Reply #63: I can't comment on the OP, but just over a year ago, hubby and I were in the same place

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he got hired as a truck driver trainee after 20 years in telecom IT.

I worked as a bartender, but only because they hired me before the fast food joint did.

luckily we were in a position to be able to make less money unlike so many other folks, but I heard over and over "You won't be happy here, you won't stay here" and wasn't hired. Hubby heard the same thing over and over, but he promised a year if they'd give him a job. and they were right, he stayed a year.

I'm unemployed and seems I'll stay that way for a while, can't even get an interview around here. Luckily hubby landed a decent job (finally) but he's still doing blue collar work and just about bored out of his skull. the only up side is there will be a chance for advancement in his new position and they hired him on "to get you into the system until we figure out where to put you" but that could take months (or years)

So I'm not showing up in the unemployment numbers, in spite of having been employed constantly for over 35 years. I am growing a big garden and doing the home improvement that normally we'd hire out if we were both working, thereby taking another job away from another skilled blue collar worker and money out of the local grocery store's cash register.

:shrug: