Joining the Traditional Workforce Once Again
It has literally been over a decade since I had a traditional job, but the time has come to get one. I have been a full time Twitch streamer for approximately 10 years, and most of those years I was losing money. I did it because I loved it, and I loved gaming. There comes a time however when you realize that the industry you love may not be the industry that will pay the bills, and I came to this realization this year in 2026. While I absolutely want to continue streaming, I really need a more stable source of income in order to maintain my currently lifestyle.
The types of jobs I am searching for are all local to the small town that I live in. I figure that if I am to join a traditional job, that I should start with easy, low stress jobs, to ease me into working again. Over the course of the last month, I have been searching for these types of jobs, and I have recently fallen upon working at a busy local gas station right in the center of my town. I have met with the hiring manager twice and I need to provide her with a couple more documents before she can process my application. Getting a part time job here at first sounds like the right first step. It is less than 5 mins away from where I live and most of the hours, I would get would be from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. at night. This allows me to have a morning routine where I can go to the gym or shoot some hoops at the local park, get a nice breakfast and lunch in, all before going to work.
The biggest thing I am going to have trouble with I think is the social side of this job initially. Being a clerk at a gas station is a pretty low-level job, so I will have to swallow my pride and look at it from a different perspective. While a gas station is a pretty common business, I really know nothing of how the business operates and this could prove to be a curiosity which allows me to look at the job as a learning experience to learn how gas stations operate. I understand a few of the profit centers of course, including gas sales, retail sales in store, and lottery sales. I feel these are the three largest sources of income for a gas station. Alternatively, the cost of said sales are the biggest costs. I am also curious in learning how to use their point of sales system because I have never done clerking for such a system before and that could be useful in other endeavors in the future. There would be an opportunity to eventually be an assistant manager of the store I am in if I do the job well and want that added responsibility.
There are a couple of downsides to the job description however, but since I will be getting paid to do the work, I am sure that it will ease my concerns. Essentially, the manager is a clean freak and expects the clerks to keep the place clean at all times, including cleaning the rest rooms, keeping the outside of the store clean by taking out the garbage regularly, and cleaning within the store during downtime. As someone who does not like to clean, I hope this part of the job is not as intensive as other parts of the job. Either way, assuming I get the position, I am sure I will be shown the ideal way to clean according to how the manager wants it.
In any event, if I look at this job as a learning experience and if this job makes me appreciate the streaming space more because I am working in a traditional work environment, it may just provide the stable structure and motivation I need to progress other parts of my life forward. I have had a bit of an easy road the last 10 years doing streaming with some restaurant work in between, so this will be my first test to see how my mind and body react to a traditional work environment. Looking forward to the road ahead.
Until next time,
Blackboa