Alt_Login: Here's a hint... STAY away from the boxed/frozen/canned food...! Find cheap fresh ingredients and make it from scratch! Cheap and much better for you and your welfare clan!

I don't know - have you seen the quality of produce lately in the grocers.

I went to whole foods today and the selection was horrible

/Should call that place whole paycheck

jshabbadoo: godofusa.com: The funemployed all voted for Obama.

dipshiat... this happened before Obama. Bush's de-regulation and elitism caused this all. we're just experiencing the fallout. why do you think he was in such a hurry to get out of there?

go Suck a Hannity


WoW, the Truth does hurt, don't it.. Your vote at work pal! Enjoy your "FUNemployment"! Ala Obama!

"Funemployment" sounds like a B.S. word somebody made up in an attempt to stay employed in the field of journalism. And it worked!

Terryg999: What would it be if Bush were in office?

Economicalistic terrorisms

Alt_Login: Here's a hint... STAY away from the boxed/frozen/canned food...! Find cheap fresh ingredients and make it from scratch! Cheap and much better for you and your welfare clan!

Even better: that pack of Newports and cell phone you're lugging around? LUXURIES. (Assuming the cell phone isn't her single contact method. Kinda need that for the job hunt.) Ditch 'em and you can buy slightly more expensive food, or better yet, cheap food for longer!

So legit question here - how do the currently unemployed respond to the idea of adapting? It seems fairly straightforward; if automotive manufacturing jobs dry up, then search for jobs in emerging markets/services. I know from first hand experience that qualified individuals can get full rides plus stipends to go back to many schools to re-specialize in new fields (Just as one possible response to unemployment. There are many others.) So I'm trying to get some perspective here on the personal responsibility versus misfortune seesaw.

Also, if you think ANY President is solely responsible for naturally occurring economic cycles, then you need to re-educate yourself; that's not how markets work. I'd go on about partisan politic brainwashing, but I'm more interested in personal opinions/testimony on my above question.

Whatthefark: The lady in the picture is cute enough to be a stripper. She even has the wrist tattoo and smokes Newports. She's perfect!

And her children have cornrows... like the father could be black.

puffy999: I wonder if people realize how lucky they are that they have unemployment.

Especially those that milk the system.

Hey it's my way of getting some of my tax dollars back! Thanks, system!

Are those her kids? She needs to get off her unemployed ass and start beating them. Its a grocery store, not a playground biatch. Teach them to behave. If they're not yours, have a few words with their mom.

My father is funemployed right now. Since he was laid off, he went back to his home country to visit family. He tried to find time to visit home, but work would always get in the way.

jshabbadoo: godofusa.com: The funemployed all voted for Obama.

dipshiat... this happened before Obama. Bush's de-regulation and elitism caused this all. we're just experiencing the fallout. why do you think he was in such a hurry to get out of there?

go Suck a Hannity

No, this is Obama's. How can you tell? Because his sycophantic media types come up with shiat like funemployment. When Bush was in office and we were actually coming out of a recession (instead of just slowing down how fast we were falling) the media story was that it was a jobless recovery and people were under-employed and the working class was never going to recover. Recover it did, however. But now that Obama has taken over the mortgage, banking, and automotive sectors of the economy and the working class may well and truly never recover, now we come up with funemployment.

Occam's Chainsaw: Alt_Login: Here's a hint... STAY away from the boxed/frozen/canned food...! Find cheap fresh ingredients and make it from scratch! Cheap and much better for you and your welfare clan!

Even better: that pack of Newports and cell phone you're lugging around? LUXURIES. (Assuming the cell phone isn't her single contact method. Kinda need that for the job hunt.) Ditch 'em and you can buy slightly more expensive food, or better yet, cheap food for longer!

Yep, that photo is so full of fail.

1. Pack of cigarettes hanging out of purse.
2. Cell phone in hand.
3. Rug rats (supposed) running amok in the aisle.
4. Buying high priced processed foods.
5. Wrist tattoo.

Alt_Login: WoW, the Truth does hurt, don't it.. Your vote at work pal! Enjoy your "FUNemployment"! Ala Obama!

What? That's the dumbest thing I've ever read. There's no O in Alabama!

I feel that George Carlin would have had something especially poignant to say on this one.

I miss that old farker. Hasn't been gone even a year yet...

TommyymmoT: Proud, or stupid?

It's unemployment insurance, that you and your employer both pay the premiums on.

