The unemployed thread

[Tiger King]

I imagine there are a few of us on here that are not employed, so I thought I would make this thread asking what do you do all day?.

I resigned my last job when I moved to America and am realising how boring/frustrating it is to not have a purpose. Sure it was nice to have a break but now i'm starting to feel restless. This is also the first time I have been unemployed since I was ten or something so I am starting to struggle a bit with what to do with myself all day.

My daily routine is wake up, get my fiancé's packed lunch together, ask if anything needs doing like shopping etc, see her off to work, tidy the apartment, work on overly complicated immigration paperwork, play on the internet until my girl comes home from work/school, get the dinner on, eat dinner, watch game of groans with my misses, bed.

If the weather is sunny, as it usually is in California, i'll go to the beach for a run but otherwise I get pretty bored. I ordered some new pencils and stuff to do a bit of drawing but I haven't really felt in the mood to draw lately. I also feel weirdly guilty that my fiancé is at work making money and i'm sat at home pissing about doodling with pencils and not contributing financially. The same applies with gaming, I go on steam and add games to the cart but when I go to purchase them I feel guilty that i'm wasting my savings and time and should be doing something more productive. Anyone else get this?

I'm not allowed to work just yet either so looking for jobs right now is a little bit pointless. I have been told by immigration experts that it will take a bit of time before I can legally work, I hope it doesn't take too long!
A friend I have made here (just 1 so far ha ha) told me to do cash in hand work but i'm scared i'll get caught and deported.

So, what do you guys get up to?
I know it's tough out there on the job front too, so maybe we could use this thread to keep our spirits up and spread a bit of positivity.

 

[Spider RedNight]

I got a job through a temp agency recently but during the long strains where I'm unemployed I usually wake up each morning and wonder what I'm still doing alive and on Earth.

And housework. I still live with my parents so I kill the day by trying to draw and mopping the floor. And doing dishes. But mostly the former where I develop suicidal tendencies.

I wish *I* lived near a beach though I prefer being indoors ANYWAY

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I'm currently unemployed and have been for some time now.

My schedule tends to look something like this:

Wake up and walk my dog.
Eat breakfast.
Sit around on the internet sending resumes to companies I will never hear back from.
Walk my dog again and feed her.
Lunch.
If it's Sunday, Tuesday or Friday I go to the gym, if not I go to one of my volunteer "jobs" for a few hours.
Come home, dick around on the internet or watch netflix, or play video games.
Go for a half hour run.
Eat dinner.
Walk dog, feed dog.
Dick around on the internet or play video games until I fall asleep.

On the one hand, I'm quite bored of this routine, on the other hand I get to spend a lot of time with my dog, I get to spend a lot of time outdoors and I'm in really good shape, so it's not all bad. Still would really like to get a job and make some goddamn money but apparently my college degree isn't good for much except flipping burgers and wiping my ass and I'll be damned if I'm going to flip burgers.

 

[Tiger King]

I'm currently unemployed and have been for some time now.

My schedule tends to look something like this:

Wake up and walk my dog.
Eat breakfast.
Sit around on the internet sending resumes to companies I will never hear back from.
Walk my dog again and feed her.
Lunch.
If it's Sunday, Tuesday or Friday I go to the gym, if not I go to one of my volunteer "jobs" for a few hours.
Come home, dick around on the internet or watch netflix, or play video games.
Go for a half hour run.
Eat dinner.
Walk dog, feed dog.
Dick around on the internet or play video games until I fall asleep.

On the one hand, I'm quite bored of this routine, on the other hand I get to spend a lot of time with my dog, I get to spend a lot of time outdoors and I'm in really good shape, so it's not all bad. Still would really like to get a job and make some goddamn money but apparently my college degree isn't good for much except flipping burgers and wiping my ass and I'll be damned if I'm going to flip burgers.

Damn you just made me realise how much I miss my dogs :'(
how long have you been jobless?

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I'm currently unemployed and have been for some time now.

My schedule tends to look something like this:

Wake up and walk my dog.
Eat breakfast.
Sit around on the internet sending resumes to companies I will never hear back from.
Walk my dog again and feed her.
Lunch.
If it's Sunday, Tuesday or Friday I go to the gym, if not I go to one of my volunteer "jobs" for a few hours.
Come home, dick around on the internet or watch netflix, or play video games.
Go for a half hour run.
Eat dinner.
Walk dog, feed dog.
Dick around on the internet or play video games until I fall asleep.

