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Thank you, glowsinthedark, for this thread. My situation is different, I guess. My first real therp said my work history is a symptom of bipolar disorder. I had 15 occupations in 10 years (not jobs -- more of those -- I mean OCCUPATIONS)
I have been a public school teacher. The only job there I liked -- really loved - was teaching Kindergarten. In the mid-1960s, it was a do-able job. The teaching conditions, and stiff requirements for the KIDS are now increasingly impossible for teachers, imho. I put in one year, my then-husband moved us away to another area of the state, so I had to leave my wonderful school. That's the way women were in those days. Go where the husband wanted to go. I cried in the car all the way to the next place we'd live. But I never would have lasted in public school teaching a few years later on-- the System kept upping, upping, upping the level of tolerance to teaching Kindergarten -- or any other grade. But my then husband also brought in a good income. The same issue teacher's had demanded back then are still the same: Maximum class size!! Teachers -- and the kids -- still do not have this, so that real teaching can actually happen. There are a very few teachers who have a natural ability to manage everything in a classroom. But many if not most teachers have a terrible time functioning at school, and after school Many, many women teachers cry after getting off work, for their first three years. I did! I would cry, fix something very, very small and simple for supper, and go to bed. Then I would rest or sleep all weekend. Sunday night, I had trouble sleeping, dreading Monday morning.
I finally found my calling – teaching piano as my own “boss.” I was a creative and unique teacher, the only one in the area that could teach kids so they craved practice time. One family of 5 kids all took lessons from me, and their mother had to buy a second piano so they would not argue about "who got the piano" This I did for about 20 years. BUT I could not work more than a few half-days each week. My income was small, although my hourly rates were high, and I had no trouble attracting students who could pay my rates.
I had another husband then, who brought in good money, so that was why I could get along on part time. When I divorced him I had to move to another city in hopes of finding work.
I got one or two full time jobs. I got run off from one because I was instructed to lie to customers, and said that it would be better to tell them what time the next day I would get the (overloded work projects) done, rather than promising I'd get them that afternoon, when I knew that was not possible, then stand them up. I quit another one or two because they tried to force me to work for free after hours (typical -- it's now called wage theft, but it's still happening.) I would be shaking all over after some of these days. I tried temping in office jobs. I tried going to Vocational Rehabilitation. They did not find any meaningful work, nor any work at all I could do. They wanted me to temp at clerical jobs again, and I'd call my worker at my lunch hour and rage and sob.
Finally I was given Social Security Disability. I'm still convinced that if I'd been given reasonable accommodations I would not have needed Disability insurance. I needed shorter work hours -- 35 hours a week or less. I needed to not be forced to work overtime, or have wage theft. I needed a job where I was not asked or required to do illegal or unethical work. I needed to work for one boss -- not 5, not 2. I needed to have a door to close so I would not be interrupted constantly. I needed a dark room to go to if I was getting upset, so I could calm down. I mean a really dark, dark,temporarily private room. I needed a place to lie down and rest on breaks -- like women's REST rooms used to have before the Women's movement wanted women to work as hard as men and took out the couches, rather than help the men work less hard. I am a feminist, but that approach was definitely backwards for women and for men.
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