#I used to do that before my depression crash and she legit gave me puppy dog eyes and went “you're so cute thank you”

[mrfoox]

Everyone at work: omg welcome back, how are you? Is it OK?? Hi!!!

Me: o:

[bitchesgetriches]

(Part 1 of 5) Please help. I don't know what to do. It's a long story, but I was hired at a job in a desperate time where we agreed on 15/hr in the interview. Then when I started, my boss informed me she would start me at 14/hr and then raise it. Then her husband became seriously ill and she left the office, so it was never raised and I never had the opportunity to talk to her about it. It's a tax firm, and after the tax deadline my hours were drastically cut.

(Part 2 of 5) She’s still out of the office and I’m pretty much the only thing keeping the office going as the receptionist, but it’s eating into my savings. I can't afford to work there anymore. I emailed her, explained, and gave her the opportunity to either increase my hours or raise my pay or I would have to search for another job. She took a while to answer and finally responded by telling me to apply for partial unemployment.

(Part 3 of 5) Well, I just found out I make too much money to receive partial unemployment benefits. The obvious solution here is to find a new job, but there’s an added complication: this week my long-term serious relationship ended. Since everything we had was my girlfriend’s, I have to move out and start over. I can’t afford to live in this area on my own, and so I’m moving out of state (going somewhere more affordable and closer to my best friend). So I can’t job hunt in this area.(Part 4 of 5) To summarize: I have a month to find a new job and apartment in a new state, and for the last couple months I’ve been slowly depleting my savings and I still am. I also have a puppy I adopted last month to take care of (he’s an emotional service animal), and I don’t know how I’m going to take care of both of us.

(Part 5 of 5) Please offer any advice you can. I’m so lost and freaking out and having a lot of panic attacks. Is it possible for me to find an apartment before I have a job? Then I could move and continue job hunting while I have a place to sleep. Otherwise how am I going to find a job that will be willing to postpone my start date until I’ve found an apartment and moved? Is there any financial assistant I can qualify for? Help me.

Ok honey. This is a big problem, but it’s not insurmountable. The first thing you need to do is take care of yourself. Without your mental and physical health, you’ve got nothing. Certainly not the power to dust yourself off and climb this fucking hill. So here’s some advice on that:

Ask the Bitches: "How Do I Protect My Own Mental Health While Still Helping Others?"

Our Master List of 100% Free Mental Health Self-Care Tactics

How Mental Health Affects Your Finances 

Econ Nerd Review: Kurt Vonnegut’s Galapagos and Your Big Brain 

Everything Is Stressful and I'm Dying: How to Survive a Panic Attack 

You are very nearly at rock bottom. Shortly you’ll have no home, little savings, and no job. Forget your current job---you have to move, which means you’re quitting it anyway. So it’s time to start applying for help on the basis of zero employment. To that end, here are some resources:

How to Start at Rock Bottom 

http://www.bitchesgetriches.com/resources/

Lastly, you need an ally or an advocate. If ever you were to call in favors from your family, friends, community, school, or church... this is the fucking time. See if you can find temporary housing in your new city that will allow you job hunt without utterly depleting your savings. Can you crash on someone’s couch? Can someone house your puppy for a time? Can you borrow a car or another vehicle to sleep in? 

Even giving this advice is fucking depressing, because... you have been failed. You should not be in this situation. Your boss should have paid you what you agreed on, and they should not have cut your hours. You shouldn’t be “too rich” for unemployment assistance when you literally can’t pay your bills. The system is broken, and it’s not fucking fair. Which is why advice like “borrow a car to sleep in” is legit in these United goddamn States. 

Obviously this is something we rant and rave about a lot. But it doesn’t make it any easier to respond to questions like this with ineffectual advice. I wish I could swoop in and be your fucking Captain America and make everything better, but I can’t. I can’t even direct you to one surefire path out of this mess. And that pisses me off. 

Other than reapplying for assistance and reaching out to your community for help, I don’t have much more to offer. Once you’re settled in a new home and a new job, you’ll be able to rebuild. But getting there is going to fucking suck. 

Just remember that we care about you. And that surviving this turmoil will make you tougher, more adaptable. There’s a reason we forge steel in a fiery furnace.