On the one hand, I'm quite bored of this routine, on the other hand I get to spend a lot of time with my dog, I get to spend a lot of time outdoors and I'm in really good shape, so it's not all bad. Still would really like to get a job and make some goddamn money but apparently my college degree isn't good for much except flipping burgers and wiping my ass and I'll be damned if I'm going to flip burgers.

Damn you just made me realise how much I miss my dogs :'(
how long have you been jobless?

Little over a year. I could get a job but I'm really opposed to doing something that isn't in my field (because I don't want to feel like I wasted my 4 years in college), and I'm not hurting for money quite yet.

 

[baddude1337]

I've been unemployed for about 9 months after losing my job, but an hopefully starting temporary (and likely to become permanent) admin work on Tuesday.

Besides job searching, I initially basically just stayed home playing games, doing house stuff and the like (I still live with my parents, moving out on your own is hard enough as it is without also being unemployed).

After a few months I started to work at a charity shop my sister managed, where I met my girlfriend of about 5 months now, so hey, losing my job was good for something. I became a lot more outgoing after that, going to her house, going out to get lunch the odd occasion I got JSA (which, shit, is awful money considering the amount they want you to do). I've become more of an animal person seeing my girlfriends dog (Bichon Frise) and cat and taking my sisters' dog (Golden Labrador) out for walks.

It has given me the time to find a lot of cool stuff in terms of gaming I probably never would have found. Mods like Project Reality, Doom gameplay mods, Terrordrome, real random indie games from having hours to randomly browse Steam.. stuff like that.

It has at times felt rather hopeless and I feel like a burden considering I don't earn anything for the house, but that's about to change hopefully.

 

[Sassafrass]

My usual day of unemployment starts with waking up, getting breakfast, sitting my arse down in front of the PC and trying to get a job, followed by games, pestering friends to come play games, playing with the puppies a bit, more job hunting, before more gaming then bed. Sometimes I'll go out for the day with the only friend who hasn't moved up north yet, run errands for the family, have to go out to the jobcenter so I can claim that sweet sweet dole money or go do some volunteer office work for a charity.


I know, I'm the epitome of excitement and variety. If I did any more, my pants may literally fall off.

 

[Remus]

My usual day of unemployment starts with waking up, getting breakfast, sitting my arse down in front of the PC and trying to get a job, followed by games, pestering friends to come play games, playing with the puppies a bit, more job hunting, before more gaming then bed. Sometimes I'll go out for the day with the only friend who hasn't moved up north yet, run errands for the family, have to go out to the jobcenter so I can claim that sweet sweet dole money or go do some volunteer office work for a charity.


I know, I'm the epitome of excitement and variety. If I did any more, my pants may literally fall off.

On account of all that walking you mean? Cardio is great for weight loss.

 

[Guffe]

I've been unemployed since January 4th now. It still hasn't really kicked in the whole resltess thing but I really wish I'd get a job sooner rather than later. I've been hearing about employment picking up speed in my line of work in a few months time, so I guess I'll have to wait for that :/
Daily routines consist of waking up, hitting the gym, lunch, gaming/movie/reading, (maybe) hanging with friend, dinner, second training (usually football or snooker), gaming.
Of course it gets shaken up from time to time by other stuff but that's pretty much it, At least I have a lot of time to work out now, I've always trained pretty much but now I actually have a regime and all. Still not touching any of those protein things though, I eat healthy and good food so I don't feel like I need any of that!

 

[CrystalShadow]

I have had too many health issues of some kind to really do work.

What I end up doing with my time is mostly hanging around at home, messing around on my computer. (Playing games, watching videos, etc.)

I don't know. It is indeed quite difficult not having a purpose, though I find it worse that I can do pretty well in giving myself a purpose, but the same problems that interfere with me getting a job, also interfere with me doing things for my own reasons...

I started several novels, but only one of them has a complete draft.

I studied game development extensively, but can't really get anything done to actually make something with my knowledge...

I have had some luck doing youtube videos. Which I kind of started doing precisely for that reason. Just to have something to do.

I'm doing better at that than I am at most things, but even so, I learnt pretty quickly that I cannot reliably do more than one of them a week.
And even those often end up slipping behind schedule.

