Reading this thread, it seems like you just become tainted and no one will ever take a chance on you again if you had this period for whatever reason.

This is starting to sound a little cruel.

Some companies will take a chance on you again, depending on their needs. Just not everyone.

I once reviewed a resume where someone literally had a 30 year career when their longest stint was 14 months with several stints of 2-6 months each. Not exaggerating. I passed on the candidate myself, but the last 20 or so companies who hired him were willing to take their chances.

I also once interviewed someone else much more jr who looked like a serial job hopper. During the interview he had a very good explanation for it which eased my concerns literally 100%. This was like 4 years ago and he's still onboard.

At a previous employer we hired someone who had a 15 year job history where he left every employer like clockwork every 14-16 months. We hired him anyway because he had a specific skill we were looking for.

And, yeah, sometimes people with a string of bad luck will begrudgingly grind out a couple years somewhere they'd prefer not to be to better help their future career prospects. It's REALLY not the worst thing in the world.