The dead end kids.

I am 26, I have a half a decade worth of retail experience, I have tried post-college education about five times and given up most times either due to me realising there's no future in that industry for local workers (Information Technology), or that I'd need a crapload of money in order to travel overseas for my education (Japanese Linguistics), or that I simply do not have the funds to continue my studies.
I have been trying for the past six months to gain employment, to no avail whatsoever.
I have had two unsuccessful interviews in these past six months, from approximately 300 job applications.

When I was last working (February of this year), I started a hobby of growing plants in pots to keep myself amused.
Now, 8 months later, I have reached a point where there is the all-too-real prospect of never being able to get a job because of my religious and moral convictions (I refuse to work in law enforcement, defence, for corporations aiding genocidal regimes (Connex the railway operator for Melbourne, has a sister company in Israel), or for corporations where I know I cannot morally enforce their corporate policies (supermarkets and chain stores with bag-checking policies)) and utter lack of recent experience.
I have come to the realisation that I derive more pleasure from digging holes in my backyard and tilling the soil so that I can grow vegetables, than I get from the thought of being 'gainfully employed'.
I find the time I spend in my garden with my beloved plants, more rewarding than working some bs mindless corporate job.

The only problem is that society deems me a "dole bludger" and a "burden to society".

reply to post by whistler16


It's easy to take pride in a business you run. I would love every minute of scrubbing the floors of my own business, even cleaning the toilets would be a joy.

But apparently you've never worked in Wal-Mart or the like. It's hard to take pride in a job that really doesn't care if your there or not and shows it every day.

I've worked jobs that were by no means glamorous but I could take pride in them. Working on a farm is dirty, hard work but in the end you can really be proud of what you accomplished, even if it consists mostly of feces and pig slop lol

When I think back to my youth many ancient millenia ago, I try to think not only what happened but HOW I FELT at the time. It seemed when I was a teenager that I must have some fantastic secret destiny waiting for me...that the world would somehow construct itself around me and bouy me to some kind of new heights. I would never have admitted this if confronted directly, because it sounds so egomaniaical and ridiculous. But I really did feel that way when I was a teenager/young twentysomething.

Now that feeling has been burned out of me. "Stuff happens," is all. You can control some things but not all things and no, there is no special course guiding you and things have little meaning beyond what is redily apparent. I assume kids will have to learn very quickly to live by this latter ethic or else suffer extreme discomfort until they do learn it.

Originally posted by nrky
I have come to the realisation that I derive more pleasure from digging holes in my backyard and tilling the soil so that I can grow vegetables, than I get from the thought of being 'gainfully employed'.
I find the time I spend in my garden with my beloved plants, more rewarding than working some bs mindless corporate job.

The only problem is that society deems me a "dole bludger" and a "burden to society".

My thoughts exactly! I am totally with you on this

hmm... I both agree and disagree. I'm 25.

I've been there in 2005, brand new B.S. in Health Science/Environmental Health, within six months time I must've pumped out a couple hundred resumes for elementary jobs with Con-Ed, various hospitals and laboratories around the area. Didn't hear anything back. Then out of desperation, I tried applying to hospitals for secretarial or receptionist positions (had office skills, decent knowledge at the time of medical terminology). Nada. Well, got 1 interview, but wasn't called back for a 2nd interview or anything (for a receptionist position).

December 2005-- Got a temp job at a hospital scanning documents in all day long. Most boring and mentally draining job of my life, but seen it as my first opportunity. Management notified me about hiring me, but said they had to wait a month for their contract to end with my temp agency. When that month was up, everyone they actually hired within 3 months was fired, and I was, what I call, "unhired."

March 2005- May 2005-- Looked into nursing programs and prereq's. At that point I was in so much disgust that I decided to go back.

May 2006- August 2006-- Enrolled and completed a A&P I, EMT course, and sociology (prereq for my program). Also got hired working at the college office Financial Aid office pushing paper. Made some good friends there.