That seems to be what my health issues do to me...
(3 weeks ago, I had all kinds of stuff planned, and did basically none of them, because I spent 3 days straight in bed, basically asleep.)

So... What do I do with my time? Sleep. XD

 

[FruitBird]

I recently found work in my desired field (hooray!) but when I was unemployed I was BORED. It would be get up, breakfast, gym, job hunt for 2 hours then when I ran out of options try and keep myself entertained and not lose my mind with boredom. Time travels so SLOW when you have nothing to do.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I mostly write and game when I'm not doing films either for or outside of school. My diet consists of lentils and spaghetti at the moment. Its so much fun being broke.

 

[Summerstorm]

Man, i remember being unemployed. Best time of my life. (Well, close anyway) All that freedom - too bad i didn't have money (Weird how those two things seem to be related).

Well nowadays i can't just say "fuck it" and quit my job - recently bought an Apartment (In only 13 Years it will be paid off - so pretty much it is "The Bank bought a Apartment") and with that i am bound. Too bad - but better in the long run.

I loved playing games, having long walks/hikes in the summer - visiting friends (Who also where unemployed) and roleplay/drink all night. It's like a vacation, only there is no end looming over all the fun.

Also, yay: Socialist paradise, hehe

 

[Smooth Operator]

Back when I was unemployed boredom sure became prominent, but not quite so much as all the pressure that comes with it, when you got a job no one gives a shit but god do they love to dig in when things look bad for you.

My days then looked about the same as now, being in software it makes fuck all difference working at a company computer or my own, it's actually easier to work on mine because I don't have security constraints. But when there isn't a pay check at the end of the tunnel things don't seem quite so important to finish.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I was unemployed for five years (so glad I got a job down) and if I recalled correctly, this was my routine-

Wake up.
Have breakfast.
Turn pc on and brush my teeth.
Check message.
Check several jobs sites.
If I get some results, apply if not, just surf the net.
Have lunch.
Carry on surfing the net, play games or applying (I really hate filling out application forms as it can take me hours to do so.)
Have dinner.
Surf the net, play games or watch a film.
Go to bed.

Granted on some days (mainly saturday). I do out into the town center after breakfast just for the sake of doing something dufferent than to get bored of my boring routine.

Yeah being bored for having nothing to do was complete hell for me to the point that I did scream out in frustration boredom one or two times when I was alone.

 

[Starbird]

English teacher in Japan. So I get all the downsides of having a job (long hours, asshole boss, neverending workload, taxes) with a lot of the downsides of unemployment (miserable pay, no chance of progression).

At the very least I get to live in Japan I guess. Which makes up for a lot of the above.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

I'm pretty depressed right now and really scared. While I admit Target Canada was already closing so I was already losing my job, they decided to fire me on Thursday of last week because I had bought a giant container of laundry detergent for only 5.79. So I don't get a severence package or anything and I have so many debts. I'm hitting the pavement looking for employment but I'm extremely worried it may be a while till I get something.

 

[God'sFist]

Currently unemployed which is not fun. Cause I don't get the option of getting alcohol since I'm underage at the moment. My best friend has school most of the time so I can't hang out with him allot. Job hunting has made me feel as though my life will forever be a series of failures that I set myself up for. I am afraid to go to college because of the mountain of debt one can accrue while doing college and not only that even if I have a degree the job hunting experience doesn't seem to get any better at least from what I've heard.

I have come to hate all large companies because they refuse to take any risk with inexperienced employees. Which I can hardly blame them for considering the capitalistic society where if you aren't making money you get screwed in some manner.

So that's my depressing rant over My days go wake up drink some caffeinated beverage, hop on the computer to job hunt for a while then watch videos and lurk here on the escapist, and wait for others to come home to make dinner. I have started to make my own pop tab chain mail though so that's a thing. I have also tried writing my own books but they take a long time to write.

 

[Eleuthera]

Unemployed since May 2013 (the business went bankrupt). Diagnosed with recurring cancer in August 2013.

Health issues prevent me from applying to jobs, working out, or going out. I spend my time either at home (reading, gaming, watching tv/movies or sleeping.) About once a month a friend will drop by, and about once every two weeks I need to be at the hospital for an hour or two.

For the longest time I managed to keep busy enough (or was sick enough) to not get bored but that seems to be over. I've even ran out of Netflix...