sometimes I hate people

[mickeym]

I've been following along on CNN.com all the coverage of the tax break issues, and the unemployment extension issues, and once again I've made the supreme mistake of reading the comments. I'm venting here because there's no way in hell I'm going to get into a disagreement with someone on a message board.

One of the comments left was this:

apparently illegals will risk life and limb to come to the US for jobs - why are the 99'ers having such a tough time finding them?

That person then went on to say that "if I lost my job and couldn't find anything else I'd pick spinach."

Another comment (different person):

How many of these 99ers applied for the fruit picking jobs or McDonalds. You might have to learn Spanish to be effective. But 2 years of unemployment??? Please.

The thing that really kills me is that these people, and many others like them, truly believe that those of us who are unemployed due to economic factors, are just sitting around on our asses, twiddling our thumbs and watching daytime television. (I'm not going to deny that there probably ARE people doing just that, but I would be willing to bet money I don't have that they are in the minority.)

One of the federal job boards has an option where you can check to see the status of your application. They recently added a "number of applicants" field to that...and those numbers are alarming as hell. One of the jobs I applied for, a secretarial position, had over 2000 applications submitted. Another had close to 700. The average seems to range between 250 and 400. PER JOB. And I know I've commented here before about some of the stats people I've interviewed with have told me: 70+ applications for a job starting out at minimum wage.

Do I apply for every single position that exists? No. I can't apply for things that would have me on my feet for hours on end; I can't apply for jobs that require the ability to lift 50, 75, or more lbs. I'm not physically capable of doing those jobs. Do I apply for every single job that I am capable of doing? Mostly. Some of the jobs I have to weigh/consider things like: is it worth it, financially, to drive 90-100miles a day, roundtrip, for $10/hr (particularly if it's a part-time position)? Is the job somewhere, like downtown Louisville, where I would also have to pay for parking?

Since the first of June, I've applied for roughly 150 jobs, most full-time but some part-time. I've interviewed for probably roughly a dozen. My "area of consideration" is something like six counties, radiating in all directions from Elizabethtown. The only shift I won't consider is 3rd, but there aren't a lot of jobs in the office support field that are 3rd shift anyway. I've applied for jobs on boards like Monster.com, through the newspaper, from city/state/federal boards, and things that have been sent to me word-of-mouth/emails from friends.

I wish that some of the people who are all righteous and holier-than-thou about what they would do if THEY were unemployed...could shut their mouths for just a moment, and step into the shoes of someone like myself, who has been unemployed for over a year, now, and is trying hard to find another job. It's not fun, it's certainly not a "watch TV and eat bon-bons" picnic. It's depressing. Demoralizing, even. Anyone reading this journal knows how badly I've struggled with depression since last August.

Anyway. I needed to get that out, and now I need to get back to work and get stuff done around the house. Thanks for reading/listening, y'all. You make things more bearable. :)

Comments

[nrrrdy-grrrl.livejournal.com]

You. Go. Girl.

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

Thanks :)

[kashmir1.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I can totally relate, darling. My mom's been unemployed since September of 2008 and, despite applying for nearly all the jobs in the area that she's, YOU KNOW, qualified for, she's still only gone on a handful of interviews. And then people don't want to hire her because she's in her 50s and they'd have to, GASP, pay her for her experience. To make matters SO MUCH MORE FUN, her unemployment stopped coming about two months before they said it was going to run out without explanation (and we still can't get any kind of explanation out of them).

So the people who think that my mom and you and others who are out of work are having a jolly good time with "their" tax dollars? Can quite simply go fuck themselves.

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

I've got the age thing working against me, too -- I'm 43. About ten years younger than your mom, I'm guessing, but it's the same thing: why pay for my 20+ years of experience when they can hire someone brand new, who costs less?

The funny thing about those tax dollars, too, is that even on unemployment you have to pay taxes. Ten percent of my check comes off for federal -- but not state -- before I ever see it. I'll have to pay state taxes straight up this year, which means probably most of any federal refund I might get.

