and are not either in college, an apprenticeship of some sort, the military learing a skill, or otherwise in a program of some sort to improve yourself then it's on you.
There's too damned much opportunity out there for those willing to improve themselves and these days the trades pay pretty damned good money.
Hell, right now I could get someone a job that would start at about $50-60K and inside a couple of years you could easily be breaking six figures. Seriously.
Likely I'll have few takers because you have to be in reasonable shape and pee clean on demand. That eliminates a lot of people. You also have to be willing to go away from home for two to four weeks at a time. Common bellyache "I ain't gonna do that $hit!"
Hell, you don't even need a high school diploma! You just have to be able to read and write, add, subtract, multiply and divide and you can use a calculator for that. In fact a computer can generally do it all for you.
I'm sick and tired of the younger people complaining about how minimum wage doesn't pay enough. They seem to think that one is entitled to be able to have a big house in the suburbs and a new car every couple of years for flipping burgers at the local fast food place.
It doesn't work that way. You need to have a useful skill of some sort. You have to be able to produce. You have to pay attention which means get up off of your dead ass and onto your dying feet and keep an eye on things.
You also have to be at the appointed place at the appointed time in the appointed uniform, generally coveralls or rags. (Rule seven: Never wear anything on board that you can't replace for more than a quarter buck at a garage sale. (Inflation in action)
Now you are not going to get promoted without doing a little self help work. You have to hit the books to enable yourself to pass the tests needed to advance. That means a few nights in the easy chair and kitchen table.
Still, that's simply an inexpensive investment on yourself.
Invest in yourself!
In the FWIW department if you send me some kind of vague contact information I will send you where you can likely get a pretty good job at sea. No guarentees, but what do you have to lose?
You are right on the money, as usual. An eternity ago I was kicked out of college because my grades were not good enough. My father kicked me in the butt and demanded that I find a job in the trades. To make a long one short, I did, and worked as a jointer apprentice and then a home building carpenter. Put up with a lot but ended up making more money than a single man should, and have since retired with a comfortable nest egg. I am proud to have been a skilled tradesman all my life and have always made money than my college educated friends. Any skilled trade is a path to success if one applies himself just a tad.
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