i am so sick and tired of the world we live in. everything is increasingly expensive while decreasing in quality. it is borderline impossible for qualified people to get jobs that pay them appropriately for the amount of stress they put you through. i am sick of applying to jobs that will not even send me an email confirming they have actually seen my application. im sick of feeling desperate every single day of my life. im sick of not knowing if i'll be able to get a good job before i have to pay my phone bill.

people have told me to "lower my standards" when it comes to searching for jobs but how low do my standards actually have to be? its not like im applying to jobs im not qualified for. im not asking to work my dream job and make thousands every month without having to lift a finger. im applying to jobs like walmart, dollar general, grocery stores, etc. and im still getting emails telling me they have "more qualified candidates" and not to be discoraged from applying to that store again, only to be met with the same thing every time i do. (like ma'am this is walmart. if there truly were more qualified candidates they wouldnt be here. get real.)

my standards really arent that high either. i just refuse to work at restaurants (fast food or otherwise) because of the fast paced, high stress, no mistakes allowed kind of environment. its not because i think im "too good" to work at mcdonalds, its that working at mcdonalds would genuinely be horrible for my already fragile mental health. believe me, ive tried before, and i know what my limits are.

and dont get me started on the janky, barely useable websites they force you to apply with. originally, applying online was supposed to be a more convenient way to apply to jobs. some people dont have time to personally drive to every single location within a 20mi radius just to see if theyre hiring and drop off an application. applying online makes things much easier for those people! however, most locations these days will outright refuse to take your physical job application or resume. if you even dare to ask if theyre currently hiring, they cant just give you an outright "no," they just look at you like youre the stupidest person on earth and tell you to just look online, as if you havent already been doing that.

and, as you would imagine, having autism can make this process more difficult and humiliating than it is for the average person, especially considering the social aspects of the hiring process. you cant just show up to an interview and prove you are actually capable of doing the work, you have to dance around it and play their dumb little games and answer stupid questions that have nothing to do with your ability to perform a task, and at the end of it all, the best liar gets the job instead of the person who actually would have been the best fit!

i am sick and tired of it. i feel exhausted and humiliated every time i get a rejection email. i feel like im running out of time and the people in my life dont understand any of the problems im having, nor do they care to. older adults act like im lazy and entitled when they've been retired longer than ive been alive and they have no idea what its like trying to find a job in this absolute hellscape. there is no grace given.

i think more people around my age are waking up to this and no longer tolerate being taken advantage of. the way the world works is outdated and unsustainable, and something needs to change soon before the entirety of the amercan workforce is burnt out beyond recovery.