For the last 5 years I've worked in food service out of college, at first seasonal employment at a beach-side fish-fry to get through the last couple years of college, for the last two and a half or so at a local super-market franchise. It's dull and drudgerous work, day in, day out, 45 hour weeks at maybe a buck and a half over minimum wage. At first I resolved to get out of my position in 2021, then 2022. It's nearly 2023, and I've made hardly any progress.
I've learned some things about searching for jobs when you yourself already have one. The first is that each application is longer than the next. It's particularly cruel. They ask you to give them your resume and cover letter, then force you to write down your entire job history and reason for applying. A thousand drop-down menus later, you're halfway there. It begins to feel like a second job, but one that doesn't pay. Clocked out, may as well sit in front of Indeed, scrolling endlessly.
The next thing is that it's perhaps the most dehumanizing thing in the world. The way each application is worded, even for a very entry level position with few real requirements, jobs that I should be easily able to accomplish become daunting lines of employ for naught but the most skilled laborer. You must be an excellent communicator, a dedicated and steadfast coordinator, you must be proficient in so much, technology, references, accounting. As someone with endless issues with self-esteem and self-image, it's hard to square up; literally selling yourself as a resource, not a human.
The conclusion is more or less that I feel like this whole system is a filter. If you have a job, hey, why bother. This is hard. It's time consuming. It's taxing on your mental health. And since you have no idea what happens to your application once it's sent, there's little arguing your case. You don't want better. I typically avoid giving systems agency. Whether given components of the capitalist structure know why or how anything is happening probably doesn't matter. But if I have to spend an evening clicking boxes one more time, I'll pull out my own teeth.