Did you move to Forks, WA since 2005? How is it working out? (Port Angeles: home, employment)

[MissKittie]

I have seen so many posts of people wanting to live in Forks sight unseen...I live in Sequim and even with a job planning and resources it has been hard..and Forks is way different. Anybody want to share their story?

[cjg5]

They probably read about Forks or saw it in a certain book or film and think its the greatest. Hmmmm, I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has done this too. Anything like expected?

[coloradogreycat]

There's a very similar thread to this one - but I'll go ahead and reply in both places. This is not a "first-hand" account, so please take it for what it's worth.

I have an acquaintance who's a middle-aged "Twilight Mom". She was absolutely thrilled to accept a job in Forks 2 years ago. It never dawned on her to wonder why they were so anxious to hire somebody who lived 1200 miles away without even a face-to-face interview. (It was all done over the phone.) Well, she was so excited at the chance to "Live the Twi-hard Dream" that she never bothered to do ANY research about the area - the climate, the employment outlook, the housing situation, the quality of the public schools. Nothing. She just wanted to get there as fast as she could.

After a few months there , she realized that the climate is horrible. She and her kids are miserable. They hate living there. They all suffer from multiple allergies and asthma. She and her son suffer from seasonal depression (no sunlight). Her daughter had to be pulled out of the middle school and home-schooled because of constant bullying. She and her son have both had their iPods stolen at the high school. And her husband divorced her. She's been trying for almost a year to get a teaching job back home - but nobody will hire her. She is pretty much stuck.

[Seacove]

Everyone here warned these people. Sad for the kids though.

[cjg5]

Originally Posted by coloradogreycat

There's a very similar thread to this one - but I'll go ahead and reply in both places. This is not a "first-hand" account, so please take it for what it's worth.

I have an acquaintance who's a middle-aged "Twilight Mom". She was absolutely thrilled to accept a job in Forks 2 years ago. It never dawned on her to wonder why they were so anxious to hire somebody who lived 1200 miles away without even a face-to-face interview. (It was all done over the phone.) Well, she was so excited at the chance to "Live the Twi-hard Dream" that she never bothered to do ANY research about the area - the climate, the employment outlook, the housing situation, the quality of the public schools. Nothing. She just wanted to get there as fast as she could.

After a few months there , she realized that the climate is horrible. She and her kids are miserable. They hate living there. They all suffer from multiple allergies and asthma. She and her son suffer from seasonal depression (no sunlight). Her daughter had to be pulled out of the middle school and home-schooled because of constant bullying. She and her son have both had their iPods stolen at the high school. And her husband divorced her. She's been trying for almost a year to get a teaching job back home - but nobody will hire her. She is pretty much stuck.

Ouch. This is truly horrible. She should have at least researched and done her homework first!

[secret_squirrel]

I was on the interview team for a candidate who took a job in Forks a year earlier. It was a "prestigious" position for someone so young, but here he was trying his hardest to land a lesser job 12 mos. later. He told the interview team, with humorous but truthful desperation, that he was doing because he loved his his wife and baby daughter -who was going to move back with or without him. Poor guy, he was a finalist but didn't make the cut. Hope his family is intact.

[Fat Freddy]

Originally Posted by secret_squirrel

... took a job in Forks a year earlier. It was a "prestigious" position for someone so young.

I remember when the most "prestigious" position in Forks was wearing the Bigfoot costume at the annual Shingle & Shake Festival.

Or maybe it was Crank Dealer at the Smith Mill.

[catspaws]

[OMGEEZER]

I am totally laughing my a** off. In an act of boredom started reading threads & got cought up reading about Forks, Wa. Who on God's green earth would actually move there based on books and admit it? NOBODY! After days of being thoroughly entertained by all the "I wanna move to forks", I have found only two entries of people that actually moved there. One was a school teacher and the other was a man working at a print shop that was fired soon after his hire for the wrong religious preference. Who are the four hundred and some odd folks that increased the town census since 2005? I'd love to read some more! Did anyone move there that actually liked it?

[beachmel]

Originally Posted by coloradogreycat

There's a very similar thread to this one - but I'll go ahead and reply in both places. This is not a "first-hand" account, so please take it for what it's worth.

I have an acquaintance who's a middle-aged "Twilight Mom". She was absolutely thrilled to accept a job in Forks 2 years ago. It never dawned on her to wonder why they were so anxious to hire somebody who lived 1200 miles away without even a face-to-face interview. (It was all done over the phone.) Well, she was so excited at the chance to "Live the Twi-hard Dream" that she never bothered to do ANY research about the area - the climate, the employment outlook, the housing situation, the quality of the public schools. Nothing. She just wanted to get there as fast as she could.

After a few months there , she realized that the climate is horrible. She and her kids are miserable. They hate living there. They all suffer from multiple allergies and asthma. She and her son suffer from seasonal depression (no sunlight). Her daughter had to be pulled out of the middle school and home-schooled because of constant bullying. She and her son have both had their iPods stolen at the high school. And her husband divorced her. She's been trying for almost a year to get a teaching job back home - but nobody will hire her. She is pretty much stuck.

Wow....how irresponsible!

What a whole lot of "dreamers" don't understand is this. If you're an outsider, who goes into a town like Forks, you ARE an outsider. You are NOT one of them and you're going to have to stick it out for a good long time, before you beCOME one of them!

If you are a person who has family who've been there for generations, even if YOU (or your parents) no longer live there, you will ALWAYS belong, as will your children and grandchild.

Having family there, we all fit and are a part of "the Forks' family". That said, I would never, ever recommend anyone take their children and move there. That would be like dropping them into a tank of pirhanna!....and JOBS?! OMG...I have relatives who commute to Port Angeles for work. As beautiful as that drive is, I wouldn't want to make it every day....and on icy roads, torrential downpours, or behind tourists who don't do the speed limit!!!

**Okay...lying there...you must go 10-15 mph OVER the speed limit, in order to avoid holding up the folks who commute to P.A.**