Find a dealer. That’s not too hard. I have skills that would be useful to them, they wouldn’t care whether I had ID or not, and I assume that they would know where to find someone who could make me a fake ID. Once I have the ID, I would get a job as a waitress or barmaid, and take some exams. Since I have been dumped in the US, the GED. I would squat with my new friends until I got enough money for a place of my own.
I would probably go back to university, but I would probably try to get back to the UK before I did that as US college is too expensive. Assuming it takes me a year to make enough money to get back to the UK, my life would be back on track and only 4 years delayed.
OK, maybe I misunderstood the premise.
My point was that I can quickly prove I am a decent chess player and I don’t need paper qualifications to do so.
So I could go to a library, find the nearest chess club and look for contacts there.
Or (in the UK) apply for unemployment benefit. There might well be confusion about my lack of identification, but again I would offer to do work teaching chess.
When I was a kid I would offer to clean a store lot for cash. Doesn’t require any tools other than trash bags which the store provides. It would require living on the street so a tent would be the first purchase. Money saved would go toward equipment for a more lucrative job such as mowing lawns. Eventually you could work yourself up to regular lawn care. Done. You now have enough income to live on a cash basis.
There are plenty of under-the-table relatively well-paying jobs in Florida in construction. That is if I couldn’t enlist because I don’t exist on paper.
Even so, if you can scrape the cash, you can atleast get a prepaid cell phone. I’ve never had one before, but I always heard you don’t need credit. If that’s true, then no need to be contacted on a street corner.
Those prepaid cell phones do solve part of the problem, I have to admit. A permanent phone number is one of the things you need to get any sort of job. Another thing you need is a permanent address. A large number of shelters allow you to use their desk phone as a “home” number, but most of the businesses know what these numbers are and will roundfile your application if they find out. Convenience stores are a good source of jobs, but stay away from the chains(7-Eleven, Plaid Pantry etc.) because they do background checks. You still have the problem of what you’re going to do with your first paycheck, because you can’t cash it without identification. Don’t bother getting a bank account because you can’t yet afford the type of i.d. that will fool their system-just go to the bank the check is drawn on and take any non-member penalty they give you.
Er…that would describe a lot of friends of mine. I know corporate financiers, ambassador’s sons, lauded authors, and guys who do day work and live in abandon buildings. I guess I’d aply for a place in the abandon building (no really, you have to, only the good ones have water and an electricic link to the street lamp outside) and …I don’t know, worlds oldest profession…or set to work on my friend as I did before and get him to let me edit his memiours. Would make a great book, I’ve always thought.
only a few of the responders seem to be women. Am I right in thinking this scenario would be an easier one for men to cope with than women?
I would definitely try to avoid prostitution. I would have to be desperate in the extreme.
I definitely have less street smarts than most of the responders to this thread.
I might try to make my way to a college campus. Things have probably tightened up considerably since I was in college, but at the time, I remember thinking there were so many amentities available to anyone who walked in, as long as you could blend in. Showers would probably be easy to get, probaby could sleep in a study room or dorm lounge (which I did plenty freshman year. I was bad about my keys then). Certainly it would’ve been easy to steal enough food from common fridges to get by.
At 37, youthful and fresh faced though I am, I’m not sure I could pass as an undergraduate, but I would certainly attract no special attention. People would either assume I was a grad student or employee.
I would grab a campus newspaper and answer ads for nannies. I’m sure some people would screen me out for lack of references (“Oh, I forgot my list, I’ll get it to you tomorrow”), maybe I could get a few references after a few evening babysitting gigs. For sure, it would be the very rare family that asked me to fill out tax paperwork.
So, live in nanny, that would be the beginning of my new life.
I may have missed clarification, but do I no longer have any friends or family, either? If I have friends and family, it’s a helluva lot easier, as it is if I have previous employers who remember me.
With friends, I’d explain the situation and get one of them to employ me: I could work at a bar or as a caterer pretty effectively for awhile. With previous employers, I could find work as a babysitter/nanny for someone.
Failing either of those, I’m likely ot take my story to the media and/or police: I figure that whatever happened to zero me out oughtta be interesting enough to get somoene else involved. But I’d rather not go that route unless I have to.
Certainly the jobs for which I’m qualified (secretarial/administrative work and education) are ones that generally require the basic documentation. If I couldn’t get someone to make an exception, possibly after a government investigation into the loss of my credentials, I’d be looking at a major career change.
Well, being I have experience in the trades, I would find construction sites and BS my way into some work. If you know your way around, you can find work without ID, and get paid every week in cash.
Once they realized I could do the job, I would make friends with some of the dudes, give them a sob story (“Yeah, they fucked me back there, had to split from a warrant, blah blah”), and find a new work buddy who would let me crash on his couch for a while.
This scenario is actually quite common in the lower end of the construction business. You don’t have to be a Hispanic immigrant, plenty of fucked up white boys out there too.
Then, after I worked for a while, I would put some feelers out about scoring some ID, and while it would cost some bucks, it would be doable. After that, save some bucks, get a cheap place to live, buy a cheap work truck, some tools, and just move on up.
If you have a trade, I think you could do it. Now the OP said you don’t have any documentation of your skills, but I don’t think I would be cheating, as I wouldn’t need documentation. But if the OP meant you lose any skills you have, you are screwed.
If my children are still alive, my ultimate goal is to find them and make sure they are OK. If they have been told I am dead, I must determine if they are better off continuing to believe that. If they are, I may try to communicate with them “from the dead” so they know their mother still loves them, still looks out for them, is “with” them in some way.
If they are not better off, then obviously I must get them and protect them. Prostitution is fine if it can help protect them.
One thing you can do right of the bat is start scrounging for scrap metal, particularly around job sites. The price for copper these days is pretty good, and you can also get money for aluminum and brass. While you’re at it, pick up any cans or bottles worth a nickel. There may be other odds and ends you could pick up out of the trash and resell – clothing, books, appliances, etc. You’d need a shopping cart, of course, but that goes with the territory.
For housing, I’d go into the poorest area of the city, and ask some poor-and-elderly person if you could live in their house for $100 a month. It might take a couple of tries, but I’m sure if you were well-spoken and polite, you’d find someone.
I’d go find a small strip club and tell them what the deal was. Then, assuming they’ll let me work, I’d work a couple of nights, befriend the sanest of the girls and see if I could stay with her for a few nights. And then I’d save for two or three days until I could afford my own place. I’d have to find someone who would rent to me without identification, but that should be easy enough. Once I had some money I’d figure out a way to forge a birth certificate or borrow someone else’s information long enough to get an ID.
I don’t think it would be that hard. It would suck, but it’s doable.
