Are there any unskilled, minimum-wage jobs that would leave me with some amount of free time every day?
And: where to look for such jobs? What would be the process to find them with any chance of success?
I hope the question in the title is general enough that more people might find it useful, I'm sure I can't be the only one. I'm going to include some extra details specific to myself below, but you can just ignore them if you want to.
- I have no education beyond high school and no useful skills, although I do have a couple of years worth of work experience at this point. I don't really have the will to learn anything new for the purpose of getting a job any more.
- I have been unbelievably lucky in that the circumstances allow me to live on minimum wage in humane conditions, and beyond the basic expenses I have nothing to spend money on anyway. So it doesn't matter to me how much I get paid.
- I spend all of my free time on things like reading, drawing, writing, thinking, occasionally learning something new. If I could spend even just a couple of work hours every day with a pen and paper and an Internet connection, it would make me a bit happier.
71 replies
Look into the public sector in your area. Local or state government.
Probably better than minimum wage, plus usually great benefits. Many are union as well.
Drawbridge operator. I think at least. Around here there are drawbridges that I have never seen actually open. But there is a little booth for someone to sit in all day.
I'm sure it requires a little training, but then you just sit there all day.
Front desk at a hotel. Night audit in particular, you're liable to end up getting paid for 8 hours of work while doing around 2-3 hours of actual work on an average night.
Only wrinkle is the occasional interesting workday (fire alarm goes off at 3am, power goes out for hours, water heater for the building dies, and so on), where you definitely earn every penny.
As a hotel night guy, I've managed to successfully finish the first part of my MSc, and whenever I'm not doing uni work I'm just playing videogames and arguing online. I don't know why men don't do this more often, lol, the paycheck is also considerably higher than that of the day staff. This job is unironically such a blessing! 😅
No it's not.
/j
Yes it is
/monty
You can't just say "yes it is"!
Just a quick note, there's no such thing as unskilled labor. All labor requires skill of some sort. You have skills, what you lack is specialization.
These are all skills that can be leveraged to earn a job. Here are a few things that come to mind which you could potentially leverage with your skills:
As somebody who has worked many skilled and unskilled jobs, and would not devalue the worth of a job due to it being “unskilled”, there are absolutely unskilled jobs.
I've worked some very simple jobs before as well, and disagree. The simplest I've ever done is collecting medical waste from hospitals and packaging them to get mailed out from the site. There were still skills involved.
I wouldn’t call any of those menial tasks skills. Like at that point you might as well list breathing and eating.
A skill is something that any random off the street couldn’t get up to speed on in a day or two. They’re something you have to develop and hone over time to become proficient in.
We can respect and value people in unskilled jobs without playing pretend.
I think a much better definition of a skill is "anything you can get better at". Take the other commenter who pulled nails out of boards. Sure a random guy off the street could probably do it, but compared to someone whose been doing it for years theyd be a total schmuck. If you watched that experienced worker you'd see how much faster they are, the efficiency and precision in their motions, their ability to instantly analyze the best way to her each and every nail out. There's a whole genre of online videos of these types of people - experts in seemingly "menial" work and they do numbers because they make people stop and marvel.
That’s awesome if the point of the job is entertainment, but if the work is actually just removing nails from a board, it doesn’t really matter if people stop and gawk, in fact that’d be a detriment as they’d get in the way. And the value difference between the guy removing nails for 20 years and the guy who’s been on the job for an hour is close to nil. As long as the nails come out in a reasonable time, that’s all that matters. And because removing nails from boards is not something that takes any inherent skill, somebody who’s been on the job for an hour will be proficient at the job.
When talking about skilled work vs unskilled work, the definition isn’t “Something you can get better at”, it’s “Something you must get better at to do the job sufficiently”
Sufficiently, proficient - too arbitrary. There's "skill" associated with all work and therefore all work is skilled work. There's value in people being good at virtually every kind of work (excluding vulture capitalism, etc.)
EDIT: Also FWIW, if think there's no difference between the 1 hour vs. 20 year nail puller, my guess is you're never been even REMOTELY close to this kind of work in your life.
You can split hairs all day and night about how anything from pulling nails from a board, to not pooping your pants at work is technically a “skill” according to the strictest dictionary definition, but to put all your pedantry aside for a moment, there is just no way to actually equate unskilled jobs with skilled jobs. They are just two different things, and the heart of it lies with how much skill is required as a floor to do that job.
If I could do your job adequately with no previous experience with a day’s worth of practice, it’s an unskilled job. If you could put 40 hours a week into education, training, and hands on experience in a job and after a full month you’re still not ready to do that job, that’s a skilled job.