That's as dumb as being "too proud" to call the insurance company when somebody smashes into your car.

Most of us avoid collecting UI, because it's not nearly enough money to get by on.

If you thought your budget was tight before, try it on half salary.

Half? Holy shiat, the last time I was out of work for a few months, I received the maximum amount allowed and it was NOWHERE near half my previous salary....closer to 1/5th.

I also love how they tax you for it, driving that percentage even lower!

Mr. Right: When Bush was in office and we were actually coming out of a recession

I don't know if you're having a hard time keeping up with current events or are just out for a Saturday night troll, but we've been in this recession since 2007.

Gyrfalcon:
If you get laid off, sports fans, in a tight economy, you can't sit around and wait for them to call you; and you can't wait till you get a job that's just exactly like the one you last had. You get one that's close, and that pays regularly. Then while you're working, you keep looking for the job you really want.

I stayed employed through the worst of the 80's recession, with a wild case of uncontrolled bipolar disorder, simply by doing that.

Indeed. My father, a degreed mechanical engineer with many years of experience working for places like the DOE and Sperry Univac, got laid off in the 80's like many people. What did he do? He worked graveyard shift as a security guard while he continued looking for a better job. He wasn't too proud to do it, and I wasn't too spoiled to think it was beneath him.

Propaganda Panda: So legit question here - how do the currently unemployed respond to the idea of adapting? It seems fairly straightforward; if automotive manufacturing jobs dry up, then search for jobs in emerging markets/services. I know from first hand experience that qualified individuals can get full rides plus stipends to go back to many schools to re-specialize in new fields (Just as one possible response to unemployment. There are many others.) So I'm trying to get some perspective here on the personal responsibility versus misfortune seesaw.

Also, if you think ANY President is solely responsible for naturally occurring economic cycles, then you need to re-educate yourself; that's not how markets work. I'd go on about partisan politic brainwashing, but I'm more interested in personal opinions/testimony on my above question.

I would love to learn a new profession.

The problem is, at least in my case, I have been living paycheck to paycheck for years and now I've got even more reduced pay to go on and while I'll get by and I can rely on family and mooch off friends and scam some scratch wherever I don't have enough cash to go back to school and learn a new career.

Beyond that I'm not even sure what resources are available to me.

Otherwise I'd love to become a pharm tech, insurance salesman or hell, at this point I'd even settle for bus driver. (I think mass-transit is going to remain a growth sector job for a long time.)

/It's only been two days so far, hopefully I can get some additional direction from the employment orifice.

I Am The Egg Matt Drudge Smears Upon His Body: Mr. Right: When Bush was in office and we were actually coming out of a recession

I don't know if you're having a hard time keeping up with current events or are just out for a Saturday night troll, but we've been in this recession since 2007.

Maybe if your memory was longer than your tiny little pencil dick you would recall we pulled out of the Clinton recession while Bush was in office.

Propaganda Panda: So legit question here - how do the currently unemployed respond to the idea of adapting? It seems fairly straightforward; if automotive manufacturing jobs dry up, then search for jobs in emerging markets/services. I know from first hand experience that qualified individuals can get full rides plus stipends to go back to many schools to re-specialize in new fields (Just as one possible response to unemployment. There are many others.) So I'm trying to get some perspective here on the personal responsibility versus misfortune seesaw.

For some people, panic begets gridlock. So you should seek employment elsewhere. Travel? Costs money. Job hunting? Costs money. Relocating if you do find a job? Costs money. And there's damn sure no available employment locally, as 20,000, 50,000, 100,000 other people are in the exact same position you are. Sure, paralysis will eventually lead to insolvency, but the more you act the faster that point comes toward you, and if you have no hope that you'll rectify the situation you believe you're just hastening a death sentence.

Unemployment offices are the biggest scams in the government. A little worse than temp agencies, because temp agencies actually want to place some people.

Mr. Right: I Am The Egg Matt Drudge Smears Upon His Body: Mr. Right: When Bush was in office and we were actually coming out of a recession

I don't know if you're having a hard time keeping up with current events or are just out for a Saturday night troll, but we've been in this recession since 2007.

Maybe blah blah blah

Well, at least that response answers my question. Saturday night trolling it is. Buh-bye.

We need the guy who penned the phrase "funemployment" and beat him to a farking pulp. Chances are he's the same douchenozzle that came up with "staycation". He must die.

