This is one of those threads that seem to go in ways I personnally would never have predicted. I too am sorry that some of the responses were as harsh as they are. To me this young man comes here and tells us that he is young, bought a boat, used up whatever savings he has on that boat, then quit his job because of being harrassed and is now looking for a job. And at least some of the 'jury' harrass him for either or all of buying the wrong boat, or quiting his job, or coming here looking for help.
It seems to me as some have said, we know almost nothing about Sailorneverdies. I think that it is helpful to ask the questions about his skill-sets, long term goals, more specifically where Steve lives and so on. Answers to this should be helpful in being able to provide meaningful advice. Blasting Sailorneverdies seems unnecessary and purposely hurtful. We all were young once and we all made decisions and worked jobs which in hindsight may seem questionable. If we are on SailNet, we somehow ended up relatively alive and on our feet.
This young man sounds reasonably responsible. He's not looking for a handout. He's just asking if any of us have a lead on a job that he could apply for. Maybe because of similarities in my own life story, I personnally see nothing that deserves criticism in that request.
I know that these are different times, but as a kid I worked any number of minimum wage type jobs (split a paper route, baby sat neighbor's kids, restocked hardware) and saved every penny I could. I bought a 10 foot sailboat when I was 12 or so, with every cent I had, plus a loan from my Dad (which I am not sure I ever did pay back in full).
As I got older I worked whatever jobs I could to put away money for a car and for college. I worked a mix of interesting, character building jobs and pretty crummy jobs, sometimes two or more at a time for wages that seem absurd 50 years later (like half a buck an hour). Looking back, when I think of the list of things I did for money, it amazes me, but I took what came at me and worked hard as a dishwasher/deep sink in restaurants, house boy at a hotel (doing the jobs that were too disgusting or too heavy lifting for the chamber maids), hanging drywall and framing houses, worked in boat yards painting bottoms, vanishing, grinding fiberglass on a boat being built, boat carpenter assistant, riggers assistant, sailing instructor, commissioned boats and helped owners learn to rig and sail their new trailerable boats, parked cars, night shift doorman (which I did while working in a boatyard during the week and parking cars on the weekend), delivery boy for a flower shop, hand dug a half mile long trench across a golf course, teacher's aide, yard man at a lumber yard, laborer at a carpet store, ran blueprints, sculpted mobiles and drew small pen and inks and painted water colors which were sold to tourists by a local gift shop, gardener on a large estate, draftsman, sales clerk in a gift shop, busboy, and I am sure there are jobs that I have fogotten. None of these paid very well, but in total, they paid enough buy a number of different boats, keep me in clothes, bicycles, motorcycles, and cars, got me through college, and bought the time and wisdom to make more meaningful decisions about the life I wanted to lead.
Which is a long way of saying to Steve, I don't have any job leads for you, except to suggest that you keep reading the papers and going on line to look at ads, keep doing what you are doing by putting out the word that you are looking for a job. I admire that you are not afraid to say that you are looking for a job even in creative places like this one. (I once got a lead for a job when a police officer pulled me over for speeding. He asked why I was going above the speed limit. I told him that I was looking for a job and heard there was a job available at a hotel and wanted to get there before the job was filled, and then had the nerve to ask if he knew of any jobs out there. He said that the job I was driving to was a lousey place to work and referred me to restaurant who needed a dishwasher/busboy. Not a great job, but a job none the less, and it included a cheap room to sleep and meals until something better came along.)
Along the way, Steve, hopefully you will meet good people who will help you set your course by their good example, and unfortunately, perhaps encounter people who provide a bad example thereby showing you what not to do. Hopefully, 44 years from now you too can look back at a life well lived, and think of the things that you did as a 19 year old in a charitable light, at worst rolling your eyes, and at best having some great stories to tell the other old farts.
Jeff