to start escorting?

[Rocknahardplace]

I don't know what else to do :(

Lost my job instead of being made full time as expected. Savings are gone after being part time for almost a year, can survive at most another month's rent.

I live in shared accom with two flatmates, have no partner, no family who can help me. I have a life limiting condition which rules out a few things like bar work (cannot stand for long times due to nerve damage) but refused dla/pip. It;s just me on my own and I'm sinking. At least if I escort and bank a few hundred pounds it might keep a roof over my head and a bit of food on the table for longer.

So upset and heartbroken my life has turned out like this but I don't know what to do. Escorting so I don't lose my home, a permanent address from which to keep applying to jobs seems like the only option. I wouldn't survive in a hostel and would probably have all my things stolen.

I can't believe some of the posts on here (ignoring the obviously goady ones).
"Move out of London"
Why do people think that moving out of London is the answer to everything? Moving is very expensive, and most of the jobs are IN London!
£125 a week for a room in a London flatshare is about as cheap as you will find in London btw.
OP is already getting HB and JSA,, as far as I can make out, but the HB doesn't cover the rent (as is usually the case) so it's hard.
I have been in situations, in my 20's, when I have been unemployed, broke and alone, and I have contemplated pretty dire things in desperation (and, OK done some things that were a bit shady) and unless you have been there, you can't really judge how panicked and stressed it can make you feel, particularly if you can't do bar work or cleaning, or delivering leaflets, which would be my Go-to emergency jobs.

OP-sign up with as many temp agencies as you can, for anything-telesales/call centre work, or things like Ticketmaster-any crappy telephone job they have high turnover and you can often get hired quickly.

Don't get into prostitution. It's a very dark life, it often leads, among other things, to drug addiction, and then it is very hard to get out of.
There is no difference between "escorting" and streetwalking, other than escorting is safer, a bit. Both are de-humanising and once you have gone there, it would change you permanently. (I have known several call girls/strippers and I know what I am talking about.)

Is there a klaxon or something? Every single thread about the sex industry gets a load punter-pimps on it, all telling us how great the sex industry is. Fuckwits.

Yes, I believe there is a klaxon out there in Punterland. I believe many of these threads are started by them.

Well said, IfNot. Posters are being really unfair to rock.

1. Moving house isn't a great idea in an emergency. OP pointed this out. It costs money to move your stuff. You need money to find a place - you have to be in the other location, to meet the agents and go see places at a minute's notice. Agencies charge registration & administration fees of several hundred pounds: you can lose a few of these while looking. Landlords want deposits & advance rent totalling 2 or 3 months' rent.

1. You have to be able to prove your income to become a new tenant.

1. There are more jobs in London.

1. It's pretty normal for a 20-something woman to assume she could make easy money as a prostitute. This fact is a feminist issue, not some kind of made-up story. Blame our culture, not the young woman who's bought its lies.

1. OP, very low wages entitle you to housing benefit & council tax relief. I didn't know this until I joined Mumsnet! You can use turn2us to evaluate various scenarios.

1. For a worried young woman with anxiety & depression, being close to your friends and having access to resources is important.

You'll be okay :) Sorry your thread went bonkers.

OP, if you are genuine and still reading, have you used your friendship and uni network at all? Apologies if you have already, but if not, ask them all if they could take in a copy of your CV to their HR department stating you are looking for temp work. I know in our office, we'd take someone recommended by one of the staff members over someone from an agency, even if the agency person had more relivant experience.

If I knew a friend was unemployed, I might think to suggest I took their CV in if we were recruiting for someone to do the job they specialised in, but not for general temp work unless they told me they were looking for temp work. This might at least help out for a short while, and you can keep looking in your chosen career area.

It's crap feeling that you can't cope, but dust yourself off, make a list of all the good advice on this thread and go through it all.

Wow.

Thank you to all the lovely people who have virtually held my hand a bit, spoken reassuring calm words when I was spiralling into panic and also, for all the good suggestions.

I am real and genuine, and certainly not a journalist. My second degree is a Masters. Believe it or don't, makes no odds to me - I have bigger problems.

To the person asking why didn't I plan for the future when I was part time - I have used up my savings over the last year of being part time, while working in a paid role and then on the other days doing unpaid interning. Yes it was a gamble to use my savings to supplement myself for a year - I hoped my risk taking would pay off and I would have the coveted full time role in the bag before they started to run out. My part time position has finished up unexpectedly early by a few months, which puts further strain on the last of my savings.

