I’ve always been totally f****d job wise. Stress wise I’ve never been up to coping with a highly pressurised job using brainpower. I’ve never had the manual/practical skills to do a more down to earth but thoroughly essential job.
10 Likes
I only worked for 4 years full-time. 21 till 25. It will be a while before I can go back to work and I’m 35 now.
You’re not alone in this.
5 Likes
I’m 65. Never had a paid job. I’d be OK as a bread butterer, winkle picker- that level of thing.
3 Likes
Are you already retired? As of a certain age people don’t expect you to work anymore. Maybe that helps socially. I still get the question ‘what do you do for work?’ I hate that one.
5 Likes
I hate that question too. State pension age is 66.
2 Likes
I worked when I was young, was unemployed over a decade now on the disability pension
1 Like
I’m almost 64, and the only job I’ve had any consistency at is delivering pizza, and I haven’t set any records doing that. I spent four years in the Army and got out with an honorable discharge. I drank a LOT while I was in the army. People talk about how the army seems to ruin young men, even in peacetime. I think part of it is the low prices for alcohol. A lot of it is also the “hurry up and wait”. They tell you to do things like get your weapon, and when you get to the armorer they’ve shut down for breakfast. When I was in Germany we kind of had the attitude that we were unemployed. We were there to fight wars, and there weren’t any wars around. I think the hardest part of the army is dealing with the weather. You can spend hours out in bone chilly, drizzly weather. They don’t cut you any slack about the weather. In Korea it gets colder than in Germany, and they spend more time in the field. One thing I really liked about the army was the platoon confidence course run by the special forces. I went there twice. It really was like the way they portray the army in the commercials. Now they’re having trouble filling the ranks of the military. I bet a lot of that is due to the incessant deployments to Afghanistan and similar places that the soldiers had to endure. They say our soldiers performed very well in Afghanistan, but they have very high rates of suicide when they come home.
4 Likes
I was also in the Army but for 2 years instead of 4. I was honorably discharged early via Chapter 5-13 (Personality Disorder). When I enrolled in VA, I was told I had Schizophrenia and required AP medication. I realized the diagnoses I received in the Army were actually euphemisms for psychotic disorders. Not due to being violent but chemical imbalance (Serotonin and Dopamine shortage). They say most Schizophrenics are actually calm and peaceful and I happen to be one of them, being withdrawn from the norms of societal functioning in the employment world. I was also stationed in Germany and was supposed to deploy to Africa 3 times (long story). What I found out is that the US Army is like a competitive civilian job and the ones who “deploy” typically are the ones most (for lack of a better term) expendable. The unwritten rule is you compete for a spot. If the Soldier failed to compete in the States, you are sent overseas. If the Soldier fails in a typical overseas duty station, you are deployed to a conflict-area country. I’ve noticed recent TV commercials and it is a good idea to reiterate hundreds of career opportunities in the US Military. If they also explained how it really works, maybe they could recruit more people. When I got out, they were looking to downsize. So now they need more recruits? Maybe they shouldn’t downsize to begin with. Because they wanted to kill me as soon as I arrived to Germany by sending me by myself to Liberia because I wasn’t good enough at my MOS and later revealed it was due to Schizophrenia, I’m 100% VA-rated and set for life. If I were a military recruiter, I would explain that if you live and serve honorably (do the right thing; don’t commit crimes), the US Military can set you up for life whether you become a lifer and end up with retirement pay (like my dad) or the US Military can expose weaknesses you may have and set you up for life via disability income. I receive much more per month via VA than I do via Social Security.
1 Like
Where did you read or hear this?
1 Like
I believe this. My brother in law retired from the Army Reserves. In all that time, he was never deployed nor even stationed outside his hometown even once that whole time. And he served 40 years. He was THAT good at his job (MOS).
@ZmaGal @SlowMotional
3 Likes
I dropped out of college when I was 19 and went to work for a bank in the mailroom. I had a pretty successful career with them until I couldn’t work any longer because of the Sz.
3 Likes
Impressive. And they used to say (well, they said it once during basic training) that “Reserves are the first to go”.
1 Like
I heard it through, you know, the grapevine. The GS worker in my Personnel section told me that they compete for a spot. I also heard that the Germany unit I was in was relaxed compared to USA units/forts. Other than PT, we really didn’t have a lot of work to do. Maybe part of it was because I was in Ansbach which is considered a small community. I think they assigned me there because they knew how quiet I am. The Military has a way of showing your strengths and weaknesses. I also heard that soldiers who deployed had even less work to do and played video games. Some soldiers who returned from Iraq were out of shape and could barely do any pushups or didn’t run miles. I will say that this isn’t always how the Army works. Just most of the time. There can be legit missions when they send elites. They can send soldiers overseas as just another duty station (and some people like to travel and see the world). My dad was stationed at home and abroad (Germany, Vietnam, Korea). When he was stationed in Korea, that’s when I was adopted when I was a baby. The Army can save lives.
