[TheTimelessness]

I'm unemployed and very picky while looking for work. I feel horrible and hate myself for that. Especially since in this day and age everyone is so desperate for work while I turn away jobs because I simply cannot handle them.

Right now I'm a full time adult student and I need income to survive. My Résumé is blank and my work history is non-existent. I need ideas for jobs that are not physically demanding. Cashier work and retail work is unfortunately out of the question. Does anyone have any advise for me?

Please help.
I do not want to be homeless.

[CastlesInTheAir]

hmmmmmmm, call centers, movie theater, pet store, florist, nursery(like plants and stuff) ummmmmmmm hmmmmm....server?,

and if i can find the two companies again, they are legit work at home jobs for customer service, all you need is a land line, wired internet, and no background noise while working, ill look and post again

[TheTimelessness]

I really appreciate that you replyed CastlesInTheAir. These are all really good and thoughtful ideas that I honestly would have overlooked and forgotten about. So a few applications have been sent out and now it's just a matter of keeping my chin up.

I have turned towards a few temp agencies which I'm waiting to hear back from. But mostly I use the website indeed and review the classified ads each morning. At the moment there's one really amazing janitorial position but it overlaps with my classes which I cannot withdraw from. So I know that the jobs are out there. It isn't for a lack of trying as I've literally walked for thirteen miles to a temp agency that turned me away despite a previous phone call.

[Junerain]

I enjoy working with children, it's active, has a lot of variety, never a dull moment!

[Hellion]

Originally Posted by TheTimelessness

I'm unemployed and very picky while looking for work. I feel horrible and hate myself for that. Especially since in this day and age everyone is so desperate for work while I turn away jobs because I simply cannot handle them.

Right now I'm a full time adult student and I need income to survive. My Résumé is blank and my work history is non-existent. I need ideas for jobs that are not physically demanding. Cashier work and retail work is unfortunately out of the question. Does anyone have any advise for me?

Please help.
I do not want to be homeless.

Well you should not hate yourself for not being able to handle a job, that is a real problem. But I do know the feeling I hate not being able to handle jobs as well. I am applying for SSI so maybe that would work for you but I don't know how exactly it works in your state. Otherwise maybe try and attempt to get help with functioning better if that's a possibility.

[TheTimelessness]

I really appreciate the suggestion Hellion but I will have to find another way. My own boundaries and limits do not exclude me from working at all. It's just a matter of finding something that I can handle. The recovery avenue is best for me and only needs patience and care.

I think that I do want to eventually take a phlebotomy red cross certificate program. But unless I can be assured of employment after paying that much money, it just isn't worth it. I need to be able to juggle my education with my work, and I cannot do that if the only available positions are insane hours in hospitals. I would be devastated if I had gone through that training and investment to find that there is no gainful employment. So for now I'm both job searching while also trying to reach out to places where I can at least volunteer as a phlebotomist. But so far both have come back empty handed so I'll keep trying.

As for feeling bad because I cannot handle certain jobs being a problem, I agree with you. It is a problem.
It is a problem that I am what they call a boomerang adult. It is a problem that I have both carpal tunnel and ulnar nerve entrapment. That I had to withdraw from my original chosen major and career path because of it. It is a problem that my associates and friends have children, careers, and houses while I have nothing by comparison. It is a problem that I'm called pathetic, a loser, a deadbeat, and told that I will never complete my second attempt in academia. Told that I have to just suck it up after quitting sales and retail because of the physical pain. It isn't a pleasant situation.

It isn't a pleasant situation but thankfully I have an awesome temperament and typically feel happy and content rather than sad. Aside from those moments when my job search is fruitless, of course. I feel horrible about my living and working situation. Everything in my life tells me that I should hate myself for being the failure that I am. The few times when I am told statements like you have told me, other people in my life would say that you are an enabler. But I believe that telling me that it is not okay to hate myself because of these circumstances gives me better perceptive on life. So thank you Hellion.

Thank you so much.

