Life is a wreck, don't know what to do.

[Truhan]

If you wanna try to work from home (and you have a house phone, a little bit of money to get a used headset, and a computer), you could try working for Sykes. I would also recommend working security. Yeah, you'll be on your feet quite a bit, depending on where you're stationed, but maybe not quite as much as a cook, and the pay is usually a bit better than minimum wage (around $9 per hour). Just don't be a dick, follow the rules, don't disappear in the middle of your shift without telling anyone (of course people did this where I was stationed), don't sleep on the job, and it's pretty easy (again, depending on where you get stationed).

[TwoNineMarine]

Look up any and every job you can. Check out Craigslist and other similar sites for companies that are hiring. Take any job you can. You may have to deal with the pain until you can find a job that allows you to sit or whatever but it's worth it to keep food on the table and a roof over your heads.

If you are eligible for the food stamp stuff again definitely keep pursuing that.

I may have missed it up does your gf work? Is there anything that she can do to bring in money if she isn't?

[Runenwächter]

This may sound harsh, but you set a child into a world without having the job security or otherwise means to provide for it. You needed financial support even when both of you were employed. Thus you might have done so out of a very human desire and longing, it still was an outright indefensibly irresponsible thing to do. You worked in a field where you can be replaced with an average highschooler at a moments notice, no exclusive or indespensible qualifications or skillset.

There might be programms, there might be charities, the whole situation might be unfair as it can possibly be. Put that aside for the moment.

You might think you can give her all the love in the world, it is still not going to pay for pedeatric care, education or food in her belly. That is a miserable future. Consider that at this point in time and for the forseeable future you will not be in a position to provide these things. Do the responsible thing for your child and find someone who can.

[Forgettable]

At the moment, we're sitting on a bank balance of sub 10$

According to Google maps, it's a 34 hour drive from Atlanta to my house. Based on gas prices here, that would probably cost you around $300. They have a homeless shelter here, a food bank where you can get food for free, temporary work agencies for quick work, and EI - Employment insurance/welfare which gives you enough money to survive while finding a new job. Also free healthcare.

Now that I think of it though, aren't any of the above services available where you live? Surely there must be something.

[KeirAdish]

If you wanna try to work from home (and you have a house phone, a little bit of money to get a used headset, and a computer), you could try working for Sykes. I would also recommend working security. Yeah, you'll be on your feet quite a bit, depending on where you're stationed, but maybe not quite as much as a cook, and the pay is usually a bit better than minimum wage (around $9 per hour). Just don't be a dick, follow the rules, don't disappear in the middle of your shift without telling anyone (of course people did this where I was stationed), don't sleep on the job, and it's pretty easy (again, depending on where you get stationed).

I'll look into Sykes, I don't know about security though, I'm a pretty small guy.
5'10, 125lbs with a semi noticeable limp and inability to run currently.
(supposed to get another surgery soon to remove screws that are causing problems.)

Look up any and every job you can. Check out Craigslist and other similar sites for companies that are hiring. Take any job you can. You may have to deal with the pain until you can find a job that allows you to sit or whatever but it's worth it to keep food on the table and a roof over your heads.

If you are eligible for the food stamp stuff again definitely keep pursuing that.

I may have missed it up does your gf work? Is there anything that she can do to bring in money if she isn't?

I'm okay with dealing with the pain, I have been for awhile.
But after so long it starts to wear you down, at Shane's I would end up standing on just my left leg with my right bent slightly so I wasn't standing on it. :/

She owns a retail clothing store in Little 5 in Atlanta, but only makes the equivalent of about 12$ an hour since she's still in the process of buying it.
(no cash out of pocket, so its not like stopping buying it would help us any.)

[NED funded]

Best advice I can give is move with a relative of yours or hers and go to college (seriously dude what haopens if you get in the same situation) . Also you might want to sell everything that is not necessary.

[Narwal]

Okay, I decided to come and ask for advice/suggestions as asking here has helped in the past through difficult situations.

Before you comment read the line above this.


*not relationship advice.*

Anyway, my girlfriend, child, and I are having a really rough patch.
Sometime back in April I left the job I had been at for nearly 6 years, due to it turning into a dead end job.
I got a new job making a little bit more for easier work at a Shane's Rib Shack and was a cook there for about 4-5 months.
We've had it rough as money has been tight but it hasn't been too terrible, we've been able to make do.