PushF12: Whatthefark: The lady in the picture is cute enough to be a stripper. She even has the wrist tattoo and smokes Newports. She's perfect!

And her children have cornrows... like the father could be black.


A friend of mine is married to a white girl who has a mixed-race kid. He's not too keen on it, but he loves her and they have a child on the way.

Also, I dated a black woman who had a child already with some idiot who left them high and dry. The little girl really liked me and there was a high chance my lady wanted to marry me and have more kids. But I let it die out and we drifted apart.

Now I'm mostly dating white women.

Most people do stick with their own race and the white girls in my town I just moved to aren't into Black guys, They're more into traditional white man-white woman-stick with your racial heritage types.

Hmmmm...I wonder if the "father" is still around for that woman and her kids...

Kenny B: Haven't worked in 2 years. Self imposed. No government bennies. Raising kids right.
I'm here to tell you boys. Marry a good woman with a job!


">

LOL!

Alt_Login: Here's a hint... STAY away from the boxed/frozen/canned food...! Find cheap fresh ingredients and make it from scratch! Cheap and much better for you and your welfare clan!

hey asshole: price fresh broccoli, then price frozen.

I Am The Egg Matt Drudge Smears Upon His Body: Mr. Right: I Am The Egg Matt Drudge Smears Upon His Body: Mr. Right: When Bush was in office and we were actually coming out of a recession

I don't know if you're having a hard time keeping up with current events or are just out for a Saturday night troll, but we've been in this recession since 2007.

Maybe blah blah blah

Well, at least that response answers my question. Saturday night trolling it is. Buh-bye.

Aw, gee. Did I hurt your feelings? Maybe if you weren't such an arrogant, sarcastic SOB I wouldn't respond so nastily. As for trolling, how is my point wrong? When we were coming out of the recession early in the Bush administration the press was negative as could be. We are still sinking in this recession and the press is making up stuff like funemployment. They were all agog at the great news that we lost fewer jobs than predicted. Of course, unemployment (whether fun or not) is higher than Obama said it would be if we didn't pass the stimulus package and much, much higher than he said it would be if we did pass it.

Note that I never gave Bush credit for getting us out of the recession. I deliberately pointed out that we were coming out of the recession. Only we, the working, productive types can get us out of a recession. The government can only get us into one or keep us in one by taxing, regulating, manipulating. No troll, just fact.

Fluffball: I worry that I'm going to end up flipping burgers and I'm glad that I will have the option to get a "real" job ahead of that.

/So fark you to anyone who talks about taking advantage of the system for anyone not immediately taking a job minimum wage job.

So be honest here.

It's six months from now, and I'm a prospective employer with an opening in your field - competitive pay, benefits, the works. You're in an interview with me, and I note that, since you were let go from your previous professional position, you haven't worked at all.

What does that say about your motivation? What am I to imply from six months of not working that will make me confident that you'll be a real asset? What if the next guy I'm interviewing has the same qualifications and experience, got laid off at the same time, but instead of collecting unemployment compensation, he worked two minimum wage jobs while looking to get back into this industry?

Get a job. Any job. There's no shame in any work at all if the kind of work you want isn't available. Employers want to know you're employable, and they want to see you show initiative. It's as certain as the sunrise that it's easier to get a job if you already have one than it is if you're unemployed.

Hope nobody decides to commit hahamicide to make ends meet.

/I'll be here all week

SynthLord: Get a job. Any job. There's no shame in any work at all if the kind of work you want isn't available. Employers want to know you're employable, and they want to see you show initiative. It's as certain as the sunrise that it's easier to get a job if you already have one than it is if you're unemployed.

That goes two ways, though. It's six months from now, and I'm a prospective employer with an opening in your field - I see you've been working a job that is way below your skill set. What's to say you don't view this job opening as another stepping stone that you'll work at until the "right" job comes along in six months?

/had something like that happen to me during a job interview earlier this year
//still got the job
///kicking ass at it
////not saying your answer is wrong

Unemployment CAN be fun. Five years ago, when I was laid off and I was living in a place with ridiculously cheap rent, I'd getup at 10, send out a few resumes, drive down to the beach, and be buzzed by 2.

Now my rent's not so cheap, and I can't afford to drive to the beach. So I piss myself, get on the bus, and engage in agressive frottage with the women on their way to work. It's almost just as much fun.

