How to deal with child-centric job when you hate kids

If you're in there alone, with no certified teacher or long term certified sub, then the school is breaking state law. Go IMMEDIATELY to your union rep in the building and let them know the situation. They will go to administration on your behalf and let them know that they MUST have a certified person in there with you. There is no getting around that. Some people here like to bitch about unions. This is why we have them, to protect workers from unfair labor practices.

Classroom teachers love to drop off their classes early, and pick them up late. I am special area, I know well. If the teachers are doing this, then remind them about starting and ending times. If they continue this practice of early drop off/late pick-ups, let your building principal know what they are doing. That solves problems fast.

While you're teaching library, because that is really what you're doing for now, read the kids a story. Put them in a quiet reading area, a rug area if there is one, and read aloud to them. When I had to do that, I would change my voice for each character in the story. it made it interesting for the kids, so no discipline problems, and it made things more interesting for me. Then, let the kids sign out a book. Give them 10-15 minutes to browse the stacks and pick out a book. They go to you, you sign it out for them. They either go back to their assigned seats at the tables, or if it is the end of the period, they line up quietly as they finish the sign out process.

If the kids are older, then you establish rules and boundaries first. By the way, in your situation Youtube is your friend. You can put on a lesson about using card catalogs, how to use them. After the video is over, you have them list on paper 5 things they remember from the video. They can discuss it with their neighbor at their seats. Then they get 10 minutes to browse for a book, sign it out, and return to their seats. They wait quietly until their teacher returns to pick them up.

As the school year progresses, you can email their respective teachers to find out what they are studying in class, and coordinate student research and lessons around that. Say they are studying how plants grow (5th grade), they can research books on plants, and anything related to the topic. You can facilitate their learning by showing them where those books are, and helping them to make good book choices.


And please, assertive discipline! Study it, and apply it the first day of class. Rules must be set, boundaries established before any learning can take place. It's best for the kids, and best for your piece of mind.

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Cambion
I would feel a tiny bit more at ease if I had some other bag of meat in the library with me - dealing with kids is shitty enough, but doing it alone is freaking me out. And this is a public school district. Who should I speak to about being by myself? The principal? Administration?

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The library aides in my building shelve books, check out books for students, put labels on things, hang up decorations, etc.

This is what I thought I'd be doing... assisting, not running the library on my own. It's not assisting when the librarian is 20 miles away. And it seems that I would also be responsible for hashing out lesson plans with teachers if I need to. This is a lot to deal with at one time, especially for someone with no prior library or student experience.

Then the district is not in compliance with state laws. Go immediately to your building union rep, and let him/her know what is going on. If you don't know who the rep is, then ask another teacher in the building who the rep is. You must take care of this first.

This sounds nuts. You come in with no experience, they expect you to do the job of librarian/teacher/daycare provider by yourself?...Crazy. I can't imagine what they are thinking, or how they think this isn't irresponsible at best. The job was mis-posted. They need another librarian, or some kind of certified teaching assistant.

Cambion, I'm a little late to post this, because I didn't want to sound negative about it...BUT this job does sound like Hell on Earth. I'm afraid I couldn't do it.

It sounds like they are totally taking advantage of you. I would do what the others have suggested, and look into whether or not it is even LEGAL for you to look after classes full of brats on your own. I know I would go nuts if I were in your situation, for the very same reasons you stated.

If you can hang in there at all, do it and keep on looking until you find a better job. Remember, we are always here if you need to vent. Just do your best. If it's not going to work, it's not going to work. No job is worth your mental health, either.

Captcha: JFC e3 (oddly fitting for what's going on with your job)

If this is a school system job, I fail to see how you can be alone with kids 6 days a week. School is only in session M-F. I am the child of 2 retired teachers and have never, ever heard of this. Please explain because I am confused. This being a part time job, if you are there 6 days a week you can't be spending that many hours with these kids.

