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Edited on Thu Oct-14-10 12:45 AM by ChoppinBroccoli
...........and thanks to Bushonomics, a few years ago I found MYSELF having to file for unemployment benefits. So I can tell this blowhard first-hand that what he's saying is unequivocally WRONG.
First of all, I had to fill out a lengthy form explaining why I needed unemployment. This is where most people give up. Then they send the form to your former employer for them to respond. Then your former employer has a right to have a hearing on whether or not you're even entitled to unemployment. And after that hearing, they're entitled to a SECOND hearing, and then appeals after that if they're really dead-set on not paying you any money. A good percentage of the time, applicants get denied at Stage 1, just on principal (I guess they want to see if you want it badly enough to appeal their denial or something--mainly because most people aren't savvy enough to even TRY to appeal the ruling). And that just gets you to Step 2.
In Step 2, you are told that in exchange for the pittance you're about to receive, which is usually about enough to get you a package of bologna and some day-old Wonder bread to eat for the month, you are required to actively seek work and actually go out on 2 job interviews PER WEEK. You're even given cards to take with you to the interviews. These cards say the name and address of the business where you are claiming to have interviewed, and the person who interviews you has to sign your card, verifying that you were there (and THAT'S not embarrassing or anything, is it?) And if you don't turn in your cards, or you can't verify that you've gone to the requisite number of interviews, guess what happens. You don't get your pittance.
So here I am, twenty-something years old, 3 years removed from law school, figuring I've got the world by the balls, and all of a sudden I'm unemployed, there are no jobs, and now I have to go begging for governmental assistance. Talk about a slap in the face. The people who claim that everyone on government assistance is a "Welfare Queen" who's fat and happy doing nothing but living on the dole has obviously never had to face the shame of simply walking into that building and asking for the form just to START the process, let alone all the indignations you have to suffer thereafter.
But that wasn't even the worst part of the story. The worst part is the end. What ended up happening was just as I was about to start receiving benefits, they called me and told me that based on my former employer's statement and their subsequent investigation, I had been fired "for cause," and was therefore not eligible to receive benefits, so it was basically, "F you and goodbye."
So there I was, Bachelor's degree, Law Degree, 3 years of experience practicing law, and if I hadn't had loving parents with the financial wherewithal to support me, there is absolutely no question that I would have been homeless. That's why it really upsets me to hear all these A-holes born with silver spoons up their asses talking about how all you have to do to make it is work hard, and that people who are poor deserve to be poor because they're lazy, undisciplined, stupid, drug-addicted, or just generally wastes of human flesh. It almost happened to me, and there wasn't a damn thing more I could have done to play by their playbook.
So if you happen to run into that guy again give him a big "F You" from me. Pompous, self-righteous prick.
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