Bleh jobs. I'm already only getting 3 hours at work per day, and for the second time now they've cut me from the floor as soon as I come in, because UPS can't afford to pay me for my scheduled shift. I can't live off of 15 hours of minimum-wage work per week, let alone 12! It's simply not sustainable.
How long have you been working there, and what do you do? I get at least 4.5 hours a night, and have never once been told to leave. Come to think of it, that shouldn't be happening to you at all - company policy is that they have to give you something to do for at least 3.5 hours, so you can get at least 16 hours a week. You might have to raise a stink about it, and who knows what bullshit they'll give you, but they do have rules for this stuff.
I just started as a truck loader, and I'm not union yet (they hire almost everyone at my distribution center as "temporary to hire", and thus non-union). Basically I'm stuck in probationary limbo, where if they say to jump into an active cardboard compactor, I can either do that or lose my job. It's the most demanding job I've ever worked, for the least I've ever earned, and I'm selling myself on it because I earn something as opposed to nothing, and it's good exercise.
Solifuge: It gets better, man. If you have to, suck in that ego and move in with family and friends. Take any non-super-sketch jobs off of craigslist. Do what you gotta.
You'll get by
I do that, and that would make this... what, my fourth failed launch from the nest in 6 years?
Left amidst family shit after highschool, scrambled to find a roof and a job. I was accepted at a "Public Ivy League" school, but due to finances lived in a closet with a kitchen and bathroom, worked my ass off, ate rice and beans, and saved everything I earned so I could enroll full-time at the local Community College, for a semester at a time. In a fit of stupidity, I gave most all of my savings away to someone who badly needed it, and as a result hit financial rock bottom for the first time.
My sister helped me find a roommate, and I found new part time work, so I could do school part time. Conflicts kept arising, I shuffled jobs and school schedules as I could to keep afloat, but both suffered badly. One semester went poorly enough that I hit academic probation, scholarships disappeared, and I my retail job cut back hours to 1 shift a week... little enough that I had to quit and look elsewhere. Rock bottom #2.
I moved in with a former coworker and friend, who helped support me in exchange for housekeeping and driving until I got back on my feet. I found work and went to school part time again, and things were okay. Suddenly my roommate decided to leave to move in with a girl in another state, and with little savings I had no way to afford the rent. Rock bottom #3.
I moved in with my grandparents over an hour from school, friends, and work. I found a nice high-paying, soul-sucking office internship. Died a bit inside and saved a ton of money. I used this and student loans to resume school; having thoroughly ruined my chances at a big-name University, I enrolled at a smaller one where I could still get a proper degree. I found a nice inexpensive apartment outside of town, and found a roommate. When the internship was over, they wanted to keep me on, but I'd have to stop school. I couldn't do that for the rest of my life, and choose to stay with school again. I started looking for part-time work. With no luck finding decent work since, I've been surviving off these savings for close to a year now by buying mostly nothing but food. I had to borrow on and off for the last 6 months, have been getting care packages of food from people who know what's up, and my car payments and most of my bills would have fallen through by now if not for the kindness of friends and family members.
I don't think, emotionally, that I can handle that kind of collapse again, hence my scrambling. Logically I know that a combination of circumstances, lack of foresight, poor decision-making, a lack of planning, and a terrible economic situation state-wise and nation-wise, have lead to this situation, but I can't help but see it as a sign of dysfunctionality on my part. I'm afraid that if I just get bailed out again, I'll never break the cycle. Part of me would sooner try a dramatic change of tack... even if that means subsistence farming, shelving my judgement and personal values and working on an Oil Rig or in the Military, or something else. I just can't fail any more than I already have.