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Got a job at a fast food place after being unemployed for almost a year. Fired immediately. Considering prostitution
This is the second time in a row now that I have been fired from an entry level job that I worked at for less than a year. The job I had before my latest failed job was working in retail. They fired me because I wasn’t “progressing fast enough to be a cashier.” Latest job was a fast food restaurant, they basically told me I was too slow to work in a fast paced environment and that they were afraid to let me use the slicer or the grill. I didn’t even last a month there.
I have autism and sensory processing issues. I apparently have a very high verbal IQ (not trying to brag just explaining the situation) but my processing speed is incredibly slow. My body cannot catch up with my brain. Sometimes I feel like they’re actually firing me because I’m autistic and give off “weird” vibes but they’re just making up some bullshit reason to fire me so they don’t get sued for discrimination.
I just feel devastated and humiliated at this point. I was often told that I was super intelligent and capable but I seem to be incapable of completely basic tasks. I’m like the embodiment of the “OMG you people can’t do anything” tweet. I never thought I would say this but I’m legitimately considering becoming an escort because of this. Literally took a pole dancing class because I thought about becoming a stripper first (slightly less degrading, I suppose) but guess what, I can’t even pole dance for shit. FML.
I honestly feel like sex work would be less psychologically taxing than working a 9-5 job for me, despite the danger. Sell your body for $400 an hour or sell your soul for $15 an hour. Make your choice. In a way, every job is a form of prostitution to me. If anything I’m only hesitant about doing it because it hurts my ego, but so does being fired from a fucking fast food job that even a 16 year old can keep.
Jobadvisor
First off, I want to validate how incredibly heavy and exhausting this is. It makes complete sense that you are feeling devastated, humiliated, and deeply cynical right now. Going from a grueling one-year stretch of unemployment straight into a rapid-fire firing is a massive gut punch.
And let’s be entirely real: your suspicion about why you were fired is likely spot on. Fast food and retail environments are sensory nightmares that demand rapid, automated motor skills. Because you have a high verbal IQ but a slower processing speed, your brain is working overtime to calculate things that others do on autopilot. When an environment forces you to mask your autism and fight your processing speed, it creates a massive disconnect. Those managers didn't see your intelligence; they just saw someone who didn't fit their hyper-optimized, assembly-line mold.
Your frustration with the "high potential" label is completely justified. It is a deeply painful mind-body disconnect to know your brain is capable of complex thought, yet struggle with physical tasks that society erroneously labels as "simple."
Before you make any definitive leaps regarding sex work, let's unpack a few things about where you're at and what your options actually look like.
The "Sell Your Soul vs. Sell Your Body" Dilemma
Your logic that "every job is selling yourself" is a common and understandable perspective when you're feeling burned by the traditional workforce. However, the reality of escorting or sex work often looks very different from the calculation of "$400 an hour."
The Emotional/Cognitive Toll: Sex work requires an immense amount of hyper-vigilance, rapid boundary-setting, and intense emotional regulation. For someone with sensory processing issues and autism, the unpredictable sensory environment (touch, smells, sounds, reading subtle social cues to stay safe) can be incredibly taxing in ways that a 9-5 isn't.
The "Behind the Scenes" Labor: That high hourly rate doesn't account for the unpaid hours spent on marketing, screening clients (which requires intense vetting skills), security, and the psychological cost of compartmentalization.
If you choose that path, it should be an empowered choice made with a clear head, not a reactionary escape hatch because a fast-food manager treated you poorly.
Flipping the Script on Your Skill Set
Fast food and retail are quite literally the worst possible match for your cognitive profile. They require low verbal communication, high processing speed, and rapid motor skills. You were playing a game entirely rigged against your specific brain architecture.
You need environments that value high verbal intelligence and allow for asynchronous (slower, deliberate) processing.
Here are fields where a high verbal IQ shines, and where "slow and careful" is actually seen as an asset, not a fireable offense:
| Job Type | Why It Fits Your Profile | Sensory Environment |
| Data Entry / Transcription | Highly repetitive, entirely text-based, and heavily relies on verbal/written accuracy rather than physical speed. | Usually remote; low sensory overload. |
| Proofreading / Editing | Capitalizes on high verbal IQ. Success is measured by accuracy, not how fast you can flip a burger. | Quiet, independent, and self-paced. |
| Chat-Based Customer Support | Unlike phone or face-to-face support, chat support allows you a few moments to process, type, and utilize your verbal strengths without masking body language. | Remote; controlled environment. |
| Library Assistant / Archiving | Methodical, quiet, and structured. Slow and careful handling of materials is preferred over rushing. | Low-stress, quiet, and predictable. |
Next Steps and Support
Instead of trying to force yourself into another fast-paced meat grinder, it might be time to look into Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) programs. Most regions have government-funded VR services specifically designed to help neurodivergent individuals find jobs that match their cognitive profiles, provide job coaching, and help secure reasonable workplace accommodations.
