Educated Loser

Chicken Feet

2010-10-27T10:14:00.000-07:00

As I look through job ads, I'm very much aware of the fact that the jobs I'm looking at now are the same types of jobs I was looking at in high school. I thought the point of going to college was to avoid having to perform menial labor and take minimum-wage jobs. That was my main motivation in even finishing college. Whenever I was frustrated with school or didn't know if I wanted to continue, I reminded myself of the cashiering job I had when I was 16. I never wanted to do that again. Not only did I have to deal with the general public and their germs (isn't it fun when you're forced to work with, or worse yet serve, someone with a really nasty, hacking cough), but I also had to deal with the crap they bought. They'd throw fifty-pound dog food bags up on the counter and get angry when I told them that my 98 pound body was not going to load that back into their cart - they'd have to do that themselves. But out of all the things I hated, the worst was chicken feet. Yes, people actually buy chicken feet. Why, I don't know, but they do. They come in packaging like normal chicken, with the styrofoam bottom and thin clear packaging over the top. The long, sharp-looking claws on the end of the dead, wrinkly feet would always pierce through the top of the packaging, ready to poke any unobservant bystander and spread their salmonella. It was nearly impossible to find a place to pick that nastiness up without being in danger of being contaminated by least one of the many claws that were sticking out. As an undergraduate, this was what I thought of to keep myself going, this was my motivation - I never wanted to see, let alone touch, a package of chicken feet again. My fear was that if I dropped out of college, I would be banished to a life of cashiering and the chicken feet it brought. If only I had known that a college degree could not save me from having to consider or even take this type of job again, I could have saved a lot of money on tuition.

Quick Reference Guide to Jobs Available to Liberal Arts Majors

2010-10-18T10:15:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of people that say you can get a job with a liberal arts degree. I suppose they're right, just look at all the wonderful things you can be...

1. Cashier / Sales Clerk
2. Waiter / Waitress
3. Lifeguard
4. Telemarketer
5. Secretary / Receptionist
6. Lawnmower
7. Burger Flipper
8. Ebay Seller
9. Janitor
10. Housekeeper / Maid
11. Dishwasher
12. Hobo / Bum / Bag Lady
13. Factory Worker
14. Paper Route Driver
15. Insurance Salesperson
16. Military Personnel
17. Car Salesperson
18. Manual Laborer (Mover, Truck Loader and Unloader, Etc.)
19. Barista
20. Trash Collector
21. Birthday Party Clown
22. Dog Walker
23. Santa or his elves
24. Pizza Deliverer
25. Someone who turns in scrap metal (truck required) or plastic bottles for money
26. Carnival Ride Operator
27. Grave digger (for once, dig a grave that isn't your own!)
28. Bartender
29. Dog Groomer
30. Taxi Driver

And, with minimal training, you can look forward to even more careers, like...

31. Truck Driver
32. Certified Nursing Assistant (not for the germaphobic)
33. Teacher (probably one of the most thankless jobs there is, only for the genuinely enthused)
34. Welder
35. Fork Lift Operator

One of the stupidest things I did after getting my B.A. ....

2010-10-15T08:21:00.000-07:00

One of the stupidest things I did after getting my B.A. was going out and spending a lot of time and money finding professional clothes. I just knew I would need them right away, as soon as all the employers saw my resume and that I had just graduated from college. That was 5 years ago. The clothes are sitting under an inch of dust in a closet with the tags still on them. I've had several jobs since then, but none that I deemed worthy of my professional clothes. Why waste or tear up really good clothes on really crappy jobs? I'd rather wear them around the house, though I won't. I can just picture dripping fudge from an ice cream bar on my suit jacket as I recline on the couch watching Jeopardy, impressing only myself as I provide my cats with the correct answers to the questions (this, by the way, is possibly the one activity that my education has actually aided me in). So, under the dust the clothes remain...

Oops, I did it again

2010-10-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

So, I recently fell for the education trap yet again, starting my 2nd master's degree. My previous degrees are in history and English, so I thought a library information science degree would be more practical, and it could prepare me for a specific job that had a decent salary and was in demand. For months, I waited for the fall semester to start and looked at countless job openings for people with this degree that I found on various career sites and through e-mails that I was sent by the department of library information science. It seemed as though jobs were being handed out like cheap Halloween candy.

Then, before school started, there was an orientation day, and within the first 30 minutes, the instructor casually slipped in that "it's almost impossible for new graduates to find a job since people aren't retiring and only those with experience are getting hired." There went every bit of motivation I had. I really don't need or want a 3rd useless degree.

Later in the day, the program director boasted about how this was the largest class they've ever admitted. So, let me understand the logic here - last year's graduates can't find jobs, so their solution is to pump even more educated losers into the job market? How does this benefit anyone but the school?

Where are the jobs for the average person?

2010-10-13T08:40:00.000-07:00

After perusing job ads, I've determined that there are 3 types:

1. Scams, mostly work-at-home scams,

2. Minimum wage flunkie jobs that even high schoolers shouldn't be subjected to,

3. Jobs that require a degree in math/science/engineering/health.

Since options 1 and 3 can immediately be ruled out, that only leaves me with "Number 2".

Awesome Article

2010-10-12T16:52:00.000-07:00

This article captures a lot of the themes present in being an educated loser, like being both over and under qualified for most jobs, being a college graduate but having the same job that people still in high school have, questioning the value of your education, etc.:

http://www.good.is/post/young-educated-and-unemployed-a-new-generation-of-kids-search-for-work-in-their-20s/

Welcome

2010-10-12T16:34:00.000-07:00

Welcome, everyone! I hope you'll join me as I ponder questions about:

-Education (such as, why did I get a college degree if I was destined to work minimum wage jobs?),

-Work (why does nothing I'm interested in actually provide a paycheck?), and

-Society (why does everyone push young people so hard to get a degree when there's oftentimes nothing for them afterwards?),

I'll also include general musings from my day-to-day routine of being an Educated Loser. I don't claim to have answers to these questions, but hopefully I can at least entertain and amuse myself and others along the way. I think this will be a blog that a lot of people can, unfortunately, relate to.