EDIT: Is the heart of your issue that fact that you’re a full time board nail remover? Because that would explain where you’re coming from but it wouldn’t make you right. I think the healthiest conclusion to your train of thought is to understand and accept that the skill level of your job is not the be-all-end-all of the societal worth of your job, only the monetary worth, and money isn’t everything. I’ve worked low skill jobs for very little money that were far more meaningful than the highly skilled, well paying jobs I got later in life which contribute less than nothing to society.
Now be a dishwasher. Or the person at Bucky's who just goes around picking up trash.
Oh, or the overnight water park security job I'd work part time during the summer. I was just there as a deterrent to anyone who'd like to sneak in and mess around. My training took 20 minutes. "Every 30 minutes just walk around the park. Listen that these 3 pumps are still running and call me if any stop. Call the cops if anyone else is in the park."
I've had a job where the whole thing was removing dirt and nails from demolished barn boards. Genuinely zero skill involved, just a lot of time spent doing the same thing.
I guess you need eyes and hands? And the ability to show up. Those don't feel much like skills though.
Meh. If you can learn it well enough to do unsupervised within a week, it's unskilled.
Exactly. Like, the folks at my grocery store who basically have all the fruit and veggie codes memorized. Like, yes, it's absolutely a skill and one which I do not have, but it is also one that they fully expect to be able to teach to anyone who works there.
Gotta say, on our end we wouldn't recommend the graphic designer job, it’s soul crushing. Video editing though is pretty fun and if your an artists its not hard to pick up
Prep cook at a small restaurant. Tell them you only want to work part-time and they'll make it happen.
Then just put on your headphones and chop vegetables and meats for a few hours. Lowest stress position in a kitchen. And you usually have your own separate kitchen area and nobody will bother you.
Custodial work for a government or school district, consistent hours and benefits, can even give you time to just sit around and do whatever you want if you are efficient, also usually union.
Yeah, if you aren't scared of dirty things, its an easy and even relaxing job. Although a lot of them are at night when no ones around. Which makes it chill.
Clean offices. Vacuum, empty garbage, clean bathrooms , clean lunchroom. Done. I did this for a while and I never even felt the need to wear gloves. Just washed with hot water and soap after.
I wouldn't do it at a gas station. No way am I cleaning those toilets.
i seen janitors at colleges, and thier jobs seems chill, and htey get alot of benefits. i think they pay better than school districts.
I can't speak to janitors specifically, and I'm sure it varies by school, but many schools will provide tuition benefits to their employees. Meaning, you (and possibly even your immediate family) might even be able to go to college for free.
Security guard. The guards at my job sit in the guard shack (air conditioned micro-building) and monitor cameras, ocasionally doing a door check where they walkthrough the buildings verifying entry points, and oversee visitor badge distribution and sign-in/out sheet.
They might have other duties that I'm not aware of.
I had a magnificent stretch where I was working night security "guarding" a tent full of stuff. On day 1 manager explained the essentials: "stay sober and bring a lot of movies or whatever."
I worked security for a brief eternity.
I think you've nailed it. Watch, patrol, repeat.
If you were a secretary, you could probably have some spare time during work hours to do what you like too!
I don't know how physically able you are but you might be a good fit for helping survey crews and researchers.
This is just one example but there's often science work that needs physical bodes. Like there was a non profit institute I worked for that did shellfish surveys every summer for the local industry. They paid 10 bucks an hour 20 years ago and they always advertised at the collrge but also dodn't need degrees because they always hired undergrads.
It's worth exploring if its possible or an option and usually feels better than most menial jobs lime in retail.
If you are interested in cars and live in a state that requires vehicle inspections, you could do that. My son did a two day class to get licensed. Then he easily walked into jobs.
Like the emissions tests?
Yeah. I think the class cost about $100 and two days. His first job was $15/hr plus $1 per car. Over the last 7 years he's worked in several shops and now makes about $30/hr as a tech/unlicensed mechanic.
Wow thats sounds like a good job to do and always in need.
Yeah, for the first 5 years he was never out of a job for more than one day. There's a lot of turnover in the industry, which is good and bad. By your second or third job, you'll know people at a half dozen shops and a quick text that you're available can have you working immediately. Now he's become picky (no weekends, etc.) so it takes longer to find something. Also, he's trying to sustain himself on mobile/shadetree mechanic work and amp building/repair instead of having a boss.
I would always suggest joining the IBEW and becoming an electrician. You can start with no experience and get trained up over a few years for a career that will pay at or near 6 figures.
All while providing health insurance and retirement.
