The jobless: in their own words

[bronxiteforever]

By The Associated Press Fri Jun 6, 5:14 PM ET

At a PA CareerLink office in downtown Philadelphia, Michael Shane Simmons was checking his e-mail, waiting to hear back about a job with a city summer arts program.

"I'm down to my last pack of hot dogs and beans at home," said Simmons, who has been out of work for three years after being laid off from his job at a mental health facility, where he lived with two mentally ill men as a caregiver.

"I just try to keep persevering," said Simmons, 47. "I know it's going to turn around sooner or later."

Monica True, 27, of Tulsa, Okla., has been out of work for five months after leaving her job as a waitress because she couldn't make enough money to support her three young children.

more here

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080606/ap_on_bi_ge/economy_the_unemployed;_
Sad stories!

[DogPoundPup]

1. What are U.S. workers being widdled down to?

I'm just wondering if they aren't bringing us down to a full blown police state where people are so desperate to live and support their families that they'll accommodate the 'state' and accept payment to snitch on their fellow citizens either through true of false claims. Like; 'true' as in my neighbor tells me how wrong this war (illegal occupation) of Iraq is or 'false' as in my neighbor wants to kill a govt./republican official.

I know bushco. will be leaving (and not any too soon enough with each day which brings a new catastrophe while he's in) but the residue of this evil monster administration will remain for some time to come. Just look at the people that actually support Lil Bush McSame...these gawdawful republicans which oh so much includes the media, with their new found accumulated wealth they stole off of the regular working man and woman...they have not an ounce of concern for civility. They've watched their blood money wealth grow while humanity has sunk and under the guise of all things, "family values"!!!!?

What could their next action plan of deceit and deception be? I won't be any surprised by what horrors we may face by what they may possibly have designed.

Just wondering.

[leftofthedial]

2. I was worried about it (after three years of no real job),

but then I found out I'm no longer unemployed! And haven't been for two and a half years, ever since my last unemployment check arrived!

Life is good again, not being unemployed.

I still don't have any money, but at least I'm not unemployed.

[northernlights]

3. omg, I'm not alone....

I was laid off post 9/11 in 2/02. I initially sent out prolly 100 resumes and got 3 responses. 1 was a serious bargain basement hunter. The other 2 were snide emails telling me why they weren't interested (e.g. "your resume looks interesting but why should we consider someone from out of state when we have hundreds of qualified people out of work right here."

After a year out of work,looking hard, when bushco got serious about effing us all over in iraq I sold my condo, packed my bags and headed north to Maine (argh...I should have checked the "color" of the state first) to ride it out.

Since then, I've had trash thrown on my lawn, my property trashed by a bulldozer contractor, my horse turned loose by the side of a busy road, 60' trees cut down by a neighbor, caught same neighbor casing my house, another neighbor plotting to steal my horse, and more petty thievery.

And finally, after 3 years unemployed, I got a job in a little family receptive tour company. Turned out the lovely little family was a bunch of rightwing conservative "Christian" "darwin is bunk" nutcases. They deliberately and malisciously poisoned me by knowingly let me drink from their contaminated well, watching while I was sick for a *month* without telling me. They harassed me in my home with early Saturday morning hangup calls -- I know it was them because the last call I was right next to the phone and nearly broke my foot when I dropped my ladder on it, then picked the phone up screaming bloody murder and then the caller responded. They gave my home number to their answering service without my prior knowledge or permission, so I was getting 2am calls from their (rightfully) angry European clients. And then, the coup de gras, a friend of theirs came over uninvited and assaulted my yearling filly and then my elderly gelding when he tried to comfort her. I called the state labor dept. and they told me the company could do anything they want to me and if I don't like it, I can find another job. Welcome to maine, land of repke morons, assholes, thieves and pond scum.

So I quit that hell hole, and have been umemployed since. I used to make 6 figures as a marcom program manager. Now I've been turned down for $10/hour by home depot, lowes, hannafords, and every other place around here.

