"Confessions of a Former Liberal Democrat"

[salsa]

salsa, I've had friends who were continually unemployed. The problem is no one wanted to hire someone with a master's degree to be a barista at Starbucks! It was so peculiar. One of my friends had previous food handling experience and not even a call back. I have a friend who is going through the same thing right now. She has a PhD and is applying high and low for jobs. No one wants to hire someone with a PhD to be a waitress. At some point I think she's going to have to lie about her degrees. I've been lucky to have not have much of a problem with getting work.

And to the blogger. No radical feminists didn't make you do anything. YOU made yourself do the things. Take some personal responsibility for yourself and your actions.

Yes, That.

I've been fortunate. I have a Master's Degree, too, and I found a cashier's job within a month - about 3 weeks from my official "leave" date from my career. It's a dead-end position, but I can count on my hours and the place is great, with no drama and since the schedule is permanent, I could look for another position and found one, about 2 weeks after that. Then last Spring, I got in with another place. I don't always stay as busy as I'd like, but sometimes I'm too busy! Only the one job promises any real advancement, and even that is so-so (but it's doing something I really love doing and now that I have my foot in the door....) Maybe people feel sorrier for single moms or something.

Even still, in the poor economy of the 80's, I never had much problem finding low-level jobs (before I was married and had children). It was getting into the entry-level professional jobs that was hard for me. Maybe I just have the look of "hourly worker."

[salsa]

Part of it is that people who had well-paying jobs usually had bills to go along with that. Even if they weren't living at the absolute outside edge of their means, if they go for the McDonald's gig (and that's assuming it's available and willing to hire them, which isn't always the case) often they can't make their existing bills (mortgage is a big one) with that drastic a reduction of salary. So the logical thing to do is wait for something closer in salary to come along, because often it will. If you take a cheap job and then the better job comes along, then what? (Well, quit the cheap job, but of course that's why the cheap job isn't about to hire you in the first place because they know that's likely to happen.)

So it's a question of when to cut losses, when to start selling stuff, when to sell off the house (if anyone buys it) etc. What if it means taking a loss on your house? You're free now, so that's great, but what if you do that and then next month a gig that would have allowed you to keep it comes along? Heck, when do you decide to up and move across the country? But that means losing your support networks...

Of course some money is better than no money, but there's unemployment insurance... I can't blame people for waiting.

I do think in a case where it's gone on for years, then obviously the supports for "wait and see" would have been exhausted by then and probably any foreclosures or bankruptcies (and thus a reboot) would have already happened for her, but.

I suppose this is why the advice is to always sit on a savings account that you can live (with your CURRENT bills) for six months while you see what happens.

THAT I can understand. Though I had a professional career, it wasn't exactly a money-maker.

I fielded plenty of inquiries about how long I would stay and I can't blame employers for being reticent. Still, few people stay very long in hourly-wage jobs; the turn-over is often 6 months! In my case, I could honestly say that I wasn't interested in going back into my profession for some time.

I don't knof if McD's is harder to get into than Harvard, but I flunked the on-line test and never got my application forwarded to the places I was contacting. Those stupid on-line tests that pre-screen! Some of the scenarios are dumb.

edited because I do know past vs past-perfect tenses.

[hellishfairy]

Salsa, thank you for saying what I was thinking during this woman's entire self-pity eyes-welled-up with tears diatribe: A job is a freaking job is a job is a job. It may be 30 minutes away, may not pay well or be your dream job but it's a JOB and that's a start.

Apparently it is none of our business, but she lives off of her 'savings'. Savings? Savings. Seriously? For FOUR YEARS? THAT'S why you said that you are living with your parents and getting help from them, darling. That is NOT living off of your savings in the world that I was brought up in - that's called living rent free at mom and dad's while fucking around, spending your money on what you want to spend it on. Apparently my husband needs to become unemployed and we need to move in with his widowed mother because it seems like you can live of of your 'savings' an AWFUL long time that way. And, as one of the comments on her post said, if she is now 'self employed' - SHE NOW HAS A JOB (DUH).

First of all, I would REALLY like to hear what your definition of 'feminism' is, because to quote Rebecca West:

'I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.' - So please, dear Harder World, explain to me what box a 'feminist' fits into because Rebecca West, a woman with a far sharper mind at the age of 90 when she died than you seem to possess being 40 -50 or so years younger that she was when she made this statement couldn't even figure it out. And she had a by far less entitled, more broad perspective of the world than what New JERSEY affords one.

