What about a 21 year old who lives with dad, left a job in January and now can't land a job due to blank work record since then?

It is not called suspicious. It is called properly interviewing a prospective employee. Of course they want to know what you have been doing in the last 6 months. For example, did you fall off the wagon? They don't know you and they can't guess so they have to rely on you to tell them. They may be able to check it out but, why would any interviewer not ask? They ALL would ask. If you are not prepared to answer honestly, then that may be why you do not have another job. What are you hiding? Or are you badmouthing your prior employer. That would be a no no. There are ways to state such things as - didn't like the employer, he was an ******, the worst guy anyone could work for, a slave driver - obviously, you should say any of those things. If you could not find diplomatic words to briefly explain, then that could be why you are not working. Anyway, what about a 21 year old....? I have to wonder about your competence when you can't even figure out that Yahoo Questions & Answers requires that the person posting is supposed to ask a question, which you have not done. So, there is no answer to your question because you didn't ask one.

join the military. as long as you have limited criminal history, no felonies, no major medical issues, a high school diploma, you should be qualified to join. they have hundreds of jobs that aren't combat or infantry related. plenty of them can translate to the civilian world without needing a college degree to start out . then, use the GI Bill to pay for college as needed.