Hello, Canadian here. Just wanted to vent a bit and figured it might fit here.
I've been on stress leave for the past month and I've been looking for another job, and honestly without going too far, (I'm talking an hour or two by bus), it's very slim pickings. I'm more than likely gonna have to go back to a minimum wage fast food job (grocery stores are only hiring part time right now), cause most jobs that pay more are either way outta my league or require a car to get there. I'd say at like 80% of the jobs around here require a car/drivers license, and of course a list of credentials and degrees as long as my arm. And of course with the surging gas prices, and the multiple brand new apartment buildings going up and bringing in hoards of new people to a 'smaller' town, the in town jobs get snapped up pretty dang quick. Although funny enough the McDonald's is always struggling to keep staff, even when offering more than minimum wage lol. And most jobs that you can get to via bus that pay more than minimum are often pretty shit too, like the job I currently have, or the few I've applied to. Gee, when you're offering 2 dollars more but then have your staff working 50+ hours a week, and sometimes 6 days a week, and you treat your staff like shit (especially the immigrants who speak English as a 2nd language) it's a real wonder why they can't keep staff eh?
I can't really just go and buy a car, shit's kinda expensive, and I really don't have the right head space to learn how to drive right now anyways(anxiety disorder ftw), but all that means is that my choices are limited and I'm stuck wasting hours a day on travel. At my current job I'd leave the house at 5am, and sometimes wouldn't be home until 5, sometimes as late as 7pm, I'd just have enough time to eat, shower, and sleep. This is not the life I thought I'd have, and I know many of my coworkers are in the same boat. I have some immigrant coworkers working like 12+ hour days, not including travel, just to be able to make ends meet here in Canada, and have money to send to their families abroad. Some of them even work 2 jobs, I honestly don't know how they function.
It's just depressing, especially since so many of my family members have pushed me all my life to have a career, but I don't have the mental capacity to work one of those fancy high paying jobs. (My family will just call me lazy, and tell me to “just do it!” like it's just that easy with a broken brain lol) I just don't give a shit about that anymore, I wasn't expecting to still be alive at 25 and working 40 hours a week at a job I hate just to cover my bills doesn't really help the good ol' will to live, ya know? (Just fyi, I am not suicidal, just depressed and waiting for a therapist)
My choices are to go back to a warehouse job that has me working like 50+ hours a week but pays a little more than minimum wage (that has also stressed me out enough for me to be on a 5 week long stress leave), or apply to one of the minimum wage fast food jobs around here. I got 1 week left of stress leave to figure my shit out, and besides I got bills to pay at the end of the month. I mean shit here isn't nearly as bad as what I see y'all posting about down in the states, but being a single renter in BC can really leave you strapped for cash at the end of each month without a good paying job. I mean hell, even with a good paying job rent can still fuck you over at the end of each month. I'm just lucky I have amazing landlords (they've even lowered my rent by 50 bucks just because they like me so much), I know people in similar situations that haven't been so lucky. Rent is stupid expensive, especially if you've got a pet. (Understatement of the year, I know)
Sad thing is, I've actually liked both jobs I've held (McDonalds and the warehouse job), but it's been such awful shitty management that's driven me away. Why is it always the shittiest of people that end up with the most power? I'm tired, it's daunting to think I've still got 40 fucking years (If I'm lucky) left of working for someone else's gain, to what end? Knowing my luck, I'll just end up like my father, working decades in a job I hate just to die before ever getting the chance to retire, never seeing 55. Or I could end up like my Auntie, getting let go every few years after becoming 'obsolete' (aka she does such a good job that the company will let her go and hire someone younger for less once she saves the business) and keeping her fingers crossed that she can retire before 75, if the stress and health problems don't get to her first.
Gee, sounds like fun, eh?