On January 5, 2011 it will exactly 2 years I've been without steady employment. I have taken a few odd jobs people have offered me everywhere from Bartending to Photography to helping a friend maintain an office while she pounded pavement to gain clients for her start up business. I continue to network, update my resume, and apply for various jobs. I, however, am on the brink of losing it completely.
2010 was a banner year in the Locked up household. It started with two--yes TWO people out of a job. My husband was laid off from a job he had poured himself into for five years. He was let go because he was a high paid employee and the company was simply cutting costs. His performance meant nothing. His hard work, extra hours and dedication to making the flow of his department smooth was never mentioned. He was let go without a severance and his UI benefits were challenged.
It took my husband 7 months to find employment. This, I am told, is now the average for an unemployed person with marketable skills in this current economy. He was hired, thankfully, right after he lost his UI benefits over the summer due to the blindness and misinformed congress we have "representing us". In the end, he was offered a position that paid just a little more then he was receiving prior to his lay off. He considers himself lucky.
Optimism used to be a large part of our household. We used to believe, wholeheartedly that if you worked hard and showed those who are in charge, you can be rewarded with a raise, a promotion or a bonus. If you suffered through your higher education, you could get a GREAT paying job. This is no longer true. There has been nothing that has shown me in the last ten years since I attended college that hard work and dedication would be a lasting reward. I've been laid off five times in the last ten years. The last four times I was able to secure employment within two weeks of my pink slips. Now, I am lucky if someone calls me back.
My husband and I have changed our outlooks. Hard work is not going to open doors anymore. Going into work, doing your job and leaving is now the smart thing to do. Those jobs are subject to disappear at any given moment and for no given reason. Why go above and beyond?
Peter Gibbons: The thing is, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care. Bob Porter: Don't... don't care? Peter Gibbons: It's a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don't see another dime, so where's the motivation? And here's something else, Bob: I have eight different bosses right now. Bob Slydell: I beg your pardon? Peter Gibbons: Eight bosses. Bob Slydell: Eight? Peter Gibbons: Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.
Someone coughcoughMikeJudgecoughcouch Knew what our future held....
I don't need a editorial to tell me how my morale has been gutted. I don't need someone in their cozy Manhattan home to write and say that I am losing my hope. My hope was dashed a long time ago. I'm just fighting to survive 2011. No amount of holiday shopping is going to change my mind about what has happened. I will have no sympathy for those who are rich. I will not want to help them get richer. I just want to help myself float above the poverty line.