[ladytiger]

i am the same way i am very picky. i feel i shouldn't have to put up bs just to survive at the job. my old job was working at a grocery store while i was in college i hated it. it was in a city i live in that has a reputation of being stuck up the further north you went it was like hollywood but i lived on the south side.

i am a college grad already have a degree and was working on a 2nd degree but i owe the school money. there are no options for me i swear ppl have suggested such **** for jobs things i will not do because it doesn't pay enough and i am putting up with bs. where's the fulfillment these days and the passion? now we need crummy jobs again just to survive.

experience is killing me and i will not volunteer for free work. i could use the new skills but i have to look at how i am gonna eat and yes i need an income to survive just like you. i am 26 yrs old and where i live always had crap jobs cuz of the cheat cost of living but has good jobs if you have a ton of experience. i wish ppl could come up with better answers and not some goobly gook for advice!

what r u suppose to do when u have less experience? i got my degree in IT no certs 2 yrs ago i dont have any contacts. my dad was in IT but i would never use him he has a bad employment record.

[CastlesInTheAir]

https://www.alpineaccess.com/careers

http://www.westathome.com/

[TheTimelessness]

Originally Posted by CastlesInTheAir

https://www.alpineaccess.com/careers

http://www.westathome.com/

Thank you again for replying CastlesInTheAir. Alpine Access seems promising and a few more applications have been recently submitted. Things are also stable at the moment I don't have to consider being homeless for now. It's certainly nerve racking to have your possessions occasionally tossed out to the curb; which has repeatedly happened since the age of 8. I'm looking forward to getting a job and possibly gaining some more stability in my life even if I need to wait awhile longer for a suitable employer to hire me.

I just wanted to let you know that this sense of urgency is gone right now.
Thanks again, I really appreciate the help and encouragement from you and everyone else.

[TheTimelessness]

Originally Posted by ladytiger

i am the same way i am very picky. i feel i shouldn't have to put up bs just to survive at the job. my old job was working at a grocery store while i was in college i hated it. it was in a city i live in that has a reputation of being stuck up the further north you went it was like hollywood but i lived on the south side.

i am a college grad already have a degree and was working on a 2nd degree but i owe the school money. there are no options for me i swear ppl have suggested such **** for jobs things i will not do because it doesn't pay enough and i am putting up with bs. where's the fulfillment these days and the passion? now we need crummy jobs again just to survive.

experience is killing me and i will not volunteer for free work. i could use the new skills but i have to look at how i am gonna eat and yes i need an income to survive just like you. i am 26 yrs old and where i live always had crap jobs cuz of the cheat cost of living but has good jobs if you have a ton of experience. i wish ppl could come up with better answers and not some goobly gook for advice!

what r u suppose to do when u have less experience? i got my degree in IT no certs 2 yrs ago i dont have any contacts. my dad was in IT but i would never use him he has a bad employment record.

Hi ladytiger it sounds like your dealing with a lot. I'm asking myself that very same question for phlebotomy. So I completely understand where your coming from. I also understand just how hard, and degrading some of these jobs are. People do treat those who work in retail in ways that just aren't acceptable. That's why I try to share a few kind words with service workers at every opportunity.

Maybe you could gain the experience your looking for through a temp agency. Granted, it would probably be a modest sum of only $9-$12 hourly. But at the same time I hope that you would be treated kindly and respectfully.

[CastlesInTheAir]

glad you are feeling better

[ladytiger]

Originally Posted by TheTimelessness

Hi ladytiger it sounds like your dealing with a lot. I'm asking myself that very same question for phlebotomy. So I completely understand where your coming from. I also understand just how hard, and degrading some of these jobs are. People do treat those who work in retail in ways that just aren't acceptable. That's why I try to share a few kind words with service workers at every opportunity.

