Help! I'm trapped at work and I hate retail!

[Pale Blue Dot]

Please help me think of something else to do with my life! I need to support a family of 3, and I have an English degree and 15 years of retail experience.

Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Deja Q]

1. I can't even get a job in retail!

Target, walmart, b dalton, best buy, you name it... anything revolving around "retail". How'd you pass that profiling test they made you take?

[Bronco69]

2. What kind of questions do they askon the profiling test?

I didn't know you had to take a test, although I haven't worked in retail (convenience store) since college.

[Pale Blue Dot]

5. Believe it or not, I am actually an honest person

who has never taken drugs. That, and I know the answers they are looking for.

[Don_G]

3. Sales Job In Construction?

Real Estate, used Caterpillar Salesman, Outside Sales with the suppliers for now...?

If nothing else, you meet a different class of people with their priorities "a little" more organized and with the money to spend for now.

[oxymoron]

4. I feel for you man...

I was laid off a year ago and finally found something that I can barely subsist on. I am educated and have great references in my field. Don't take it personally, it's just an incredibly sucky market.

[GURUving]

6. I'm trapped at home and want to go shopping!!!!

just kidding. I know exactly where you are coming from. I worked many different retail jobs while in college, and couldn't stand one of them.

What about substitute teaching? The pay's okay, and depending on where you're located, could really be fun and rewarding.

[blondeatlast]

7. Book buyer. I've been there, done that.

Some city libraries have Library Assistants. With a Bachelor's degree, you basically become a paraprofessional librarian. that's what I did, and I LOVE it.

[david_vincent]

8. Hey - count your blessings!

Look, I'm not saying retail doesn't suck. But just about everything else sucks even worse.
I have 12 years of retail experience, up to and including management, and can't get a job - in fact, not even an interview - in retail now (I left my old job in order to move, and have a stellar reference from my last job). I've tried everything in the area, including stores that were actively advertising for help, without so much as a callback. So tomorrow I start my new job, blue collar in a refrigerated warehouse. Wanna trade?
OK, now that I've helped you see the light of day, what do you think your options are? With an English degree you could go into teaching (something I've considered), or get a credential in some other vocational field - paralegal, for instance. I've decided that I will have to go back for a credential in order to move forward. How about you? What kind of thing do you think you'd enjoy doing, and be able to make a living from?
P.S. -on edit: someone mentioned substitute teaching. I've been doing that while looking for something else. It's definitely fun and rewarding, but it does NOT pay enough to live on. Not in this area, anyway. Being a sub hereabouts would mean trying to live on $500 to $700 a month - and not knowing exactly how much you'd be earning.

[tigereye]

9. my bachelors is in English lit -

there are lots of jobs that require writing, reading and organizational skills. However, I ended up going to grad school after working in a lot of libraries. You also might want to consider taking some civil service tests; that can sometimes lead to a job with good benefits and health insurance, but not quite so much money. Although govt jobs aren't even as secure as they used to be. Good luck.