Update 6/2/25: Unemployed. Again.

 So…

I got a job at the post office as a letter carrier. It’s hard to say I was exactly looking forward to it, but I wasn’t expecting it to be quite the disaster it turned out to be.

I feel like I have to say this now: I have nothing but respect for the post office and I think they need way more funding than they have. The United States Postal Service is the secret backbone of society and they don’t get the respect they deserve.

Okay, so let’s talk about allergies. Mine are intense. I take two zyrtec (generic) and one allegra (also generic) every day and that keeps from breaking out in hives. But it turns out driving an aluminum box at 60 mph with the window open is a great way to introduce allergens directly into your face.

By the end of the first day on the road my eyes were watering. And they didn’t stop for four more days. It was to the point that I think every other carrier I encountered just assumed that I was in the middle of a nervous breakdown because I looked like I was crying all day. By the end of the week and my first day alone on a route, I was having trouble seeing and in an already-dangerous mailtruck. The persistent sneezing didn’t help, either.

I thought I could tough it out, but there just wasn’t enough time away form all the allergens to recover between shifts. I would often wake up in the middle of the night and I would be involuntarily scratching the back of my throat with my tongue (is there a technical term for that? Has to be).

So, I wanted to see if there was a way I could change roles within the post office, already knowing that the possibility was slim. See, every position is called a “craft” in the postal system and they are all represented by different unions. You can’t cross crafts, because you’re violating union rules. Also, maybe it has something to do with government bureaucracy or some shit? I don’t know, there’s a lot of that in the post office as well (there were three different time-keeping devices I had to use each day). So my only choice was to resign and try to reapply for an indoor position.

However, those positions have yet to be posted for reasons I don’t know.

This is all to say, I’m out of a job. Again.

The good news is that I have more time to work on the various creative projects. You may have yet another page of comics coming your way, as well as my essay about the DarkWalker ShotPad and the video project I’m working on. I plan on streaming more on twitch as well, even showing off my face this time (I don’t know how much that will help, but I’m under the impression it will). Those last two will have to wait until my vocal chords recover correctly.

The bad news is that I don’t have any money coming in. I had some other job leads, but they’ve basically dissolved. There’s an outside hope of something coming, but we’ll see. I’m considering taking up DoorDash or other gig work (I can survive on recycled, climate-controlled air, thank god), but it feels like hitting a low in a different way. Becoming a treatslave is not ideal. Anyway, I’m feeling both less depressed and more depressed at the same time. I don’t know how that works. Not well.

Whatever, keep your eyes peeled, maybe my big break is just around the corner. I’m not optimistic (basically ever in my life), but you never know.