I did get a call 18 months ago, right before thanksgiving, by a former colleague at HP for a lucrative project. I thought my ship had finally arrived. 2 weeks later, he stopped returning my calls and emails. And my identity disappeared with him. Turns out HP and Fidelity (who manages our pensions)are hosts to an identity theft ring. Fidelity had a laptop stolen with all our info on it. I didn't get the notification because they'd input my address incorrectly. Did I mention my former colleague's wife is a VP at Fidelity? Or that the laptop was stolen from her branch? Actually, from her car, parked in an HP lot in CA. My thief added a person called "Heddy Packard" to my account. The first unauthorized activity happened 10 miles from his house. The entire theft took place during the 2 weeks we were in contact.

I've lost half my life savings, and am watching the other half -- invested in my minifarm -- go down the toilet. I started to put my mini-farm on the market, only to discover I'd been defrauded and have only half the acreage I paid for. I'm now investigating legal action against the realtor for misrepresentation. I'd sue the sellers, but they're probably dead. I may sue the town as well -- there was a survey 18 years ago with the correct data which they never bothered to add to their maps.

When my elderly gelding dies, the filly will go back to the breeder. And I'll be done. I promised him a home for life. I'll have made it. And then I'll be free. I hope the dems win this fall, but it's too late for me. I'm done. I'm totally done. I'm 54 years old. Nobody wants a middle-aged woman, except maybe to scrub toilets for minimum wage. Thank you, but I paid my dues. I'd rather be dead.

[Trajan]

4. Most all of these actions appear to be criminal in nature ....

I am guessing you have contacted police ? .... The FBI ? ....

You need a good lawyer .... an honest lawyer .....

Im so sorry for you hun ..... I hate to think of someone giving up like this ....

[magellan]

5. Don't give up, northernlights!

I'm trying to bring some DU love to you and I've also taken a look around the internet -- here's a list of organizations that provide free or low-cost legal aid in ME:

http://www.helpmelaw.org/Helpful_Orgs
http://www.maineaflcio.org/legal%20assistance%20maine%2004-09-25.htm
http://www.usattorneylegalservices.com/free-legal-aid-Maine.html

Also (so many people don't know about this) please check out Angel Food Ministries: http://www.angelfoodministries.com/

If there's one near enough to you they could help to cut your food bill if that's eating into your expenses big time as it is for many of us.

Please hang in there. :hug:

[Captain Angry]

6. I hate posting identifying details publicly, but I think it's important in this case.

Hi there,

I worked for HP for 11 years and had my job sent to India in 2006. I got free credit reporting for a year because of that stolen laptop to watch for people using my information.

When we could all tell that our jobs were going to be whacked by some guy who'd never met us, I sold my house. I ended up closing two days after they finally told us we were laid off. I got whacked by email/conference call. They sent me an email to be in a conference room. I walked in to work that day, and all of my co-workers were buzzing. "Did you get the email?" Yep. "Oh, you got laid off. You have to be in there."

So, 20 of 33 whacked in one day. Six months later, HP rehired in the States because as nice as the people were in India, they didn't have the 10 years+ experience with the product line to be able to handle the escalated customers. It turned out that this manager whacked us to get a bonus for cutting costs. This was found when his manager started trying to figure out why customers were so unhappy. Oh, you cut the team. Without a transition plan? Hmm.

I had started at HP after dropping out of college, but was able to ride the tech boom. When I got laid off, I took the money from the sale of my house and went back to finish my degree. I finished 3 weeks ago. I'm have 15 years of tech industry experience, a finance degree, and I'm 75+ applications in with one interview. I'm not even getting back "We're sorry, but no." emails. Nothing. 1/75 isn't a great ratio.

I haven't had it nearly as hard as you have, but wanted to say that there are some more of us out here. Right now, it's not just 54 year old women with amazing resumes that are not finding work, but 35 year old guys with pretty decent resumes as well.

It's interesting, but one of my dreams was to buy a little bit of farmland myself. But in Vermont. I can't keep plants alive, so animals on the farm were out of the question. But I wanted fresh air, space, and to become self sufficient. It's interesting that you did something similar in the same neck of the woods.

All I can say is, hang in there. This stuff is cyclical, and the jobs will come back. I'm not lining up for the Home Depot jobs yet, but I'm probably not going to get a call back from them either.

[Maine-ah]

7. honey, I'm in Maine if you need to contact a friend, PM me

does the filly need to go back to the breeder? My SIL is looking to buy a horse.