Repeat after me: MY JOB DOES NOT DEFINE ME AS A PERSON.

I believe in trying to bloom where you're planted. That said, maybe you can subvert these little minds while they're still in the formative stage. I'd recommend reading "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" at story time, or at the very least, Berkeley Breathed's childrens' books.

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"[GFG's pregnancy is] kind of like at the stables where that one dumb, ugly-ass mare broke out of her corral one day and got herself screwed by the equally fugly colt that was due to be gelded the same afternoon."- Shiny

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mrs. chinaski
I don't know if that's gonna help but here is my POV:
I don't like chyldren.
However, I once had to go to a camp as a instructor.
In the end, the chyldren voted for me as the best instructor
of the camp.
I simply talked to them and dealt with them as if they were adults.
No kiddy kiddy shit.

wink
Good advice. That's how I deal with kids, and it seems to work. Take the job, you can always quit.

______________________________________________________
Someday we'll look back on this moment and plow into a parked car.

Evan Davis

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evilchildlessbitch
If this is a school system job, I fail to see how you can be alone with kids 6 days a week. School is only in session M-F.

Their system confuses me too. It's not a six-day work week, but a seven-day system:
Monday = Day 1
Tuesday = Day 2
Wednesday = Day 3
Thursday = Day 4 (librarian is with me on this day)
Friday = Day 5
(next) Monday = Day 6
(next) Tuesday = Day 7
(next) Wednesday = Day 1 again
(repeat)

So Day 1 isn't always the same day of the week. As far as I know, I only work Monday to Friday. Plus, my schedule is all screwy - they told me yesterday I'd be in town tomorrow, but today they said I'd be out of town tomorrow. So I'm just going to have to ask where the hell I have to show up every single day since they don't even have their schedule in order yet.

Also, just as an aside, I had to attend school Monday to Saturday for a few months in the first grade because of so many snow days, so it happens.

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By the way, in your situation Youtube is your friend. You can put on a lesson about using card catalogs, how to use them. After the video is over, you have them list on paper 5 things they remember from the video.

I don't know if I'm allowed to use the computer or the projector or anything yet (beyond checking stuff out, I mean), nor do I know if YouTube is blocked by the school. I had to sign some kind of thing saying I would not access questionable websites, and if what my high school would block is any indication of how sensitive school online security is, I may not even have access to YouTube. The only time the teachers were in the library today was to pick up/drop off kids and after school officially let out. They had students waiting to be picked up in the library just kinda hanging out doing word puzzles. But during normal hours, the teachers were MIA.

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As the school year progresses, you can email their respective teachers to find out what they are studying in class, and coordinate student research and lessons around that. Say they are studying how plants grow (5th grade), they can research books on plants, and anything related to the topic. You can facilitate their learning by showing them where those books are, and helping them to make good book choices.

See this sounds a lot like what the librarian would be doing. Don't you need some kind of teaching or library experience to be able to do things like suggest age-appropriate books or figure out lessons? Certifications for this job (I clarified more than once) were optional - all they wanted to see was something beyond a high school diploma. No prior experience with students or library work, even. I even told the librarian I have zero experience with kids or school-related work and she didn't seem too phased. Could this be budget cuts at work? They can't afford to hire one librarian per school, so they stick the librarian at one school some days and make the assistants do the librarian's job the rest of the time?

Is there an official law/policy/whatever that specifically states in writing that assistants/aides are not allowed to be alone with students that I could present to the union rep? Something I can print out? Now you can see why I'm so stressed and pissed.

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Cambion

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evilchildlessbitch
If this is a school system job, I fail to see how you can be alone with kids 6 days a week. School is only in session M-F.

