[GailH]

My first job at 17 was at McDonald's. It was supposed to be fulltime but I was lucky if I got 12 hours a week. I was told it was because I didn't do a good job. My next job was at a newspaper and I was constantly yelled at by my boss. I have been fired at least a dozen times. I have good attendance and I work hard but I've never been fast enough nor accurate enough. I have a degree in journalism and not being able to find a job in that I went back to school and studied word processing and other computer applications as well as medical terminology. I was still bombarded with complaints that I wasn't fast enough and wasn't accurate enough. I am on the verge of losing my job now as a data entry clerk because I am took slow. I am 56. My wrists ache. I am living in a state I don't want to live in. I moved here because my mother was in her last years. Now that she's dead and I have no relatives nor friends I am stuck in a state where I don't want to live. I am planning on a retirement or semi-retirement at 62 so I can leave this state. Right now I am not at the point where I can go. It is so frustrating not being able to do a good job and getting called in all the time. I don't know what's the matter with me.

[Nicks_Nose]

Originally Posted by GailH

My first job at 17 was at McDonald's. It was supposed to be fulltime but I was lucky if I got 12 hours a week. I was told it was because I didn't do a good job. My next job was at a newspaper and I was constantly yelled at by my boss. I have been fired at least a dozen times. I have good attendance and I work hard but I've never been fast enough nor accurate enough. I have a degree in journalism and not being able to find a job in that I went back to school and studied word processing and other computer applications as well as medical terminology. I was still bombarded with complaints that I wasn't fast enough and wasn't accurate enough. I am on the verge of losing my job now as a data entry clerk because I am took slow. I am 56. My wrists ache. I am living in a state I don't want to live in. I moved here because my mother was in her last years. Now that she's dead and I have no relatives nor friends I am stuck in a state where I don't want to live. I am planning on a retirement or semi-retirement at 62 so I can leave this state. Right now I am not at the point where I can go. It is so frustrating not being able to do a good job and getting called in all the time. I don't know what's the matter with me.

Gail, I so understand where you are coming from. After 30 years in the work force, I am hearing nothing but complaints from employers and criticism up to the ears all the time. I am not fast enough, flexible enough, available enough, french enough, young enough, experienced enough, organized enough... blah blah blah. I am presently working my butt off for a supervisor who can change opinions as quickly as our wind patterns do here.

I am 47, working retail and restaurant, on my feet for 30 years, feeling joint pain from the hard flooring we are on constantly. I apparently was told by my boss prior to her vacation leave a week ago that she was concerned about my performance, and management would be watching me while she is gone and she likes me personally, and she wouldn't want to comeback to hear that I have been let go. A backhanded compliment if I ever heard one.

My coworkers tell me I am a hardworking person but for her I am never good enough. I am not enough like her. I can relate to your struggles. I send you many hugs. I don't know if it helps any to know that you are not alone in this. I have told my counsellor that after tons of education and years of rejection and criticism in the workplace, I have no idea what skills I have. I can list a dozen or more faults, but i have not one clue of what I do well. Companies call it constructive criticism, but a human being can only take so much.

One of the things i studied was Human Resources Management, and if an employer has good leadership skills, and notices an employee is lacking certain skills, they are to try to provide a way for the employee to acquire those skills, improve with more training, or find a position within the company which has a better fit to the good skills the employee does show. When an employer just craps on an employee constantly, they are not showing very good leadership themselves. If the company is small and cannot provide much movement, they should at least provide some extracurricular activities that enable employees to demonstrate other skills that can draw a compliment now and then. Very few employers do this.

Do you have any hobbies outside of work? My counsellor said I am very articulate but I have no clue how to apply that to a resume. She says I have "soft" skills rather than "hard" skills. That may classify my skills but still doesn't specify what skills in particular. My typing is slow, I have crappy math skills, and my thought patterns are not creative for the arts or logical enough for the analytical work. So where do I fit in?

[IceCreamKid]

Hi Gail. Nick's got a good answer going. Have you considered moving to your desired location now instead of waiting? I'd hate to see you suffer six more years before you can retire.

[Perna]

I would work on trying to make a few friends by joining a hobby group or volunteering for some cause you would like to support; it sounds like you have been spending a lot of your life trying to please other people. If possible I'd move a hobby, or friend's connections or volunteer job into a real job that was slower paced and something you really enjoyed. I would make a little 5-year plan for myself, to get me to retirement, kind of like one makes a plan for schooling, etc. I found this book extremely helpful (I'm 61): http://wishcraft.com/

[Nicks_Nose]

Thank you, Perna!! I will definitely benefit from this reference you provided.

Thanks ((((everyone)))) for sharing ((((Perna)))) thanks for the link

[Chaotik 1]

Sorry to hear what u are going through..
Quick question, when u got your degree in journalism, what did you want to do with it? Did you just get a degree for the sake of it? Maybe you should try to revisit what inspired you to want to go into journalism. Find something that makes you want to go to work besides pay bills ( that hasn't worked out), like starting your own blog. There are quite a few websites for free that are looking for writers like elance.com, odesk.com, textbrokers.com and even examiner.com- all freelance but maybe one will help you find that career you dreamed of and you don't have to clock in...

[GailH]

Originally Posted by Chaotik 1

Sorry to hear what u are going through..
Quick question, when u got your degree in journalism, what did you want to do with it? Did you just get a degree for the sake of it? Maybe you should try to revisit what inspired you to want to go into journalism. Find something that makes you want to go to work besides pay bills ( that hasn't worked out), like starting your own blog. There are quite a few websites for free that are looking for writers like elance.com, odesk.com, textbrokers.com and even examiner.com- all freelance but maybe one will help you find that career you dreamed of and you don't have to clock in...

This is late. I wanted to be a disk jockey. I started out studying broadcasting and worked as a DJ for the first two years of college. Then I changed my major to journalism and planned to be a reporter for a TV channel. There were no jobs when I got out of college and I had no skills and a BA degree.