I've interviewed at Meijer and Dick's Sporting Goods, and I have another at Jo-Ann Crafts and Fabrics tomorrow.

I'm not holding my breath, though... in my experience, prospective employers completely forget I exist once the interview ends. Almost ALL of the interviews I've had resulted in complete and total radio silence. Not even a rejection; nothing at all. Literally 90% of my interviews (maybe more) end that way.

Construction can be pretty decent blue-collar labour if you don't mind the physical labour, and employees are treated better than chain shops do.

You might also want to look into becoming a plumber, electrician, etc, etc once you've got a day job and some money for trade school/an apprenticeship/whatever's the norm. They pay well and there's a lack of people to fill the jobs.

Chain retail places don't want to keep anybody around so long that they get promoted into earning benefits or a living wage, heaven forbid, and Wal-Mart has a reputation for not treating its employees very well on balance. I'd say you were well shut of it, but I know how much job-hunting sucks, and I'm sorry. It makes everyone feel like scum.

Try a Starbucks, if you've got one. (They're almost everywhere, but I don't know where you are, so I'unno.) The CEO actually believes in using his power for good, and helping store employees go to school and stuff.

... I was gonna say something in my signature, but it got too long, so: A few years ago, I wanted to work at Teavana, or Adagio Teas, or Argo Tea, because those were cruddy retail jobs I thought I could actually get into. I love tea. But somehow, despite having all the enthusiasm in the world and being an intelligent, educated, fairly personable individual, I couldn't convince any of them to take me. Now, thanks to a rec from a church choir friend, I'm the receptionist at a small acupuncture clinic in one of the nice suburbs. I'm not getting paid a ton, but it's a great place to be, the people are awesome, getting there is easier than getting to the technically-closer pizza place I was at before, and it's opened up other opportunities, too.

(And if I have time, I make tea when I get in, and offer it to the clients. They usually want their own thing, though, rather than whatever I've got in the kettle. Sigh.)

Life isn't fair. This is a good thing. Yeah, it means you have to work hard for the good stuff, but it also means you probably don't deserve the crap that happens to you, and you never know when you might luck into something you never imagined.

~Neshomeh

I think they just fire people at random, from what I've heard.