Their system confuses me too. It's not a six-day work week, but a seven-day system:
Monday = Day 1
Tuesday = Day 2
Wednesday = Day 3
Thursday = Day 4 (librarian is with me on this day)
Friday = Day 5
(next) Monday = Day 6
(next) Tuesday = Day 7
(next) Wednesday = Day 1 again
(repeat)

So Day 1 isn't always the same day of the week. As far as I know, I only work Monday to Friday. Plus, my schedule is all screwy - they told me yesterday I'd be in town tomorrow, but today they said I'd be out of town tomorrow. So I'm just going to have to ask where the hell I have to show up every single day since they don't even have their schedule in order yet.

Also, just as an aside, I had to attend school Monday to Saturday for a few months in the first grade because of so many snow days, so it happens.

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By the way, in your situation Youtube is your friend. You can put on a lesson about using card catalogs, how to use them. After the video is over, you have them list on paper 5 things they remember from the video.

I don't know if I'm allowed to use the computer or the projector or anything yet (beyond checking stuff out, I mean), nor do I know if YouTube is blocked by the school. I had to sign some kind of thing saying I would not access questionable websites, and if what my high school would block is any indication of how sensitive school online security is, I may not even have access to YouTube. The only time the teachers were in the library today was to pick up/drop off kids and after school officially let out. They had students waiting to be picked up in the library just kinda hanging out doing word puzzles. But during normal hours, the teachers were MIA.

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As the school year progresses, you can email their respective teachers to find out what they are studying in class, and coordinate student research and lessons around that. Say they are studying how plants grow (5th grade), they can research books on plants, and anything related to the topic. You can facilitate their learning by showing them where those books are, and helping them to make good book choices.

See this sounds a lot like what the librarian would be doing. Don't you need some kind of teaching or library experience to be able to do things like suggest age-appropriate books or figure out lessons? Certifications for this job (I clarified more than once) were optional - all they wanted to see was something beyond a high school diploma. No prior experience with students or library work, even. I even told the librarian I have zero experience with kids or school-related work and she didn't seem too phased. Could this be budget cuts at work? They can't afford to hire one librarian per school, so they stick the librarian at one school some days and make the assistants do the librarian's job the rest of the time?

Is there an official law/policy/whatever that specifically states in writing that assistants/aides are not allowed to be alone with students that I could present to the union rep? Something I can print out? Now you can see why I'm so stressed and pissed.

Cambion, i sent you a PM earlier. Please read it.

And no, you don't need certification to suggest age appropriate materials or do lesson plans. If certifications were optional, then maybe state law in your state doesn't require librarians to be certified. In my state, all teachers must have a BA, certification, and earn a MA within a certain number of years or lose the job.

Well, it sounds like you're the de facto librarian for now, so you'll need to coordinate your lessons with what the classroom teachers are doing. This will make it easire to come up with lessons and ideas for classes. My suggestion still stands: set rules and boundaries NOW. Read to the young kids, teach research skills to the older ones.

It's easy to see what websites are banned and which ones are not banned. if Youtube works, then it isn't banned by the district's firewall. Use any and all sources online: Ted, prezi, youtube, dailymotion, etc... use whatever and whichever works in your school. As librarian, you will have access to all system resources. And don't forget, seek out your locak union rep and tell them what is going on. They need to know.

Cambion- When I worked in a district that was flat-broke, elementary schools didn't have certified librarians, just paraprofessionals. Teachers were required to stay with their classes during scheduled whole-class library time. If your building doesn't have a certified teacher librarian at all, then teachers should be staying. If they're not, that's what you'll need to advocate for when approaching your union rep. Teachers should be staying with their classes and not using library time as a prep period.

Wow. This thread pulled me out of lurk-dom because I lived this myself for the last year and a half. It was so depressing that I didn't feel like posting at all.

Cambion,

Like the others have said, please check with state laws and/or the union rep because I'm pretty sure you being alone with kids is not legal. Here in NY, all adults that are to be in charge of children must undergo a certain kind of criminal background check and fingerprinting, and I don't recall you mentioning that. The tutors in my organization are all not certified, but they are definitely fingerprinted.