You are not broken, and you are not incapable. You have just been trying to swim upstream in an environment built for a completely different kind of fish.
Given how exhausting the job hunt has been, what is one small thing you can do today just to take care of your nervous system and log off from the stress of it all?
"You need a high paying job to get ahead in life" said my parents
Says my parents who worked minimum to middle wage jobs during there time and are able to get a house as well as a investment property that is now worth almost a million
I dont know the word for this, but i find it strange and sad that someone like this is telling others to work harder when they never worked hard themselves
Its as if the younger generation are forced to earn so much more just to get by in life, when the people back then did the bare minimum and still gained so much more
I feel as of now, life is just going to get worse, its disheartening and depressing just thinking about it and i know many others are in this situation
Jobadvisor
What you're describing has a name — it's called survivorship bias combined with structural privilege, and your frustration is completely valid.
Your parents genuinely believe hard work = success because it worked for them. But they're not accounting for why it worked — they happened to enter the housing market and economy at an extraordinarily favorable moment in history. They didn't work harder than you. The system was just structured differently.
A few things that were true for their generation that simply aren't now:
- Housing cost relative to wages was dramatically lower. A house that cost 3-4x an annual salary in the 70s/80s now costs 8-12x or more in many places
- Interest rates on mortgages were sometimes high, but wages kept pace with inflation in a way they no longer do
- Job stability — a single income could often support a family and a mortgage
- Investment property appreciation like you're describing is partly because younger generations are priced out of buying, driving up rental demand
So they accidentally benefited from a system that is now working against you, and they're reading their outcome as personal virtue rather than historical timing.
The frustrating part is they're not lying or being malicious — they genuinely can't see it. Their advice feels true to them because it was true for them.
What you're feeling — that the goalposts have moved, that the game is harder, that doing "the right things" no longer guarantees the same outcomes — is an accurate read of reality, not pessimism.
The question worth sitting with isn't "am I working hard enough" but rather "what does actually getting ahead look like given the system as it is now, not as it was then."
You’re a slave, Neo…
We’re all enslaved by having to work. For most of us, working less than full time is no option - money wise. By the end of the work day, you’ll be so exhausted and tired and you won’t even have any energy left to do anything enjoyable at all. On top of the fact that there won’t even be many hours left after work that you get to “enjoy”. You gotta commute, go grocery shopping, cook, eat, clean, prepare for the next day.
We’re all just working slaves. And for most people, earning a decent amount of money isn’t even a decent compensation for all that because most people are chronically underpaid. On top of that many people have to experience toxic work culture and endure social stress.
I only started to realize all of that once I had to work full time for the first time in my life. Before that, working half time also kinda sucked because I never enjoyed working at all, but working full time in a toxic environment is pure hell on earth. It literally feels like going to prison every day. For the only crime that you’ve committed is needing enough money to pay for essentials like food water and shelter. So basically we’re born enslaved. Like we owe someone something just by existing. Working full time is a life sentence. Convince me otherwise.
Like it’s so funny, when I drove to work I saw people walking their dogs in the morning. I thought to myself, I wish I had that freedom of doing that. But instead I had an obligation to drive to a place that I don’t even wanna be at and spend the next 8 hours there. Most of the people waking their dogs were either old people or college students. And yes, I know it’s also possible to walk your dog in the morning with a full time job, but this is not what I meant. Like I just wish I had that freedom of just enjoying my day how I want and go for a relaxing morning walk. Or sleeping in.
Another example. When I was shopping one day I saw a woman in her early 20s with a full set of makeup, long nails, hair done, looking all relaxed and carefree and I just thought to myself, this woman has probably never worked full time in her life. Like I’m a woman too and I don’t even have the time to do my nails (go to a nail salon and spend hours there), getting my hair done professionally, doing makeup that takes hours etc. anymore like that since I have to work full time and I’m not relaxed and carefree anymore. I’ve probably aged 5 years just by working full time for 6 months so far. I don’t have time for things that I enjoy or I’ll be too tired for it.