[RazzleCat]

8. Keep Trying

And try for a government job. I too lost my job (computers) and went down the rabbit hole. Thought I got out of it, landed in construction, but hey look what happened their. So back down the rabbit hole. Well now I am a government worker. I earn less than before, but I do get benefits. My job is mind numbingly boring, but its a job. With that out of the way here is how you do it. Go to USAJOBS.gov and create several profiles, apply for jobs that are way below your education and experience, that's how I got my first one, and did it suck, third shift physical dock work (fyi I am a 100 pound woman), but I took it and worked my but off, in my case literally as in lost weight. Because of that I was able to transfer to 1st shift (at last normal hours). First shift does different things, and that gave me the edge to get a better government job, as in up a full pay grade from a 4 to a 5, almost a living wage, (remember the government has benefits). The most important thing is to get any job with in the government, with their system, time in grade is worth more than education and they do more internal hiring than external. So if you take a G4 position you have a better chance of getting a better position than waiting around for the one that is more commiserate with your education and training. My current job was only open to persons who already worked in the government, it was never published to the public, hence the grab anything you can get inside of the government. Since I got my current job I have applied for several other positions that were not externally posted. So give it a shot, ifanyone had told me that a network designer would end up pushing a cart around a warehouse and loading and packing boxes of government paperwork I would have never believed you. If you also said that a project manager of major construction sites would end up doing the same I also would have thought you nuts, but here I am. I have decided that our economy is going down fast, so I no longer care if I enjoy or get a challenge from my work, I just want a job that will be their tomorrow with a company that is not going to close down with out warning. I will continue to work for the government for as long as they will have me. I may never get to my prior earning level, but I no longer care so long as I can keep my job and start all over up the ladder. One other item I to am a middle aged woman, currently 49 years old, so be aware that the government will not discriminate over age, or sex unlike the majority of institutions out their. As you well know you can look great on paper, dazzle them in the interview and when you follow up you find out a fresh grad got the job.

[momster]

9. www.wtop.com

If you go there, you'll see an ad for the FDA which is hiring 1300+ positions...all sorts of things. Yes, you may have to relocate. Living in the Greater D.C. area, we hear ads like this which I don't believe are broadcast most places.

Namaste....

[northernlights]

10. thank you all so, so very much...

I don't usually drink, but picked up an amaretto when food shopping and had a huge shot (for me) last night. I just needed to numb out the sadness and fear for a while. I'm much better today - was out working on the farm at 5am and trying to enjoy it while it lasts.

The fear in my neck of the woods is palpable, and I guess contagious. People are getting desperate. There was a mugging on our safe, semi-rural campus the Friday before last. A couple weeks ago a neighbor came over and the change in him, his wife and their circumstances was shocking. I drove past a middle-aged couple the other day parked by the side of the road, looking over their shoulders while shoveling up bark mulch from some roadside trees that had been cut down.

I'm back in school for medical lab technology. But even with a worldwide shortage and 100% employment, after 6 years of rejection I periodically get panic attacks. I have a strategy and a plan, but the way things have gone I don't have much faith in either.

I keep reminding myself that even though I'll take a bath when I sell my farm, I'll still be able to move inland and north because prices are falling just as fast there. But then I forget, or remember everything I went through moving here, and have another panic attack. At least here I made a couple good contacts - I hate to lose them and start from scratch again.

Yes, the police were involved (or looking the other way) for much of this, as well as the FTC for the identity theft. The police are supposed to report to the FBI, but I don't know if they ever followed up. Sad truth is these days, many thanks to bushco, the FBI is focussed totally on terr'ists, so isn't overly concerned with home-grown criminals. Also a lot of people aren't aware that one of the first things bush did back when he stole the 2000 election was scrub Clinton's 100,000 police in the street program. So police depts everywhere are overwhelmed, understaffed and underbudgeted.

Funny, I almost moved to Vermont, but got stuck driving down a mountain with no guard rail and almost bald tires (my bad) during a nor'easter. Scariest ride of my life and I remembered then that I've always been an ocean person, not a mountain person.

My god I hate this administration. I hated poppy bush, and I wasn't even very political back then. But I never imagined how much worse the baby bush would be. I knew this was coming and saved, saved, saved during the Clinton years. I knew what I needed to do, but with the crime wave that took over my life, I couldn't catch my breath long enough to do it.