My parents aren't willing to understand, what should I do?
So, I (20F) am unemployed - A great start, I know.
My parents are in their 50s.
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I have been unemployed for 1-2 years now with the exception of a job I was forced to quit after being there for 3 months because of the dangerous environment presented by my coworkers. I got this job a year into unemployment, so you can imagine I wasn't all that eager to quit at all. And before anyone says anything - the manager was in on it too.
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Now, naturally since then I haven't had any luck at all.
I see posts belittling Gen Z in the workplace all the time, claiming we are too 'fragile' and avoid hiring any of us at all.
For anyone who is unaware, my generation has grown up with:
- Covid-19 during major exams & major social functioning times - where a person learns properly in their teenage years how to function socially.
- The world breaking out into war the moment we're old enough to be drafted.
- Inflation crippling our nations because of these two factors. & wages not rising to keep up.
- And AI making almost every single Entry Level job redundant as soon as we're out of education.
So yes, we are going to be a little bit fragile sometimes. Half of us are fighting every single day just to find a reason not to off ourselves tomorrow.
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Now, to the point & for the sake of not having the gender of who and who being used as an excuse to this, (he's a man, he doesn't know any better, she's on the menopause, what do you expect?) we're gonna do Parent A & Parent B.
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I talk to Parent A about this and their response was "Not you, but your generation is so entitled." - and then immediately after, "You need to get off social media - you're consuming all these things..." yadda yadda.
I start off by asking what makes my generation entitled, Parent A avoids the question.
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Later that evening, I ask again, what makes my generation so entitled. I don't remember the answer, but I had to say - "okay, what excludes me from that?"
And Parent A responds with knowledge about my situation - and so I have to say, "Great, and how do you know these people aren't going through something similar?"
And well, as you can expect, Parent A walked out of the conversation because 'it would cause a fight' and 'I'm not having this discussion now.'
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Fast forward to this morning - like how it has been for the past two years. Parent B turns around and says, "how's the job hunt going?"
I've had this, every week. Parent B knows full well it is not going well at all. It has been driving me up the wall. And so Parent B says, "I'll take you down to the Job Centre. They'll sort something out for you."
The Job Centres here are so overrun by the rate of youth unemployment, there is nothing they can do.
Edit: Another thing is that Parent B constantly sends me jobs without checking if I can actually get there, or if it's something I'm even relatively interested in. Because, and I quote: "It's a start." I have had a start. I want a career, not a 'start'.
It's like these people are in a different world entirely.
"Apply in person, it's good to make an impression." - Said environment tells you to apply online. Don't get me wrong, I do it anyway. I apply in person. There's never any fruit.
"Apply to this one, you can do that." - It's two hours away via bus. In my situation, I cannot afford driving lessons - and with the UK's new & grand driving restrictions that stops driver's graduates from driving past 11pm, with a 50 mile limit daily - that is completely out of the window for me as someone experienced in the hospitality industry: A qualified commis chef & a somewhat trained Bartender. Half the time at my old job, I wasn't getting out of the place until 11pm. Oh, and because of this, I can't even be a delivery driver. This restriction lasts two years after the graduation date.
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Now my brother, the lucky git, had everything on a silver platter. He was beyond lucky with his career. As far as he is concerned, I am nothing but a 'bum' - someone who is by choice, unemployed so they don't have idk. Someone who I'm not basically.
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I want a job. I want to start my life.
My parents are so, so ignorant and privileged that they just don't understand - and when I try to make them understand, the conversation is always cut short because someone's feelings are 'hurt'. It makes me impossibly angry that they choose ignorance because they don't want to get hurt.
I never had that luxury. I have to suck everything up even if I get hurt.
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Now, my ID has expired. I need my parents to help me with the paperwork because I don't have anyone else to help me - I don't understand a lot of the documents or anything because it was something I was never taught. I need it all explained to me by a person to understand. Googling it always makes me more confused.
They say "we'll do it later" - we never do.
In February, I had an interview and they asked for my ID. I told them it was expired but handed it to them anyway because by law, they need some form of ID in order to hire.
Anyway I didn't get that job, but when I told them about this, my parents understood quickly that something needed to be done. Come a week, nothing changed - "we'll do it later."
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The levels of apathy my parents show is just ridiculous. I'm writing this bawling my eyes out in frustration because I can't say ANY of this to them because I have to worry about how they'll respond. How it will hurt them.
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I'm so tired man. If i wasn't so attached to this life, I would have offed myself months ago.
I'm so, so tired of all this apathy.
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Please, someone tell me what to do. I'm begging you.