# Trying to salvage life's mistakes **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 24, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-salvage-lifes-mistakes/318456 "2005-08-24T18:08:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-salvage-lifes-mistakes/318456/1 "2005-08-24T18:08:53Z")
Earlier this summer when I didn’t get hired as a Director, I applied for another position in the company which was a bit more practical for someone with my skills. It paid more than the previous job, seemed easier, and wasn’t the kind of job where I’d be on my feet all day. The manager who hired me told me they could give me as many hours as I wanted (as close to full time as they could give). Since I would be working 6 days a week, I would have to quit my other two jobs. Not a problem, I thought- the music studio has a summer break, as does the crossing guard job. The transition was well-timed and fairly seamless. Now I could concentrate on _one_ job, for the first time in two years. Maybe even make enough money to support myself. Wrong. While I did work as much as I could, it is simply not enough hours. The work is much harder than I originally thought. I’m not the most organized person on the planet, so I really have to bust my ass to be functional at this job- plus any mistakes I make impact _everybody_ negatively. So in the interest of not wanting to raise the ire of my coworkers/manager, I put a lot of effort into making myself into a model employee. A particularly defining event which derailed all of this was observing a coworker who had been given a raise. She was by and far the finest employee there, very neat, organized, got everything done super-perfect and 3x faster than anybody else. She was made for the job. Her raise? going from $14 an hour to $15 an hour…at a job that only scheduled her 15 hours a week :smack: . Seeing this was like looking into the future- even if I worked my hardest, that was the _best_ I could get out of this job. Raises were only given on a yearly basis, regardless of background, skill, etc. As if that wasn’t depressing enough, all but 1 other coworker (who got hired the same time as I did) are quitting within the next 3 months. They are moving on to bigger and brighter things. All of this was kind of depressing. Of course I should find something better as well, but the fact that this job currently feels like such a dead end and temporary means that lately I haven’t been trying very hard at all. I know that I should find something else if it bothers me, but I also am aware this is a nice job on the side. If I could find a full-time job that paid enough to support myself I would. Unfortunately the line of work I chose doesn’t lend well to working full-time or even earning a living wage, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-salvage-lifes-mistakes/318456/2 "2005-08-24T18:18:13Z")
Ahhhh … **Life 101** Ain’t it just a beach? [sup]I remember those days…[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![phall0106](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phall0106/32/5934_2.png) [@phall0106](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phall0106)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-salvage-lifes-mistakes/318456/3 "2005-08-24T18:23:10Z")
What is your line of work? I know it’s probably in another thread somewhere, but it’s too late in the day for me to look. Hey, it’s almost nap time! ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-salvage-lifes-mistakes/318456/4 "2005-08-25T02:31:48Z")
I work in the educational field. For several years I worked in tutoring centers, getting a feel for whether I wanted to be a teacher. I knew that whatever I did full-time, it probably wouldn’t amount to a huge income. My primary goal was to find _something_ full-time. When we get hired, we are required to commit to 6 months at the tutoring center. This commitment isn’t written in blood necessarily, but kids tend to get unhappy spending a few months getting chummy with a teacher only to have a different teacher every other week. So I have decided to quit in December. That was around when I planned on moving, and it gives me some time to find something else. I know the OP came off as angsty, but it was really about comitting myself to something that didn’t seem so great after a while 😛