Fall 2006-- Finished up the bulk of the prereq's needed: microbiology, A&P II, nutrition while working my part time job.

Spring 2007-- Continued working, did a couple extra prereq's on the side for some nursing programs, applied to different schools.

Fall 2007-- Got into nursing school, and said good-bye to my financial aid job, said hello to a per diem EMT job, and hello to my nursing program that began in Jan '08.

Jan 2008- now-- I am about to finish up my BSN. My classmates and I busted our asses to make our way through this program, exhausted every trick in the book for fast memorization, and learning. Got a job working per diem over summer 2009 as a nurse's aid, where at times I have to wrestle large, confused geriatric patients to clean them among other interesting or nightmare inducing things. December is the big month I'm done with the program and hopefully will be able to get licensed as a R.N. within the next three months.

I've gotten stuck at a dead end, but I carved my way out. If it happens again, I'll carve my way out again. That's life. Kudos to anyone who actually read this to the end.

reply to post by whistler16


The problem is there is no sense of acomplishment working at Wal - Mart. You come in and do the exact same thing every day. Empty this box and put it on that shelf. The next day it is move that shelf to this shelf, and then empty this box on to that shelf. You never finish a project or turn out a product that really makes a difference.

I don't feel I'm entitled to anything. I've been picking up temp work with who ever I can. I've been working from time to time in my old profession for 1/5th to 1/7th of my old rate. In otherwords what I use to make for one day I now make for five, six, or even seven days. That is when I can find work. Sometimes I go back to my teenage days. I sand drywall and paint walls for $8 an hour. That is if I can find anything.

I applied for fast food and was told I'm over qualified. The manager at Radio Shack said he was afraid I could take his job. I have applied to be a janitor in a medical clinic. I was turned down because I asked for minimum wage. They wanted to pay $150 a week for what amounted to 25 -35 hours of work a week.

Not everyone without a job is lazy or dodging responsibility.

I definitely understand what you are saying, we should all strive for improvement, but working for 40 hours a week is just standard imo, that still leaves you with a TON of time to do other things (ie learning to program etc). One of the best things about working a corporate job is knowing that you get to punch out at 5.


My point really is that we arent all destined for great things, ditches need to be dug, toilets need to be cleaned, the mentality of "this job is beneath me" is what is destroying our nation. Taxes suck, and the current government is garbage, but I dont think most people with the attitude of this work is beneath me, can honestly say that they are out of work because they want to stick it to the man (you sound like an exception). I think a lot of it stems from teh fact that they dont want to get their hands dirty. If you are choosing not to work for a "huge faceless corporation" are you doing anything to bring them down? Are you actively seeking ways to take the power back? If not, you are just being lazy imo.


Ps when I say "you" I dont mean a particular poster, Ijust mean the generations in general.

the other thing making this situation so hard is that many of these "kids" including myself have not been able to fully graduate due to the cost

many are stuck only getting halfway through their education career and can no longer afford school, and are already stuck with insanely high student loans

you take out the loans hoping to graduate and be able to get a decent job and pay back the loans, but many times the loans stop before graduation, which many kids are not prepared for

so now you have a bunch of kids out of work, and thousands of dollars in debt, some schools are having kids get upwards of 100 thousand in debt and still not graduating

and now with financial background checks having influence of who the companies hire, it makes it even harder for these young people to get jobs even if they are qualified

how do i know this? 1st hand knowledge

we are in for a long recession, i honestly see changes in the way our economy works, before the economy actually improves, i truly wouldnt be surprised to see capitalism end long before the economy recovers

reply to post by Mr.Hyde


With all that funny money that's being passed around, I don't worry about debt anymore.

So I owe someone a bunch of useless paper? Hope they like store-brand, 1-ply toilet paper cuz I got rolls and rolls of that.

Originally posted by MikeNice81
reply to post by whistler16

 

The problem is there is no sense of acomplishment working at Wal - Mart. You come in and do the exact same thing every day. Empty this box and put it on that shelf. The next day it is move that shelf to this shelf, and then empty this box on to that shelf. You never finish a project or turn out a product that really makes a difference.