I have a reasonable network of friends where I could stay with/ who would feed me but I can't just live off people like that.

If you feel I am too self-pitying well then don't read my thread. I let off steam on my thread out of sheer worry and panic, in real life I maintain self-control and a good front so nobody can see me breaking inside. Because if I can just hang on a bit longer I know it will be ok, and I don't want people looking at me with pity. I don't want to tell my friends how bad my financial situation is, no. They know things are hard, and they cheer me up so much with their company and give me a glass of wine or two at the weekend, and I do not want to lean on them any more. It's not fair on them.

Op - you do'nt have to lean on your friends, but certainly ask if they would take your CV in to HR departments to ask about any temp work, I know I'd do that without thinking it was a big deal.

there are some good suggestions, make a list and start working through. Temp and seasonal work, while not ideal, should be beginning to start up with the holiday season starting, worth taking something to buy yourself a few more months.

Good luck!

Annielouise, to clear up your questions below -

"Sorry I don't believe any of this. She's in her 20's yet has done 2 degrees - so the first until 21 then the other to 24 presumably or near enough to. Why do 2 degrees? Then she mentions entry level job that she worked hard to get - CV and references excellent. What's on the CV if you've never worked before? And how did she support herself through 2 degrees? She must have done some jobs then, most students work at something."

As I said, the second one is a Masters degree. The entry level job is not entry level in general, as in working in a shop etc (yes I did several student jobs in retail and similar through uni) it is entry level in my specialist field, and yeah it was damn hard to get and won on the back of another internship. I'm not sure why that's all so unusual, unpaid interning is bog standard these days.

Thank you to everyone who has given words of encouragement. I do appreciate it very much.

Sarinka, I know the unpaid interning is awful and they should be made to pay interns min wage, but it does open doors. Which is why do many grads grit their teeth and do them for a while.

My friends are great, but they have supported me through so much already with my mum's illness and my illness and everything - I just can't wait to actually get a job and have the means to cook them all a really nice dinner or something.

Thank you all again.

Best of luck Rock :)

Such a helpful post, Annelouise

Yes, wind your neck in or don't read Annie, it's not compulsory.

Annielouise are you for real?! You are being very ignorant. You are deliberately misquoting things I say, I do have friends but no I'm not keen on the idea of asking them for money!!!

A credit card or an overdraft??? Er the bank wouldn't even extend my overdraft by £200 when I applied because I don't have enough money going in each month.

You really have had an empathy bypass and don;t have the first clue about what it's like to be flat broke, do you? Otherwise you wouldn't make such stupid statements like "if I expect to pick something up in a few months" - believe you me, a few months with no money is a frighteningly long and unsustainable time.

But like I say, disbelieve me if you want, I don't care. I just think you're making yourself look pigheaded and narrow in your world view.

There is always some idiot posting on a thread. Just ignore it.

I don't have an empathy bypass at all but you've created a drama over nothing. As others have said you're a long way off, and have loads of options, before you should be considering walking the street, fgs. You said yourself you're only about £10 short each month on benefits - you could pick that up doing a cash in hand job (don't usually agree with this but needs must in certain situations).

I can't feel empathy or sympathy for someone that really needs to get a grip as you have options. There's people in worse boats that don't consider becoming an escort. Plenty of jobs out there that you could do, even the odd one cash in hand, and you could probably pick one up in a day or two with looking. Loads of people have told you the same thing - why are you even thinking this when you could temp?

OMG, I've finally worked out what IPOAT stands for! Thanks, greenwinter

Ffs Annie op has said she's feeling much better about her situation now she's had some advice and support. Have you ever been sat up in the middle of the night scared to death you are going to be literally hungry and homeless?

I've been homeless thank you - only for a short time in the late 80s. I lived off cake thrown away by a bakery for a short period of time. I have been there. Never thought about prostitution although was made offers by sleazy men on the street. Never lost it to the extent rock has. Maybe I'm just tougher. But yes sometimes buffy I think people need to be told get a gri and it's not that bad otherwise you feed the insecurities.

OP if the positions were reversed would you rather a friend confide in you and you try to help her or her get so desperate that she turns to prostitution?
Telling your friends the truth and them offering help (be it a meal, a small loan, keeping an ear out for any jobs,...) is not pity, it's what friends do. Even if they can't help, sharing your problems will probably make you feel better.
Are there any belongings you could sell to make extra cash?