It also sounds like they're pulling what just about every employer these days is doing, and that's giving you what is supposed to be two different jobs combined into one.

I know how hard it was to find a job, so don't quit until you have something else lined up. At the very least, you will always have school holidays and weeks off to look forward to.

I don't mean to thread-jack, but I want to share my story with you to give you some hope. I mentioned all of this when I first started posting, so sorry to anyone who has heard this before! I graduated in the height of the recession with a teaching degree (high school), and I was never able to find a job. I spent years waiting tables and subbing, and couldn't find anything stable until the beginning of last year.

That is when I got stuck working in an after-school/summer program for the city, with kids in grades 1-8. Of fucking course most of the kids in the program are on the younger end. I couldn't find anything else, so I started doing that part-time with my restaurant job. This job looked great on my resume and I kept it up until a few months ago. I was finally getting interviews for full-time jobs!

Anyway, I was only there twice a week, but I wanted to shoot myself. I really couldn't stand working with little kids. They tend to have poor hygiene, they're dumb as shit, they're loud and annoying, and if you look away for a minute, they wind up hurting themselves on a fucking plastic toy.

Then a couple of months ago, I got promoted to a supervisory position! Full-time, benefits, generous time off, and I get a very high hourly wage. So no taking work home with me and putting in a 12 hour day, like if I did end up teaching high school like I wanted to.

And the best part? I no longer have to interact with little kids. I am responsible for 7 tutors, and a security guard. Yes, I have to work in the same room as the kids, but I mainly work on the computer and just make sure the tutors are doing their jobs. They control the kids, not me. Once in a great while I may have to say something, but that's very rare.

But what did work for me when I had to deal what them was what another poster mentioned. Treat them like little adults, make sure rules are clear and consistent, and you will have very little discipline trouble. I have worked 8 years in education, with all age groups and I did notice that little kids still somewhat respect authority, so that's one upside. Threatening to tell their teacher or parent usually did the trick. I've only been disrespected and cursed at by high school kids thus far.

So the TL;DR version is either hang in there and get promoted to something better, or start looking for a new job while you still have one.

Good luck, and if you have any questions or just want to vent, feel free to PM me.

ETA: I didn't have a flask of whisky when I was subbing, but ducking into the bathroom now and then to take a valium did the trick. And no one was the wiser. wink

If you have every weekend off you are not working 6 days a week. You have 2 full days off per 7 day period and are not even working full time during the five days you work. You took a job in a school system library so of course it will be "child-centic!" Complaining about it is like me taking in a job in an ER setting and complaining it is "blood centric."
Look, I don't mean to be a bitch. I don't doubt your mom is batshit and makes your life difficult.
However, it is up to you to get yourself away from her. You are an adult who is still fully dependent on their parent. It is time to grow up and move out. You shoot down every idea people give you for finding a job and independence. You already bitching about a job you haven't even started yet.
You can't on one hand take no steps or shoot down steps before they are even taken and then bitch about the woman who pays all your bills when you are long past the age of legal adulthood.
Readjust your thinking. Basic needs of food, shelter, clothing and transportation must come first and must be in no way funded by your mother. Then move onto secondary needs like finding a job you love. You aren't even there full time and have 2 days off in row out of every 7. It isn't exactly a rough schedule. You have plenty of time to pick up a food service job at night and on weekends.

I clarified with the librarian earlier that I will actually have a teacher in the room when the librarian herself is not there. We shall see. I'll be with her for a few more days and then I'll be dealing with the library at one school while she goes to another. I hope she at least leaves me a list of shit to do while she's away because I have no idea what has to be done or how she wants things arranged.

