I'm scared now. After writing about the trouble I've been having finding a job...it's just coming down to the wire. I'm completely broke. Savings are gone. Everything. No one to borrow money from. After numerous applications not one single interview. Not one single call-back. Looks like I'm going to have to back to Burger King to my dismay. I don't know how to get up the nerve to tell my boyfriend I need to go back there or how to ask the manager I need my job back. I don't want to have to go back. I don't want to go back to the same co-workers (I never even told them I was quitting and never said goodbye). I can't cope with them. Back to feeling out-of-place. Back to feeling sick over the sight/smell of those sickening Whoppers. Back to what got me in this mess in the first place. Back to the vicious cycle.

There's no time now. No time to even find someone who can help me find a job.

But if I go back I'm saving up my money after I make up some back rent. Saving up for a doctor's visit (I don't have insurance). That's a start.

But I'm scared.

I know!

I understand the feeling of being under so much pressure! Luckily, I have been patient because it takes a while for people to find a job.  However, it gets boring when you have nothing but the same old thing to do every day!

I don't know why you lost all your savings!

I hope things improve with you soon!

Hi Jason!

Well, I've been looking for a job since August (!!!) so I've been living off my savings since then...trying to pay my share of the rent and bills. Only getting $6 an hour doesn't leave you much for savings so I quicly ran out of money.

Thanks! I sure hope so too!

I cannot help you with your situation, even though I am in a slightly similar one myself if I remember your previous topic correctly (luckily my family is helping me out at the moment), but do you think you will be able to regain your old job?

I may be.

My boyfriend is one of the managers there now. There are always employees coming and going. Going back and quitting. Even if there's an open slot for only one day a week, I'll take it. I just don't want to work at night with all the kids. I don't want a job as a babysitter.

Plus the head manager there liked me. I worked hard. I was quiet. I was there to do my job not fool around. Not to socialize. I was organized. I was clean. I was fast.

Again, not that I want this job back. But it's my last resort. I don't know what else to do.

Oh!

I remember I was told that I would be losing a kit of benefits if I turned down the possible jobs I am offered!

Again, I hope things go very well for you!

Yes, there has to be something brighter in the future for you.

Thank you. I hope so!

Grocery stores? Have you tried those? They have less overwhelming stimuli than a fast food place.

I'm sorry things suck for you. You have my sympathy.

Grocery stores? Have you tried those? They have less overwhelming stimuli than a fast food place.

I'm sorry things suck for you. You have my sympathy.

Yeah, I've been applying at the grocery store near here before I even started working at Burger King. I apply whenever I see their hiring sign up (even though I know from ppl telling me that this place has a reputation for firing ppl for no good reason only to hire new ppl. I assume it has to do with the benefits of the company...). Oddly enough, however, I apply then give them a call soon after and they ask my name...I wait a minute...then they say they're not hiring.

Paranoia seeps in...like there's some big conspiracy not to hire me..

Don't call. Go in in person, find out who the managers are, introduce yourself and ask about work opportunities, talk abotu how important work ethic is to you,  etc etc. If they say that they aren't hiring, ask them if they foresee any openings in the near future, and if they have any, if they'd give you a call.

I've heard really bad things about Safeway though. I wouldn't want to work at one. What grocery stores do you have there?

Oh,and when you go, dress clean, well groomed, not in a suit, but something like basic black slacks or clean black jeans and a good shirt, clothes that say "well groomed but hardworking and professional, but not too good for the job". Make eye contact even if it is brief (like when you're introducing yourself) and give a firm handshake. If you have a resume,present that. If you don't, it might behoove you to make one. We can probably help you with that here if you'd like.

Night fill jobs might be a possible option (providing you don't have a bad back). I wonder if there is some discrimination going on if shops have signs up saying they are hiring and then they say they aren't.

There was trouble here with real estate agencies advertising places for rent and virtually telling people they could move in and then when they noticed they were black when they met them, suddenly saying there was no vacancy.

We have a local chain called Gerrity's here. I heear they're not good to work for.

Unfortunately I don't really have anything to put on a resume. Past employment really mostly only consisted of fast food jobs or temporary employment. I only have a music-related resume which really won't be of much help out in the "real world", only the musical world.

I can't do any jobs that require lifting. Being with the fact I'm very small (although strong...), 5'1", not even 100 lbs....but I have pretty bad arthritis, especially in my back. I just can't do it.

But anyway, I think there is something going on with this Gerrity's place, like they only want "certain" people to work there. They offer benefits to part-time employees. But I bet those employees never even see those benefits because they get fired before they do (I know people who have worked there).

I also just have this fear (paranoia?) that I'm doomed because of my "fast food" background. I fear they only see that and not the real me, not the smart creative person I really am. I just don't know.

I don't know what's worse: when people ask me "where do you work?" and I say I'm not working at the moment (and how that makes me feel) or when I was working and they asked "where do you work" and I replied "Burger King" and they say "oh" and turns their head away like I suddenly have some contagious disease.

I know a lot of us have trouble with lying, but a little bit of creative embroidery can have interesting results: Q "where do you work?"
A "The catering industry".  Or, if not working, say "I'm self-employed" and go on to talk about your interest in music as if it were a job.  It doesn't even matter if you admit you're not making any money out of it, that just makes you seem interestingly bohemian!
Alison