I was going to say water and sewer work is usually hired with no experience as long as you're capable of learning on the job and getting a CDL. Which usually, they will pay for. (This info is for the US idk where OP lives)
I think most jobs like this would give you plenty of free time as they're almost universally part time jobs where you only work 3-4 hours per shift so that they don't have to pay you benefits.
Pizza delivery is a good one, most of the time the places will be hiring for the dinner rush, so you'll work a few hours and then just go home for your free time. In your car, you can listen to whatever you want, so your reading could become audiobooks!
It’s considered one of the most dangerous jobs you can have though
Depends highly on the area, for sure. I delivered in a suburb, it was pretty chill.
Isn't garbage pickup usually done in the morning? This will be different depending on the country and probably even city but can be an option in some places.
Look at the trades. Can be fun and lucrative with the right crew.
School bus driver isn't strictly unskilled, but it's 80% a skill you already have. You can even be a van driver instead of a bus.
School bus driver does require a commercial driver's license with bus status on it, or approval, or whatever the term is. Edit: endorsement.
Many school districts will sponsor potential bus drivers to go through the schooling to get that license because they are in such desperate need for bus drivers.
Yeah, I see signs in my area about testing paid and $5k sign on bonus.
Night watchman if nights are OK. I'm not in touch with how available such jobs are these days, but I had a gig once for a couple of months when I first got out of college, decades ago. Was great to get some reading and thinking done.
I work in 911 dispatch, exact qualifications and work conditions will vary from place, but often you don't need much more than a high school diploma/GED, basic computer literacy, and acceptable typing skills, and of course the ability to keep a cool head and deal with emergencies.
Technically, I work slightly more hours than a regular 40 hour week, but I have more days off overall, and especially on night shift you can often count on having a decent amount of downtime where you can work on pretty much whatever personal stuff you want between calls as long as you can put it down when the phone rings.
And the pay is going to be better than minimum wage, not that you're gonna be making a killing, but you'll also have access to pretty great benefits and job security.
It can be stressful and not everyone is cut out for it, but if you are I think it's a pretty great gig, I've been doing it for 8 years now. There is a lot of turnover from people either getting burned out or just using it as a resume builder to move to other public safety sorts of jobs, but that means that basically every dispatch center in the country is almost constantly hiring.
In the UK you can expect to have 0 downtime. It's likely calls will be queud on the board constantly day and night. You're also expected to help people with CPR and child birth. It's an incredibly stressful job.
Don't know how set on minimum wage you are but you can find warehouse forklift work that is 4 days a week but 10 hrs a day. They mostly hire immigrants who aren't afraid of the hours or the work but they'll train anyone from nothing.
I used to do college on the weekends at first, and two of my coworkers actually completed their degrees that way. I ended up just using the time to have a social life nobody my age was enjoying. It's not a bad racket, certain companies will try to fuck you though so just stay away from big box stores
alot of warehouses, the managers will monitor your metrics like a hawk.
I never struggled with those personally, kind of gamified it and used them to hone my body. But true, a lot of people do stress about those
Stagehanding
If you live in a city of somewhat reasonable size, there will consistently be concerts, political rallies, plays, corporate events, etc, that need a stage. Thus, there is a large industry dedicated to unloading trucks, moving things from here to there, building the stage, assembling set pieces, running AV, lighting, and pyro, taking care of anything and everything before, during, and after a show, and then packing everything up again. And this industry constantly needs fresh faces to show up to push this thing over here and tighten this thing with this wrench.
The upside is that it requires no work experience at all, is constantly hiring, has potential to teach you other more marketable skills like getting a forklift cert, and you can choose your shifts - working for multiple different companies at once and picking the shifts you want to work for who and when. Also, your coworkers tend to be cool, or at least characters - the whole industry has a sort of island of misfit toys feel. Your lunch table might include a college student working their summer job, a retiree making some extra income, an aging punk, a gruff blue collar guy, and an ex-felon, all shooting the shit about whatever is going on that day. And speaking of lunch - you typically get fed when you have a day that goes over 5 hours, and concert catering is gooooood.
The downside - lots of the guys who tour with the band, who are going to be the ones in charge of you for the day, can be real assholes. The rock'n'roll schedule will take its toll on your sleep cycle - lots of shifts will start at 10:30PM and end at 3AM. The work actively discourages thinking or creativity, as your tour guy already has everything figured out for exactly how he wants it, and will shout at you if you take the initiative to do it your own way. And if you are shy and have trouble advocating for yourself, you could just be stuck pushing boxes for years.
In my experience it's a difficult industry to get a foot in, even tho I've had experience running cables, doing sound and flashing lights. Any tips on how to get a foot in the door? It is my dream industry, not gonna lie
iatse.net is a good place to start. I was an IA stagehand. Not sure of where you are..but you can check on this page.
