The job I’ve got is pretty cool and involves telecommuting, which is a bonus when the weather’s bad and gas is expensive, but it hasn’t turned out to pay enough to live off of since the restaurant I’d been working at closed down. The only reason I’ve been able to stick with it this long is that I have savings, but I don’t have an unlimited amount to augment this forever and I’ve got things I need money for beyond, “Oh, I can pull a little out of savings for a pizza. I deserve it!” Like, I need a new car. There’s simply no way I could afford that right now.
I’d be quite happy to take on a second job, except that there really aren’t any in my area. The economy here is pretty depressed and it’s very rural as well. Whenever I try to explain how rural it is to family or friends who don’t live here, they just can’t grasp it and will make comments like, “Oh, the Midwest just has a slower pace of life than Vegas!” No, no, you fool. I mean that I live in the county seat, which has a population of 2,000. The closest “city” is the next county over and has a population of 8,000. In the other direction, there’s a smaller “city” about an hour away, and I think it has a population of around 3,000. If I drive for an hour and a half, I can get to Eau Claire (population: 61,704), but without a new car and with storms in winter, I could never hope to work there while living here. And I can’t afford to move on my own.
So, I look for jobs every day. I apply for positions for which I’m grossly over-qualified, and still don’t get them. I’d run a register in a store, I’d waitress, I’d work in a gas station. My ego is not getting in the way here. But very few places are hiring and it’s pretty clear that the few places that are hiring are just going through the motions, because they’re going to end up hiring a friend of a friend or somebody’s nephew. Short of taking a job in a factory–which, amusingly, I’m not qualified for–or becoming a truck driver, I don’t know what I’m going to do.
I’m trying. I am trying every day and thinking about how to improve my financial situation constantly. I’m sure a little later in the season there are going to be more jobs opening up, but you can’t tell that to the bills to make them stop coming. They’re stubborn and refuse to listen.
My best friend is trying to get me to move down to the Gulf Coast with her, where she says there are plenty of jobs for someone with management experience like me, but I really do love the country. Except when I need money.
Bah, I swear this is karma for every time I’ve given the completely useless advice of, “Oh, I’m sure you can find a job if you just look hard enough!”