Well, about 2 months ago our food-stamps got cut. (We were both employed)
I got fired from my job on Thursday/Sunday for calling out of my Thursday shift because my car broke down and was in the shop so I had no way to get to work.
Car got fixed and I showed up for my next shift on Sunday only to find myself taken completely off the schedule and the opening manager giving me the run-around at first trying to get me to work out that shift before cutting me.(someone else didn't show up so he was already short, more-so if I wasn't there.)
I went home, didn't end up finishing the shift out since I was fired.

Well, today our daughter had a doctors appointment for severe ear infections she's had.
We get there only to find out her medicaid has been cut without notice to us.(she's 13 months old)

We are currently attempting once again to renew both foodstamps, and medicaid for our daughter.

During this we've been trying to move out of the studio apartment and into a 4bdrm because we have a friend who is moving up from Florida come December and her and her two little girls are going to live with us.
That's been put on hold since I'm unemployed now, though the housing part needs to happen by December.

To top it all off, I was already needing out of the restaurant industry due to breaking my leg in a motorcycle accident last November and it not healing 100% properly leaving me in a great deal of pain if I have to be on my feet.

But I'm 24 years old, I've only ever worked in restaurants.
So despite having filled every available position in a restaurant including management, I have absolutely 0 work experience outside of it.

So here I am, unemployed, no money, no food, and no idea what to do from here to support my family.

I haven't been, and likely wont be able to afford to go to college(not to mention that is a very long term fix.) and now I need to get into a 9-5 themed job making enough (20-35k) to support my family, but I have no idea where to start.
I'd love to find something I could do from home because that would be best on my leg, but I'd be perfectly happy with a desk job, or a minimal walk time job.


I'm hoping through some of all of your long years you will be able to help give me some advice and help cause as it stands we just don't know what to do anymore...
We're stuck in an endless loop of not having enough money to pay our bills, and having to skip out on eats 2-3 days every week to ensure our daughter is getting everything she needs.

We live in Atlanta GA.

I'll try and answer any questions or concerns anyone has whilst offering their knowledge and experience.

Find a software company that has some internal call-center or QA positions open. Sometimes they don't require much in terms of getting a position there, and if you can show any kind of technical/internet skills that most kids have these days, it's a good starting point for software. I've seen a lot of people from the call-center move up in an organization I worked for because they basically became the experts of the product over time. As you gain that domain knowledge and grow your communication skills you can open up opportunities into project/program management based around a product you've become knowledgeable in. Look for software companies that use a SaaS model.

[The5thVegetable]

Well, i'm no expert on this, but you could possibly try to learn coding. You could get a job where you hopefully don't have to move around much if at all, and i'm not mistaken, you can also do jobs for people who need some coding done without having to actually work for anyone consistently. I don't know much about the subject though, i'm just taking from what I know how my stepdad's done it. Don't need to spend money on attending any classes either, you should be able to just find the knowledge you need on the internet.

Or you could make a desperate attempt at Youtube. Who knows? Maybe it'll turn out profitable in the end if all else fails! (Hopefully. Not saying it's remotely likely.)

[KeirAdish]

This may sound harsh, but you set a child into a world without having the job security or otherwise means to provide for it. You needed financial support even when both of you were employed. Thus you might have done so out of a very human desire and longing, it still was an outright indefensibly irresponsible thing to do. You work in a field where you can be replaced with an average highschooler at a moments notice, no exclusive or indespensible qualifications or skillset.

There might be programms, there might be charities, the whole situation might be unfair as it can possibly be. Put that aside for the moment.

You might think you can give her all the love in the world, it is still not going to pay for pedeatric care, education or food in her belly. That is a miserable future. Consider that at this point in time and for the forseeable future you will not be in a position to provide these things. Do the responsible thing for your child and find someone who can.

When we got pregnant I was in a stable job, with job security.
I was a trained manager, going through final training to get a promotion for a 40k a year position.
I got passed up 3 times because I was related to another Manager in the same company(different location.)
So it ended up not being worth it since they were already understaffed manager wise and not promoting from within anymore.

According to Google maps, it's a 34 hour drive from Atlanta to my house. Based on gas prices here, that would probably cost you around $300. They have a homeless shelter here, a food bank where you can get food for free, temporary work agencies for quick work, and EI - Employment insurance/welfare which gives you enough money to survive while finding a new job. Also free healthcare.