Maybe you could gain the experience your looking for through a temp agency. Granted, it would probably be a modest sum of only $9-$12 hourly. But at the same time I hope that you would be treated kindly and respectfully.

are you serious? the damn temp agencies here wont even talk to me! i take that back, i had an interview this july at a temp agency with an accounting manager when i wanted an IT job. i should have been speaking to the IT manager but this accounting manager knew nothing about IT. i am like why am i talking to her?

she was very nice but never heard back from her. i hate when ppl suggest the temp agency idea if it was all that then i would already been employed. i have tried to apply to jobs with temps, they told me i have no experience and all of their positions dont even have jobs for those who are needing to start out!

thats what the accounting manager told me. i wish someone would tell me of a temp agency where they can start you to gain experience because i am sure not finding any of them here in AZ! i have had some temp agencies call me only to take info and never heard from them. there is a nonprofit here which is far that i wanted to check out to see if they can help. how many more agencies do we have to go thru in order to land a job?

[ladytiger]

i forgot to mention i am just so discourage i have heard/gotten every "piece of advice out there about "what i should do," and it doesn't work! i have not been able to successfuly land a job, no matter how many times i have reword my resumes/cv letters, and how i speak in interviews; nobody hires me!

like i told someone else no amount of working for free is going to fix everybody's problems. the temp agencies here are a big joke! they claim it is about helping u gain or update skills how is that when they r only hiring those who have over 5 yrs of experience?

well, i am gonna go to goodwill's career center on monday.

[TheTimelessness]

You know what, ladytiger? Your right. And I apologize. It was wrong of me to impose so abruptly.

I'm in the same situation myself and people give me the same goobly gook advice that I've given you. When said advice isn't helpful people immediately assume that you're just isn't trying hard enough. But we both know this isn't true. You clearly are trying very hard right now and I really wish that things weren't such a struggle.

I can clearly see how my advice could have been hurtful; what you/(we) are going through is frustrating and sharing some ideas can be insulting. Insulting as if to suggest that you wouldn't have already thought of and tried this already. So please allow me to apologize again and simply say that I had no intention of hurting you in any manner. Believe me, the last thing I wanted to do here is add to your discouragement. It does sadden me that these temp agencies have not helped you.

With that said allow me to be brutally honest with you; From my position right now there's very little I can do. What I can do is perhaps offer some insight into why I'm content with working a service related, degrading job. I can share my own stories and experience with the IT field in general, the experiences of my associates and friends, and explain some commonalities I've noted amongst mangers when they examine possible candidates. Maybe there's more advice, but possibly more mediocre advice at that. Above all else... The one, most important thing I can do for you right now is offer my sincere, heartfelt encouragement. Please hang in there ladytiger. It sounds like your doing everything possible to help yourself. I hope that things do become better and improve. My fingers will be crossed that things go smoothly on Monday for you.

[ladytiger]

Originally Posted by TheTimelessness

You know what, ladytiger? Your right. And I apologize. It was wrong of me to impose so abruptly.

I'm in the same situation myself and people give me the same goobly gook advice that I've given you. When said advice isn't helpful people immediately assume that you're just isn't trying hard enough. But we both know this isn't true. You clearly are trying very hard right now and I really wish that things weren't such a struggle.

I can clearly see how my advice could have been hurtful; what you/(we) are going through is frustrating and sharing some ideas can be insulting. Insulting as if to suggest that you wouldn't have already thought of and tried this already. So please allow me to apologize again and simply say that I had no intention of hurting you in any manner. Believe me, the last thing I wanted to do here is add to your discouragement. It does sadden me that these temp agencies have not helped you.

With that said allow me to be brutally honest with you; From my position right now there's very little I can do. What I can do is perhaps offer some insight into why I'm content with working a service related, degrading job. I can share my own stories and experience with the IT field in general, the experiences of my associates and friends, and explain some commonalities I've noted amongst mangers when they examine possible candidates. Maybe there's more advice, but possibly more mediocre advice at that. Above all else... The one, most important thing I can do for you right now is offer my sincere, heartfelt encouragement. Please hang in there ladytiger. It sounds like your doing everything possible to help yourself. I hope that things do become better and improve. My fingers will be crossed that things go smoothly on Monday for you.

not a problem. i tell this to my therapist many times and the jerks on linkedin as well. ppl tell me there are a lot of htings i can do i said not when u have no means of finances u can not do anything yet.

