This story reminds me of something that happened to me. I had a really great job in 2000. I got laid off in January 2001. I searched for another job, but the market was tough and I didn't want to go back to retail (been there, done that, don't want to do it EVER again...). Finally in September of 2001, my unemployment benefits ran out, and at around 5pm on 9/11/01, I went to the lab for my drug test to work at Target (I almost didn't go. I had to go THAT DAY (within 24 hours of my job offer). I spent that whole day thinking, 'in the grand scheme of things, how important is this?' but in the end, I really went because I needed a good reason to tear myself away from the TV). I could no longer afford to be picky. I spent my time at Target knowing that as soon as my boyfriend finished his Masters' degree, he would get a job, we would move, and I could start looking for a "real" job again. A few months into my 'career' at Target, where I was a cashier, a woman came into my line, and I recognized her, and she recognized me. It was my 5th-grade teacher, the one who had said I would never amount to anything because I was lazy. In December, I quit. I couldn't take the humiliation of seeing people I knew come to my register and I was tired of feeling like I had to explain myself. I'm not as strong as I'd like to believe I am. So at the end of December, I landed a job I really liked, and then in March I moved up here. Now I have a really great, interesting job, and while it's not what I wanted to do with my life, it's pretty damn good and I'm very lucky that the defense industry -always- needs people. The moral of the story is that you've got to do what you've got to do, and sometimes you have to stand up to the humiliation of taking a position that is "below" you. Things will always turn around but there's no sense being poor in the meantime.

Commute to Nowhere