No rest for the wicked, I suppose.

[thejunipertree]

It is 6:10 in the morning and I am (obviously) awake.

Wait. Let me rephrase that sentence:

It is 6:10 in the GODDAMN morning and I am GODDAMN awake.

hrmph.

Why am I up so early? Oh-ho! Up? I haven't been to fucking sleep.
I attempted to sleep, but it was not forthcoming. See, today I am meant to go to some silly unemployment orientation bullshit at 8:45. I have to drop my mother off at her office then drive to a rather unsavory part of New Jersey. This means I have to leave the apartment at 7:45. Earlier, if I can manage it.

So, I went to bed around 1:30. Okay, I'm lying. I turned out my light and laid down at about 2:10. Tossed, turned, sang to myself in my head, sang to myself a loud, got up to pee about a billion and a half times, smoked a cigarette, etc. You get the idea. Sleep was just not happening for me. I got up at 5:30, a full hour before my clock was set to go off.

I am NOT a happy girl right now.

This orientation is going to be sheer hell, I just know it. Three scheduled hours of being surrounded by people I do not know and probably don't wish to be around at that ungodly hour, while being told how to look for a job. Which I damn well already know how to do.

I am going to get through this solely on the hope that I'll be able to speak to someone (with a brain in their head) about pursuing college whilst receiving unemployment benefits.

Hoping.

Comments

[hexennacht.livejournal.com]

OK, that's just weird.

Also, good luck. Talk at me later, y'hear?

[neenerface.livejournal.com]

You're already there, but it wasn't to bad when I had to go. Mostly a waste of time.

[meetzemonsta.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was actually really short because they didn't have a large group that day. But, I still have to go back for two more mandatory meetings and then another orientation if I want to find out about tuition waivers for college.

It really was a large waste of my time, though. And the coming ones will be even worse. Resume writing? Pah! My resume is fucking /spectacular./ And I don't even know what the other meeting is for. I kind of zoned out after a while.

[ninjalicious.livejournal.com]

I'm envisioning you in the room full of people with Marge and Homer in the parenting class.

"Now, who knows how Meetzemonsta could have resolved this problem?"
[everyone puts their hands up]
"Without resorting to violence."
[all hands but one descend]
"Or childish name-calling."
[the last hand comes down]

[hexennacht.livejournal.com]

OK woman, I'm starting to feel neglected. Pray, pry thy hands from around young Christopher's snake, and give unto me thy love.

[adriftwithin.livejournal.com]

     Keep in mind -- once benefits actually do start, the agency has a crack team of people whose job is to do nothing but find ways to STOP you from getting benefits (which results in you having to pay back EVERY benefit you've gotten from them). I recommend going as long as you can without resorting to unemployment benefits, so you don't get dicked over like I did. Fortunately they waited until I'd already collected over $2K before they said "Give that back to us, you poor sod."

     Wait, that's not good.

     Urge to kill rising...

[meetzemonsta.livejournal.com]

Too late, I'm already receiving benefits. And with all the bills I have to pay, there would have been absolutely no way in hell for me to wait before applying. My benefits have already started, with no troubles on the horizon.

I've done this once before and had absolutely no problem with it. That time, I didn't have to attend an orientation or any other sort of meeting even ONCE.

They know my entire history and there's really nothing they can say which will disqualify me from receiving anything. I attend everything they tell me to attend, I give them all the information they ask for, etc.

What did they disqualify you for?

[adriftwithin.livejournal.com]

     I was signed up with a temp agency, which is who got me the job at Compaq which I was laid off from. Before it ended, they offered me a labouring job for less money, and I declined it. After Compaq (hereby to be known as HP) ended, I applied for benefits. I got them with no problem, after attending all the meetings. During the time I was collecting, I was searching for jobs via the Internet and newspaper, and found nothing in my field (IT). In December, a hearing was called that Express Personnel and I had to attend, over my benefits, which got suspended.

     While they (the unemployment agency) say it's only disqualifyable if you turn down ACCEPTABLE jobs, they took my benefits away because I turned down ANY JOB AT ALL from Express, who I had a contract with, despite it being nothing close to what I was doing.

     A month later I was back at Wawa, where I still am, as we've gone over.

     As long as I'm here, I may as well go on about other things. Namely the kittens. They are doing well. 42 (the grey one) is comfortable enough now to run up my arm and onto my shoulder, when I put my hand into the cage. The Nameless (the hooded one) is still shy and will do nothing but sniff me a lot and lean on my hand when I try to talk him into letting me take him out. I made them a house out of a box. Actually I just cut a door in it, but that's close enough. They took a whiz on the roof.

[meetzemonsta.livejournal.com]

While they (the unemployment agency) say it's only disqualifyable if you turn down ACCEPTABLE jobs, they took my benefits away because I turned down ANY JOB AT ALL from Express, who I had a contract with, despite it being nothing close to what I was doing.

Therein lies the problem. If you are offered a job with a comparable rate of pay (or something not forcing you to take a disgusting pay cut), they don't care if it's nothing close to what you were doing. It was still an acceptable job offer, in their eyes. Shitty, yes.

The Nameless (the hooded one) is still shy and will do nothing but sniff me a lot and lean on my hand when I try to talk him into letting me take him out.

Some rats are like that. You may wind up having to trust train him.