FINDING WORK
With five notable exceptions, nearly everyone in our society works at a job of some kind and is automatically suspected of all kinds of dark and nefarious deeds if he doesn't work. The exempt classifications: The very rich, who obviously don't need to bother working, the very poor, who also don't need to work because the Welfare State takes care of them. Then housewives, students and retirees. Everyone else in the U.S. and Canada is expected to work or at least have the appearance of working.
I say "the appearance of working" because even if a lamster doesn't need to work for wages he should cultivate regular workman-like habits. He should leave his lodgings at the same time every day, whether he spends his time at the library or at the beach, and return home at the same time each evening. The disappearee should attempt to structure his life so as to call as little attention to himself as possible. There are just too many people who make it their business to know other people's business, especially the female who is shut up in her house all day in a residential neighborhood with too much time on her hands and too little to occupy her mind.
Most disappearees will not have the option of staying unemployed, at least not for long. When their savings run out, which could be as soon as fifteen minutes after they walk into their new life, they'll need to get a job. Trying to collect welfare on a freshly manufactured identity is a big mistake because of all the government paperwork involved and the scrutiny of public servants that results. For the typical disappearee, the question is not whether to work, but what work to do and how to get it.
There are many good reasons for working besides the need for income. One is the need to establish credit. The ability to use credit is almost a requirement for membership in our society, and people who grant credit are more impressed with a job than anything else--a steady job, that is. Any job. For oddly enough, people who grant credit are much more favorably inclined toward a laborer who makes $10,000 a year than to a writer, artist or door-to-door salesman who makes four or five times that. The writer, artist, etc. doesn't fit their pattern, and doesn't march to the sound of a time clock.
Another reason for working is that it is about the best place to make personal contacts. Loneliness is a severe problem for many identity changers, and not a small number of them have crawled back to their old lives for precisely this reason. But most jobs bring with them all sorts of social activities, and a lamster who takes part in these will have no more problems with loneliness.
Choosing an Occupation
Choosing an occupation can be a difficult process for some disappearees. If you do not have your new identity well-established in advance, you may have difficulty finding exactly the kind of work you like to do. Employers will be reluctant to hire you for a high paying job if you can't provide them with any previous work references or show training or schooling. Your first few jobs may be low-paying, part-time work where few questions are asked. After a time you can build up an employment history and a number of references that will lead you to greener pastures.
The problems of the well-to-do disappearee are often much more severe than those of the common laborer who leaves his wife. The higher a person's socio-economic status, theoretically the harder it will be to regain an equivalent position in the new identity. And the problems in finding new work are compounded by the fact that the people these disappearees leave behind often have more resources and more incentive to track them down. Further, it takes more in the way of paper qualifications to land a high-paying, high-status job than it does to pick apples.
But the well-to-do disappearee can work himself up into a nice position if he has some valuable skills to sell. Like the less-well-off laborer, he can freelance his services, say preparing taxes during tax season or doing freelance computer work, until he builds up enough references to land a decent full-time job. He should avoid jobs that are very similar to his previous employment, though. For while the United States is large geographically, it is small insofar as specialized occupations and interests are concerned. A top banker from New York City who wanders into a bank in Seattle has a good chance of meeting someone he saw at a convention.
Most people who switch identities automatically change occupations, too. In many cases the dissatisfaction with the daily grind is what causes people to disappear in the first place. Most white collar workers who disappear actually seek out blue collar work as the preferred way to earn their living. But blue collar workers seldom seek out white collar work. Rather, they change to a different but similar trade than they previously practiced.
There are a great many jobs that pay rather well for only part-time or irregular work. The construction industry is a good example, where employment tends to run along boom and bust lines. At times when the local construction unions cannot fill all the orders for manpower, there is an excellent chance of getting work even for those without developed skills. And for those who have a background as carpenters or electricians, there is always piecemeal work available, even if it's just filling in for people who are sick or on vacation.
Where construction work pays the best, which is usually in the big cities that disappearees like because it's easier to stay lost in them, unions dominate the work and effectively exclude outsiders. There are ways to work into the unions, though. One is to get a union job in areas of the country where they are less well developed, then take your membership with you to the
