A man from South Dakota, sporting quite a few prominent neck tattoos, has a master’s degree, put in 12 years of intense study, and is drowning in $120k of student debt. He has been ditched from almost 300 jobs, even the kind where you scan groceries at Walmart. In the video, you can see he is annoyed and just putting it all out there, straight-up questioning the whole system: “What are people doing for work?” Judging by the comment section, no one has a single answer.
The video was shared on X by user @ThoughtCrimes80 and has gained traction across social media, drawing thousands of views and comments. This person has posted a video on his Instagram where he lays it all out. He has applied to almost 300 jobs, and he still hasn’t scored anything. We are not even talking fancy positions. He has tried everything from being a cashier to pushing carts at Walmart, and still nothing.
Notably, this South Dakota resident has a master’s degree. On top of that, he is sitting on $120,000 of student debt, after grinding through more than a decade of school. All that work, all that cash down the drain, and yet, retail won’t even give him a shot.
Right now, he is barely getting by doing user-generated content gigs. He calls it a band-aid fix, just to avoid sinking further. You can feel the burnout through the screen.
Internet Reacts to South Dakota Man’s 300 Job Rejections Despite Having a Master’s Degree
The tattoo conversation arrived first and loudest. “Neck tattoos are a huge negative for any position,” one person wrote flatly. Others offered tactical advice with a side of dark humor: “Don’t put college degrees on the application — McDs job wants that you have one job maybe and that you’re slightly retarded. That should be your fast food resume.”
Several responses shifted the blame toward structural forces. “You did nothing wrong. The problem was caused by the advancement of AI. You graduated at a time when agentic AI is now capable of doing the work faster and cheaper than you,” one commenter said. Another identified the overqualification trap directly: “They think you’re going to quit when you find a job and that’s not worth the effort to hire you for them.”
One reply captured the absurdity of the wider system: “My dream job is to be the guy spending their day making up hiring posts for positions that there are no plans to fill, or maybe be a social service worker telling unemployed people to apply for companies that never respond.”
The clip hits close to home because it crunches two big issues: the nightmare of student loans and the disaster that is the current job market, into a one brutally relatable moment. It’s not some think piece. It’s just a real person staring into their camera, giving voice to the feeling that way too many people are sweating about alone.
And then, there’s the Walmart part. You don’t picture getting rejected from there, especially if you have a master’s degree. Feels like a cosmic joke, minus the laughter.