So I'm glad that was a false alarm, though I am still annoyed that I have to work at a location that I specifically said on my application that I did not want to go to. I know, I'm nitpicking. When I don't have to interact with the damn kids, the job is bearable. Also, the librarian has this brilliant plan where the kids have to scan their own library books and cards. I get the decision to give them little things to do, but they're slow as shit when they do this or they scan the wrong things or they can't figure out how to do it and they're all crowding and shoving one another. It's not self-checkout where you have all the time in the world to fuck around with your shit - you have to get everybody's stuff scanned, stamped and get them ready to go. The librarian is a nice person and all, but I don't think this part of the plan is gonna work out.

Evilchildlessbitch, sorry if I confused you again. I don't work six days a week - I work FIVE days a week, and the school works on its own numbered day system of seven days at a time. Once training for me is over with, I will be working at the same location as the librarian on one of those days, and since Thursday, for example, is not always going to be day 4 on the school's schedule, I will not be with the librarian every Thursday. I will be every day 4, whatever day of the work week that may be.

And I don't think I need to mention that I'm bitching about this job because I never wanted to take it. I don't care how broke-ass desperate I was for a job, I would never willingly choose to work with kids. If I had a problem with blood or people's oozing open sores, I would also never take a job in an emergency room. It's a lot harder than normal to become an independent adult when you've got a 1-ton weight dangling off your ankles pulling you back down in one way or another. I want nothing more than to get the fuck out of here; seems a lot of folks are operating under the impression that I enjoy living here getting screamed at on a regular basis.

Plus, I don't shoot down every idea - like I said, just the ones that will not work. I don't simply turn an idea down because it sounds too hard or inconvenient. I shoot it down when there is no way it's going to work out for me. Believe it or not, I am capable of critical thinking and looking at problems from more than one angle. People have given me food for thought, but some of those little nuggets of wisdom are duds. Not every single piece of advice will be useful; is that such a hard concept to grasp? However, nobody is obligated to put in their two cents.

Well good, that's some relief.

Re: little kids scanning their own cards...I did sub regularly in a school that did that, but the second grade kids didn't start scanning their own until a couple months in, and first-graders didn't start scanning their own until second semester. Just food for thought. And yeah, even then it'll take for-fuckin-ever at first. Use the exact same procedure and routine for scanning...little kids need that.

Yes, the list of shit she wants done should be set up by her, in collaboration with you. It shouldn't all be up to you...be assertive if she tries to pass it off to you. Your highest priorities should be about developing skills for executing the stuff she has planned--organizing materials and space, communicating with staff and kids, stuff like that. Plans are her dept.

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Cambion
Only once in a while will the teachers themselves be in the library with the kids (during which time they will supervise the fuckers). The teachers just dump the kids in the library when they need a break from them.

Same with the librarian - no clue where the fuck she's gonna be if not in the library. I was told that I would be in charge of the kids a lot of the time, by myself. I will have no other help - the other library assistant they hired will be covering the morning shift while I have the second shift, and I was told nothing about older kids coming in because their library time is in the morning. I'm stuck with the youngest brats.

Welp, maybe if I let the little shits trash the library a few times, they'll learn to not leave me alone with them. Or better yet, maybe they'll fire me. I can only hope. I would honestly rather clean up a whole shelf of books a brat repeatedly knocks down all day long than have to actually interact with them and prevent said mess from happening.

Sounds like everyone else in that school wants a break from the brats.

Talk to your supervisor about your actual job description. Do not be afraid to establish the lines then and there during the discussion. And if that does not work - seriously, I recommend getting a job where there are no children. If you're looking for a career in library science - try a local community college instead.

If you hate it and see no other way out, think about a place/environment you'd love or at least like to work in and see if you can fit 5-10 hours a week (or every two weeks) volunteering there into your schedule. This is how I landed my first job post-college and it could open other doors for you without closing the door on your current job. I also think it demonstrates that you have initiative to a prospective employer. Plus, if you have time for the volunteering then it will give you something to look forward to and have you aspiring on the next step in your career. Also, if you do receive an offer from a company you like and quit your current job, when asked about the situation you could tell them---I volunteered for company B while working at company A, during that time I figured out I have a passion for working with company B. When they offered me a position at company B I felt it was a huge opportunity and I had to take advantage of it . Or something along those lines.... Sounds much better than I quit company A shortly after starting.

