The Job Warrior: My Experience Losing a Job and Getting Another During a Hiring Freeze

I walked into my job a few weeks ago and was informed that I was unemployed. Pretty much that was it. Merry Christmas and good luck paying rent and buying groceries. Without getting into particulars, I went from being the top salesman to being a former employee. Not an easy thing to walk home and tell my wife when just about the entire country is on a hiring freeze. The first thing I did... in fact, the same day, I went to see my previous employer, a man who had not wanted me to leave in the first place. In fact, the only reason I left was because I was working both jobs at the same time, and the assistant manager making the schedule couldn't or wouldn't reconcile the two schedules. But what I did was leave on good terms with plenty of notice, and I kept in touch and on friendly terms with the previous employer. Granted, it was easy, because the previous job was in a supermarket. But my wife and I talked to the manager, a great guy named Matthew, like a friend. Sometimes it was no more than a greeting, a 'How are things, Matthew?', but my wife and I both kept him in our orbit. Part of the family. We genuinely like Matthew, and he has always been a friend regardless of the job. At the same time, I knew that my first responsibility when faced with unemployment was to get another job. And the obvious first move was to go back to the man who said that he'd love to have me back. So I put on some smart clothes (as my wife really taught me well, put your best foot forward. Dress for what you want to be) and went to see Matthew. I didn't try to BS Matthew. I didn't beat around the bushes. I told him I needed a job. He said that the company had a district-wide hiring freeze, but that he would see what he could do. He said I should come back in a few days and talk to him. At that point I have to admit I was let down. I'd walked in figuring I'd walk out with a job. Then I had to assumed that the hiring freeze would be non-negotiable. So I went home (I even stopped on the way home to try to pick up an application. No dice. This place that had a help wanted sign wouldn't even let me apply because they weren't hiring) and got onto Monster.com. I updated my resume and started searching for jobs that I am qualified. 'Retail' and 'customer service' were my keywords. That's because for the last 18 years I've been in the retail/customer service trenches. I have extensive experience in that arena, and most of those 18 years in fastfood, which is, to my experience, the most challenging customer service arena. My wife and I even considered leaving town while we had some savings to work with, but we were also concerned that we wouldn't find the job situation any better where we went. We settled on giving our town a week or two before we gave up on it and left. With that in mind, I opened up my job search parameters for some places we considered moving to. With all of that in mind, I set about applying for jobs via Monster.com. I should note that before I started job hunting, I got up early, had a good breakfast, showered, shaved, and dressed as if I was going to work. I thought it was important to approach the job search as a job itself. It might be tempting to sleep in and give up shaving and sit around in sweat pants and a ratty old shirt, but that is too much vacation mode for the serious work of job hunting. I also set a minimum of four applications filled out each day before I stopped. Discipline was vitally important for my motivation and mindset, and was necessary to get another job quickly. And I knew that I had to get another job quickly. And something else. I was told by many friends that I should apply for unemployment. Maybe I should have, but to be honest, I didn't want to ask for any kind of financial assistance unless I absolutely needed it, and at that moment I didn't think we did. I was paid for vacation time that I had coming (almost a week), plus a paycheck, plus a bit of savings. If we hadn't had that, or if it had taken too long to get another job, it would have been different. But I thought that to apply for unemployment would also have been bad in a motivational sense. And, to be honest, pride got in the way. It wouldn't have remained in the way for long, but it was there at that point. I didn't want to see myself on the news as part of the huge number of jobless claims making headlines.So, on to the job search. Monster.com showed (what was for me) a surprising lack of opportunity for retail/customer service specialists. What I had failed to take into account was that one of the hardest hit sectors of our economy is retail. People are simply less and less encouraged to go out and spend money if they don't have to. And of course, especially close to the end of the year, companies don't tend to hire full-time, permanent people. I did get a quick response from a local advertising firm, and dressed up nicely and took 3 buses to get to their office for an interview. It turned out that they were hiring people to sell things from booths (I won't get any more specific, as I don't want to identitfy the firm in question) on a strictly commission basis. That is okay for some, and they said that people could make quite a bit of money doing it, but I have regular bills and a family that depends on me. I need a regular paycheck that I can depend on. But the point is, I tried. I put my best foot forward. I went to a bit of effort.At this point, the few days that Matthew had said to wait had gone by. I called the supermarket to make sure he was in, and dressed nicely again and went to see him. Then the really bad news. Matthew said that the hiring freeze was still on. He couldn't hire me. I was pretty disappointed at that point, but I thanked him for trying and tried to not show my disappointment. That was really the worst moment of the job search, because I'd put a lot of hope in getting that job back. Ah, but then two days later, I found out that Matthew hadn't given up. He went to bat for me with human resources and managed to arrange to bring me back as a rehire rather than a new hire. To start, I would actually have to take an almost 4 dollar an hour pay cut, but after the first of the year there should be a departmental manager position opening that needed to be an in-house promotion. It was just important that I get my foot in the door. I took the offer without hesitation, and my job search that really had me scared only lasted one week. I was very lucky. I know that people have spent six months or more looking for work and not found any. I know that there are lessons to be learned from my situation. First and foremost, don't burn your bridges. Give plenty of notice, treat employers with respect, and don't be afraid to go back to them. Treat your job search like a job, not a vacation. Listen to your spouse. They are intelligent and resourceful, and can help you. I know mine helps me. I wouldn't take this world on without her. Don't dismiss jobs that you think are below you. There is no such thing as a bad job if it is honest and supports your family. For example, I was prepared to go back to fastfood if I had to. I wasn't enthusiastic about the possibility, but I was prepared to do it anyway. Pride is important, but you can't support a family on pride. In fact, Matthew was concerned that I might not want to take the pay cut and come back as a courtesy clerk (among other things, we bag groceries and retrieve shopping carts). My wife and I both said that I'd take anything. I'm happy to have it. And one other thing. If you have the opportunity to go to college, take it. Get yourself a degree in a subject that interests you but that is also marketable. I was in the military, but failed to sign up for the G.I. Bill, and I have regretted it ever since. I'm not saying that my professional life would be better if I had a degree (because there are plenty of unemployed college graduates), but I certainly would have had more opportunities.