[TheTimelessness]

The only thing I ever wanted in life was to live in a stable household. I've never had that. Since childhood I've constantly been so afraid. Being so overwhelmed that I was the only way I could cope was to give up on life. I barely graduated high school and had absolutely no direction. I was a good kid, I was a good young adult, and I am a good person. I don't go clubbing or to bars. I don't take drugs or go to parties. I always strive to be tactful and polite to everyone. There's so much that I try to do and it's never good enough. At eight years old my toys would be broken after being thrown out into boxes. My stuff would be packed and I would be screamed at and told that I'm moving out. I was just a child. My crime was standing up for myself and telling my bipolar mom that how she was treating me was hurtful. I've constantly been threatened with homelessness for the majority of my life and I do not believe that I deserve this.

My mother is someone who believes that there's always somebody worse off than yourself. Which is true. There is always someone worse off. She believes that my medical conditions are no big deal. Which isn't true and is hurtful to me. She believes that being transgendered is no big deal. Which is also untrue. Being transgender makes job searching difficult. There's just no way around it. Because of her beliefs, my older transgender sister has been forced into whoring herself. My sister who used to be a very polite, and intelligent young women, is now a lot lizard. My own condition might prevent me from working behind a desk for more than an hour at a time. It might prevent me from working as a cashier. But I'm trying. I've applied to every single job out there including janitorial positions that involve working in a some chemical factory, as well as hospitals were I'd clean up people's piss and blood. When my car was being used by somebody else, I literally walked for four hours to a nearby temp agency. So don't any of you dare judge me and say that I'm not trying. I'm already told that enough.

I live each day expecting to die tomorrow. I anticipate dying every day. Then each day I wake up and tell myself, "No. Just one more day. I'll keep living for just one more day." That's the only way that I can mentally cope with my living situation. I have never lived within a household. I've only been a guest and I'm constantly reminded of this way before I was old enough to work. I'm not the bread bringer. I'm a useless parasite.

When I express how I'm feeling they tell me that. When I tell them that I feel suicidal they tell me to just shallow it. Pull up my big boy panties and get a job. People much worse off than me found work but I -still- haven't been employed. Now that I'm grown up I can look back and see why I'm so messed up and so socially anxious and suicidal. There's no escaping who I am. Clearly I deserve this or else I wouldn't have been treated the way that I am, and failed the way that I have. There is no hope. Even if I somehow land two jobs, I could not afford an apartment. Tonight I'm probably going to be homeless in time for thanksgiving. This time probably isn't an empty threat. If that happens I will kill myself and there is nothing anyone can do to stop me. I only hope that this miserable, horrible person dies a lonely cold death isolated from everyone for how she treated her two children, her multiple husbands, and her own father and mother.

[TheTimelessness]

Plans are being made to get out. Even though I'm still unemployed.

Do you know what the worst part is?

I brought my girlfriend into this household to escape an abusive environment. She has been raped, degraded, brutalized and then threatened to be murdered, and mistreated by everyone in her life but me. And I brought her here to find a better life. To create a future for herself. Now her housecat who has helped her battle depression is going to be euthanized, or left out in the wild over the winter and will probably die from the cold. She has been forced to give up her dreams to become an educator for young children. She's 21 and has never owned a car before, and could only find a retail job which only offers four hours a week. We've filed for section 8 housing but that takes eight years. I cannot even file for section 8 myself since you need to be employed in order to be eligible.

Now she wants to kill herself along side me. Because death would be a safe release from homelessness.
It was my fault for bringing her here to try to help her. I guess the proverb is true. Hell is paved in good intentions. What have I done?

[TheTimelessness]

We're still trying to find a way to make things work. But I don't know what to do anymore.

