I know that goes without saying, but like... this fucking place.
I applied to this place back in November, and they called me for a full-time retail position. I found it interesting that I applied back to them in November but they just now called me back. To me, it signaled a level of desperation that made me have decent hopes about my chances, so I ended up taking a bus ride there (which wasn't even a very long one, thankfully), and I go in to interview on the time we scheduled.
The interviewer ends up telling me, "We're actually not hiring for that position I told you about. We're hiring for a managerial position instead."
I was about to snap, but I kept my cool really well.
I told her, "I'm not interested in a managerial position. I don't have managerial experience."
And this old white lady had the caucasity to tell me, "I was gonna call you ahead of time and tell you that I wanted to interview for a different position instead, but, I figured I would just tell you when you show up since the time for the interview was already close!"
Are you serious? I could've saved the fucking bus fare and preparing for all of this shit if you just called me and gave me that update, but instead, nope. She waits for me to get there and everything only to tell me something that made it all pointless.
I have been interviewing excessively. I have to be very careful about how I plan each interview because bus rides take preparation, especially if they are very far. Though I've applied for a shitload of jobs on Thursday, Friday, and even some today, I probably won't hear back from many of these places until Monday because, y'know, it's the weekend.
I must note that the volume of applications I send has expanded greatly since I opened myself up to very distant places, but still, when you're getting disrespected like this, it's hard to maintain hope.
I do have a one-sided video interview that I have complete, and I'll do it either today or tomorrow.
My birthday is a week from now, and it's probably going to be one of the most somber birthdays of my life, to be honest.
Thanks for everyone who's been supportive. Any emotional support and uplifting is greatly valued at this time. I'm not feeling well.
First I wanna say, good on you for fighting the good fight, for yourself and whomever you may be supporting, directly or otherwise.
Secondly I want to say that looking for a job just sucks anyway. Your doing good, keep at it.
Thirdly, I'm not sure about the field you are looking in, and I've been in a stable job for a little bit now, but when I was looking four years ago, in tech...SaaS / PaaS application support, it took me a year to land a gig...and all the interiews were fucking horrible...literally getting questions about my moral character / personal life choices. In fact, for my last round interview at my current gig, I was asked why I wasnt accepting responsibility for dropping a coding bootcamp and blaming it on a pregnant partner! Like wtf? So, yeah, capitalist scum pulling moral high ground shit. Listen-- just remeber this is what you are bringing your sword and shield against. Power to you! You doing good.
Lastly, I have lots of thoughts, and those thoughts on getting a job / being in a job, in this capitalist meat-grinder, would likely lead me to my own ranting...which I kind of have already...and not be very useful to you.
Distilled, I can say is:
1 part acceptance - accept that this is going to happen. (Sigh) it's a shitty reality, esp now. And it's not a reflection on you / your person.
1 part being proactive - use this as an exp to ask any screening questions that would be useful to vetting out someone doing this again, or you just getting the heads-up proactively.
1 part pretending like you hold all the cards / power - this has has helped me to run my job finding op from a place of calm and logic, and preservation of me / my values. Ofc, as much as you can in a capitalist meat-grinder designed to invoke moral depravity.
The biggest thing that has helped me is probably the last point, combined with very much treating the employer as if I'm hiring them. This is def not something that can be done in every situation...but if you can work from a place of fearless confidence, judging if the employer would suit you long term (like the whole you), it can go a long way in terms of social / life fit...like "would they be likely to respect X if it comes up in the future."
[NOTE: I was only able to use that strategy when I was single, and didnt have a kid. But on several occasions, I also had very limited money, was eating a meal a day, etc. Not every single time, but it's worked when I've been in semi-desparate conditions. Though...when I did have a kid, I also had a partner screaming at me for "not trying to get a job!" even though I was getting about 8 ~ 10 resumes out a day, and interviewing too...screamed at so much my MH tanked to the point where I misscheduled an interview for the first time in 15 years...all that to say, even if you do have mouths to feed, if you have a supportive partner, it's probably feasible to not just jump in any old job...YMMV.]
Anyway...hope you can take away something from this.
Hang in there.
Banging my own sword and shield for you.