Link: https://old.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/1tatlc5/feeling_trapped_in_dead_end_jobs/

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The original was posted on /r/antiwork by /u/Severe_Eagle7786 on 2026-05-12 06:50:07+00:00.

I started adult life poorly getting a business degree, did an internship, had no luck getting a job. I got into a program teaching English in Japan that I had aimed at, but I soon realised teaching kids was not for me, and it wouldn't go anywhere career wise.

Covid absolutely fked my life and I was unemployed for 1.5 years after doing well in Japan. Those were hard times I ended up travelling in a van trying to find a job, anything at all. I worked on a kiwifruit orchard for a week, then finally found a job in a lodge motel mostly looking after a small business, cleaning etc.

After a couple months I got a full time job as a receptionist mainly at a backpackers. It was a dream to finally finally finally land a full time job, even if it paid close to minimum wage.

I did that for 1.5 years until it was time to move. Since then I've had a dozen random jobs moving all over. Cold calls, Backpackers, 5 star hotel, remote airbnb manager, accounting office, and now a real shite high volume budget hotel.

Every job was either not enough hours or money, the one good office job I get let go for not being worth it after negotiating my own salary to a good one.

I've spent all year waking up at 6am to do morning shifts at the hotel. Go home early to clean the apartment, cook dinner, look for jobs, but often need to nap and end up wasting time on a phone or computer.

I'm at the point where I'm actively surviving, have a little money and am trying to aggressively save and invest. But it keeps getting worse. At this rate I will never, ever have a home of my own, lifelong renting. And never have a career either.

All I want is to be able to earn the average median wage and get to work from home half the time. That would be a dream. The ideal dream would be fully remote work and a decent salary.

The only redeeming part of my life is my partner who I love and want to start a family with, we just need to be able to afford a home and not lose ourselves to working stress along the way. We have a decent deposit but mainly we need more income to finance it, realistically we need to be able to have kids within the next 3-5 years otherwise it will be getting too late to make it.

What can I really do?