Rewarding Poor Performance

With a frighteningly bad economy, Congress has voted itself a raise. Rather like the CEO of a nearly bankrupt corporation begging for money one day, then granting himself a bonus the next. Yes, unbelievable as it is, with our economy in the tank, a seven trillion dollar rescue package that just didn't work (and, yes, it really is $7 trillion. Even the mainstream media is starting to admit that), a debt spiralling faster than hurricane Katrina, Federal lawmakers have given themselves a raise that will give each of them $4700 more next year, with a price tag of $2.5 million.

I'm not going to talk about their unforgivable audacity, because it has become so commonplace, it would be like complaining about the sun coming up. Really, what can be said that hasn't been said a thousand times before? We know how bad they really are, and how little they obviously care about the people they're supposed to represent, or the state of the country as a whole.

Granted, $4700 a year equals out to just $90.38 a week, but the point is that they don't need it and they certainly don't deserve it. Taking the math a little further, that price tag of $2.5 million dollars divided by the $4700 a week (and this all comes from Fox News, which I trust more than the networks or CNN), comes to 531.9. I won't speculate as to who the '.9' is, :) but really, what they're doing to reward themselves for running the country into the ground is taking the equivalent of $90 a week out of the household budgets of 531 families. So come on, Brian Williams, tell the people about it. Mister President-elect, where is your outrage? Mister Reid, Ms Pelosi, where are the hearings? Why isn't Wolf Blitzer talking about it?

I'd really like to see a public, national referendum approve every raise that our so-called representatives give themselves. If it is so important that the snakes can spend $2.5 million when we're in debt up to our eyeballs, then certainly it's worth the trouble of asking the people who are forced to pay for it.



What is Fantasy Trek?
Not Just a Game. It's a Star Trek Experience
http://fantasytrek.blogspot.com

The Twelve Trek Days of Christmas

Folks, there is a project I've been associated with for a few months now, called "The Twelve Trek Days of Christmas". Rather than trying to explain it myself, I am going to paste a release of sorts that the organizer Kirok of House L'Stok wrote.

 

The Twelve Trek Days of Christmas has started for a second year, when we celebrate the traditional Season of Goodwill by giving away twelve "presents" from the Star Trek fan production community. In a way it's Christmas all year round for them since fan productions are only allowed by the copyright owners if they are provided to the public for free. Accept them as our tribute to the original actors, writers and production crews, to maintain interest in the originals, build support for future professional productions and extend on the Star Trek universe with our own creative visions.

On the first day of Christmas, Star Trek gave to me ... a Fan-Made Audio Book! <http://www.twerponline.net/12days2008/day01.html>

The present for The First Trek Day of Christmas is "Fatherhood", the second episode from the audio book series, "Tales of Death and Honour". Designed as a trilogy, the series started off earlier this year with "Motherhood", an original tale of love and loss on the Klingon homeworld, and this episode extends on that life and death struggle with a rescue from an unexpected source! It is produced by Silvertongue Productions, the audio productions group of The House of L'Stok, an experimental multimedia production house for the creation of fan and smallscale Indie productions. For more information about this and other productions of the House of L'Stok, checkout the website at http://lstok.blogspot.com

Unfortunately, in the best tradition of fan productions it's late! But by way of an apology for keeping you waiting, and to wet your whistle
for the new episode, we offer you the new series trailer for Tales of Death and Honour which is available on the TrekUnited Audio Centre
at ... <http://www.scifitube.com/trekunited/audio/DAH-Teaser1.1b.mp3>

 

I have two submissions..... One (On Day Ten) is a Fan-Made game called Fantasy Trek that you can preview at http://fantasytrek.blogspot.com/

The other (On Day Eleven) is an ebook of three "Enterprise Virtual Season" episodes... and they can be previewed at http://startrekenterprisevirtualseasons.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

KBF-Kapact

IKS tIQghoB
"Surrender or be des-"
{sound of explosion}

Klingon Black Fleet
"...laughing, undefeated..."

