Stupidity

For the last two hours I have been trying to apply for a full-time job with the U.S. federal government, and I have absolutely no idea if I actually applied for the job (deadline is tomorrow). You have to create an account, of course, with user name and password. No brainer, but then there is just page after page of filling in this, filling in that, and when you go to "apply for this position," there are still more hidden pages to fill out. You also can't apply unless you upload a resume, which I did, but who knows where that went. Then you get shoved into something called Application Manager, which requires a new user name that this AM made up and sent to your email address without telling you that it happened. It also requires a new password, but only after you've verified your email address with another password, in which case you try every password you ever created to find the one the AM is looking for. And then there are all the security questions that apparently have to be answered. And then you get to a page that asks for the USAJobs control number for the job you're applying for, which means you have to go back and find the job, which in this case only has a long job number (nothing called a control number), which the page asking for the control number won't accept, no way, no how. I gave up. And applying for private sector jobs is no picnic-in-the-park either. Those online applications squeeze you into a little box with no option for explanations or expansions on their limited selections. And, on top of that, they want your Social Security number right there on the online application before you're even considered for the job. They say money can't buy happiness. That's a lie. If I had lots of money, I wouldn't have to go through all this BS . . . and that would make me very happy.