I don't feel I'm entitled to anything. I've been picking up temp work with who ever I can. I've been working from time to time in my old profession for 1/5th to 1/7th of my old rate. In otherwords what I use to make for one day I now make for five, six, or even seven days. That is when I can find work. Sometimes I go back to my teenage days. I sand drywall and paint walls for $8 an hour. That is if I can find anything.

I applied for fast food and was told I'm over qualified. The manager at Radio Shack said he was afraid I could take his job. I have applied to be a janitor in a medical clinic. I was turned down because I asked for minimum wage. They wanted to pay $150 a week for what amounted to 25 -35 hours of work a week.

Not everyone without a job is lazy or dodging responsibility.

I dont wnat anyone to get the impression that I think everyone without a job is lazy etc. I obviously know that is not always the case. But yes, I worked for 5 years for a job that I absolutely hated, same crap everyday, my boss was the biggest dick on the planet, but I kept my mouth shut and did what I was told, because I knew that I was just paying my dues.

there is a lot of information you can learn even at the most menial jobs.

eg:

you stock boxes at walmart-

you come in, put boxes on shelves day after day. is that all you are doing while you are at work? How do they handle those boxes in regards to how they are inventoried, is there a better way to do it? How can the boxes be arranged in the warehouse for more efficient movement? What are your direct supervisors responsibilities, can you social engineer enough information out of them so that you can plead your case to the higher ups that you should have his jobs because you can do it much better?


In my case I worked in restaurants, usually washing dishes, prep etc, I knew it was a #ty nothing job, but I observed some of the best owners in the business, how they ran their staff, how they scheduled shifts, what worked, what didn't etc (and I didnt even remotely like the restaurant business, but my atitude was always "I can do this better than them")

Originally posted by Dramey
the other thing making this situation so hard is that many of these "kids" including myself have not been able to fully graduate due to the cost

many are stuck only getting halfway through their education career and can no longer afford school, and are already stuck with insanely high student loans

you take out the loans hoping to graduate and be able to get a decent job and pay back the loans, but many times the loans stop before graduation, which many kids are not prepared for

so now you have a bunch of kids out of work, and thousands of dollars in debt, some schools are having kids get upwards of 100 thousand in debt and still not graduating

and now with financial background checks having influence of who the companies hire, it makes it even harder for these young people to get jobs even if they are qualified

how do i know this? 1st hand knowledge

we are in for a long recession, i honestly see changes in the way our economy works, before the economy actually improves, i truly wouldnt be surprised to see capitalism end long before the economy recovers

We definitely do not live in capitalist country.


My suggestion for the kids in HS, go to a community college, save yourself some moeny, than transfer to a state school, you dont necessarily need an IVY league degree to make it. Just make sure that you spend the extra time studying, and going above and beyond what is required of you at school, so you have enough knowledge to make some douche who went to Princeton look like an imbecile. You would be surprised at what you can learn on your own if you are committed, and not have some commie professor keeping you from coming to your own conclusions.

I haven't posted on this forum in awhile, but have actively came back time to time to see whats going on with the world. Yes, ATS has officially become my official news source. Haha. I felt the need to reply to this topic since there is so much truth to it and I can see so much of it going on.

As a twenty four year old male, I can honestly say that I have never felt so fortunate to hold a job and to be living on my own. As much as I hate working for the corporation Satan of America (Walmart), I see so many people around my age jobless and still living with their parents. One of my friends, for example, lost his job last year at Walmart and has not been able to find employment since.

Working at Walmart, I have seen many qualified young people being turned down for more qualified older people. Seventy year old, once successful men and women that should be retired by now taking a younger persons job because with the economy the way it is they can't afford to retire yet. It's not their fault though. The systems crashing and everyone is looking for a job. It just so happens the older people have more years of experience.