Now that I think of it though, aren't any of the above services available where you live? Surely there must be something.

We have some, and we're trying to explore any routes we can.
But neither of us really knows all that much about how all of this works, and what is what.

[Truhan]

I'll look into Sykes, I don't know about security though, I'm a pretty small guy.
5'10, 125lbs with a semi noticeable limp and inability to run currently.
(supposed to get another surgery soon to remove screws that are causing problems.)

Please, I'm hardly a physical specimen myself. Security doesn't necessarily mean bouncer. I knew people whose only job was to patrol around a parking lot in a car every thirty minutes or so, and then go back to a little office where they could sit and keep an eye on things. It's even easier if you're working a night shift at an office that's already locked up, where you'll just have to do a foot patrol every hour or so. Otherwise, security generally just means enforcing rules and telling someone off for breaking them. If things get physical, you're pretty much told to call the police and let them handle it so that you don't get anybody sued.

[Tragan]

Atlanta has a number of employment services for people looking for a job, and with a problematic leg and variable schedule, I'm going to recommend telemarketer.

http://www.indeed.com/q-Call-Center-...,-GA-jobs.html

It's the best I can suggest from what I have to work with. Good luck, I hope your daughter is okay.

I would add to that checking out data entry positions. They typically only require the ability to have a minimum keystrokes per hour (From a quick job search around 9000) and the pay is not too bad.

[I Push Buttons]

Also if you actually live in the city and cheaply get around on the bus or something, you should take some pain killers for the leg and manually go around looking for places hiring. A lot of them don't even post the jobs online.

[TwoNineMarine]

I'll look into Sykes, I don't know about security though, I'm a pretty small guy.
5'10, 125lbs with a semi noticeable limp and inability to run currently.
(supposed to get another surgery soon to remove screws that are causing problems.)




I'm okay with dealing with the pain, I have been for awhile.
But after so long it starts to wear you down, at Shane's I would end up standing on just my left leg with my right bent slightly so I wasn't standing on it. :/

She owns a retail clothing store in Little 5 in Atlanta, but only makes the equivalent of about 12$ an hour since she's still in the process of buying it.
(no cash out of pocket, so its not like stopping buying it would help us any.)

Well that's good that she is getting all of that settled. Hopefully it can take off once she fully purchases it.

I work security and for a lot of places it is an entry level gig. So as long as you present yourself well and interview well then you can get hired. The pay isn't generally worth writing home about but it's well worth it in the end.

Definitely try the telemarketing thing as well. Staying off of your feet couldn't hurt.

And while it is tough to get into try selling Herbalife or the various other products like it. If your charismatic and lucky enough you can make decent money doing it and it's not physically demanding at all.

[Forgettable]

Have you looked into trades apprenticeships? Generally you'll take 2 months of schooling, and then start working as an apprentice where you'll actually make a (small) living wage, and once you've completed the entire training then you'll actually make a respectable wage. And the initial school costs should be able to be covered by a small student loan.

Here in Calgary electricians are kind of in a surplus, but other trades like masons, carpenters, mechanics are always in demand.

[Butosai]

this is going to sound really stupid and trolly but I actually am trying to help. My uncle was in a similar position to you and he went to training here http://thedingking.com/ to become a paintless dent removal technician ( or w/e they call it) He works for car dealerships now and makes a ton of money off of very little effort. Worth a look atleast if your near one of their centers.

[NoRest4Wicked]

For short term cash you can look into donating plasma and sperm, that can net you a little bit of money if things are tight. You gf could also donate an egg, which can get a couple thousand dollars, but it requires surgery.

I think there are places near me that will take plasma every 3-4 days, and pay roughly 35-55 each time, up to 300 or 350 a month. It's not a ton, but it is better than nothing.

We had a family friend lose her job in accounting and she lived off cleaning peoples houses and baby sitting. She said she made on average 15 an hour under the table to clean peoples houses, and around 10 for baby sitting. If that could be an option for you, you can always try to tap into friends/family and ask if they know anyone looking for those types of services (that's how I found both the cleaning lady that comes every 2 weeks and our babysitter).

[Independent voter]

Do you have enough money to move to Canada? Legitimate question. Living situations here are a lot better for people in your situation.

