The plight of the unemployed is often met with a terse look, pursed lips, and a firm shake of the head. You lost your job? How sad, how very sad – and in this economy. If only it had been your choice to leave, once you had found something better. Heaven knows, it’s unthinkable to up and quit your job without something else lined up in times like these, right?
I quit my job of the last few years this afternoon. Screw the economy. It was the nicest thing I have done for myself in a long time.
First, may I say that my hat goes off in sincere respect to those who like, or endure, the standard corporate cubicle or call-center job. Really, it is a difficult thing for the average human psyche to go to a workplace where you are surrounded by grey desks, grey walls, grey everything. Glaring fluorescent lights and computer screens. Sparse windows and limited sunlight, if any. Non-stop talking and yelling and ringing phones. Supervisors hovering over you, because they are being grilled by the general manager every morning for not meeting the numbers last week. It’s tough. It sucks. And today, after yet another day with hours of doing work fit for someone a few promotions higher than my designated job title – with someone telling me I was an idiot at nearly every turn – I found a million little voices inside of me screaming ‘I AM DONE!’ Apparently my dwindling serotonin managed to coup my more logical neurotransmitters. I quit in the middle of my shift, apologized for any inconvenience I was causing, said one or two goodbyes, and drove home while pretending to sing along to a song I didn’t know that was thumping on my car radio.
Since leaving my job all of six hours ago, I have filled out over 85 applications, both online and in-person. I have arranged about five interviews for next week. With so few people hiring, I’m happy with those numbers. I have reached out to references and potential job leads via phone and email. I ensured that all my bills for this month are fully paid, so I know what wiggle room I have with whatever money is now leftover. I feel good. However, I’m genuinely scared that I won’t find a new job anytime soon.
I’m a 25-year-old without a college degree. I can’t afford to go to school, I’ve been out of school too long to qualify for any truly helpful grants or scholarships, and I’m terrified by the mere thought of student loans. I’ve had thirteen jobs, some overlapping, over the course of the last seven years. Those thirteen jobs do not include countless side gigs of babysitting, housecleaning, and yardwork, among other means of supplemental income (online surveys and medical test subject, anyone?). I’ve worked in so many random industries that I confuse many interviewers with my skill-set list … typing speed over 70 words per minute? Check. Experience with QuickBooks Pro and ACT! databases? Yes. Able to manage an online magazine and contribute articles when needed? Check and check. Licensed to work with developmentally disabled children and adults? Check. Food handler’s card? Check. Experience with arranging art exhibitions at high-end galleries? Psssh. Of course. Experience with canvassing for non-profits? Well, what vegan tree-hugger living in California hasn’t done canvassing at some point?
I’m not out to seek so-called ‘funemployment’ … I’m out to seek a true vocation. I want something a little more meaningful than sitting daily at a cubicle and earning a pay grade below the stress levels engendered by tasks well beyond the originally advertised job description. If I have to stick to cubicle work, or take up a job that might seem remedial, then so be it. I’ll do what it takes to get stable, so long as it’s something that will leave my sanity intact.
Let’s see what lessons I learn along the way to finding another job. Hopefully my sense of humor and sense of gratitude stay with me throughout it all …
