I do have a job. It's a "temp" job, but so was my last job (which I did for almost two years). I'm working in a call center, and right now we're just learning how to do everything correctly. After a month of training we will actually get to take actual calls.
It's not a bad gig if you can get it and keep it. They're hiring probably 100 or more people for a perceived need, but if that need doesn't actually exist, they'll probably let a bunch of us go. Exceptional folks may end up staying on as regular employees, but that's an if/maybe. We do make $13/hr. plus a bit extra if we work late in the evening, and there are health/dental/vision benefits. So, like I said, not a bad gig at all.
Except.
(There's always an "except.")
Not having a car is turning my "work/life balance" into "work/sleep balance." Because that's all I do. Because of my health issues, my body needs lots of sleep. Ideally around 10 hours. Which works out great if I'm only working 6 hours a day, but not so great when you get into a real full-time schedule. I'm working 8 hours a day, which means 8.5 hours on location (half hour break). Which might not be awful if it were just eating about 9 hours out of my day. But it's taking 11. Yep. Two hours to get there, because the bus only comes once per hour and is set to arrive at the time the training class starts (so I have to get there an hour early), and then another half hour to get home. There are no regular buses at night, so I have to schedule a special bus to take me home, and it might drop off a couple of people before me.
Oh, and it's in the middle of nowhere, so there's nothing I could be doing for that extra hour, and it would be dangerous and impossible to walk home. Whee.
I wake up at 11, eat something, watch BB or whatever, then it's time to get ready for work, make lunch, and head to the bus stop. I transfer from one bus to the other, get to work, and sit there for a good 45 minutes. Then we have 8.5 hours of non-stop phone system ACTION, and then it's time to head home. I get home at 1, go to bed at 2, and the cycle begins again.
To be honest? I'm tired. Really really tired. I think my body just prefers a lighter schedule--6 hour days worked well when I was teaching and gave me time to take care of errands and myself. It's getting harder with not just digestive issues but nerve pain and whatnot to take care of, and there's a sense of depression that creeps in when you literally do nothing but work and sleep (or work/sleep/school, as the case was last semester). On the weekend I get a little freedom, but I also have to go grocery shopping, do laundry, and take care of anything else I couldn't do all week. So ultimately I just end up sitting around.
This is really no way to live. I keep telling myself that the pay is good and benefits are good, but that's one of those "work to live" deals. I want to "live to work." And do something I enjoy! And take care of my body a bit better. It sucks to be basically disabled but have no chance of getting disability. Obviously I can work, but a traditional schedule takes so much out of me, and unless I get a note from my doctor I'm going to be absolutely screwed if my colitis starts to act up. Having a car would help, and I finally re-got my learner's, but when am I supposed to practice driving? I'm never home or awake. And when you're tired enough after 10 hours of sleep, you don't dare try to cut it down to 8 and risk nodding off around 11:30 at night.
tl;dr? Life sucks. But at least I'm getting paid.
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