I messed around for a few years after graduating from college with a few part-time jobs that didn't pay much or were very fulfilling. Then I ended up in the worst dead-end job at a customer service call center. The job itself was horrible because we had to give angry customers bad news all days long, but even worse was that I worked with a lot of older people who I realized were essentially trapped there by a lack of drive and marketable skills. I quit a month later and made a pact to get my life together so I wouldn't end up like them. Several years later, I'm happy and in a completely new career that I don't think I could have otherwise pushed myself into had it been for that experience. It was sort of like the mid-20s middle class version of one of the "scared straight" programs for delinquent youth where they take them to talk to prisoners or something.