What is Fantasy Trek?
Not Just a Game. It's a Star Trek Experience
http://fantasytrek.blogspot.com/
http://houseabukoff.blogspot.com
http://kapactsrant.blogspot.com/
http://startrekenterprisevirtualseasons.blogspot.com/

It's Still Country First

Talking about the Auto Bailout, I'd like to say that I don't like bailouts.
I think they're anti-capitalism and essentially therefore unAmerican. I
don't think they'll solve the problem, and I think that as always, our
supposed representatives don't in fact care about the Big Three, the jobs to
be saved or lost, or just incidentally, the billions of tax dollars from WE
THE PEOPLE that these vampires in suits push around like pawns on a
chessboard. I find it quite funny in fact that most of these tin-plated
dictators helped to cause the problem that they're using to humiliate CEO's
and dupe WE THE PEOPLE into thinking that they serve a purpose and deserve
to be anywhere but in prison. Given all that, we need to stop the Big Three
from going into bankruptcy because if they go out of business then not only
do their workers go on unemployment, but the companies who supply parts to
them go out of business too. And then all of those workers go on umployment
too. Quite honestly, we can't afford that. And really, Senate Republicans
showed us again why they were so humiliated in the elections. They have been
so blinded by ideology that common sense plays no part in their
decision-making process. I know that a huge part of the problem facing the
Big Three is the strangle-hold that labor unions have on the automakers. And
in fact, all the money in the world won't solve the Big Three's problems
until people can actually start buying their cars. But we still need to keep
all of those people from being put out of work. That is something we simply
can't afford.

Now... what can I say about Rod Blagojevich? He typifies the arrogance and
crookedness that is really at the heart of the Chicago machine that has now
bought and engineered two presidential elections. And the Obama aide who
lied about whether or not the President-elect consulted with the governor on
November 5th. He also typifies the arrogance and crookedness that is so much
at the heart of most politicians. What did the president-elect know, and
when did he know it? The snake of a governor simply isn't worth more time or
energy.

All of this really comes down to the idea of Country First, because the
validity of that concept didn't change on November 5th. When you look at all
these senators and representatives hanging billions of dollars of taxpayer's
money in front of panhandling CEO's, and the network cameras, showing us how
important they are, and how much we need them to solve our problems,
(despite the really rotten job they've done so far), do you really think
that they're thinking Country First? When you hear a corrupt liberal
governor talk about how much he's going to sell a senate seat for, do the
words Country First come into it anywhere? We've got a president looking the
other way while American citizens living on the southern border are
kidnapped by invading Mexican druglords, or refusing to pardon two border
patrol guards who were arrested for shooting a Mexican druglord in the rear,
and I just don't see Country First coming into the decision-making process.
There are only two professions where you can be consistently wrong and still
call yourself an expert. One is being a weather person (and I never believe
them anyway). The other is being a politician.

The American Inquisition or: I Wonder If They'd Approve Waterboarding In This Case

I've been watching as much as I can stand of the CEO's of the Big Three
automakers groveling before Congress with expensive hats in hand, begging
for scraps (and not actually from the people who will end up paying). The
first time they came begging, Congress, the media, and the blinded public
didn't question why they needed the money or exactly what they planned to do
with it, or in fact why we should believe it would actually make a
difference. No, all that anyone noticed was that these three rich
panhandlers flew to the inquisition in private jets. Forget that Al "It's
easy being green" Gore does the same as he lectures us about not pumping
filth into the atmosphere. Yes, it was stupid and insensitive, and they
shouldn't have. But we've suddenly forgotten that the smug, sactimonious
tin-plated dictators doing the interrogating are in fact responsible for the
mess that we're in. Mister Dodd. Mister Frank, et al. So what happens? They
send them away and take a vacation.

When they came back, driving all the way in what we're told are energy
efficient cars... and I put it that way because we're not always told the
truth. Like we were told that ethanol was going to solve our problems,
rather than put another hole in the economy. They forgot to take a train.
They neglected to car pool. They didn't hitch a ride with Al Gore. But since
they acknowledged the importance of symbolism over substance, the
inquisitors suddenly saw the urgency of the situation (and coincidentally,
failed to consider the stranglehold that their masters the labor unions have
over the auto industry) and are pushing for a quick passage. Michael Moore
says that capitalism is dead, and he's celebrating that (hence the worldwide
shortage of greasy french fries and peanut brittle this past week). Well,
the alternative is already up and operating. Ever hear of that economic
powerhouse called Cuba? How about North Korea? Yeah. Amazing. Well,
capitalism succeeds when badly run businesses go out of business and make
room for well run businesses. Pumping more money into the Big Three, so that
they can continue to pay ransom to the unions is like pumping more donuts
into Michael Moore in the vain hope that he'll start to lose weight. Odds
are, when they've used up everything you've given them, they'll still run
just as well as they do now.

I know that the Big Three are basketcases, and I know that it was really
stupid for them to fly private jets to beg for hand-outs. But you in
Congress really make yourselves look like petty schoolyard bullies
humiliating the weaker kid when you make people jump through hoops for
scraps. Scraps that come from the hard-earned money of WE THE PEOPLE.

I wonder if they'd approve waterboarding in this case.