To everyone who knows me, you would know that I am a hard worker with a strong work ethic. I give it my all when I work, and I don't complain. I pride myself on being a strong, independent guy, so that's why it really hurts my pride to ask for help here.

I hit my breaking point at my job last night. After one crazy person threatened me and jumped the counter to steal a bunch of crap from me, I was fed up. My personal safety bubble was invaded, and the guy said if I laid hands on him he'd tear my face off. He was covered in scabs and missing most of his teeth and had a wild eye about him when he made the threat, so I kept my distance. An hour later, I let three guys heat up their free pizza from Domino's, and as soon as they finished heating their food, they scattered throughout the store and stole a bunch of crap. This time, one of them also ran off with some booze. When beer is stolen, I have to call the cops. The cops dismissed it as a non-emergency and told me to call back on the non-emergency line. I did that and was left with the busy signal for twenty minutes before I gave up. I called my manager, who was not happy to be woken up at midnight to my complaints, and after a verbal tussle, I quit my job. I waited for him to get there before I took my leave, but I knew I had had enough. I stopped posting about my job after the robberies became more persistent, and I have been actively looking for a new job for about a month. I did not want to quit this job until I landed a new one, but last night was more than I could handle. My self-preservation alarms have been going off since the guy threatened me with a collapsible baton. I knew it was not a matter of if I was going to get robbed, but when.

I would have likely continued working for this company had it not been for a recent change in management. My former manager, who I really liked, was relocated a few weeks ago and the new manager is a 'by-the-books' no-nonsense corporate guy who basically changed all of the policies I've been working under only to make my job seemingly more dangerous. I don't want to go into too many details about him, but he basically forbade us from helping the homeless and it made them much more likely to steal from us. And every theft is paperwork for me or risking an altercation with them. My life is not worth minimum wage, and even though I spent hundreds of dollars on the local homeless in my neighborhood, they have no problem screwing me over in the end. That's a lesson learned on my part.

So basically, I am unemployed, and because I quit, I am not eligible for unemployment. I have several job opportunities coming up in the future, but just in case, I want to have a small safety cushion to fall back on and that's why I am asking for your help. A little bit goes a long way when you have no future income. I have already canceled all of my subscriptions, and I am also going to rid myself of all my vices (which is mostly just nicotine vapes and beer) so I just need this money to help keep my head above the water until I land my next job. Which could be very soon!

My three most exciting job opportunities thus far:

1) Working at 1-3 different weed stores in my neighborhood (I hear back from them on Friday)

2) Fixing conveyor belts for a company my friend works at (fingers crossed!)

3) I might go back into the lucrative world of landscaping either via an old employer or a friend of another employer.

To add incentive to donate, I am also offering some of my books in exchange for some financial support. Not just the books I've written but my decently sized library as well. I've already hit up the local pawn shops, and if I really need to, I'll sell my electronics, but that isn't going to net me much cash ($175 for a PlayStation 5? Jeez) and I only want to do that in case all else fails.

I needed to get out of this job. It was too unsafe for me, and it was destroying my love for humanity. This world is all kinds of jacked up right now, and I know this economy is crap, but the anxiety I was suffering from going into every graveyard shift for the last few weeks was undoable. Call me a wimp, but I just don't want to work a job where I have to consistently worry about getting robbed, beaten up, shot, or stabbed. Is that so wrong? To want a job where I don't have to fear for my life for a hair over minimum wage? I know those jobs exist out there, and I just need a little help before I can find my next forever job. Please and thank you.

Sincerely with love,

Shawn Wayne Langhans

PS: I am serious about the books. If you donate and want a free book shipped to you, just let me know. I will try to personally pick a book I think you might like. Or maybe you want a PlayStation 4 game? I'll give you a PlayStation 4 game if you want. Thank you so much for reading this far, and I hope you have a better day than I am having.

You know what, no, I am having a good day. This is the first day in a long time where I am no longer stressing about working at a dead-end corporate job that doesn't care about my safety, and that feels pretty good.

I'll get through this. I have to.