• My girlfriend is working with a therapist who specializes in dialectical behavior therapy. This therapist is really experienced in helping battered spouses escape an abusive marriage when they have literally zero financial means. So we're all going to sit down together to try to create some plan.
• I'm going to try to see another therapist for myself in the short amount of time that I have remaining before the police forcibly evict me.
• Community mental health services are apparently both stretched very thin but also run by assholes. Finding a case handler to help me function and find employment isn't going to be an option because I'm not incontinent.
• Welfare to work programs is something I'm going to look into asap.
• I guess I need help building a better resume but I don't know what to do if I have no work history. (The only job I ever had ended under poor terms. I couldn't sleep anymore because the physical pain terrible I had to quit. They really valued me and wanted me to stay full time.)
• I've already been to several career centers and temp agencies. The staff at these one stop career centers are truly wonderful people who really care. But there honestly wasn't much that they could do for me.
• My occupational therapist has advised me never, ever, inform an employer of my medical conditions. I'm protected by the ADA and in her thirty some years of experience in helping people like me, patience is the best solution to finding work.
• I'm ineligible for vocational aid. My health insurance runs out in under six months. Next week I'm giving my doctor an ultimatum. I want to go under the knife if it'll make things better. Even if that's risky. If surgery doesn't help me I will destroy my arm. I know exactly what to do, and how I'll go about cutting this arm off. I want to be an amputee. As screwed up as it is, our system is built to help an amputee much better than somebody with nerve damage.
• We're going through the system for section 8 and low income housing. The two of us have no credit which isn't going to be good. The process is simply going to take far too many years. But we'll try.
• Right now I'm looking at halfway housing and shelters. I'm not a women. There are no shelters for abused men. The homeless shelters are closed during the winter. While halfway houses on the other hand are all for ex-convicts, and drug addicts. Maybe I should buy meth? I know a few dealers. Would prison be a good idea to stay out of the cold? That doesn't help my future, or my girlfriend very much. I'd honestly much rather prefer to die instead. The military isn't an option because I have a nerve problem... Alongside two very mild spinal deformities...

Any other ideas? I'm really, really, really desperate right now.

[Junerain]

I just wanted to say pat yourself on the back, feel good about all you are doing for yourself!! Sounds like you are doing all you can. Life is difficult and unfortuneately you feel this fact deep down, I am sure..the only way for things to go are UP at this point, which they will head in the UP direction soon. I have the deepest empathy for you. I receive social security for my mental illness and it helps me a great deal. Otherwise I would be in the same boat. Hugs!!!

[whenwillitend]

I have no idea if this is going to be in any way helpful, but I always had trouble handling work too, and quit every job shortly after starting. Now you said retail is out of the question, and if I understood right it's because of carpal tunnel and something else? I was wondering if Toys'R'Us would work for you. I started there three weeks ago, and not only is it incredibly fun, the work environment is awesome (I don't even know where to start on that one), and it's really easy, basically you just help customers find what they're looking for (so you just need to memorize the layout of the store), or help them decide on what toy to buy. Really the only pysical work is occasionally (during downtimes) pushing a cart around and taking misplaced items from the shelves and putting them back where they belong. True, it only pays a tad over minimum wage the first year, but if you do well you get a raise every year, plus they offer benefits even for part time employees. And nobody there treats you bad. Not the rest of the team, not the customers. It's a very happy place. I worked last night (Black Friday), and every single person I dealt with was friendly andthankful for my help.

Okay, that was long. Like I said, I don't know if that was even helpful.

I had two other great jobs before that. One was housekeeper at the Army Hospital. Two hours a day. Cleaning my designated clinic after everyone went home. No stress, no contact with anyone.
And the other one was working for a petcare company. I mainly walked dogs, but I also pet/housesat. That was a lot of fun too (except for rainy days in the winter).

Um, could you take the kitty to a shelter? It would be more humane to have him euthanized than to be left out in the cold. Pleeaaase?? Even if you leave him in a carrier at the front door of an animal hospital before they open for business so he doesn't have to be outside for too long, they will take him in, and either care for him, or put him to sleep, whichever the vet decides is right for the cat. At least you won't have to think about him suffering if he freezes, or is attacked by another animal or is hit by a car. Please, I ask with the utmost respect for you and your girlfriend. It's one less thing to worry about for you.