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I really, really hate unemployment rules
Dec. 13th, 2012 05:05 pmI have been working since I was 16. Other than taking time off for graduate school (I worked through undergrad), I have pretty much worked continuously. I'll be 59 in a few of weeks and I have been unemployed since April. I have been paying unemployment insurance into the system for forty years.
Why does the State feel the need to treat me like a scofflaw? They scheduled a "mandatory review" to which I was supposed to report... the day after my surgery. I spent two days trying to phone the California EDD (a futile exercise) and then drove over to the office where my meeting was supposed to be. They said, "No, it can't be rescheduled. You just have to miss it and then explain why." I said "I have everything right here, I can do it now, even." No deal. They suggest sending an email via the EDD website. I do so.
So I go away and get my throat cut open. They send me another letter giving me a new appointment, four days after the previous one. I am still lying there doped up and bloody well unable to drive. I miss that one too. So then they send me a third, this one a telephone interview for 12/12. Great. I have all my stuff together, I sit by the phone all day (despite their 8am-10am window specified) and they don't call me. I was going to go back and visit them today but between tradespeople and still feeling like crap, I didn't make it. Manana.
And during this whole process I am told that it is mandatory that I apply for at least three jobs a week. I am a skilled knowledge worker in a specialized field. There are not three jobs a week for which to reasonably apply. So I think I finally understand why every position gets hundreds of bogus applications. People don't have a choice!
So far this week I applied for an actual job that I would like to get an interview and find out more about that is for a company doing very cool things. And I applied for a "communications" job at the Santa Clara Public Library system for which I am not in the least qualified. But hey, it is at least in a library system. One more day to come up with a third job. I could apply for an open job at Stanford Law Library but it requires a JD as well as an MLS and I don't want people at Stanford to think I'm an idiot in case a job opens up there for which I *am* qualified.
WTF is a person of principles and integrity to do? Gods, I wish I was old enough to retire with a pension. Or rich, rich would do.
Why does the State feel the need to treat me like a scofflaw? They scheduled a "mandatory review" to which I was supposed to report... the day after my surgery. I spent two days trying to phone the California EDD (a futile exercise) and then drove over to the office where my meeting was supposed to be. They said, "No, it can't be rescheduled. You just have to miss it and then explain why." I said "I have everything right here, I can do it now, even." No deal. They suggest sending an email via the EDD website. I do so.
So I go away and get my throat cut open. They send me another letter giving me a new appointment, four days after the previous one. I am still lying there doped up and bloody well unable to drive. I miss that one too. So then they send me a third, this one a telephone interview for 12/12. Great. I have all my stuff together, I sit by the phone all day (despite their 8am-10am window specified) and they don't call me. I was going to go back and visit them today but between tradespeople and still feeling like crap, I didn't make it. Manana.
And during this whole process I am told that it is mandatory that I apply for at least three jobs a week. I am a skilled knowledge worker in a specialized field. There are not three jobs a week for which to reasonably apply. So I think I finally understand why every position gets hundreds of bogus applications. People don't have a choice!
So far this week I applied for an actual job that I would like to get an interview and find out more about that is for a company doing very cool things. And I applied for a "communications" job at the Santa Clara Public Library system for which I am not in the least qualified. But hey, it is at least in a library system. One more day to come up with a third job. I could apply for an open job at Stanford Law Library but it requires a JD as well as an MLS and I don't want people at Stanford to think I'm an idiot in case a job opens up there for which I *am* qualified.
WTF is a person of principles and integrity to do? Gods, I wish I was old enough to retire with a pension. Or rich, rich would do.