But, you know. I can always lounge on the couch and watch television, right? *sigh*

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

That's a big issue, actually - when you have experience and were previously working in a much higher paying job, as is the case for many people who are unemployed, it actually works against you in many situations. Everyone says 'oh, go out and apply for a minimum wage job' but why should someplace like McDonald's hire you at minimum wage when they know realistically you're still going to be looking for something better (because you probably need to, financially) and they can hire some high school or college student instead who'll probably be good for a year or two if they work out, plus have fewer demands for things like being treated well and benefits.

My dad has his own business as a software consultant and has for several years in part BECAUSE when he lost his previous job (he was essentially laid off) he had a heck of a time finding anyone who'd hire him due to his experience, etc. He was lucky in that he had skills that work for starting his own business and didn't really need any equipment or anything that would require a bit cash outlay. (He mostly had to buy a few pieces of software.)

And that's pretty miserable and stressful for everyone, anyway - he's had a heck of a time finding clients recently because his client base is small businesses and of course they haven't been wanting to spend money. (Though it's thankfully picking up now.)

[aislinn-tredor.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear.

It's not that easy to find a job. It's competitive. And if I have a specialization in something I'm not going to want to work at minimum wage in fast food.

My cousin was unemployed for amost a year and for every resume she sent during that time how many called her back for an interview? Two.

[kaiz.livejournal.com]

And if I have a specialization in something I'm not going to want to work at minimum wage in fast food.

Thing is, even if you wanted to work in those positions and were willing/able to take a huge pay cut, chances are an employer wouldn't hire you because you'd be overqualified and (they'd figure) likely to be resentful about being there or leave without notice if you got a job in your actual specialization. *sighs* It's really such a mess right now.

[aislinn-tredor.livejournal.com]

Word.

That's exactly what happens. I definitely agree with you.

[zillahseye.livejournal.com]

This! My mom has to apply for two jobs a week for another few months because she was forced to retire early (at 64) from her position. She put both her masters' degrees, and related employment, on her apps as a deterrent to callbacks. In the few interviews she's gotten (two in the last four months) she's been told that it's obvious someone of her skill and background is "wasted" on that position--meaning of course that anyone with the ability wouldn't work there any longer than it took them to get a more lucrative job in their field. It really is a mess.

[kaiz.livejournal.com]

People can be real mean-spirited assholes on this topic.

*hugs you tight*

[mistyzeo.livejournal.com]

*hugs you* Always ready to listen and learn.

[zillahseye.livejournal.com]

I've given up thinking most people will ever get it. My coworker was just expressing to me the direness of the economic situation she's facing: If things don't get better in the next year, she's going to have to move some investments around. THE. HORROR.

I mean, where does she even get the fucking balls to say that shit to me? I'm luckier than many people, I have a job and an apartment and food and nobody repo-ing anything, but she knows how I have to work my ass off just to stay in debt that I will be in, at the current rate of payoff, until I'm 95 years old. She knows I never go on break because I don't have money or gas to spend on going anywhere, that I'll eat ramen for weeks, that finding a dime in my car is a huge fucking deal. I...dude, how the hell can I possibly expect sympathy from someone whose greatest tragedy in this crisis is CONTEMPLATING MOVING THEIR INVESTMENTS, and who doesn't see a substantive difference between that and what I face if we go under? She's already said she could just dump this job and live off her inheritance until all her kids were in school. By herself.

Then I look at all the pols--Repugs and Dems and indies alike--and realize that if she doesn't get it, this nice girl I see daily, NONE OF THEM WILL EVER GET IT. Most of them don't even get it culturally, because they came from enough money to get by. Most of them have never wanted for anything, or feared any real loss. It's easy to judge when you don't know jack.

[shakespearsgrl2.livejournal.com]

So, I used to be all, "If I ever find myself unemployed, I will search until I FIND A JOB!" Now, I've been unemployed for two years. I'm twenty-three, I have a college education, and on-the-job training for office work. It is impossible to find a job. I'm actually going back to school to get a two-year degree that might, maybe, possibly help me get an interview. Two years, and not even an interview.