Feminism and the pursuit of your career caused you to not have a family? Darling, I have two Bachelor's Degrees (got the second one in a misguided attempt to please my mother, but hey - I GOT IT), and managed to have three children, get married, and in general have healthy familial relationships - all while working and going to school at the same time. Up until I became unemployed due to DISABILITY a little over 4 years ago I was actually working up to 60 hours per week, coming home and screaming in pain - AND STILL HAD TIME FOR MY FAMILY. This seems to be a terminal case of Shitty Personality Syndrome - nothing more, nothing less. No one who protests as much as you have claimed to, in my experience, tends to have a healthy outlook on life - most professional protesters I have found, tend to do it for the attention that they get from it, and to fill a huge void in their lives, not because of the cause that they are supporting. I have also found that people who swing so dramatically from one view point in life to the other such as you have tend to do it because the initial view point that they were so dead set against seems to be the easier way out. You now idealize the '50's as the time that you would have preferred to live in because, during the '50's women were pretty well taken care of and were mostly expected to take care of the home. But again, it still wouldn't have mattered in this case, because back then, your job interview for that position (aka 'dating', 'engagement' and 'marriage') would still have required you have an personality that was more agreeable than the one that you seem to possess.

As far as the 18th of September's 'bizarre' job requirement of calling the job recruiter in another state for a call center job, having to take a typing test, work weekends, holidays and evenings and do it all for a little more than minimum wage for a job half an hour a way (that I can mentally see you stomping up and down and screaming at the top of your lungs 'but that's not FAIR! Why should I HAVE TO DO THAT? I'M SPECIAL!') that requires a credit check, and GOD FORBID references - here's an update, cupcake, and I want you to read this very, very slowly so that it sinks in for you:

1. Many companies have an HR department that ONLY work in another State, my husband's included - and he works for a company that is VERY well known in the anti-virus software world. Many companies also hire third parties (including temp agencies) as HR these days to vet future employees. Why? Because they have the expertise in such matters, are cheaper to hire then retain an internal department, and provide better new hires - PERIOD.

2. You have been 'unemployed' for 4+ years. You are now starting at the bottom of the barrel and working up. You get to start where all of the High School students have to start - because you have realistically been absent from the employment market as a whole and the world changes fast. No one is going to show up on your doorstep out of the blue and say, 'Hey, I heard you were a AWESOME person to work with, want a job?' This means that you get to do all of the steps that an entry level Customer Service agent has to do - INCLUDING the common step of submitting to a credit and/or background check. Because, honestly, when I WAS hiring people for that type of position, it was pretty common even then (think 6 - 7 years ago) for reputable CS agent companies to require this, because the last thing that the company wants is the liability of you, the employee using customer information for purposes of identity theft or worse. Leading me to question why it is that you would be ashamed to give a list of professional references. Surely there is at least ONE person that you haven't pissed off that you used to work with.

3. Many of these steps are actually in place to see how well you can follow directions and how willing you are to actually WORK for your job. On both fronts you failed. Period. And if you aren't willing to fight to get a job that you don't really WANT, then what in the HELL makes you think that you will stick around in a relationship after the first fight over an activity that you don't want to go to but your husband/partner does? Get a clue.

4. As you seem to be a healthy woman who (apparently) has plenty of time to be blogging at oh-dark-thirty in the morning on a MONDAY v. sleeping and then getting up at the crack of dawn to FIND a job, might I suggest something? If you are ACTUALLY SERIOUS about getting a job and being self sufficient, try looking for A job, ANY JOB, and taking TWO of them until you find a job that you actually can support yourself on singularly. Like you mentioned - you have no family to interface with other than your parents - at this point, if you are really serious about working, you don't need a social life - you obviously can't AFFORD one anyhow.

5. How is it that you can, in one breath say that you know of a neighbor who went to teaching college and now can not find a job as anything other than an aide who works on contract, and then, in a response to a comment on your latest post say that you may go to school to train to be a teacher? Reality check time - if the neighbor you have who went to college TO TEACH can't find a position what makes YOU think YOU can with your obviously lacking personality? If you aren't willing to travel half an hour to a CS job, that pays $9 an hour, then why on EARTH do you think you would willingly go into a profession that does not pay a lot of money, often requires you to shell money out of your own pocket to stock supplies for your students, and MOST CERTAINLY has such 'bizarre' requirements such as long hours, the requirement to work on the weekends, holidays and evenings doing such menial things as grading papers and preparing lesson plans (not to mention that if you are sick, you also will have to arrange for a substitute and give them a lesson plan at the crack of dawn), and would require *gasp* a list of referrals. I call total bullshit on that line of logic. And don't tell me that you would go in under the training program that encourages people with a degree to start teaching - because then you would most likely find yourself working at one of those schools that you detest with those African-American and Hispanic students (who may or may not speak English - and no, you can't say CRAP about it to the student, TYVM) that you have made clear you look down on like they are less than human in an inter-city school - most likely even farther away from your house than the call center was. But good luck with that - I'll belive it when I see your certificate of completion AND a copy of your first pay check that you get. And even then, I feel bad for the poor kids that you were to wind up teaching. The world needs GOOD teachers who CARE and don't JUDGE their students - not another apathetic, entitled asshole like you who seems to think that teaching is an 'easy' job.