The unions are often hiring, and if you've a skillset they can work with, you stand a good chance of being picked up.. Depending on the local, if it is a mixed one, you can be seting up conventions doing rod and drapes or working to unload and load theatrical productions.. TV commercials, political rallies.. rock concerts, WWE wrestling!
The thing is, you will meet peopple in other production firms, like lighting and sound companies and if you network and get a good reputation as a solid, responsible worker, then either move up in the local, or take a withdrawal and go to one of the non-union shops. Try IA first.
I did some stage-hand work on the side for extra money, it was great. I got in by asking stage hands how they got in, which happened to be a couple bigger firms that contract out labour to shows. I signed up online, did half a day of paid safety training and was hired. The best part was being able to pick up or refuse whatever shifts came my way.
Ultimately up to you how you approach life but what is it that you want for yourself? When you look back at the end, what is it you want to have achieved?
I get you're comfortable but this part " I don’t really have the will to learn anything new for the purpose of getting a job any more." makes me think you may be limiting yourself. Not even from a money perspective, but, from a goals perspective.
First, you can achieve a whooooole lot outside of a job. I hope for your sake your entire sense of achievement isn't related to your job.
Secondly, even from the quote you pulled they said they don't want to learn anything new "for a job." If they said they weren't interested in learning anything new period I would maybe consider that limiting themselves, but that's not the case. In fact its much more limiting if everything you learn is only in service to a job.
OP sounds like they've figured out the balance they want in life and they want more time for things that aren't related to making money and I applaud them for that.
Food service fits the bill.
Is that an issue for OP?
Have you also trued doing commissions for art? Or writing some books off your interests and publishing them? Just a thought.
Otherwise an employment office helps you find work too! Oh and StarBucks while kinda oof with only minimum 20 hours it’s actually pretty chill, just apply to a slow location if you dont mind having little to no tips
CCTV monitoring - a lot of time to read, write and think; but friend's boss had an issue with them scrolling on the phone. The hours are quite long but uneventful.
Anything in the public service sector. Usually they’re always short of people. Like garbage man (early mornings, but you’re off around 2-3pm (at least here about)). Or working for the city gardening department. Or driving (if you have a drivers license). Basically call or go to your local municipality and ask. Also universities have many jobs that need doing like ground keeping etc. Beat way to find out is to call and ask. You show that you’re a real person and want to work. Or you go to a job agency and talk to them. Working for the city or for a university also usually brings good perks like decent holidays or insurances - at least in Europe… good luck!
Firefighters have a lot of downtime
Firefighting positions are quite skilled, require training and certifications, and are typically quite competitive and nepotistic
theres a skilled requirement, obviously you need to be physically fit, and there are some clique-ness to it. i also wouldn't say they have alot of downtime, they are pretty much on-call, and they often lean politically in one direction. also it seems like stressful job, since you are in a stressful situation when a fire or emergency breaks out in a city, you pratically live and breathe in a fire station, the opposite of chill/downtime. ive seen inside fire station near me, and the people pratically live there 24/7.
do you want a part time or full time? only part time would allow significant free time, but you would have to be living with someone that is supporting you, its doubtful someone would want to unless you have an SO(you will get constantly nagged on by everyone for having a PART TIME job which would just add stress and demoralize you). full time. you can look into technician jobs, it does require some training(not a full degrees worth), although its very cheap(to get training), its not an immediate process. maybe some grocery chains, since they employ alot of part time students, or if you need full time.
there are 3 paths of pharm tech: 1 is apprenticeship, usually from pharmacy chains like walgreens, cvs or other, walgreens is the most reccommended approach. 2) is paying for the pharm tech course online, and then take the pharm tech national test 3) going to a community college and take pharm tech course but it will take 9months to finish all of them, but they have an 80hr externship, or go to a state college for an accelerated courses, way more expensive. this method isnt reccomended.
if you are in cali, they added an extra layer of BS, it requires a license(you have to go to site and find out all the stuff they need to apply, livescan, self-query, hs transcripts)
usually retail is like this until December-ish. I worked retail back of house for years and it was only 4 hours or so per shift.
Construction is usually hiring
Pays well, but it will fuck your body up.
Look for contractors that do government-funded projects as they usually need to adhere to prevailing wage. Which is usually quite high.
Most trade jobs sap a lot of energy and require full-time or overtime. Plus most of them involve early mornings, which my not suit someone who wants time for their creative endeavors. The appeal of construction is that it generally pays as well as jobs only available to people with degrees, but at the cost of your body and energy, and your time.