Pretty much, if I didn't have wonderful parents to fall back on, I would be homeless right now. I think you just don't realize how hard it is until you experience it yourself.

[linda3m.livejournal.com]

if I lost my job and couldn't find anything else I'd pick spinach

He'd pick spinach? I'm sure he would. How many years of experience does he have picking spinach? Because that illegal he's bitching about has been doing it since he was ten. Tell you what - let him go work on a farm as unpaid labor for a couple of years and get up to speed and then maybe he can get hired. Time is money and no corporate farm is going to waste theirs.

[rainbow.livejournal.com]

you said a mouthful.

p's been out of work since hynix closed. he applies to all the jobs that he could do (both physically [he has an old back injury] and without endangering me [i react to inhaled gluten, which eliminates fast food/bakery/anythign with flour; with my mcs he couldn't safely use someone else's laundry machines to protect me from gluten particles]), and man. some companies have said upfront that he's one of thousands of applicants.

he's gotten a response rate of about 1 in 100-200 applications, and 3 in person interviews in 2 years. for jobs he's highly qualified for and for lower down jobs. it's horrible.

and more and more companies are starting to preferentially hire people who are already employed, since that supposedly proves their worth over those who were laid off when their company closed its doors :(

i often suspect that the people who are the loudest and most judgemental about the unemployed are the ones most terrified it'll happen to them, too -- because if they can make themselves believe it was the other person's fault, well, then they're safe, right? *sigh*

[raynedanser.livejournal.com]

*hugs* People just don't think - except that they think they have all the answers.

[britomart-is.livejournal.com]

*hug*
People are idiots.

[kitanabychoice.livejournal.com]

*hugs* I haven't been unemployed in a while but I definitely remember what it was like when I was searching and couldn't find *anything*. I hate when people talk about stuff when they have no idea how it is to live like anything except the privileged.

[ninhursag.livejournal.com]

Just to echo everyone else, I think that people who are so damned snotty about taking a job, any job have never been through the hell of spending months (or years!) looking fruitlessly.

My dad got laid off from his engineering job at 55 and just... forget it. Nothing out there for him. He sent out so many resumes, it was a sick, sad joke. People who don't get what the job market is these days just have their head buried in the sand to a degree that is unfathomable.

[rosebee.livejournal.com]

Depression sucks, and being unemployed & looking for work also sucks.

{{{hugs}}}

My brother-in-law was unemployed for close to a year, finally got a job as a traveling tool salesman (no joke!). That company fired him after 6 months when he wasn't "meeting expectations" (in the wintertime... people buy those kinds of tools in the spring, not the winter). Was unemployed for several more months before finally landing a job with redbox going around and restocking the machines & redistributing the discs.

[lupin-spirit.livejournal.com]

It is so glaringly obvious that so many of these people have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. It's so obvious that I don't understand how even they can fail to see that.

I was on unemployed for just 3 months last spring and it was awful. And the fact is, I was only unemployed for 3 months because I got lucky AND the job I accepted was only part-time. It will eventually lead to full-time, but in the meantime I am trying to support myself and two kids on a part-time job and unreliable childsupport. And when it comes down to it I am actually making less working then I was collecting in unemployment.

[fufaraw]

I want to put fidiots like those in the same spot--lose your job, and find one that pays your rent or mortgage puts gas in your car, and food on your table. Forfend if you have meds to afford, or a chronic condition that needs monitoring, and your insurance evaporated with your last job. People who haven't experienced a hardship should STFU about those who have and are doing.

And also? Medical students and doctors should have to undergo every test they order for their patients so they know how it feels. And they should spend a minimum of seven days every three to four years as a patient, eating hospital food and being woken to take their sleeping pills. Entitled stoopidheads, the lot of them.

[tabularassa.livejournal.com]

The comments on all those articles truly reveal how ignorant society is. They piss me off SO much, I stopped reading. Chin up, darling. They are just a bunch of ignorant assholes.

<3