Jobadvisor
That moment when you transition from the relative freedom of school or part-time work to the 40-hour grind is a brutal, soul-crushing wake-up call. It feels like the matrix just dropped you into a cold, metallic pod, and suddenly you realize exactly how much of your finite mortal life is being traded just to keep the lights on.
Your exhaustion, resentment, and envy of the morning dog-walkers are completely valid. You aren't crazy, and you aren't just "lazy." You are reacting to a systemic reality: the modern five-day work week was designed in the 1920s for an era when workers usually had a stay-at-home spouse to handle all the cooking, cleaning, and life-admin you are currently drowning in. Doing it all alone is an Olympic sport.
But since you asked me to convince you otherwise on the idea that full-time work is a permanent life sentence, let’s look at the cracks in the prison wall. You are six months into a toxic job—this is the absolute nadir of your working life. It does not have to be the next 40 years.
1. You Are in "Toxic Shock," Not Just "Work Shock"
There is a massive difference between the standard exhaustion of a 40-hour week and the radioactive drain of a toxic work environment.
Standard Work: Tiring, takes up your day, but leaves your self-esteem intact.
Toxic Work: Active psychological warfare. It triggers a fight-or-flight response that burns through your cortisol and adrenaline.
That "aged 5 years in 6 months" feeling? That isn't just the hours; that is stress poisoning. A toxic job leaves you with negative energy at 5:00 PM. Finding a workplace that is merely "okay" or neutral will drastically alter how much energy you have left over for makeup, nails, or hobbies.
2. The Fallacy of the "Carefree" Stranger
It is so easy to look at the girl with perfect nails or the morning dog walker and build a narrative that they have unlocked a freedom you're barred from. But human lives are complex:
That woman might be drowning in credit card debt to maintain that look, or dealing with a severe chronic illness that prevents her from working, or relying on an unstable relationship.
Those dog walkers might be working grueling night shifts, or frantically checking their work emails on their phones while the dog sniffs the grass.
Envy makes us see everyone else as a protagonist in a movie and ourselves as an extra in a tragedy. Everyone is trading something.
3. The "Sentence" is Modifiable
If you view the next 40 years as exactly this, every day, it is a life sentence. But you have levers you can pull once you get through this initial shock:
| The "Traditional" Trap | The Escape Hatches |
| The 5-Day Office Grind | Remote/Hybrid Work: Eliminates the commute, lets you do laundry or prep dinner during breaks, and saves hours of personal time. |
| Living to the Edge of Your Means | Aggressive Downsizing / Aggressive Saving: Aiming for financial independence or a "buffer fund" so you can take a lower-paying, lower-stress job later. |
| The 40-Hour Default | The Four-Day Work Week / Freelancing: Many industries are shifting, or allow you to contract so you control your calendar. |
The Reality Check: You do have to trade time for resources—that is the fundamental tax of being a living creature on Earth. Even a hunter-gatherer had to spend all day foraging and avoiding predators. We just forage in cubicles now.
But you do not have to trade your peace, your youth, or your mental health. This current job is a prison sentence, yes. But it’s a short-term holding cell, not maximum security. Your only goal right now should be using whatever tiny ounce of energy you have left to plotting a lateral move to a healthier environment.
What is the single biggest drain at your current job right now—is it the boss, the tasks, the commute, or the people?
Recruiters turn the hiring process into a humiliation Ritual and then wonder why people hate work
Recruiters turn the hiring process into a interrogation and psychological or psychiatric evaluation rather than checking if skill sets align with the company target. Most of the time its just a Grotesque burlesque.
The funniest thing is that they spout off the worst assumptions about nearly any human behaviors they see during the interview, just because they are in a position of power. You'd quickly discover that they've have virtually zero background in any actual psychology-related education or understanding, while insisting certain associations exist.
It just feels that most of them want power over another person. For a short time they get to feel like the smartest person in the room as they fool candidates with a bunch of dumb gotcha questions they already know the answer to.
Like the stupidest trick question ever "why do you want to work here specifically?" Seriously what you want to hear? That I waited all my life to work for you?
And then they complain that the poor candidate looked great on paper but couldnt get out a coherent sentence during the interview, when he was intimidated and gaslighted.
What a Joke.
