Originally posted by jcheckers
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OK Fat Boys, you can officially remove me from the ranks of the unemployed. As of yesterday, two years to the day that I first became unemployed, I was offered and accepted a job with the Marriot Corporation in Norman. This is not one of those barely above minimum wage jobs that have become the norm in this economic downturn, this is a good paying Living Wage type of job with excellent benefits.
The past two years have been difficult but could have been worse. I had been unemployed for 18 out of the last 24 months and while the unemployment checks help with the bills, being unemployed ain't no vacation. Things would have been much worse for us if we hadn't paid our home off in May of 2008. You cut back on everything and still lay in bed many nights worrying about what will happen when the UI runs out. Will you end up going through your retirement account? Will you have to sell the home you've lived in for 30 years and become a month to month renter again?
I've seen some members on here who consider UI as welfare and for some it might be so. But not me, you see I'm part of a group of millions of unemployed Americans who are in their 50's and are considered by many companies as too old to be employed but at the same time I'm too young to retire and begin to draw from a retirement account without penalty and too young to draw Social Security. While age discrimination is against Federal Law, of the dozens of jobs I've applied for in the past two years only two even asked for my birthdate, age discrimination is Alive and Well in corporate America. All they have to do is look at your education on your resume and then do the math. Many people will say "Well I would take a job at McDonalds or WalMart or whatever." Let me tell you something Billy, just cause you're looking for a job don't mean McDonalds will hire you. It's hard to not be bitter about the prospect of taking a minimum wage job just to try and survive without losing everything you've worked all your life for at 3 times the minimum wage.
I knew I was going to interview for a third time for this job and felt good about my prospects, when I filed my weekly UI claim last Sunday morning and I asked the Lord to please let that be the last time I ever have to file a UI claim in my life. Hopefully with God willing it will be so.
I still have to go through the background check and drug test. I'm not worried about the background check but will have to study up for the drug test cause I haven't used dope in over 20 years...
The past two years have been difficult but could have been worse. I had been unemployed for 18 out of the last 24 months and while the unemployment checks help with the bills, being unemployed ain't no vacation. Things would have been much worse for us if we hadn't paid our home off in May of 2008. You cut back on everything and still lay in bed many nights worrying about what will happen when the UI runs out. Will you end up going through your retirement account? Will you have to sell the home you've lived in for 30 years and become a month to month renter again?
I've seen some members on here who consider UI as welfare and for some it might be so. But not me, you see I'm part of a group of millions of unemployed Americans who are in their 50's and are considered by many companies as too old to be employed but at the same time I'm too young to retire and begin to draw from a retirement account without penalty and too young to draw Social Security. While age discrimination is against Federal Law, of the dozens of jobs I've applied for in the past two years only two even asked for my birthdate, age discrimination is Alive and Well in corporate America. All they have to do is look at your education on your resume and then do the math. Many people will say "Well I would take a job at McDonalds or WalMart or whatever." Let me tell you something Billy, just cause you're looking for a job don't mean McDonalds will hire you. It's hard to not be bitter about the prospect of taking a minimum wage job just to try and survive without losing everything you've worked all your life for at 3 times the minimum wage.
I knew I was going to interview for a third time for this job and felt good about my prospects, when I filed my weekly UI claim last Sunday morning and I asked the Lord to please let that be the last time I ever have to file a UI claim in my life. Hopefully with God willing it will be so.
I still have to go through the background check and drug test. I'm not worried about the background check but will have to study up for the drug test cause I haven't used dope in over 20 years...
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