I was just telling you what worked for me.
At a point where I was down and out, and sleeping on a friend's couch, I got a job at a family owned restaurant. I washed dishes at first, and because I was reliable, they began to have me help the cooks when it was busy and I had a driver's license and knew the downtown, I got promoted to delivering food in their 4x4 and helping the cooks, got a raise, and someone else was hired to wash dishes. Later that year, I moved to day shift, and was doing a lot of delivering food on foot with a huge insulated bag to keep the food warm. A lot of businesses ordered food around lunch time. One was a sporting goods store, and I got on with the guys who worked there quite well. One day they had a help wanted sign in the window, and told them to hire me. Two years later I was a manager, and ran the evening shift. I was making good money and living well until the place went out of business. You never know where things will lead.
I worked at four dealerships; the first two I washed cars and got put to work on various crap jobs, like cleaning the bathrooms, or cleaning up the customer waiting room. I didn't stay long enough to do anything better. The third place was a small used car dealer that had a four bay garage, and they specialized in sprts cars and muscle cars. I was reliable, so I got do drive cars to places that did specialty work we weren't equipped to do, like installing new tires, or paint and body repairs and interior repairs. I didn't like the boss, so I looked around and got a job at a large Chrysler & Nissan dealer near where I lived and could walk to work. They put me in the parts room, and I was delivering parts to small garages, and doing inventory , shelf stocking, and working the counter dealing with customers and mechanics. I got paid better than previous jobs, and did that until I went back to school.
If all the jobs available to you pay about the same, look for one you won't hate as much and has more opportunity.
Realize, you have some skills. You write well, which is a useful skill, and indicates intelligence. And all those days on the phone have given you good conversational and people skills. That is marketable. It would be much better answering the phone and dealing with customers in a business than the call center, and you won't want to kill yourself half way through each day. The highest paid jobs for people without a professional education are selling stuff. Successful car salesmen make a lot of money. There is lots more money selling houses. But, you need to work your way into those businesses.
And, referring to the original post, you mentioned cars. Cars are expensive to own, and if they are old, at any moment, something expensive can fail. (I'm old, the wife and I have owned 10.) Do not be too critical of small Hondas and Toyotas, they are the cheapest cars to operate, and until they get to 80,000 - 90,000 miles (125,000 - 150,000 KM) they usually need few repairs. We have a small Honda we bought new 8 years ago, and other than a battery and set of tires, we haven't had to spend any money other than for fuel, insurance, and routine maintenance. A friend who bought a much cooler used Mercedes has had a bunch of very expensive garage visits.