1 Like
I can honestly say I hope that’s completely false.
Not too bad at getting hired— I smile when needed, ask the right questions, and dress for success.
Now keeping a job?
That’s where I’m fuucked— if the SZ doesn’t make me put in my two weeks, the Bipolar will.
5 Likes
My SZ that has come in waves as @Jonathan2 put it in another thread, has meant I have been put in a false sense of security several times.
Rebuilding, burning it down and repeat is no fun. That’s where the disadvantage comes in…
Being in the workforce has good advantages, but it’s not built for people like us.
There are some good employers out there, but few and far between - plus the culture can turn nasty very quickly at times.
Maybe I have had to start over 6 times fully between the ages of 17 to 35 (present)…
Safe to say it has taken a massive toll.
Financially I am now in a precarious situation with a 32 year mortgage on a 1 bed flat.
It means when I was on Universal Credit, you have to wait 9 months for any contribution to your living costs.
This meant I had to use PIP, UC standard and then the disability element that came 3 months later - which also had a wait of 12 weeks after applying (they only back dated it last week) - to pay everything.
I was on a deficit of around £400 a month, and it killed my savings. But that’s why I saved, for emergencies.
Working didn’t hand me a social life or anything like that. Even the nice people I didn’t like hanging out with. I always avoided the dreaded Christmas parties and drinking events.
Getting adjustments is very problematic, and then when you disclose your illness you have little to no control over who gets that information about you.
Honestly, if I wasn’t such a difficult ■■■■■■■, I would not have worked.
When I got diagnosed as a full time person with Schizophrenia they were setting up a studio flat for me, the benefits and all.
However I was homeless as I refused to live back with my parents, as I had severe delusions about them - which is no surprise about how my step father behaved towards me growing up…
After 6 months, I moved back in, and took up a job as you know for a family friends business - which after he sold turned toxic - and I have never fully recovered a working length of time like that since it happened
I would not put yourself down @firemonkey
The reason is to say that working in my anecdotal case demonstrates that if you decide to do it, there are some bumps in the road - plus you fall well and truly outside the scope of all the help on offer (U.K.)
This type of pattern of trying to keep working has been very detrimental and has led to multiple relapses, changes in medications to optimise side effects to be able to even function a bit, financial entrapment and many other things I won’t list here
Bottom line is to take the medical advice, and if you don’t, then it can make life very stressful - but worth while at times.
Some people I am sure can be lucky, and find a forever job. But that’s not been me at all.
It’s batshit crazy sometimes the things I get into, but I do it because of necessity and I am more relentless than even my dog gives himself credit for!
3 Likes
I too have gone thorough this. Gets pretty tiring to rebuild.
2 Likes
I am now questioning my resolve.
It has been grating
Made my health worse than it could have been
Had to stop telling myself my new job is the last chance I am giving it, as it was piling on the pressure
1 Like
I had my CPA today. I mentioned my shame at not having had a paid job. She said it was a full time job managing my mental health problems, and that the autism should’ve been diagnosed a long time ago. She said it was unfortunate that when I was young there were very few legit jobs that could be done from home. That that could’ve solved much of the things I mentioned to her, and I’ve mentioned on this forum.
She said I’ve done well helping online… I’ve taken more of a backseat re providing articles here. Mainly because my wings are spread very far re my online participation- mental health,genealogy,politics, Twitter,Facebook,checking my RSS feeds etc. I’m glad that @everhopeful has stepped up to the plate , and is now the primary provider of info. He’s doing an excellent job, at keeping us all informed.
2 Likes
The combat arms MOS’s - infantry, armor, and artillery are the MOS’s that have the most casualties in war, especially the infantry. I was an infantry soldier for four years in Germany and in Texas. They had soldiers in our infantry company that had very high scores on the ASVAB, which is basically a military IQ test where they decide where to place you. There probably are certain criteria that affect where they place you, but it’s probably more complicated than you’d think. I barely got out of the army with an honorable discharge. Sometimes I apply for a pension due to the alcoholism I got in the army. I never expected to get one, but I just wanted to remind them that they sold alcohol to their soldiers very cheap.