Oh! Oh! Me! Me!

akaSabriel at yahoo dot com.

"or throw myself into finding a sales or receptionist position, but spending the majority of my day using .001% of my brain capacity, and the left side at that, I'd kind of rather be pulling out my hair strand by stand."

Please think a little about how this comes off to people who have had those positions for years. It kind of sucks to read someone talking about how they would prefer torture to my idiotjob and have enough cash saved up due to their own privileged position that they don't have to take it yet.

In fact, I've found that the sort of work you're describing is very very demanding and requires about 90% of your brain capacity. Unfortunately, you're required to put all that braininess toward stupid trivial bullshit. But you do think, you do come home exhausted, and most of us are neither stupid nor "switched off" during work.

I've had people with much more privileged backgrounds from my own come to places where I was working as a cashier with the intent of taking something "easy" and "undemanding" so that they could do any number of things with the free brain power and time that they imagined this would give them. One was planning on going to school full time, and another wanted to write a novel. Both were shocked and frustrated that what they had come to think of as easy work for dumb-asses was actually much harder than what they'd been doing before and didn't leave them time for shit. One was also really weirded out by the fact that I, a person cashiering out of necessity, was actually far more literate than him. They eventually quit.

Food for thought, anyways. I'm not trying to come off like a jerk, and I really do wish you luck finding something fulfilling.

I think you answered your own question, there. Take the sales or receptionist job for now. Maybe you'll stick with it, maybe you won't.

Your privilege is really showing in this post and you don't seem to have really acknowledged it. Not many people can afford to question whether or not they take the job as a cashier or live gig to gig. It's lucky for you that you've apparently got the resources to wait until something better comes along, but please try to consider what it's like for those of us who aren't that lucky.

What others have said. Every job is valuable. I'm sorry you think being a cashier or receptionist is beneath you, even if you need the money.

When I first found myself in reduced circumstances, I turned my nose up at work, period. Until I realized that class (or whatever other) entitlement, no matter how natural it may feel, doesn't grant us immunity to plebeian concerns like paying the rent and buying food.
Privilege issues aside (we all have them, even if they manifest as a chip on the shoulder), you can do important work in the seemingly undemanding and lowly capacity of a cashier or receptionist. And remember that at this point, especially in the city, there are former corporate execs and JDs after those pay-the-bills jobs, too. Best of luck.

It does sound rather privileged to be in a position to look down your nose at clerical or retail work. For a lot of folks, that's their lifetime occupation, and it sounds like you think you are better than them.

And it also is very privileged to be in a position where you don't have to take those jobs immediately to pay the rent - most working class people don't have savings or family resources to draw on, either they get a job as soon as they can or they get evicted!

Yes, she's privileged but perhaps she realises it. I definitely know what it's like to be in that position. I didn't want to take a waitressing job for too long back in 2006: I had figured that I'm too smart for that.

And yes, it bit me in the ass.

I have no information on politiclit but she could still be very young.So let her make those mistakes; they're good because they allow us to learn and grow.

I apologize for the long silence and thanks for the commentary, all. I appreciate the points made. I totally agree, I did not really consider how that sounded--and it totally does come off as classist and without acknowledgment of my own privilege. Shame on me, as an undergrad (only just graduated last August) I studied post-colonial theory; maybe this is some unfortunate proof it's all B.S. and theory does jack shit?

In any case...I just want to situate my post within a context that might explain said thoughtlessness in my .
For one thing, yeah, I am young. And I am scared about not being able to support or provide for myself and afford food, rent, the bare basics, at some point. But I DO have a cushion, albeit a thin one. In that sense, I am VERY, VERY lucky and I don't mean to diminish that. However, my personal circumstances complicate things. I have just been through many, many months of intense treatment for an eating disorder, including hospitalization. I am doing incredibly well and farther along in recovery than I ever dreamed possible, but just because I have overcome the physical symptoms doesn't mean I am fully mentally recovered, nor ready to take on just any old job. Granted, I completely admit it is very fortunate I have the means to "figure things out" for awhile. But, at this point, it is really important for me, psychologically and emotionally, to do something at least somewhat fulfilling or stimulating. But that could include any number of "receptionist" positions or other jobs that only require a high school degree.

And also, Vsolanas, I wanted to respond to what you said about those jobs being so consuming. I was not nearly enough thorough in my post...because I completely agree with what you said about that line of work being entirely draining and consuming. I guess that is why I am so resistant to just taking anything, even if I'm not remotely interested in it. I am afraid, at this turning point in my life, to fall backwards health-wise, and I want to try to find work that is *at least* tolerable enough to keep me living somewhat comfortably without turning back to anorexia out of depression, anxiety, etc. I didn't think including this aspect of my situation was relevant to my main point, but, in the context of my comment on careers that came off so condescendingly, I felt it was necessary to explain this aspect of my unemployed state. I might add I lost my job because I had to take such a long medical leave.

I'm not trying to invoke pity here or anything, and I take full responsibility for the lack of sensitivity or awareness of my own socio-economic position. I appreciate the discourse and I hope others aren't too deterred by the insensitivity of the post to continue a discussion of being unemployed.

The bottom line is, I should have been more specific. I would be THRILLED to have a job for which I am overqualified, education-wise, and I recognize the fact that I have some lee-way with finding a job I would feel comfortable doing is really, truly wonderful. But having worked retail positions that in the past have affected my health makes me wary of what work I go into. And I am lucky enough that I can take the time to figure out what I really want to do.

Thanks again to the community for the discussion!

politiclit: I understand what you are going through. Just because you have some kind of financial cushion to back you up for the moment, does NOT mean it's going to last forever! While I agree with other readers that perhaps your initial post *could be read* as a complaint from someone privileged enough to have choice, that doesn't mean that your dilemma (being out of work) is foreign to the readers of feministing!

Many of us have been between jobs, with dwindling financial security, wondering if we could really mentally or physically handle another telemarketing, food-service, or secretarial gig. Perhaps the worst part about these jobs is that they ARE draining, even though for the most part they can be somewhat boring and monotonous, too! My job is in food-service, and I get very frustrated with the fact that even though it's incredibly easy, I still am totally exhausted at the end of a workday and have little energy left to pursue my own interests and goals. Food-service, especially, has its downfalls. Many of the restaurants I've worked in had their fair share of unwanted sexual comments/advances, to say nothing of rude customers and the general aches and pains of being on ones' feet all day.

Really, when it comes down to it, what can you tolerate, and what will pay the bills? Work in your chosen field (academia, from what I can tell) is going to be difficult to manage at this point in your education. Not to say that it's impossible: just difficult.

I am no expert on e.d., or e.d. recovery, but I can see how certain sorts of retail work could be laden with triggers. However, certain other kinds of retail/receptionist work (think bookstore, petshop, animal shelter, receptionist at women's health clinic, garden center, health food store cashier, fabric store, what-have-you) might not be so physically and emotionally taxing.

Although I am currently employed, I am always looking for something a little more manageable and get very frustrated with the slim pickins that are out there! The fact that you are from a big city (I am definitely not) is both a blessing and a curse. You have more opportunities "out there" but you probably will have to dig deeper and longer to find them. When it comes to finding work, it always pays to take an aggressive role. You can always start with something not-so-great and work with that until you find something better.

Good luck, jobs suck
-h.