To make matters worse, those of us with jobs are still having financial struggles. Myself, I'm still trying to piece together how I can make $600 per check and still come out with pockets empty and warnings of disconnects every month. Well, I know the answer. Credit card companies screw people in the (censored!), cigarette prices are through the roof, car insurance at this age is equal to half of my monthly, etc. But my financial struggles are a little off topic.

I'm just angry at this economy. Hard working people are getting crapped on while potential hard workers don't even get the chance to get crapped on.

When I was in the age group being discussed I worked at an amusement park for buck an hour. I asked isn't that below minimum wage and they said not for agricultural workers. Times were rough and it was a job. Minimum wage was $2. This was a while going to college job. I also worked at a factory, but the machines there required skill to master, but the pay was better. After college I had to look for work and got in at a place, worked for nothing, and got a book keeping job and then eventually ran the finances with much better pay. But I really worked hard achieving the pay level. People skills are important to learn.

Part of the problem is minimum wage, it's going to create unemployment. If you have no work skills you may not be worth $7.25 an hour. Look at it from a market point of view. Employers are going to hire higher skilled labor first, and there is a surplus of that for the moment. There are economic reasons why the minimum wage creates unemployment for unskilled labor.

I don't think capitalism is the villain some make it out to be. No one is forcing products down your throat. It is voluntary. You can go through life very modestly and save money for a rainy day, that is if the value of it isn't inflated away. You can be very green in your choices and the market will respond.

I am starting to look at the FED as causing a lot of the boom and bust that affects us all. Congress and the President think it's a good idea to keep interest rates down. What happens, housing prices skyrocket to unprecedented levels. Rents climb to match higher housing prices. Poor people buy homes with inflated values that they can't afford because Congress has encouraged no down payment mortgages. This all collapses as unsustainable. What do they do? They make it worse by bailing out failed companies and banks. Who is going to pay for all this? The people who would hire people, they then hire less people to pay the higher taxes now required. Every policy they try makes it worse. Individuals make up the free market, and government policy is messing it up.

And if you want to implement socialism here, you're wasting your time.

Well, I'm a long time reader on ATS and this is my first post. This one in particular got to me and caught my attention. I'm 22 and I know what it's like to be broke and unemployed and feel like a piece of worthless # in the process in this cold world.

The only advice I can give if you want to work on your own time and make good money is by playing poker.

I have built up enough skill and experience to see a nice steady profit.. (averaging about $2800 a month.) I taught myself until i got better and better. (I didn't read any books or anything) Since I was laid off a year ago, I figured I would give poker my undivided attention and so far it hasn't let me down. If anyone is interested in getting in on the poker scene and needs lessons, just shoot me an email. I'm on the computer almost everyday

Stay strong.

you post a very valid comment about going to a jr. college.
i'm 43 and still paying for MY art school... 17 years ago... i was locked in at 9%...
my colleague at work says he's 100k in debt from the art institute machine, and said he knows he'll be paying the rest of his life... it was sad to hear this as this industry isn't doctor wages. but the schooling (almost) is...

my bill will come in around 65k when it's all over.
most of our loans are through "sallie mae", a federally held company that has interest rates that are locked and non-negotiable. which to me ins BS. not that one couldn't ask their bank to consolidate, but it's harsh. there's actually something trying to get pushed through congress about getting sallie mae to re-configure their interest rates.

my wife is in acupuncture school and her only viable option offered was sallie mae. i was so bummed when i heard this.

time to educate on how to work out alternative financial solutions.

Originally posted by whistler16

Originally posted by MikeNice81

Originally posted by Shadowflux
Many young people have no problem working hard at a job they can be proud of but where do you find a job like that anymore? It's hard to be proud of the work you did at Wal-Mart when your paycheck is so small, the work conditions are mind numbing and, more often than not, the customers induce violent thoughts in one's mind.

Honestly, and you can flame me for this if you want, but I don't think it's worth selling your life away to a greedy corporation for $7.25 an hour, with no benefits, so that your meager paycheck can be further raped by taxes while whats left of it will hardly last you until the next paycheck.

