of frustration. I want to support myself but I can't. My parents only think that I'm lazy of course and taking advantage of them so soon they won't support me either. This kind of social darwinism is really cruel.
There are so many things wrong with society that the aggregate result is people suffering when they would have so much to offer in other circumstances. I don't know how to fix society and even if I had an idea I would never be so arrogant as to try to change things, for fear of making it worse. But when people in remote tribes are found to be happier than those in industrialized nations, you have to wonder whether any change is worth trying.
In the 60s, you could go to high school, graduate and work in your local factory or do construction and make enough to support a families necessities. Get a promotion or two and you could do alright for yourself. Today owning your own house, having a good car and having a wife+kids is practically unheard of for under 35s and simply having a fulltime job that pays over minimum wage and having an OKish car is a challenge.
At this point, people figured out you would actually need a degree to get ahead. Problem is everyone started going to college, and now a bachelor's degree is the equivalent of what a high school diploma used to be. Inflation is high, college fees are the highest ever (and everybody and their dog has a degree) and wages are the same as decades back, welcome to 2015.
After a lot of time and effort, and with a lot of luck I am finally able to get a low paying part time job. Every day when I wake up to my alarm I weigh the pros and cons of going to work while feeling very tired. More tired every day. Within the first few weeks, I always call in sick. I do it a few times, actually. Then I get fired for abusing sick time. That happened to me twice before I learned that I can absolutely never call in sick or I will be fired. I decided that if I am sick I will go to work anyway and leave the decision of whether I'm well enough to work to my employer. A while later I got a job as a cashier in a supermarket. I had been very reclusive for months previously so I was very anxious, but could function at a level capable of customer - cashier interaction. I actually wrote a flow chart on an index card and kept it in my pocket to practice. Hi, how are you, fine and you, fine thanks, etc. My coworkers were all teenage women and they seemed upset when I didn't gossip with them about our other coworkers. Several times I was sent outside as a replacement for the cart jockey. I enjoyed that a lot more. The workplace gradually became hostile, after two weeks I had a panic attack and left in the middle of my shift. After that I was fired.
Some people say that it's fine if you aren't social at work. Find a job that doesn't require it and let your ability speak for you. I found a job at a manufacturing plant. I let my ability speak for me. It said that I am not an able person. I was a slow worker and frequently made mistakes. Parts would be cut in the wrong size, they would be packaged incorrectly. I repeatedly mishandled the machinery and was fired in three days. A year later I got a job repairing games in the back room of an arcade. This was a dream job for me. Full time work with enough pay that I would (barely) be able to support myself. During breaks I could also play the games for free. Thinking of moving out of my parents house I was seriously determined. I would go to work every day on time and try my best. Basically, I failed. It took me hours to do simple repairs that other employees could complete in minutes. I repeatedly damaged expensive boards due to poor knowledge of electronics. Eventually I was relegated to cleaning the exteriors and sweeping the floors. When my work was inspected they found many spots that were unsatisfactory to the extent that the manager basically re-cleaned everything himself. I lasted nearly two months before being fired.
Maybe I'm just not suited to this life. I'm willing to work hard to stay alive but it seems like working hard is not enough. I don't have the ability to get and keep a job. Especially with surplus labor and at will employment an employer can hire very selectively and fire at a whim for any reason at all. I don't know what to do with these feelings of frustration. I want to support myself but I can't. My parents only think that I'm lazy of course and taking advantage of them so soon they won't support me either. This kind of social darwinism is really cruel.
There are so many things wrong with society that the aggregate result is people suffering when they would have so much to offer in other circumstances. I don't know how to fix society and even if I had an idea I would never be so arrogant as to try to change things, for fear of making it worse. But when people in remote tribes are found to be happier than those in industrialized nations, you have to wonder whether any change is worth trying.
In the 60s, you could go to high school, graduate and work in your local factory or do construction and make enough to support a families necessities. Get a promotion or two and you could do alright for yourself. Today owning your own house, having a good car and having a wife+kids is practically unheard of for under 35s and simply having a fulltime job that pays over minimum wage and having an OKish car is a challenge.
At this point, people figured out you would actually need a degree to get ahead. Problem is everyone started going to college, and now a bachelor's degree is the equivalent of what a high school diploma used to be. Inflation is high, college fees are the highest ever (and everybody and their dog has a degree) and wages are the same as decades back, welcome to 2015.