It Begins...

It begins and I have just been reminded that today also begins the Chinese New Year. 2009 is the year of the Ox. First thing that comes to mind is work and that does seem to be the general idea, well respected hard work. Canada's Global News reports that the new US President Obama was born in the Year of the Ox. Well respected hard work. Hard work. Work...

I am out of work. For the first time in 24 years, I filed for Unemployment Benefits today. I went out into the bitterly cold January afternoon in the Detroit area in a state that has a higher than 10% unemployment rate and registered for work with the State of Michigan. You would think the place would be packed - on a Monday, no less - but it wasn't. There were about 10 contestants in the small office besides my husband and me. We even sat together without too much of a problem. I thought most of the applicants were there just to go through the motions, but listening in on some conversations revealed people who were ready and interested in work. That lifted my spirits.

My husband showed me where the office was located. It was not in a high traffic area and would be easy to miss. Apparently, one must sign up for work in order to qualify for benefits. I wanted to sign up anyway. Our bank account is overdrawn. I have a bizarre feeling that I am responsible for my entire household. Bizarre because that is not the usual order of things, I suppose, and because it makes me feel better to call it bizarre - then if I accomplish supporting the household, it's really something! (As opposed to just another day). But it is just another day and I have not yet accomplished it...I am still working on it! (Thank God for b in pig Latin).

I did everything quickly and was really well organized. I signed in rather than printing - oops. First, you are asked to fill out your resume by hand, writing with a pen! This felt completely useless and I kept wondering who in the world would be trying to decipher the handwriting of all of these people...no one seemed to be looking at forms where I was... I realized this is a point in the process where people may struggle and give up. It's funny how these things are set up to present additional struggles for people who are already struggling. I cannot imagine who would give up during this portion, but I can picture someone without a face getting frustrated and storming off, declaring this as a useless waste of time. I was beginning to think that perhaps our little area was so far behind the times there was no hope they could help me get another job!

That is when someone led me into the next room, a room filled with computers (thank goodness!). Here, I was directed to just follow the prompts and post my resume online. Really? Didn't I just handwrite my resume for you - which, by the way, I also brought printed on perky chartreuse paper. Make no waves. Right. Enter it online, of course. Could I have done this from home? No. You MUST come into the office the first time. Agree and be agreeable. Smile and nod. Sit down and begin typing. I proceeded to now type everything I had just handwritten from looking off my perfect little chartreuse printed resume. I was not in the least bothered by this and I think it's because I had already figured out that this is just another opportunity for me to give up my rights to benefits. The online resume even asked for the same information 3 times and when finished, I printed out my resume, which bore a resemblance to my original chartreuse resume, but was not as nice or detailed. Must have been the repetition.

Now here is a funny thing. The office closes at 4:30 pm and we had arrived at 3 pm. You have never seen more relieved people than those tidying up my information around 4:10 pm. When you arrive, they have no way of determining whether you will be quick or slow, smooth or wrought with problems. I also shared with them that I had not filed in over 20 years, a frightening fact for someone looking at her work clock on Monday afternoon. There is something about a government office that makes it run more efficiently when it is close, but reasonably near closing and we took advantage of that fact.

Tomorrow I will write a little about my last employer who decided that beginning Jan. 1st, they would stop paying people, and we were still welcome to come in on Sat. as a purely volunteer effort. Interesting, no?