College/university isn't the only answer to life or success. Some of the wealthiest people I know have never even set foot on a college campus and some of them laugh at the thought. There are jobs that pay fine in the labor fields, great retirement plans and benefits to be found in the public service sector (city workers, firefighters, police, school employees), great strides to be made in the military, and of course there's a lot of money to be found -and interesting, PRACTICAL skills to learn- in the trades: Welding, Plumbing, Electrical work...though I wouldn't advise construction.
And of the handful of entrepreneurs and business owners I know, I can't think of any who've been to college.
Too many people are caught up with the idea that their life ends if they don't go to a good college or a university. I couldn't care less if I never have anything more than a 2 year degree. I would literally never apply it, and even a 2 year is just fluff to make me slightly more employable in my field.
You ultimately have to go through life on your own merits.
Don't call in to a new job to switch days. It looks awful. I'm sorry if that sounds rude but it's generally true...and if you get laid off you're just going to get in to a deeper slump and be worse off. The best thing you could possibly do right now is to make every day your best performance at whatever job you have. Look sharp, smile, go the extra yard and be efficient. It will pay off. You'll feel better about yourself and people will respect you more.
Unless a man gets political at his place of employment, he rarely gets fired because he's some kind of victim. Generally it's because of lackluster performance or attitude. We are not entitled to have jobs. Jobs must have a demand to be created, and the best performers -in theory- are the ones who will get them. It's up to us to make sure we're doing our best; otherwise, we will fall by the wayside with all the other slackers.
It's something I've been thinking about lately. If I ever come up with the money, I have two viable business ideas for this area, one of which is already in the works: Winter Management and Light Landscaping (kinda in the works the past two years), and something I think would do well, Renewable/Independent Energy Systems. My concern is that there is nobody in the younger generation around here who works worth a ****! I don't know how old you are, but I'm 22. And with VERY FEW exceptions, EVERYBODY I KNOW OF around my age is lazy as fresia! They have this sense of entitlement like the world owes them something. So I doubt I'd be able to find anybody even worth hiring who could learn the jobs and make the company look good! I can think of a grand total of TWO locals (younger ones who need work) I could really trust to efficiently drive a snowplow, shovel a roof, or reliably perform any sort of work relating to geothermal heating or solar power.
For most of that, all I would ask for is a work ethic. Electrician's license for solar work and wiring. But as far as I can see I can't even find a reliable base of workers I could count on for that. They all have this sense of entitlement like everyone else owes them. Like the chance to earn a living and do something worthwhile is some kind of terrible inconvenience. Thank you MTV, for creating a whole age bracket of delusional lackwits. And thank you, welfare hand-out state, for ruining a generation.
Hell, I can't even find guys to make viable firemen on my volunteer department! I dream of having a cadre of vibrant, fresh, young bucks to pull station shifts and show up for regular training, to work with so we could be a crack-team solution to a department with a horrible -and dangerous- age gap in it's membership. Clean cut professionals with a drive to learn and a good work ethic.
But they are anything but dependable, anything but professional. I would be DOWNRIGHT EMBARRASSED to have most people my age around here riding on my engine. They are worthless. I'd be wary even to issue them turnouts and let them observe on a fire scene. Forget altogether handing them any responsibility; they're fresia-ups.
Don't end up one of those people.
Be the hard worker. Be the exception to this new rule. Take charge and do something. I speak from experience when I say that is the best anti-depressant on the market, to rise and perform above the low-water mark.