When you add the experience to your resume, leave off the kid interaction parts. I don't list out job responsibilities on my resume unless I want to do similar work. If anyone asks about interaction with kids and whether you have experience with it just mention it was minimal (checking out/in books, a question from time to time, a story here and there) and use that to lead into asking about interacting with kids at a future job or move on to a different topic.
If you can stomach it, I think the experience will pay off with future opportunities for you. They seem to have no qualms about dishing out responsibility!

Ohh I'm definitely not on the lookout for a library career to the point where I feel the need to take actual college courses in library science. That's not to say I would never work in a library because the library aspect of the job is fine (just not so much the tons of children aspect), but just that I'm not going to pursue an education for it, that's all. If I was able to work as a library monkey somewhere other than a grade/middle/high school, then I would.

The thing with me is I actually do not have an idea of a dream job built up in my mind. Perhaps the closest thing I have to it is a job where I make a salary I can live on and don't have to interact with people. Obviously, emphasis on dream job because I think such a job would only exist in one's dreams. There's no career that I can outright say I would love to do - not even art. The closest thing to my ideal job is something I can deal with that does not involve children, that provides a salary I can live on and is not a position of leadership or management because I am not leadership material. This is why I refuse to become certified to teach - I don't want to fuckin' teach at any level.

Also, I... don't know about volunteering. Not because I don't want to, but because I'm pretty much not allowed to take the car anywhere but work, and I'm already hearing about how much I have to drive it. Volunteering may have to wait until I have my own vehicle, and I really don't know when that's going to be. Student loans are going to cut into my paychecks a lot too and I don't know how much is going to be automatically taken out for other bullshit like taxes, Social Security, the union, insurance, etc. and how much I'll be left with.

I know, I'm "refusing" everyone's suggestions, but here's where reading comprehension comes in handy. Like I said, library work in general would be fine with me - I just am not looking to become a librarian. Also, there's the whole thing where I can't really afford more schooling or taking out more loans and I can't actually get to college. I'd be glad to be a non-school library assistant. And I would be happy to volunteer (especially for anything animal-related) - I just need to be able to actually get to it first, that's all. Once I have my own vehicle (whatever decade that is), I will have more freedom to actually go and do things.

Here's hoping I last a year at this job. I'm waiting for the day I catch some superbug from someone's little germ vector and have to take an early vacation sick days, so there's that to look forward to.

I just want to mention that a lot of charities these days do look for online volunteers. I know it wouldn't get you out of the house, but I think your mother won't allow that anyway. The thing is that it will allow you to acquire skills you can add to your resume.

I think you should try and tough it out and do the best job you can do. Having the experience on your resume' might help in the future, plus you'll have some money in your pocket and be able to get rid of some of that loan debt, plus get some cash for your own wheels. It could also lead to something else maybe not in your field but something you could probably do. When jobs in my wife's degree field dried up, she had to switch to something else too.

Living in a rural area with no transportation isn't easy. My wife grew up in such an area and she didn't care much for it at all. Nowhere to go and nothing to do without a car and if you wanted to do something, everything was at least 20 miles away. I learned that on our last visit there. We talked about going out to a restaurant but she didn't want to get in the car and drive all that way.

When it comes to jobs, I've found a job that's good can turn bad on you in a minute. I've been in my job for 9 years and I enjoyed it for a long time, but a combination of changes being made to my job along with new management has actually made it difficult for me so I'm hoping to move on soon.

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yurble
I just want to mention that a lot of charities these days do look for online volunteers. I know it wouldn't get you out of the house, but I think your mother won't allow that anyway. The thing is that it will allow you to acquire skills you can add to your resume.

