Job Hunting

Way back in 2007, we took a great vacation to NYC. The day I got back to work, I lost my job to a "reduction in force". It made me wonder if I had to have, on average, a dull life: Every good time balanced by a bad time. So I got severance, and unemployment, and in September of 2008 I lowered my aim, and decided to do anything for $10 an hour. I quickly found a job in retail, and I found I enjoyed helping customers, solving their problems, explaining technology. Almost every customer would say something like, "I don't know anything about all this stuff." I explained it to them in terms they could understand, and they liked it. The pay was nothing compared to the old job, but I had a purpose. In June 2012, the store was closed.
I am back to looking for a job, and I don't want a job just for the money. I want to be part of something. I want to be treated like I am useful, both to the customer and my employer. Instead, I see ads for jobs I am not quite qualified for, or with companies whose sole purpose is to please stockholders. "Do as you're told, and you get a paycheck."
I believe if you do right by employees, they will do right by customers, and the money will come. I am influenced in these ideas by Guy Kawasaki and Gary Sinek. Sinek's Start With Why book and website talk about why Apple is so successful with a cult following. Remember the "Think Different" campaign? What does that have to do with selling computers? If you start with why, people will follow you.
I would love to work at a non-profit like Venture Richmond. I can do so many things including databases, web design, IT, repairs, and photography. I may be hoping for too much.
That is the big downer of looking for a job. If you told me I had to walk 100 miles to get a job, I would put on my shoes. Make it a 1000 miles, and I would mutter something and start walking. But a job search is not a long, hard walk, but like a maze, and there may not be any exit. The only exit may be into retail, working with kids and crazy hours.
So I go on putting in applications and waiting for a new home, trying to keep myself sane. I'll rant more soon about how I screwed up and got into this hole.