Is there ANYTHING out there other than service/office jobs?

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Hi, this is my first post here. I had an account before but forgot the login so I made a new one. I didn't have many posts before so I'll start clean again. I'm a 24 year old from Sacramento CA, and am suffering financially. I'm about to be kicked out of my place at the end of October and have no savings, friends, or anywhere to go.

My big problem is I can't keep a service or office job to save my life. My social skills are so poor (despite trying to improve for years) that I can't handle talking to/working with people, I'm hypersensitive to things like flourescent lights or noises like gum chewing to the point where I can't focus on anything else, and am always bullied to death by coworkers, usually other females. They always get away with it because my communication skills are too poor to defend myself. I also HATE getting paid to stand around and do nothing; I like being busy or productive as much as possible, so my worst hell is a job where I'm paid to do absolutely nothing, interspersed with brief periods of humiliating social interaction and coworkers harassing me for "fun". I've never held one of those jobs for more than a month before being fired.

People think those are "easy" jobs, but they're the hardest in the world to me. Even cleaning filthy hoarder houses that people have been evicted from (which I've done) is easier and more pleasant. I KNOW I'm not lazy because I've kept plenty of hands-on jobs in the past, such as cleaning and trade work. I even managed to start an Ebay business on my own and keep it going for over a year until it fell apart. I learn fast, and because I'm not social I actually work instead of talking or wasting time, getting more done than a normal person would. But people are so judgemental, calling me lazy and stupid. And those people are the ones getting paid to stand around a store all day, gossiping and doing pseudo work that contributes nothing to society in the long run.

Now I'm in trouble because the only jobs I can find are retail, restaurant, or office positions where I wouldn't last a week. I'm desperately trying to find someone involved in a trade that would allow me to assist or apprentice again, but it's hard to find that these days, and is often temporary. I would do ANYTHING for a job that would pay me to work with my hands and not with people, including move to another city. In between here and the bay area, there HAS to be something. I thought about harvesting on a farm or vineyard, but all the websites I've found say they're not hiring. I put up cleaning service ads all over the city and on Craigslist but hardly ever get responses. Construction and labor places won't consider me because I'm female and can't lift heavy equipment.

Disability isn't an option because the process takes too long and wouldn't even give me enough to pay for rent alone. And I don't want to be a leech on society. I WANT to work, but at a job that I actually have some hope of keeping. Does anyone have suggestions for alternatives to the service and office crap that's out there?

You don't indicate where you live.

In some countries or some states in the US - your being female might actually HELP you obtain a trade position.

Check out outside worker jobs involving city crews/road crews. Everything from flagging for road crews, equipment operations, truck driving, sanitation work (many modern sanitation trucks have special automatic lifts which eliminate the "heavy" work). There are also grounds keepers (they mow the civic properties lawns and are involved in other grounds work and some horticulture). I wonder if there are some schools in your area or another area which you may be interested in which would teach heavy equipment operation - there is good money in civic jobs in this area - many are unionized as well - which would give you fair/good wages AND benefits AND pensions.

Other work might be for the post office or courier companies - UPS or Fed Ex. You could deliver or you could get work in the sorting area - I think that you need to be able to lift 40 lb or so - check it out anyway. The money is not great - but it is an okay job.

How about getting some trades training in automechanics. You could work for transit companies (many are still unionized). You could get work in vehicle cleaning (entry level) or get specialized skills in vehicle maintenance.

Also (back to civic work). Sanitation has a lot of jobs other than garbage collectors. There is work at landfills - driving forklift or small bulldozers to push the trash. The work is hard, it is not exactly pleasant (garbage stinks), but again, you would be using gross motor skills and the people contact is minimal.

I hope some of these ideas might be useful. If they are not entirely useful - I hope that they help you brainstorm more ideas until you find what would fullfill you.

Take care for now.

I said in the original post that I'm in California. Things are tough here and unemployment is higher than in most states, so that's part of my problem. Most people I know are just taking anything they can get; I wish I had good enough social skills to do that, even temporarily.

I've tried the postal service and they're not hiring right now. From what I've heard, it's pretty hard to get in with them; I know some people that have taken the post office test over 2 years ago and passed with good scores but are still waiting for job openings.

The horticulture idea was a good one; I'll check and see if landscaping companies have anything available. And I'm also going to check out the main utilities company and see if there would be anything there. Sometimes they have free classes, so I can at least improve my skills and learn some new trade work.

So far, being female hasn't helped or hurt. A lot of people I talk to are just baffled as to why I would rather work in a dusty attic by myself as opposed to serving drinks at a nice restaurant. I think I was born in the wrong generation; I'd give anything to travel back to the 60s when people cared about making a difference in their communities instead of just having a meaningless paycheck.

Non profit orgs or government services are probably your best best if you want some meaning behind the work. I hate office work in general also but cleaning bores me to death if I do it longer six months. Its hard to both find a job and yet at the same time find interests in your life that are marketable to the real world in order to make a living in the latter versus the former.

I say do what you have to do maintain some type of employment; I wish I would have. Even if you cant and or horrible just don't draw attention to yourself. There are lot of people terrible at their jobs. Its sad that we live in a world that forces people just to show up to it for a paycheck. I don't blame the people for this anymore I blame the system. When 80% of the population lived off their own land this wasn't much of a problem now it's a reality. Unless you find work that is meaningful for you than you will be miserable because you will feel your time on this earth is cheapened by something worthless and your labor is owned by someone who benefits from it more than you do.

I was going to suggest greenhouse/nursery work, then I realized you were in CA. Way high umemployment, and lots of 'field hands' that work cheaper around. But definitely go for it. You don't know until you try.

The dearth of manufacturing facilites in the US is killing us. Not everyone wants to work in an office, or at McDonalds. People used to work at sewing machines making clothes, draperies, toys. I knew people who did and they actually LIKED it. Watched a lady making hats one time. She had this huge carton next to her machine and she just tossed hat after hat into it! It was very sad when the facility closed.

This rant isn't helping you...

Isn't there a college in Sacramento? They should have a personnel office, and a website, for hiring.

Have you considered working as a vet or animal trainer? My brother has very bad social skills but he's like the horse whisperer when it comes to animals. (oddly enough he is doing media though)

Just thought I'd throw the idea out for you.

Maybe cab driving? You work by yourself, make your own hours, and while it is technically a service job, customer interaction isn't necessary. You actually make better tips by just doing your job efficiently: getting to the person's place on time & dropping them off as quickly as possible.

I've looked for courier jobs but none were hiring when I called, and I think you have to take classes to be a cab driver in California. (At least, that's what I've been told) I also looked into local community/trade colleges but can't get in until spring semester.

I'm going to try and get a seasonal job picking grapes at a vineyard because harvesting season is about to start in Napa and I'd love to move out there anyway. Someone that has better connections than I do is going to look into it for me. It might be a long shot with cheap immigrant labor available, but worth pursuing. And I'm still trying to find someone who would take me on as an apprentice; I've been emailing a resume/letter to different tradesmen in the area to see if anyone responds.

Things look pretty bad in the short term, but there are probably better alternative job options in Northern California than in some other areas. And if all else fails, I can find an intentional community to live in until I get some money coming in

The crappiest part of this is that I want nothing more than to work, but can't find any REAL work. I don't know how many other people out there are in the same position, but it's sad what our society is coming to. What are we living for anyway?

Lately I've been drawn to delivering newspapers. I don't have the slightest idea who I'm supposed to contact for that, but if you're more in the loop than I am see if you could try that.