Lady, you are SO full of rainbows, unicorns and bullshit that it gives Michelle Duggar a run for her money.

*edited because my original spelling and grammar left something to be desired in my mind*

[Maggie Mae]

I'm so confused. In the post here: http://harderworld.com/2012/04/06/confe ... -democrat/ she said she is 41.

Here: http://harderworld.com/2012/09/23/throwing-the-race/ she seems to be closer to 51

On the "Confessions" post she mentions how she wants family, but here: http://harderworld.com/2011/06/26/unemployed-again/ she talks about her son.

[Sola]

I'm not 100% sure but I think there is more than one contributor to that blog.

[emmiedahl]

Yeah, if you look each post says who it is written by. The main contributor (and the craziest) is new_wave_princess.

[hellishfairy]

There does seem to be more than one contributor to her blog, and additionally, I find it striking that in one post she says that she may go back to school to train to be a teacher, however, in the post before that, the bottom comment that she makes to herself states that she is not able to work in a job that requires long periods of standing and/or lifting. Ummmmm. Last I checked, teaching usually requires BOTH.

Piece of freakin' work here, ladies and gents.

[Maggie Mae]

Thanks. I didn't notice the author's names, I'm so used to one author per blog. I looked around a little there, and I can't seem to figure out what the blog is supposed to be about, really. Also used to having an "About Us" section. I'm going to end up wasting quite a bit of time, I can tell.

[Witsec7]

Visually the blog is so unattractive and poorly organized I'm having a hard time getting into it.

[simplysweet]

THAT I can understand. Though I had a professional career, it wasn't exactly a money-maker.

I fielded plenty of inquiries about how long I would stay and I can't blame employers for being reticent. Still, few people stay very long in hourly-wage jobs; the turn-over is often 6 months! In my case, I could honestly say that I wasn't interested in going back into my profession for some time.

I don't knof if McD's is harder to get into than Harvard, but I flunked the on-line test and never got my application forwarded to the places I was contacting. Those stupid on-line tests that pre-screen! Some of the scenarios are dumb.

edited because I do know past vs past-perfect tenses.

When I was in college I worked part time at Mcdonalds and 2 of my managers had degrees in the medical field. After I graduated, I applied to grad schools and put Harvard as a "reach" school. I got in.

It was easier to get into McD's. And cheaper too. :)

[Deleted07]

So, did anyone mention that she's a FJ member yet?

[JesusFightClub]

Small's best mate is a wee Polish boy. She does a lot of pointing and spelling things to him as he has no English at all. However she's also learning Polish from him!

She went up to him in the playground and said what sounded like nonsense to me but the wee boy's face lit up and his mum actually started crying. I asked her what she said and she had only said "Hiya, how are you?" in Polish. I wasn't sure if her accent was just really terrible :lol: but I think the boy and mum have been feeling quite isolated. As GVC said, kids aren't shy about speaking so they learn naturally.

[Sola]

Small's best mate is a wee Polish boy. She does a lot of pointing and spelling things to him as he has no English at all. However she's also learning Polish from him!

She went up to him in the playground and said what sounded like nonsense to me but the wee boy's face lit up and his mum actually started crying. I asked her what she said and she had only said "Hiya, how are you?" in Polish. I wasn't sure if her accent was just really terrible :lol: but I think the boy and mum have been feeling quite isolated. As GVC said, kids aren't shy about speaking so they learn naturally.

One of my girl's new friends at her new school is Polish and can't speak English. She's called Lenka and they get on just great. My girl has picked up a few words of Polish and Lenka is picking up English. So far they seem to be doing enough to make each other understood.

[Kaylee]

So, did anyone mention that she's a FJ member yet?

She was asked about it over here and never responded.

Flounce?

[ElphabaGalinda]

She was asked about it over here and never responded.

Flounce?

Oooh how do you know it's her? That would make a lot of sense. But no matter who that is, I hope it's a flounce.