Anybody have characters (in modern day settings) who are unemployed? (+ examples/samples)

[Leyelle]

Just curious how other people write them. It can be so easy to assume that someone who doesn't work is just lazy or a bum, but it there are so many reasons why somebody might not have official employment, and as so many writers will know, even if you spend a lot of time working, it might not be making you enough money to live off of.

How do your characters get by without unofficial employment?

I'd like to see how more people write this perspective sympathetically on the part of those people.

My male lead Kattar in "Damsel in the Red Dress" has no job after the car accident that paralyzed him from the knees down, and his mother, who happens to be crazy rich, is providing for him. This is difficult for him emotionally, as he's always been hardworking and independent like his mom, but now he can't even care for his own basic needs like taking a shower on his own.

---

I imagined I could see his face turning that sickly maroon shade of fury as the texts came in one after another – exploding white bubbles of raving letters-

“WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY???”

No reply.

“Miserable?! Lonely?! Agonized?! Depressed?! But I shouldn’t use big words, right? It doesn’t suit me to be introspective. Sick of this house. Sick of sitting still in this chair and waiting for strangers to help me bathe - help me change my stupid clothes. Sick of living. Sick of laying awake in pain swearing at the ceiling, cursing my unlucky stars - all the stars - and the universe. Are you happy? Happy now?”

[BoomerZ]

Technically Baul and Isador don't actually have jobs. They are a succubii and muse respectively, but those really aren't jobs. They are absolutely filthy rich though. We are talking "small country rich" as described by Isador. They own hundreds of companies but they don't go punch a timecard. They have others that do that for them.

[UnTalAugustus]

One of my main characters, Ulises, is unemployed. He's also a delincuent. But he's justified in the story, ok?!

Not every action he takes is good or justified (The entire story begins because of something bad he did) but at least those are because of his lack of forward thinking. In contrast with the main villain, who is a prolific CEO, that makes his decisions knowing full well how it affects others. One of the themes of my story is that your job doesn't define you.

And while he IS a delincuent (there's no denying that) the level in which he's laveled as some kind of ultra-violent monster by the media (controlled by the main villain by the way) doesn't represent him at all.

He's unemployed basically because he has nothing else. To the public eye, he's just a delincuent that needs to be stopped. There's more nuance in why he's in this circumstance, but that wasn't fully explored in the story yet.

[ThunderChicken]

Daecon was a crypto billionaire and was just coasting on his buckets of money, but after he “died” he no longer had access to it. Now he’s the king of the Shapeshifters, which I suppose is a job but he doesn’t actually do anything - he’s got counsellors and advisors to take care of that.

[Leyelle]

lol, so king in title only?

[ThunderChicken]

Pretty much. He didn’t want to be king and doesn’t want to rule, but his destiny commands him to do so.

Which he does very reluctantly.

[Leyelle]

sounds like a bad guy to have as king, rebellion and insurgence time?

[ThunderChicken]

He’s actually the best kind of king: the kind that doesn’t want power. He was just introduced into the world he must rule and therefore doesn’t know how to rule it. He tries though. It’s all part of him finding his way.

[KevinReijnders]

Hence the title "Finding Deacon's Way"

[Leyelle]

well if he's trying we can give him points then.

[2DLenzy]

Hadn't thought about it in-depth, but it's obvious that Luke Tryon is unemployed. He's had jobs throughout his life, but he can't keep one for too long (he has ADHD and gets bored easily, or makes mistakes)

So, yeah, he's lived with his parents (now parent) rent-free for some time--momma's boy type. Now that his mom's gone, he's getting pressured to take on some form of employment, of which you'll see hopefully in the near future.

I will say, however, he is currently enjoying running the chicken rescue/farm, though he is not officially the manager/owner (it's technically not an official business, just something that Teresa Tryon did on the side)

*Kinda making this up as I go along...Maybe Luke will create a webcomic on a clucky friar and sell it for a living XD

[TheBlacKat333]

I don’t have many adults in my story, but the ones that will be there, are either occasionally working very temporary jobs like commissions, or have some means that make sure they don’t actually need to work

[allisoncandraw]

Sure do. David is a therapist and I've had him bring this up on multiple occasions.

Then we have my mechanic OC Randy. The strips she's been in have been centered around her job.

https://m.tapas.io/series/signs-point-to-bobbie/info

[DasIstWunderblyat]

Perhaps.
Is being a 'government property' is a form of employment?
Or being a ghost is?

[UrMom]

At some point there will be.

Both my MCs have experienced homeless to different extents in timelines before the story starts, Julian being out on the streets until having enough for the down-payment of an apartment (Although they weren't unemployed, they just didn't have the money saved up yet.), and Apollo was a couch surfer for about a year before getting his current job.

In the future both become unemployed, with Julian losing their job due to not showing up at work thanks to Daniel not letting them leave, and Apollo's past negligence catching up to him and getting fired after being hospitalized. Both are kind of tragic since they're struggling mentally at this point, but it's an inevitability. Employers won't realistically invest in workers who keep missing work, or keep getting in trouble, no matter the reason.
For Apollo it's a bit of a wake-up call since he thought he'd always have his job, but it's a good thing in a way. He starts getting new interests through taking care of Julian, and grows as a person. Julian didn't like their job to begin with, wasn't too phased since it made sense to them, plus they already knew what being at rock bottom was like so losing unemployment wasn't very devastating. Lol

[Leyelle]

Julian didn't like their job to begin with, wasn't too phased since it made sense to them, plus they already knew what being at rock bottom was like so losing unemployment wasn't very devastating. Lol

i think people often have very different responses to losing their jobs. for some people it might not even hit them. And some people weren't that attached to their job so they see it as a chance to start over and do something new, that is, if they aren't concerned about how they'll make a living. Maybe even if they ARE concerned, it can be a mixed bag

[Leyelle]

Natividad is still unemployed, but she doesn't have any reason for that other than that she's not really trying to or interested in getting a job. So really, despite the fact that Alicia is still afraid of Natividad's scorn, she is most definitely winning.

(Natividad is mentioned in the chapter "Blue Blood' of "Damsel in the Red Dress.")

---

Ever since my mother was put in rehab, I lived with her older sister, and she relented to me the legal bare minimum while wearing herself thin in an attempt to satisfy the whims of my pretty bratty cousin, Natividad. Everyone basically worshipped her like a teenage Jennifer Lopez, forever as ‘on fleek’ as I was shabby. Every penny my aunt saved on me was thrown into the designer clothes that her ‘angel’ HAD to have, lest she lose her popular girl status, made possible through the facade. I was fortunate enough to be younger, and shorter than her, so I lived on the hand-me-down and discarded fashion, and crumbs of attention, for most of my high school years.

[Leyelle]

Ohh, Tia Bella was an at home "mom" when she was raising Andrew.

Read Damsel in the Red Dress :: Plastic Armor | Tapas Community

[theyrebothakilogram]

Technically the main antagonist of my story is unemployed (villainy does not get you a W2) his reason being that he is too pretty to work

Read They're Both a Kilogram | Tapas Web Community

[Leyelle]

XD, too pretty to work. that's the same reason Natividad is unemployed