Well, I had a feeling it was going to come to this. After two and a half months of being, technically, Temporarily Laid Off, I found out today that my status is now Unemployed. Period. There just hasn’t been enough work at my job two keep a three-person shop busy and, as the employee with the least seniority, I was first in line for the axe. What makes matters worse is I can’t even be mad at my employer. He has been doing his best to drum up enough work to avoid having to do this and I’m certain it distressed him quite a bit to give me the news. Almost as much as it distressed me to hear it. I blame it all on the Bush administration. Our economy is in the toilet and Bush and his cronies are getting filthy rich (or filthy richer. Filthier rich? Filthier richier?) as a result. All that money gushing out of the US Treasury to fight an illegal war (or two or three) is somehow (yeah, somehow) finding its way in to the pockets of the Bush family and their pals. Why not just take our money and skip the killing part? That would be more honest. “Hi, I have more money than I can actually spend and I want yours, too.” Of course, no one has ever accused them of being honest. I don’t see it getting better any time soon, either. (Pygalgia, whose blog is well worth reading, posted this article and this article about how BushCo has negatively effected the US economy and the global repercussions.) It could be turned around. We could invest in taking care of people at home rather than in killing people overseas, but that would be anti-American. We could have an equitable tax structure so the wealthy paid their fair share of the tax burden, but if the rich have to pay taxes, then the terrorists have already won. I’d better be careful or people might think I’m a (gasp!) .... Socialist! We have to kill people so we can bring them democracy!
I'm sure things will work out, for me, anyway. There are people in the world who have much larger problems. No one is bombing my city. I'm not going to starve any time soon. There are people that care about me. I will find some kind of job, but right now the coefficient of despair is pretty high.
11 comments:
Ed,
I'm so sorry...and I can also relate. We live in a culture in which profession is equated with general life value.
CEO = valuable
Cleaning person = not valuable
Unemployed = invisible
Wrong. Please remember during this time that your value comes from your huge heart, your love of Hungarian boots, your magical creativity with music, your incredible parenting skills, your respect for nature, and your willingness to do the right thing in the face of such indignities and injustices as we see today.
Your profession - butcher, baker, candlestick maker -- is merely a fleck of soot on the sleeve of your humanity.
Thank you, Caroline. Knowing that there are people like you around makes it easier, and I am aware that you have been dealing with similar issues. Unfortunately, the societal expectations are difficult to overcome and then there's that money thing...
But, I have friends like you and Transylvanian boots, to boot! Let's play some music!
Blame Jo-ji.
1. Sorry
2. Imagine that we were still floating on a peace dividend rather than credit from China. The loss is so vast.
3. If I see you busking on State Street I'll toss in a quarter. ;^] (Say, my f.i.l. told me he knew a guy who claimed to make 80k a year as a busker half time here/half time Florida.)
4. Do you teach music?
As someone was a victim of many layoffs, I feel your pain. I also agree with your assesment of the Crook in Chief. Best of luck finding work.
Hey, thanks for the link. I, too, am now unemployed, and it carries a lot of stress. We'll see what happens.
I'm sorry.
Thanks to everyone who has expressed their condolences. I appreciate the thoughts from all of you.
Jess: I've never tried busking. Solo bass doesn't seem to busk well. I'm working on my guitar skills, though, so that might be an option to explore. I have never taught and didn't learn to play in a normal fashion, but I have begun to think more seriously about teaching.
Pygalgia: I hope things work out for you as well and the stress doesn't get to be more than you can bear.
I'm sorry about this. A measure of your big heart was that you took Poodledoc, Jr to see Enter the Haggus Wednesday night. It meant a lot to him (and to me) that you took him, especially in the wake of this lay-off. You have a lot of friends that will support you through this time. Poodledoc, Jr loved the show and you rose even higher in his esteem because of it. Thanks. He thinks you are cool. High praise from a 13 year old.
Thanks, PoodleDoc.
Most 13-year olds would find someone my age to be invisible. I am touched. I'm also glad he enjoyed it. I don't know if he realizes that the opportunity to see those guys from so close is a rare opportunity. He'll be able to brag about it later.
I'm attempting to post a "review" of the show, but Blogger is messing with my photo upload attempts. Soon, I hope.
My husband got laid off a few years ago- it was awful for a while. Then, he took a few months off with unemployment and was able to take his time finding a new job.
While money was tight, it was nice that he let himself relax a bit and not jump into another job that he hated.
Hopefully this will end up being a blessing in disguise for you...
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