I'd rather be unemployed, not pay taxes and have every hour of my life to myself.

[edit on 27-9-2009 by Shadowflux]

I completely understand these feelings. I have days where I feel the same way. I have to ask a question though. Who is putting food in your stomach when you refuse to work? Who puts shoes on your feet and pays for your transportation?

If someone else isn't paying I would honestly love to know how you do it.

Not being a douche here, Im genuinely curious; but why do you feel entitled to a job that you can be proud of? Why cant you just be proud of the hard work, and sacrifice of completing an accomplishment (even if it is helping some old man find the produce department at wal-mart etc)?


One of the biggest pleasures I had when running my business, was showing up and mopping floors at 6am before anyone else was in the building. It is sad that kids cant just take pride in whatever they are doing because they feel that they are owed more.

One, you have a business with the promise of having more customers which means more business which means more money. But a person coming into a job that pays minimum wage for the store or whatever business to mop floors at 6 am knows that he won't go far. As a man you know that women look at you last when looking for a mate (to provide for her and her kids). Don't get me wrong you can find someone, but will she or he be looking around for the bigger and better deal. We all here aren't naive here, we know that the better your job or the money you make the better your chances of getting a mate or taking care of a mate. You see alot of family killings and divorces and such where much has to do with the economy now. The significant other feels like he or she is worthless and either take their life or take theirs and everyone around them. We have been told and shown that we can have it all, it's our "manifest destiny". We are finding out now that we can't, and people are going slowly insane.

We are fortunate to be witness to an American society that will see it's dreams (both this generation and the baby boomers, there benefits will be cut just watch) slowly fall apart and see our nation for what it has become. A third world nation with a first world facade.

this recession and how it has effected said age group is becoming more and more apparent. I'm 24, have 3 Bachelors Degrees and havent been able to find a job since graduation. I applied to over 300 jobs in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California and Hawaii both online AND in person. those were just the jobs I was applying my degrees towards. I broke down and applied to all the fast food places and grocers I could find, but to no avail.

I finally moved back home to Hawaii in fears of the economy crashing and my not wanting to be around any major cities when this happens. Oahu was starting to sink into the whole econ crash so I island hopped over here to Kauai where I'm glad to say I'm doing work exchange for a roof over my head and growing my own food.

and to think; I'm roughly $29,000 in debt, have 3 degrees, and no job. How will my debt go away? does it matter? I'm not worried about it. just maintaining my food and watching babylon fall from a distance.

reply to post by traphouse


Do you post on any of the poker forums? I agree with the poker thing, but it takes a special breed to grind it out for a living

Regarding the Wal-Mart thing, the job itself might not be hard but a lot of the older folks who shop there are genuinely grateful when you can help them out. Helping people, even if it's just helping them pick out a computer or find their grandson's favorite CD, is actually personally rewarding.

I worked there for 5 years. I hated it by the end, but I wouldn't call it a "dead-end" job. You do have to be a certain type of person to move up... a good leader, you have to have great people skills, and you have to be able to work under stress (holidays are killer.) But if you do, the managers there make a ton of money. (I lacked the people skills, and in the end I just couldn't fake it anymore.)

Anyways, the point that I'm vaguely getting at is that even the most "lowly" jobs can give you reasons to be proud. You just have to do the job and figure out what it is. Frankly, I think simply being self-sustaining and not getting stuck in the welfare system is something to be proud of.

I'm 27. I just got hired at a gas station and my first day is tomorrow. I'm proud because I'm not mooching off my parents and I'm willing to work, despite the easier route of welfare being an option. Some young people need to swallow their pride and take the crappy jobs, and if it really bothers them then they should shoot for management positions.

reply to post by hoghead cheese



We arent talknig 40 somethings here though, we are talking about the youth of the nation, EVERYONE has to start somewhere, there is a big difference between a 20 year old kid mopping floors and a 30 year old mopping floors. That difference is a decade of poor choices.