I wish one of my close buddies would get this. He is nearly 30 and has never held down a job. He feels like life is pointless, has no money, cannot afford anything. He kinda wants a job, but all he can imagine are super unique positions like being a jeweler, a historic weapons restoration or other obscure jobs. I hate to burst his bubble but his jobs are often unrealistic for his experience and education level but he refuses to do some basic position.
For example, he has never owned or fired a gun and doesn't have a gun lisence but expects a museum will hire him to work on historic firearms. He refuses to attenpt to get any other positon. He is just waiting for his mom to get enough money to move to a different city so he can go to another college program to try to get this job. He won't even do the first step in my opinion which is getting a gun lisence and getting actual experience with real firearms.
In my experience, entry level retail work is absolutely soul-crushing and the pay is barely worth showing up for.
People imagine getting a job and moving out of their parents' homes, living Melrose Place style in an apartment full of hotties, having a social life, hooking up, and building adult relationships. But OP's experience seems more like the exception than the rule. A lot of these places have incredibly high churn, no upward mobility, and are a huge physical/emotional suck that leaves you feeling exhausted the moment you're home.
Good for getting a leg up literally anywhere else, as they prove you can "be normie". But horrendous for any kind of actual professional career advancement outside of a casual recommendation going into your next job. And the pay is so bad that it often doesn't even cover the basic cost of living (car, food, utilities, etc). You're still going to be living with your parents. You're not going to have any kind of fuck-around money. There's no promotion path that gets you out of this hole. Its not where you want to spend one more minute of your life than you absolutely have to.
I had a friend when I was in college. Her older loser brother who lived in her mom's basement called one day. He asked if he could stay with her. She knew him and didn't want to have him staying with her and her boyfriend, taking their sofa, eating their food, and so on. She said "sorry but no".
Apparently he called everyone he knew looking for a place to crash because their mom gave him an ultimatum. Nobody would take him.
After he tried everyone, he killed himself in that fucking basement. 😖
I hate to say but everyone who said no dodged that bullet. If they took him in and eventually asked him to leave he'd off himself in that person's house instead.
If someone would sooner kill themselves than find a job of any kind, that's a really sad way to live. I'm so sorry for those that knew him and who have to suffer either grief or guilt that they're not sad that he's dead. But I'm also sorry for that person whose executive dysfunction drove them to avoid any kind of self improvement and made them suicidal rather than determined to change themselves. I wish for anyone who might end up like this again that they find the courage and means to get therapy, and that said therapy prevents this.
Unhealthy minds and unhealthy brains are probably the scariest parts of the body to be unwell.
Yup. Not employed, trying to get employed, or working to improve employaibility. If you're old w/ a nest egg, we call it retirement. If you're not, we call it mooching.