Fark you, submitter. Fark you right in the ear until your head fills with spooge.

gadian: Unemployment offices are the biggest scams in the government. A little worse than temp agencies, because temp agencies actually want to place some people.

Most states require you to file your resume with their online job banks in order to get benefits. Also, nearly claims are filed over the phone or online.

gadian: Unemployment offices are the biggest scams in the government. A little worse than temp agencies, because temp agencies actually want to place some people.

The one Redmond, Washington actually makes an effort to train people and help job-seekers with their resumes. This is good, since Microsoft let half its workforce go in the last year.

/exaggeration
//still...

mreuther: gadian: Unemployment offices are the biggest scams in the government. A little worse than temp agencies, because temp agencies actually want to place some people.

Most states require you to file your resume with their online job banks in order to get benefits. Also, nearly claims are filed over the phone or online.



/couldn't find the original quizzical dog pic.

PushF12: And her children have cornrows... like the father could be black.

And this has whathef*ckall to do with anything?

I Am The Egg Matt Drudge Smears Upon His Body: Why the fark would you wait until after your severance ran out to apply for unemployment? Get your ass signed up the second you get laid off.

Because in most states you can't apply for unemployment until your severance runs out?

The real epidemic is single white mothers with black babies.

Sxooter: I Am The Egg Matt Drudge Smears Upon His Body: Why the fark would you wait until after your severance ran out to apply for unemployment? Get your ass signed up the second you get laid off.

Because in most states you can't apply for unemployment until your severance runs out?

In what states? A very quick google search of a couple of the larger states - NY? No. California? No

NY: Q: Does receiving separation-related payments, such as severance pay or vacation pay, affect my benefits?

A: Generally, a claimant is eligible for unemployment insurance benefits while receiving separation-related payments. However, an individual will not be eligible for benefits if he or she continues to receive the full salary and exactly the same benefits that he or she received while working, with the understanding that the salary and benefits will stop if he or she becomes employed elsewhere. The employer's payment of unused vacation accruals normally does not affect an individual's eligibility for benefits.

I Am The Egg Matt Drudge Smears Upon His Body: What's to say you don't view this job opening as another stepping stone that you'll work at until the "right" job comes along in six months?

My response would be honest, but tactful -- assuming I had put in a decent amount of time at my former pro job, that should speak to my dedication to the industry, and any part-time or non-pro job I had in between was merely a way to make ends meet until I got back into my career.

I don't think anyone in HR is going to think you see a pro position as a "stepping stone" if you're laid off from another pro position, and served coffee or subs in the months since. They won't be abundantly impressed with the Subway skill set, but they will be impressed you got your ass back to work right away.

I Am The Egg Matt Drudge Smears Upon His Body: /couldn't find the original quizzical dog pic.

Awww, poor doggy.

Close enough to quizical, but more sympathy gaining for that broken foot.

/Why yes, I am drunk.

I Am The Egg Matt Drudge Smears Upon His Body: In what states? A very quick google search of a couple of the larger states - NY? No. California? No

Here in Colorado, I was told I had to wait until my severance ran out.

If you thought your budget was tight before, try it on half salary.

Half would have been nice. In my case it was 15% of my original salary, and not enough to even pay the rent on our crappy apartment. Both my husband and I were laid off at the same time, so to save on rent and health insurance we moved in with his folks in Italy (we were in SF -- expensive and going through LOTS of layoffs).

I was denied even those measly benefits based on the fact that now I'm not "available" for work if I'm living in Italy. They seem to expect you to go knocking on doors and to be able to show up for work the *next day*. I don't know how it works in manufacturing or the trades, but what corporation or consulting firm operates like that? I usually have to go through three or four rounds of interviews, half of them by phone, before anyone decides anything. The next day? Really??

So, no serious job nibbles in a year now (except one in London who couldn't get me a work permit), still battling the appeals process with the unemployment agency and I've exhausted my personal network of contacts, agencies, headhunters, and online job listings. I'm planning to go back to school in September to re-tool, although in a normal economy my current skillset is very valuable.

Perhaps it's karma -- I'm one of the people responsible for coordinating the offshoring of jobs. My last "project" was sending 100 programming positions to Beijing, even though I could demonstrate that we had security issues and that the code quality wasn't up to our normal standard. Our US team had to train them.

/Felt guilty about it, that's part of the reason for the re-tool
//When does the fun start, exactly?
///15% is still better than 0