Canada isn't going to let someone in his situation in. Unless you know something I don't.

[KeirAdish]

Best advice I can give is move with a relative of yours or hers and go to college (seriously dude what haopens if you get in the same situation) . Also you might want to sell everything that is not necessary.

Unfortunately the only family I have nearby(reasonable distance), their home is nowhere near safe for a little child, or they don't have the space. :/

Find a software company that has some internal call-center or QA positions open. Sometimes they don't require much in terms of getting a position there, and if you can show any kind of technical/internet skills that most kids have these days, it's a good starting point for software. I've seen a lot of people from the call-center move up in an organization I worked for because they basically became the experts of the product over time. As you gain that domain knowledge and grow your communication skills you can open up opportunities into project/program management based around a product you've become knowledgeable in. Look for software companies that use a SaaS model.

Question on that, what exactly does SaaS model mean?
I googled it, but not my area of expertise.
"Software as a service (SaaS; pronounced /sæs/) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as "on-demand software". SaaS is typically accessed by users using a thin client via a web browser."

So a company that deals in software that is paid monthly/yearly etc?

Well, i'm no expert on this, but you could possibly try to learn coding. You could get a job where you hopefully don't have to move around much if at all, and i'm not mistaken, you can also do jobs for people who need some coding done without having to actually work for anyone consistently. I don't know much about the subject though, i'm just taking from what I know how my stepdad's done it. Don't need to spend money on attending any classes either, you should be able to just find the knowledge you need on the internet.

Or you could make a desperate attempt at Youtube. Who knows? Maybe it'll turn out profitable in the end if all else fails! (Hopefully. Not saying it's remotely likely.)

Coding was never my area of expertise, my brother was great at that. :/
When you say from step-dad, you mean he learned online on his own and then applied that to getting a job doing coding?

youtube..
Would be fun...

Please, I'm hardly a physical specimen myself. Security doesn't necessarily mean bouncer. I knew people whose only job was to patrol around a parking lot in a car every thirty minutes or so, and then go back to a little office where they could sit and keep an eye on things. It's even easier if you're working a night shift at an office that's already locked up, where you'll just have to do a foot patrol every hour or so. Otherwise, security generally just means enforcing rules and telling someone off for breaking them. If things get physical, you're pretty much told to call the police and let them handle it so that you don't get anybody sued.

Hmm, I guess that could work.
I've always thought of security having to basically be "daytime" bouncers for businesses and such.

Though I could manage the kind of physical activities you've described above.
(I can typically walk for about 4-5 hours a day total before the pain gets too much, though that is straight standing/walking.)

I would add to that checking out data entry positions. They typically only require the ability to have a minimum keystrokes per hour (From a quick job search around 9000) and the pay is not too bad.

Data entry is something I had thought of as I had thought I typed pretty fast, but apparently not.
Just took a test for the first time in at least 5 years, and I type 51 WPM (3060 Per hour)
Though with practice I could likely boost that number by a decent margin.

[Zantos]

For job hunting, look at Indeed or craigslist.

I would suggest thinking about some type of schooling. Perhaps police dispatcher? Government job that is always in need. I would just start looking at other options by this point. Schooling or training being the biggest ones.

[cubby]

Okay, I decided to come and ask for advice/suggestions as asking here has helped in the past through difficult situations.

I read your post - read my answer


*not relationship advice.*

/snip

We live in Atlanta GA.

I'll try and answer any questions or concerns anyone has whilst offering their knowledge and experience.

Your industry experience could translate into a bartending job - and those pay very well. You'll have to finangle your way into the spot unless you have a lot of experience, but you can take $40k/yr home without a sweat. You'll have to stand, which sucks with your leg, but you don't have a ton of options atm.

I feel for your daughter (I have three kids) but I have no good info re medicaid. Sorry man.

Do the housing this re the 4bdrm if at all possible. More space, less $$ - anything you can.

Long term career (I'm a healthcare recruiter) - I would NOT advise going to college right now - not even Community College. What I would advise is going to a trade school - and not just any trade school. Dental Hygienist training - very quick school turn around - you can do classes in the day and work at night. Once you graduate and land a job you'll be making $35-40k/yr, with good benefits.

PM me for more details - happy to help (I actually love helping people with career issues - it's why I love recruiting/development)