I Hate Being Right

I knew that I wouldn't just get approved for unemployment.  I knew there would be a problem.  I knew this, because that is just the way it goes for me. 

Still, I stared stupidly at the form I received from unemployment in this afternoon's mail.  My claim has been denied.

Beyond being flabbergasted by their determination, beyond being irritated that they are not showing that I had any income for the last quarter - the one I just finished working- and even knowing that I can try to fight this, I am just so angry that I can't think straight.

I'm angry that, despite the fact that I have worked since I was sixteen years old I'm not "eligible" for unemployment benefits.  I'm angry that so many other people sit on their asses and do nothing while collecting public assistance of one kind or another year after year and on the one occasion when I am the one in need of assistance I am turned down.

I collected unemployment one other time in my life.  It was over ten years ago.  I had been laid off from my job at Native Textiles.  I was thinking about making a career change, trying to decide what direction I wanted to go in, when I received a call from a staffing agency whose help I had not requested.  Apparently, Native Textiles must have informed them that I was no longer working.  I told them that I was exploring other options and that I didn't want their help at the moment.

A few days later, I received a call from that same staffing agency.  They said they had an opportunity they thought would be just perfect for me.  It turned out that the "perfect opportunity" was a temporary position paying $8.00 per hour...about a dollar fifty an hour less than I had been making before the layoff.  I told them once again that I wasn't interested in using their staffing agency and asked them to stop calling me.

Shortly thereafter, I received a notice that my unemployment benefits had been cancelled due to the fact that I had turned down a job opportunity.

At that point, I had no choice.  I went to another staffing agency, Park Personnel, and through them got a job at Glens Falls National Bank, where I worked for the next eight years.  I liked working at the bank, don't get me wrong.  My issue is that I didn't have a choice.  I never seem to have a choice.

And here I am again.  I can try to fight this thing with unemployment.  Maybe I'll even be successful.  Right this moment, it just seems so futile to even bother.  And maybe that's what they want.  Maybe they turn people down and hope they'll just go away.  But it's not right.

And here I am, faced once again with no choice but to take the first job that comes my way and to hope that it won't be too long in coming.  My meager savings won't last long.