Waiting for unemployment: a dehumanizing experience at the unemployment office

[Hannah Bell]

SWALLOWING BUCKETS of pride, I walked into the unemployment office for first time, after a month-long job search that began when the bar I was managing shut down.

Every seat was filled, and the line of those waiting to sit, streamed out the door. All age groups and ethnic backgrounds were well represented. The eyes of the unemployed were glazed over with embarrassment, resentment and fear. In spite of what was brewing below the skin, there was an odd, civilized, almost eerie silence hanging in this room with bone white walls, rigid blue plastic chairs, florescent lights and grey linoleum floor.

Two women in their mid-sixties, one with silver hair and red-rimmed glasses and the other in an orange silk blouse, were stationed behind high-chaired desks fielding the frustrations of the standing-room-only crowd, by number.

After taking my ticket, I found a spot in the corner next to the Pepsi machine. Number 80 was called, and I looked to my left and saw someone holding ticket 169.

I asked the woman to my right how long she had been waiting, and she said, "Two hours." She was holding 133 and pointed to the phone number, posted in big, black print on the wall, recommending we call the IDES (Illinois Department of Employment Security) hotline for updates on claims. She said, "The number has been connecting to a busy signal, nonstop, for a week."

http://socialistworker.org/2010/10/19/waiting-for-unemployment

[murielm99]

1. If you go through IDES, you can do your

application online and bring everything with you. It simplifies everything. My husband was laid off several times over the summer. We did it that way, and it made things faster. They have computers there that people can use, too. At least they did in the office we went to. I went with my husband, because he is not very skilled on the computer. See if you can get some information about doing things that way.

I don't know where you went, but they were very nice to us. There were even some people using computers to find jobs online and to fill out job applications.

[Hamlette]

4. thanks!

I think we were cross posting. I work at the UI office in a different state but there is much uniformity throughout the country. I don't understand why anyone would wait at the office. Makes no sense.

I'm glad your experience was not made worse by the UI office.

[Hannah Bell]

7. "The number has been connecting to a busy signal, nonstop, for a week."

[Hamlette]

27. you can also file online n/t

[Hannah Bell]

31. To be eligible for unemployment benefits..

you must also register for work two to three business days
before your first call to MARVIN by filing your resume with the Michigan Talent Bank and by reporting to your local Michigan Works! Agency service center.

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/uia_ClmUnempBenFactSh...

[Hamlette]

2. I'm calling bullshit on this article

Says this is Michigan which like most (all?) states allows you to file a claim online or over the telephone. I don't know why anyone would go wait for 2 hours.

Federal regulations require a UI decision be issued by the end of the week after the claim was filed so between 7 and 12 days.

I don't know of any UI office where the phones have been busy for a week. Before we got new lines installed for this recession the wait could be as much as an hour but never went over 1.5 hours. We actually track all that stuff, because the feds make us. (and the feds pay all the bills so we do what they say)

States also get paid per case so there is no reason not to hire new ppl and we have, all of us have.

There are a few states with problems in they system (appeals in California for instance) but most offices work very hard. And we feel guilty for complaining because we have jobs and our customers don't, its been a long 2 years for those of us in those offices too and at least in my state, we've worked our butts off. (My secretary will lose nearly 400 hours of comp and vacation time this year because she's not been able to take time off due to a tripling of our case load....as an example.) I don't want to take anything away from this guys experience but I don't believe it.

Why didn't he call in his claim, or do it on the Internet (we are required to have computers and help available at all our offices for that purpose and for preparing resumes etc.)

[PVnRT]

14. In Indiana, you still have to actually show up at least once to sign some things

After that, it's all by phone. So, no, it's not bullshit, and, yes, it is incredibly humiliating to be standing in line there.

[napi21]

3. There's absolutely no reason for you to feel dehumanized or

embarrassed! I had to collect unemployment twice in my working life. Once during the Reagan recession & once during the booming years of Clinton. Remember, YOU pay into the unemployment insurance fund and although we all hope we will never need to use it, the same with any insurance, you paid your premiums & deserve the meager checks. The interviewers I had to deal with were very nice and I appreciated their services. I managed both times to get a job on my own efforts and you will too. Meanwhile,, collect the money you paid the premiums for.

[Hamlette]

5. actually, you do not pay into unemployment, employers pay it

3 states have a contribution for employees but it funds different things and is very small (in NH for instance, the employee portion pays for a disability policy, in PA it is only charged when the reserve is low and Alaska is the other state but I'm not too familiar with that program. If you live in the other 47 states you paid not one penny.

I still agree you should not feel embarrassed.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

13. Wrong! Your employer does not pay for shit!

If your labor does not produce a revenue stream IN EXCESS of what it costs your employer to employ you INCLUDING THE COST OF UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE, you don't keep your job.

Your employer MIGHT dig into his own pocket to pay for the company X-mas party but beyond that the capital comes either directly or indirectly from YOUR labor. In fact, even the money for the X-mas party comes from the collective fruits of the labor of the employees.

[Lochloosa]

15. +100000000000000000000

[Lochloosa]

16. +100000000000000000000

[Javaman]

23. +infinity.

You are so right!

So many people have this bizarre belief as to how unemployment works.

Thank you!

[Hannah Bell]

6. i didn't write the article, i just posted it.

