Same experience here. I got discouraged and started slacking and thinking about just going back to school.

Well, I'm a college student now, but if I want to take summer courses here (I do), I need to whip up $150 for a down payment to hold my classes until financial aid arrives.

Seems kind of silly if you ask me...

It is hard when you don't have job experience. The only reason I got in at my job is that I'm extremely gregarious and finally managed to hunt down my (now) manager. I don't think she'd have hired me if she didn't get to meet me first... Maybe go in to speak to managers verses just calling on the phone? It shows more initiative and you can dazzle them with your sparkling personality?

Elaborating on my earlier comments:

I've held plenty of dead-end jobs before, and they didn't kill me. As a teenager, I worked as a telemarketer one summer (an easy job to hate) and at a Wendy's another summer. As an adult, I've worked at a pet store (not actually a good job if you love animals, which I do), a 7-Eleven, and at an upscale steakhouse waiting tables.

When I was eighteen, I worked as a camp counselor for the entire summer (I'd attended that camp for most of my childhood). It paid $100 a week, had no benefits, was literally a 24/6 job (sleep with campers, eat with campers, do activities with campers, etc.) with one day off per week, and was frequently demanding and stressful.

However, helping kids enjoy a summer with special "camp friends" they may have known for years, out in the mountains and getting back to nature, is a meaningful, fulfilling job that is invigorating rather than draining.

Of course, that job lasted only three months and was essentially volunteer work, but it demonstrates my point about wages, benefits, hours and stress not being the reason why I hate crap jobs so much (I hate them because they're crap jobs, heh).

If you like problem solving you could consider a career as a programmer. You sit in front of a computer 6+ hours a day and will not need to interact with many people face-to-face aside from your team. Alternatively you can count fish (yep that's a real job), become a mime or just learn to get along.

Ok sorry maybe that was not helpful but there are many jobs where you don't have to interact with people much if you have an avoidant personality. You could take the graveyard shift at a grocery store and stock shelves. There aren't very many people in the supermarket from 3 to noon.

I might try that at a couple of places. I showed up in person once and the manager just seemed really annoyed and was all, "Look, I'll call you if you have the job."
Kind of scared me from wanting to do that again. On the other hand, what do I have to lose?

Depends where you work (probably), and how far you get promoted. As an entry level software engineer, I've had to work with a bunch of people outside of my group, go on business trips and work with strangers or near-strangers, and I see more of it from people higher-up than me in my group. Its definitely not an all-day every day thing, more like several hours every couple weeks, with the occasional business trip for a week. It satisfies my introverted nature, but I don't get quite that nervous around strangers.

Can't hurt. I remember when I was job hunting in college, I failed all those weird personality tests that a lot of retail jobs seem to use. At office depot I scored so low they assumed it was broken and gave me an interview anyway. Just keep trying, you'll find something eventually.

While this would be ideal, it sadly doesn't work out. I am zero skilled at computers. Looking at those numbers and semicolons and what not just makes my brain fizzle out and die.

Also:



I don't have AvPD, I just have social anxiety. There is a difference! Picky psych student, here.



...Sorry if I sound like I'm being a crabbypants in response to this.

I'm tired of being a Crabapple Susie

Well one of the wonderful things about programming is that nobody was born knowing how to program. If you have a base level of intelligence and the right mindset (and a lot of people don't) you learn through hard work, experience and studying. Talent goes a long way and it's possible for one person to be many times more productive than another but if you're not designing something novel you can make a decent living solving problems to which well-known solutions already exist. Anyways I just mentioned it as a possibility, it sounds like you've tried programming and didn't like it but I'm sure there's something else if you look hard enough.

I took a year off, but it mostly just gave me Lusternia.

Heh, my mum made me take a gap year because she was unimpressed by my utter lack of effort during my A levels. It backfired though as I got a job in an IT department and I loved the money, got offered a permanent contract 9 months into my gap year job and I'm still there 12 years later

My minor gripe today is: I walked about 12 miles yesterday taking in part of the London marathon route, and today my feet hurt and I have a large blister. I am sooo pathetic, so much for my plan to walk up Snowdon next weekend

From what I understand, calling and pestering is a one-way ticket to Cold Shoulder Town no matter who they are.

I actually nearly had the opportunity to move to Dallas for a voice acting job (though it wasn't guaranteed, the guy I did my "audition" for was really impressed and said I definitely had a shot). When I asked him more about it, he said, "Turn in your application and don't call us about it. If you call us about it, we'll actually toss your application out. We'll get to you when we get to you."

This is part of why I'm deathly afraid of bothering people and why others at my current job have gotten promoted before me (since I'm not as loud about it).

Obviously an individual's mileage may vary I was between majors (didn't want psychology anymore, wasn't sure what to switch to, or if I should transfer to another school, etc.), doing poorly in my classes, and in general I wasn't doing well. My original plan was to take just one semester off, but I ended up taking a full year.

I'm going to the hospital! Wheeeeeeeeeeee

... why am I not surprised you took the time to forum this?

Naturally, posting on forums take precedence over medical emergencies. Feel better soon, Pheebs!

... I wanna bite my fingers off for allowing my drowsiness to make me use all my four needles to sanctify for a God that I'm not even following...

Woman I was here already and it took all of five seconds to type. ANYWAY I am home now and not dead!!