I have a full-time job right now. I work at an assisted living facility as a receptionist. There are roughly 70 residents, most somewhere on the scale of alzheimer's and/or dementia. Most of them also have some other form of mental instability as well. The point of all of that is that they are difficult at the best of times. It's a very stressful environment. I like most of the residents well enough, after all they can't help how they are - it's the disease, not the person. There are a few who are pretty annoying and hurtful though - one who always says 'that one's my least favorite' and other things about me, pretending I can't hear her, and at least two others who have memory loss so bad, that even though I understand the disease, it is still so goddamn annoying when they ask me the same question every 5 minutes for an hour, sometimes more often than that. At least the one who tried to hit me and throw things at my head is gone. Then there's this one resident that drives me absofuckinglutely off the wall. I have misophonia (among other things, but this is what he triggers most) and he will wander up near my desk every so often, whistling, tapping on things, clapping his hands, banging on the wall, and just making generally annoying, triggering, horrible sounds. Honestly, if he were not there, I doubt I'd even be thinking about changing jobs. The thing is, the hours are really good for me (4 days a week - M,T,Th,F), the pay isn't too bad for the area (well over minimum), my coworkers are great, and my boss is the best I've ever had. These things are huge for someone with my mental disorders (depression, anxiety, misophonia, misokinesia, possibly ocd and autism...yeah, I know, I'm nuts) and even though I could probably (definitely?) make more elsewhere, could I give up the fact that I'm comfortable with this job and it works for me?

A new job though...maybe I could find something in a less stressful environment. Something where I don't work so directly with people, which really stresses me out on bad days. Maybe I could make more along the lines of what I "should" be making with my bachelor's degree. A shorter commute would be nice too, although 20-30 minutes is far from bad. But then the gamble would be...would I get nice coworkers? A good boss? Would I be comfortable there? Those are huge things for me. I mean, I don't hate going to work, but I definitely don't look forward to it either. It's not awful but I keep thinking - could I do better?

If I had my dream job, I'd be working with Sea Shepherd. Doing what exactly, I don't know. I mean, they don't exactly need an artist, lol. I'm not physically strong enough to be a deckhand. I don't have any useful skill (welding, etc.). I'm kind of useless really, for all that I really want to be working with them. I'm trying to lose weight and gain muscle right now, 50% for getting healthier and 50% so that I can some day be useful to them.

Barring SS, I'd want to do something that involves helping the ocean, the environment, animals, the planet. But what? And it'd almost definitely involve going back to school, which I can't afford and don't have the time to do (I'm not young enough anymore, it'd take too long, I'd be too old...).

So...this got really long and rambling, which most of my posts tend to do. I don't know what I want out of it. Post whatever...helpful, your pov, etc.

well first off I'd ignore "should" - any changes you make because you "should" be earning more money, or you "should" have a different job title or whatever won't make you happy.

A good boss is worth their weight in gold. Honestly. I've had great bosses, okay bosses, terrible bosses and it makes a huge difference.

I'd say you're never too old to consider a career change - but it doesn't really sound like you want that. You're too vague about what you might want. Its not a driving ambition to do something else.

Overall it sounds like you are happy with your job - the good outweighs the bad. Maybe you might want to consider ways to fix the bad? Can you talk to your boss about coping methods? Or maybe the tapping guy (that sounds really, really annoying), can be disciplined or otherwise prevented from harassing you. Because it really does sound like harassment.

As for the people asking the same question over and over again, for your own amusement try working out different ways of answering the same thing. Or play tricks with your mind and convince yourself that they haven't asked a million times already. My grandmother had Alzheimers, so I realize how annoying it can be - and that was just dealing with 1 person, not a whole group. You obviously can't do anything about their behaviour, so your only option is how you deal with it in your own mind.