Are you attending College in California? If yes, given the extremely low cost of Tuition at California Community Colleges, your “convoluted” transfer plan might be in your best interest (from a financial standpoint), especially if you plan on living at home while attending CC.
A lot of positions in the corporate world does not necessarily require a degree from specific majors or even a college degree (even when one is a requirement for getting the position). For a number of careers, you can typically get up to speed quickly by on the job training or taking additional courses at a nearby college or online. There are large number of individuals working in the computer industry, who are computer programmers who have liberal arts degrees. Also, personal networking can pave the way to career opportunities that can get you in the door, despite the lack of a specific college degrees. Due to reorganization exercises, companies sometime move employees into areas outside their expertise, to avoid layoffs. Some jobs only require that the employee get a license in a specific area to continue employment. So you could get a job at a insurance company with your history degree and get a insurance claims adjuster’s license and become a Claims Adjuster for that Insurance Company.
The point here, is their are myriad of reasons why “why many workers have jobs that have nothing to do with their majors”. The pitfall with having certain degrees, is that you are now part vast pool of applicants all competing for limited job openings. IMHO, a large number college students put very little though in securing a job after college and tend to be attracted to “soft” majors because they think it is an easy major.