Very interesting point of view. It really gives me a better idea of what went on. Thanks for taking the time to post.

A B.S. alone doesn't mean you deserve an interview. Many many people have that degree PLUS experience. You are at a great disadvantage from the start, with the added restriction of being in a small town. Here is my advice to you:

1. Stop playing the victim, stop making excuses. Let the losers do that while you get yourself a job.
2. Network. Go to happy hours, talks, toastmasters, other networking meetings. Put yourself out there and let people know what you can do for them and how little they'll have to pay you. The best jobs to interview for are the ones that aren't posted and you don't land those interviews from behind a PC.

3. Find out where your classmates are getting jobs. Wait 2 and a half months and send that company your resume. Chances are someone isnt going to pass probation and they are going to need another developer.

4. Don't limit yourself geographically. Time goes quickly when you get out of school, you can move back once you get your experience.

5. Tell everyone you know that you are looking. Most companies give referral bonuses, and people will be eager to mention your name when the time is right.

I could go on but I think you get the idea. You need to separate yourself from the thousands of introverted unemployed programmers out there. Then when someone tells you were lucky to get the job you can tell them to piss off because "I earned it."

Yeah you could contribute to opensource projects and all that jazz but that will help you more in the interview than anything else. We can deal with that later, first you have to get a few interviews...

Dude, classic! I am in tears from laughing...

Disclaimer: I am Catholic.

It seems that you are misinformed on the Catholic teaching on the Bible (and don't provide any sources to support your claim) and I'd like to give you and the other readers a little more information on the topic. I put up with a lot of people claiming falsehoods regarding the Church (even other Catholics), but your post was rated +5 Insightful so I couldn't let this one slide.

Technically, the Catholic Church has never made a claim one way or the other about the Bible's infallability. To state an inanimate object to be fallible or infallable would be a misconstrual of the word. From Catholic.com:

When we use these words, we use them regarding an active agent--that is, we use them about someone making a decision that either may or may not be erroneous (in which case that someone is fallible) or that definitely cannot be erroneous (in which case that someone is infallible).

In other words, for something to be fallible or infallible, it needs to be capable of making a decision. A book can not make a decision. Therefore, the Catholic Church couldn't teach infallability regarding the Bible, a rock or a bush. It wouldn't make sense.

With that out of the way, we can talk about what the Catholic Chuch does teach about the Bible: that it is inerrant (free from error). Here is what the Catholic Church teaches about the inerrancy of the Bible, from the First Vatican Council:

"These books are held by the Church as sacred and canonical, not as having been composed by merely human labor, and afterwards approved by her authority, nor merely because they contain revelation without error, but because written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, they have God for their author and have been transmitted to the Church as such."

From this official statement, we see that the Catholic Church teaches the inerrancy of the Bible.

I know this is slashdot, but if you are going to make claims about other people's beliefs, it might help to link to some verifiable sources so that you aren't unintentionally spreading falsehoods.

Peace.

If you were trolling...good job. I think this was my first post in years!

Here is what I think you are missing:
If he gets a charge back, HE has to eat the cost. He asks you to show your ID so that he can verifiy that the transaction probably isn't fradulent.

So what if Mastercard stays it isn't OK...give the guy a break and give him a little reassurance. It's no skin off your back, and it helps him out. Is your time really so important that you can't flash your ID for 2 seconds?

(I think) He called you an asshole because you'd rather point out page numbers of credit card contracts and argue with him, instead of cutting him a little slack by taking 2 seconds to prove that you own the card.

I mean really, what is the big deal?

Who cares what Mastercard says about showing your ID...we are talking about customers putting food on the merchant's table, and we are talking about theives trying to take it off the table. Give him a break and help him figure out if you are a customer or a thief.

That's how us non-assholes think.

Peace.