I'm in the USA.
Not to go into too much detail, but I dropped out of college in 2014 due to abuse, ended up as an assistant/ store manager for the equivalent of $20/hr after working for a locally owned store (truly 3 employees, 1 owner) for 3 years. I wanted to be something other than retail person #10000, so I worked hard to put myself through beauty school in 2017 when I was 26 (the loans for which I have never been able to actually make any payments on). At the same time, I embraced my transness, changed my name, and started HRT.
Turns out! The whole salon industry (at least locally) is built on treating teens just out of high school as awful as possible and getting away with it because the teens don't know any better.
My first job as a stylist was $12/hr or commission, whichever was higher. (They always tell you people hit commission after the first month, it's never true unless you have a large supply of wealthy friends / family.) The Salon was in a fortune 500 beauty store branded in orange and pink that never actually advertised they had a salon, so I averaged 2 clients / day from walk-ins, which was never enough to make commission. I ended up walking out due to constant transphobia.
Found a job at a much maligned sexual health company as a scheduler for $17/hr. I had to leave because seeing the evil inner workings of a company that provides necessary care for people who literally sometimes have no other option was killing me.
It's ok though! I found a new salon (this time $12.25/hr!). I was hired as a stylist and told I would be taking first dibs on walk ins / my old client list one day per week, and training the other 4. For 9 months, all I did was shampoo the owner's clients or mix color for her. She never gave me days to take my own clients, but berated me for not building my books. She also was heavily, heavily into pyramid schemes (Young Living, some skincare thing that was all dimethicone, some mineral oil thing for your lashes that was $120 for a thing the size of a mini mascara) and ran her business like one.
Then March 2020 happened. I was told not to come back into work (all the other stylists kept going for another week or so) and that I was Laid Off.
No problem, I thought, I figured out unemployment, I was already on state Healthcare (incredible in my state), I could take a breather until salons opened again.
Fall 2020, when they did open again, the owner hired a replacement and never called me back.
I have been searching and searching for jobs since then, with rapidly diminishing unemployment income (now $0). I've sent out 100's of applications / week since and have only heard back from maybe 20 places total. One retail place hired me, but the only coworker I had called me slurs and hate crimed customers (trying to get me to join in) so I left for my safety after 2 3 hour shifts. I had to wait 3 months to have any income after that because unemployment processed the paperwork for me getting a job immediately, but couldn't be bothered with the paperwork of me leaving for safety.
The next place that hired me, was another salon ($17/hr??? The checks were fucked and I'm talking with the state dept of labor). But this one was truly insane, no covid protocols were being followed. The one other stylist never cleaned her tools in between clients. Oh and the woman who was supposed to be our receptionist went off on 2 hour breaks during our busiest times, but when she was around she kept throwing transphobic slurs at me and racist ones at the other stylist. I stayed for a month because I need, yknow, food and shelter. Eventually, I ended up with a disabling stress injury in my shoulder which meant I couldn't work at all (I still can't drink coffee for a week in advance if I'm going to cut a friend's hair). I'm currently filling a workplace discrimination thing (they said it's not a lawsuit, IDK I'm not an officeman) with the state.
When March of this year rolled around, I was told I couldn't receive unemployment benefits because I made less than 3000 outside of unemployment last year.
Recently (4/7/22), I thought I had caught a break! A woman from a Company that makes Clay and sends it around the Country (we'll call it CCC) offered me a position as a web sales person at the company (“we're a small business so we can only offer $15/hr” city minimum is 14.25 now). It's hard for me to wake up earlier than about 9, but every day last week, I got up early to shower and eat and catch the hour long bus ride (what would be a 10 minute drive). I went to work, everyone told me I was doing great, I was getting comfortable with the job and my coworkers. I made a workflow chart so that I could do the job when my trainer wasn't going to be there. There was nothing to indicate that I was doing anything less than a great job.
Then, as I'm gathering my things to leave for the day, at 4:50 pm on Friday (last day of the work week), the woman who hired me and had been my go to walked up with the company accountant, who I had also been polite and friendly with. They took me into an unused office, where I thought to jokingly ask if I was in trouble, but decided I hadn't been there long enough to crack jokes.
The accountant at down and said “Well, we have decided that this isn't a good fit. We have a check for the hours you worked this week.” The other woman was silent the whole time. I looked between them to figure out if this was some weird capitalist joke that poor people don't get. It wasn't. I asked to know the reason why it's not a good fit, as I was completely blindsided. The accountant said “Uh, well, it just, um, it's just not a good fit.” With a nod as if to indicate “well, you understand”
I didn't feel like playing games, I knew there was something fucked going on and I'm tired. I don't have the energy. Not once did the woman who had been my go to say anything to me during the whole 2 minute interaction. I took the check, recycled the work flow charts and permanently deleted them from the computer, and promptly left. Accountant tried to give me a wave and smile as I was grabbing my coat to get out of there, as if she hadn't just plunged me back into poverty.
The only way I've survived all this is because I have a husband and they are working their ass off and I feel awful because I literally cannot contribute to finances. It really seems like for one reason or another, this city won't employ me. I don't have a car, so I'm just fucked.
I'm looking into disability, I'm too broken down to try to keep going. It really is an insane situation and it's clearly something attached to me that I cannot figure out, and has nothing to do with my work abilities.
I'm not looking for advice on getting jobs, please don't try to give me resume tips or anything, I've been doing everything I can for almost 2 years.
Is it something in a background check? I don't have any sort of criminal or misdemeanor record… Is it a city wide water cooler conversation about who not to hire?
I'd really just like to be able to afford food, clothes, and shelter tbh.