Archive for April 11th, 2003
by Tom on Apr.11, 2003, under Uncategorized
I haven’t been much in the mood for writing lately, but then again, I haven’t been much in the mood for anything.
They say that it’s always darkest before the dawn, and that good things come to those who wait, but cliches are just words, and words generally don’t make people feel better. As it stands, it’s been about three months since my last job, and a little over a year since my last “real”, full-time job. Anyone who tells you that the economy isn’t that bad needs to die. They know that their economy isn’t that bad. Even when the economy is “good”, there are still thousands upon thousands of poor and unemployed who are willing to do anything so that they can pay their mortgage and feed their children.
I’ve been lucky. I’ve had family to fall back on, even after unemployment ran out. Our relative “bad luck” in regards to not being able to find a house some year and a half ago turned out to be a blessing; if we have to move out of the apartment, that’s not too bad. Bot I couldn’t live with seeing our house taken away from us. New York State stops unemployment after a year, technically less than that. However, they do stop it, regardless of whether you’ve found a job or not. The State doesn’t care if you’ve been trying, or even if you’re “employable”. It doesn’t matter if you’ve sent out five resumes or five hundred.
I met with unemployment once, after I initially applied. They told us when we first applied that everyone gets a call into the office sometime during their unemployemtn period, just so that they can check to see if you’re actually trying to find a job. When I got my one call, it was a few months after I started receiving checks. I went into the office, and gave the woman who was assigned to me a list of the places I had applied to (having gotten no response from any of them). She seemed a bit shocked; apparently the people she sees don’t try as often as I had. Once she saw my resume and the places I had applied to, she did a quick search in her job database. She didn’t even suggest a job. She just smiled and told me that my checks would keep coming.
Wel, now they’ve stopped. There’s no income now, and to top things off, it looks like my transmission in our only car is shot.
Sigh.
You tell me when this “dawn” is coming. I’m going back to sleep.