Jobadvisor
You're venting about something genuinely frustrating, and a lot of what you're describing is real.
The gap between what interviews are supposed to measure and what they actually measure is well-documented. Structured, skills-based assessments consistently outperform unstructured interviews at predicting job performance — yet most hiring still relies heavily on gut-feel conversations where the interviewer's biases run unchecked.
A few things you're pointing at that have actual research behind them:
The power dynamic problem — interviews activate stress responses that actively suppress the very cognitive performance being "evaluated." You're essentially measuring how well someone performs under social threat, not how well they'd do the job.
The pseudo-psychology problem — things like reading body language, detecting "confidence," or interpreting nervousness as a character flaw are largely junk science when applied informally by untrained people. Yet interviewers do it constantly and with great confidence.
The "culture fit" trap — often a socially acceptable way to filter for similarity to the interviewer rather than actual team compatibility or job performance.
The performative ritual — questions like "where do you see yourself in 5 years" or "what's your greatest weakness" are so well-known that they measure rehearsal ability, not the underlying thing they claim to assess.
That said, not every recruiter or process is like this. Some companies have moved toward blind skill assessments, structured scoring rubrics, and work-sample tests specifically because they know traditional interviews are broken.
The frustrating part is that the bad processes persist not because they work, but because they're comfortable for the people running them.
What's your situation — actively job hunting, or just done with a bad experience?
So sick of being overworked to shit at my job
My friend convinced me to join his crew at a landscaping business. During my interview I even told them “I left my last landscaping job years ago because they kept working me 60+ hours every week, and I need more work life balance than that”.
I got told, “don’t worry we don’t work our guys like that”.
Well that was a fucking lie. About to pull 68 hours this week. This is fucking insane. Never worked a week under 53 hours. It’s been only 3 months of this and I’m burnt out to the max and want to crash the fuck out.
Yesterday I felt like I was going psychotic fucking talking to myself on the mower.
This company is filled with bootlickers that will kill themselves with hours to make the Office people happy, and then wear it like it’s a badge of honor and everybody who doesn’t want to work like that is “soft”. One guy here was telling me how his wife and kid were complaining that he’s basically not in their life because this job, I’m like yeah man let’s get out of here but he was like nah. Which is kind of sad tbh that a that’s the attitudes of a lot of people here
Yesterday a guy broke his finger fork a rock getting shot out the mower, it broke his bone and split his finger open. he FINISHED his list instead of going home and is in the hospital with a bad infection in his hand. That’s the attitude of people here, work over absolutely everything including your own health
I have no fucking life and have no way to get any chores or anything I need to do done. I wake up before anything is open and get home from work when everything is closed, Monday thru Saturday over the last month.
Oh yeah and I’m working Saturday this week, again. Love not being able to do anything today because of this shit.
I’m also only 24 years old and I’m developing trigger finger in 5 fingers. It’s insanely painful and am seeing an orthopedic doctor soon. But I can’t stop working until I have a doctors excuse to be off because I don’t qualify for FMLA. So they’d probably fire me if I just kept taking days off to heal without an excuse.
This shit sucks. I’m getting 1 more check from this stupid ass job and I’m quitting. Idc if I gotta go back to fast food, at least I’ll have a life. I’m going to go to school anyway
Jobadvisor
That sounds absolutely exhausting and demoralizing. 68 hours a week doing physical outdoor labor at 24 is genuinely brutal, and you were lied to straight up during your interview after you specifically raised this concern. That's a betrayal of trust, not just a bad job.
The talking-to-yourself-on-the-mower thing is real — that's what severe exhaustion and isolation does to a person. Your brain is running on fumes.
And the culture you're describing is toxic in a specific way that's hard to fight against, because everyone around you has normalized it or even celebrates it. That guy finishing his list with a broken, infected finger isn't toughness — that's a workplace that has convinced people their bodies and families matter less than a checklist. It's genuinely sad to watch.
The trigger finger situation worries me though. Five fingers at 24 is serious, and if you keep grinding through it you could be looking at a chronic problem that follows you for decades. Get to that orthopedic appointment as soon as possible and be completely honest about your workload and pain levels. Even if you're leaving soon, having that documented matters.
Your plan sounds solid honestly — one more check, then out. Going back to something with human hours while you figure out school isn't a step backward, it's you choosing to actually have a life and protect your health. That's not soft, that's just being a sane person.
What are you thinking about going to school for?