Jobs to hold a writer over?

That's cool. I had two jobs while working at my last paper and never told the upper brass. The jobs never interfered, and my original boss would have just made me quit the second job.

 

I've worked at Starbucks (yeah, say what you will) for the better part of the past two years for that reason - it's a people job. Lots of different folk coming in and different stories. Plus, it's a mindless job once you get the hang of it. And I'd much rather come home/run to a game smelling like coffee than the McCrap I smelled like when I worked there in college.

 

If you have an option, try bookstores, libraries, universities, anywhere where people work who are literate and value the written word. Often you will inadvertently find yourself surrounded by others who value writing and/or aspire to write, providing you with both a support system and an interesting, occasionally stimulating environment.

 

If you're just looking for benefits, you could try something like Target or a supermarket chain. I've worked for two supermarkets and they offered fairly decent benefits even to part-timers. Of course that was several years...

 

Some of the suggestions here don't seem to take into account what a person needs to survive. I'm in a similar boat at the moment, and I don't think making $8 an hour at Target is going to put me where I want to be. That's only about $12,000 a year after taxes, right? For the aforementioned recent college grads, it might be okay. But lots of folks are dealing with these issues after having a steady job with a fairly attractive pay scale.

Per suggestions on this thread, I checked into substitute teaching. It turns out they pay anywhere from $8.50 to $13.50 per hour for substitutes. Not bad. But it conflicts with my parental duties, meaning I'd have to shell out $200 a week for day care.

Essentially, I'm in a situation where I have to earn about $500 a week and still watch my kids until the late afternoon or earn $600-$700 and send the kids to day care.

I'm at a loss right now in terms of trying to figure this out. I've considered law school. I've considered city politics. Almost anything I consider requires a learning curve, most of which involves more education.

I know there are lots of other people around this message board with similar issues. I suggest we start a running thread where we can discuss how folks are dealing with the changes in the industry. We might be able to learn from each other.

 

Construction worker, bartender, waiter, retail store manager.