[Hamlette]

28. didn't mean to imply

which is why I called BS on the article, not on you :)

[slackmaster]

8. People in Michigan have to actually go somewhere in person to file a UI claim?

The last time I had to do that in California was over 20 years ago.

[Hannah Bell]

9. To be eligible for unemployment benefits..you must also register for work two to three business days

before your first call to MARVIN by filing your resume with the Michigan Talent Bank and by reporting to your local Michigan Works! Agency service center.

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/uia_ClmUnempBenFactSheet36English_76381_7.pdf

[Hannah Bell]

10. dupe

[Hekate]

11. It scarcely seems dehumanizing. It sounds like the two intake workers have the patience of saints...

There obviously aren't enough intake workers and yet, 'The women in the red glasses must have said, "I understand" two dozen times.' I'm sure the author of this article would have let us know had she been sarcastic or raised her voice, and yet he reports, "I can't take it any longer and get up to leave."

Everything he relays is slanted. One of the intake workers leaves on break after several hours -- is she not entitled to go to the bathroom, grab a cup of coffee, maybe smoke a cigarette? But it's reported as though it's a deliberate slight to those still waiting.

It's interesting that several of the posters here have attested to the ease with which a person can obtain service by going online. We don't know why this man didn't do that, but perhaps the "buckets of pride" he swallowed had something to do with his decision to further exacerbate his feelings of resentment by going where he would have to wait half a day for his number to come up.

My sympathies to all unemployed, because it is terrifying and embarrassing and a host of other negative feelings. But we do have a system of unemployment insurance in this country, and under the Obama administration the benefits have been extended. He needs to get the process underway immediately so he can start getting unemployment checks soon. The longer he waits -- he indicates he'll use up savings first -- the more likely he'll have a big empty gap with no money at all, and it won't be the fault of the two elderly women trying to process his paperwork. He needs to get over himself, pack a lunch and take a book if he's going to return to the waiting room; also remember to not park at the Burger King under the sign that says non-customers will be towed.

My sister's job was outsourced more than once, and she didn't sit on her butt reading Revolutionary Rehearsals. She did her paperwork, jumped through the hoops, and got money coming in; she also looked for a new job, which is something everyone is required to do -- but hey, that's the point: you *want* a new job, and good luck in your search.

Hekate

[GoCubsGo]

17. The ones I dealt with were great

They knew the circumstances of my lay-off, and were as disgusted with my former employers as I was. My only issue with them was that some of them were a bit overly-helpful. It was as if they didn't think anyone could handle filling out information on the computer. On the other hand, I suspect that they were not as used to dealing with people who had multiple college degrees at that point. Up until the past few years, they probably had to deal with mostly people laid off from manufacturing jobs.

[Hekate]

32. Sounds like my sis. They wanted to "retrain" her for a clerical position & she was an engineer

She has a degree in computer engineering; many years later she became a technical writer. Although she once subbed for her SIL as a bookkeeper/accountant and enjoyed it, she likes her original career choices. She now works from home, but in her last office job as a tech writer they gave her a team in India to supervise and finally outsourced her job too. "Welcome to America. Now train your replacement."

Hekate

[Hamlette]

29. + infinity (as they say)

and thanks for posting this. You express my reaction far more eloquently.

[quaker bill]

12. Two and a half days

waiting for food stamps in 1975. Not pleasant, but necessary.

[Odin2005]

18. My God, that could be my mom!

She was the manager of a VFW, until it closed down last weekend. :cry:

[blindpig]

19. It always did suck

gotta double suck now.

[slackmaster]

21. I had to do that (go in person) several times earlier in my career

This thread reminded me of an ironic line from the movie Office Space, where Tom, the inventor of the Jump to Conclusions mat, contemplates with dread "Just the thought of having to go to the State Unemployment Office and having to stand in line with those scumbags!!!"

[BlueGirlRedState]

20. In Texas, it's all done on-line

I've been unemployed since July 1. I registered online and must do a minimum of three job search activities a week. I request my payment online and it is direct deposited every two weeks. The only time I had to go to the WorkForce Center was for a mandatory 1 hour "workshop" about two months after I was laid off. At the workshop, we toured the building to see what resources are available, including computers, classes and day care. I have to log my work search activities on a piece of paper at home, and they have the option to request them at any time. (So far, they haven't.)

Texas screws up a lot, but they seem to be doing this right.

[Whisp]

22. I'm not sure what the point of your post is?

Yes, unemployment sucks, for everyone. Breaking News.

And no, some things in that story seem to not be accurate according to some knowledgeable people here.

Was it that the phone didn't work for a week? Well, must have been Obama in the back lane cutting the wires then.

[Javaman]

24. I would bring a good book.

No reason to feel "dehumanized" it's our damn money.

I wish more people would get that through their thick skulls.

[Statistical]

25. At least in VA you can do the entire thing online.

When I was younger (over a decade ago) I went to the VEC (Virginia Employment Comission) in person. It was horrible.

The next time I was unemployed I did everything online. Checks arrived on time. The forms were easy to fill out. I would never under any circumstances ever go in person again.

[FirstLight]

26. The welfare office, OTOH,

is where the experience is *really* horrid. I'm with you guys, the article seems a little overdramatic and skewed..

[Hamlette]

30. true about the welfare office

in large part because of the requirement of a face to face in the food stamp regs. Our state recently got a waiver and you can apply online now. First in the nation. It's only been up for a few months but no problems so far.