That was going to be my next response.

Cambion, what about cyber-volunteer work?

Also - going by your most recent post (and believe me, I can relate to your situation: been there, done that, you'd be surprised at how many people suggested to me becoming a teacher when I "grew up"!!) - it sounds like you'd be perfect for IT work. And you wouldn't have to pay an arm and a leg for certification, either. No children to be around, a quiet, non-managerial job. Best of all, you can even gain IT experience remotely. There are job sites that specialize in looking for IT people who can work remotely.

Hope that helps you a little bit.

I had thought about that, but I figured the field is over-saturated. I realize there's definitely a calling for IT professionals because everything is digital, but I also figure that every Tom, Dick and Harry works in IT or wants to. But I did'nt know that certification wasn't a huge hassle - I assumed one needed something like a computer science degree of some kind to do it. Thanks for the suggestion! I'd just have to worry about whether or not my connection will interfere with remote IT work. I can't even attach small files to emails without repeated attempts because the connection is so fucked.

I did sign up on some kind of online volunteer site some time ago, but I don't think I ever did much else with it because I'm always getting sidetracked by projects for people. Which I'm not complaining about... it's just I've got an ever-growing back log of shit to do for a bunch of people, some of it going back well over a year ago.

I second the IT suggestion. My husband works in IT and was telling me they would really like to hire more women to have a more diverse workforce but very few women apply. I also have a friend who works in IT and she got a job offer before she even graduated. My father actually went back to work in IT when he retired from teaching. It seems to be a growing field but especially a field with few women and people looking to hire women. Is that fair? Not really but lots of things give certain people unfair advantages so if it something you are interested in it is a good time to do it : )

Now that I think about it, I could very well get laid off from this job in winter from missing too many days. My loon mother accompanied me on my dry run to the school out of town and saw all the signs everywhere that read "Slippery Winter Conditions." There may be days when she won't allow me to take her car out because she feels the road is too snowy. I've had to come home early before from being out with friends because of flurries that she described as "it's comin' down hard out there!" Or since she knows the school's number, she could serial-dial their phones and demand that I come home early because there's a 50% chance of snow showers.

Of course, I also know that schools are more sensitive now than ever before about snow days and will cancel school because it's too cold out, so I might have a few extra days off anyway and/or they might coincide with my mother's winter paranoia. Plus I'm hearing a lot about teachers on strike in neighboring districts and the ones in my district might begin striking too, so that could also mean more unpaid vacation time.

I am so sick of this job already. I think it could be okay if I dealt with the older kids. Even the second graders are easier to talk to and can actually work the damn scanner, unlike the youngest classes.

Just food for thought...if she yanks the car away during the "horrible winter storms" for this job, she will also do it for ANY job, even if it's one you love. Better start formulating a strategy for securing the car for this job...see it as practice for later on, so that when a good job comes along, you'll have figured out how to work around her. Else you'll never get out of there, because winter comes every year.

Your mom went with you on your first day of work????
That is insane.
Also, you don't get "laid off" for missing too many days you get fired. This means no unemployment and loss of a good or at least neutral reference in the future.
You must get your own transportation if the bus isn't an option. Look on Craigslist and other classified ads for used cars that may be old and unattractive but run. Find out if you can arrange to carpool with a coworker. Scour your local area for one of those charities that outright give or sell cars super cheap to people with not a lot of income. Pick up a fast food/ food service job or even two jobs on your days off. Do whatever it takes to make sure you are able to get to work. Nobody is going to hire you if they find out you were fired because your mom wouldn't let you have the car. After finding your own transportation, try to find people who are looking for a room mate or people who want to rent out a room in their house so you can move out. After that, you will have more freedom to look for a job you actually like or can at least tolerate. I've been there with a job I was sick of but as an adult I had to hang in there until I found something else. If you get fired you will just be stuck in this circle of dependence and having to take jobs you hate because of lack of experience.