Ugghh! I lost my job.......Again!

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I finally found a job through a temporary agency two months ago after a whole year of searching. The assignment was supposed to last, at least, until January and possibly until the company moved to Houston in May. I had been through so much this past year regarding having severe depression and quiting my last job due to the stress, finding out I have AS and a stay in a psychiatric hospital after attempting suicide. Things had finally stablized in my life with this job so much that I finally had enough money to pay for essentials and a few extras. This morning, however, I received a voice mail message from the temp agency saying, without explanation, that my assignment has ended and not to even go back to the job site!

I haven't had one single job that lasted long because of lay-offs and now I can't even keep this one? I tried to reach the temp agency but all I got were voice mails saying they were open Monday-Friday so now, I'm worried about whether I did anything to cause the termination of my job or was it a lay-off for business reasons. I know I shouldn't but I feel nothing in my life will ever go right.....ever. I've done everything I'm supposed to do. I got a college degree, I stayed out of trouble, I tried to do my best on every job I had but I keep getting the same result anyway.......being without a job because I had to quit due to the stress or being laid off. I have family members who have far less education than I do and they never have a problem keeping constant employment.

It's getting to the point I don't think I'll be able to function like everyone else and save enough money for retirement or even just to get a car, something I've never had enough money to afford. I'm afraid my grandparents will have to take care of me just like their daughter who's schizophrenic because I can't find long term employment. Maybe I graduated at a time when the economy was bad or maybe employment is, at best, transitory these days and there's no point expecting to be anywhere for 20 or even 2 years.

Or worse, maybe having AS will keep me from making any kind of progress as I've heard that only a small percentage ever have gainful employment. Why is it that any attempt to win the game of life lands me on the "Do not pass-go" space?

Sorry to hear that. If it was a temporary job then chances are that you didn't do anything wrong, they just found a way to cut you out of their payroll. Usually on a short term assignment like that, they would put up with any quirks until they didn't need you any more, rather than firing you and having to train someone new.
Don't give up, you'll find something.
What sort of degree do you have ?

My degree is in print journalism but I'm in one of the worst markets for that field being that this city has very few professional jobs and mostly low-wage service industry employment. I'm really considering doing what pretty much every person I know has suggested and go into teaching because there's always a need somewhere for teachers.

And then in some cities, if you don't have a teacher's license, they have a program where they pay for the classes you need to take to get one. That's just how bad the teacher shortage is everywhere in the US. I've been afraid to do it because I'm very social phobic and if students find any weakness in a teacher, they will not respect her. But with the job market the way it is, I may have no choice.

Have you considered relocating to a larger city?
Or do you want to stay in Memphis?

Oh, Lord yes, I've wanted so much to get the heck out of this life-sucking town. But.....you need money to relocate and.....you need a good job to get the money to relocate......and you need longevity at one company to get a good job. Can you say, "catch 22"?

Besides, I've already tried to relocate to New York but was back to Memphis penniless in a month because I happened to arrive when the job market was at its worst in the Northeast. After that, I had to take a really stressful, low-paying job here (which is all they have here) just to catch up. Having failed yet again to get ahead, this was part of the reason for my mental break-down.

I find it encouraging sometimes just to peruse the online job ads in different cities and imagine the various lives I could potentially live. You can even apply online and you really have nothing to lose.
Check out this site, http://www.ajb.dni.us/
I also put up some resumes on yahoo, or something, and got a lot of responses. They weren't really jobs I was interested in, but it's a nice feeling to have headhunters coming after you.

It's true, there's always a need for teachers.
There is even a bigger need for Aspies teaching children on the Autistic Spectrum.
It is very rewarding.
It is also very taxing.
I am an Aspie teacher teaching children on the spectrum.
The first person on the spectrum who's behavior I have to manage well in the classroom is mine.
Somedays that can be harder then others. It does however provide me with a great deal of insight into why and when my students are stimming. Other teachers frequently ask me for my insight into helping their autistic students.
Saturdays I'm usually decompressing at home from the stress of the week.

The first thing that you need is psycological stability.
Find a therapist doing their internship hours who is willing to work with you on a sliding scale.

Sorry to hear about your recent loss. I have experienced same multiple times and it never gets any easier. Any chance you could get a night job in your field? This is what works best for me. Working nights I don't run up against as many people and so I don't get into trouble so much. I do better working with things than with people. Good luck and don't give up.

I change jobs about every 3 years. After that time the writing is on the wall, I'm tired of them and they're tired of me. I would say definitely get out of the South. There are just too many etiquette rules for a poor Aspy to figure out. My favorite place to live so far has been Minnesota. Its the first place where I fit right in and nobody seemed to care about my oddities. The worst criticism a Minnesotan will give you is "That's Different" (example: "My sexual preference is small farm animals." Minnesotan:"That's different.").
Even better, the custom is to not make eye contact while speaking. Its Aspy Heaven!
The trick to landing a job in another city is to phrase your cover letter like you are already moving there anyway and just need a job. Even better is if you have a friend there and can give a local address. The employers want to know you won't get homesick and quit after 2 months, but you can't just say you hate the city you're living in because that would be too negative.
Also, before you accept the job look up the city's cost of living on the net and make sure the salary is going to pay the bills. I don't think there's an employer around that has enough cash to make up for NYC's cost of living.

I've been thinking the same thing. Southern Hospitality is either dead or a myth, or was always some superficial phony act to begin with.
I'm moving to Philadelphia.

I was born and raised in the South. Southern hospitality never existed. People are only nice if you are exactly like them and follow these unwritten rules that everyone is supposed to know to the letter. Even then, they'll still start ripping you for something 5 seconds after you're out of the door.

What is it about the south, I wonder? Southeast England is also exactly like this.

if you attempt suicide and fail it shows a lack of work ethic.

Hi,
How is the job search going? Are you holding up?

I had a lot of jobs over the last 20 years. I lost some because the business failed, lost some because I lacked the required social skills. What saved me was when I found a unionized job that matched my perseverative interests. That was 13 years ago and I'm still at it. Prior to this job I had a low opinion of unions, but once I was hired I quickly came to appreciate the benefits of a collective agreement -- all of my duties are clearly described, and as long as I follow the rules (which is something I'm good at) the union protects me from "random acts of mismanagement". One day a manager decided to hassle me because I'm an easy target and before I even knew what was happening the union was all over his a** and he was told to leave me alone.

That's another fundamental problem with jobs here in the South. Everyone's so anti-union here and with work in this city being mostly warehouse and service industry employment, you can just forget about finding a company that has a union. The state I'm in also has "at will" laws, meaning an employer can get rid of you for any reason and at any time...without severance or warning. And this has happened to me several times in the past five years where I was given a couple day's notice the company was closing.

This is exactly why companies looking to save money and who don't want to out-source overseas look to the South's work force since they can take advantage of them and I'm really sick of it.