Over the past few weeks, I have learned something – if you are intelligent, honest and hard-working, you don’t qualify for unemployment. Apparently, you have to be an overweight lazy moron with no ethics who lies and cheats the system to get benefits. Double your chances if all the energy you have is used up by squirting out a baby every year (bonus points if it’s by a different father each time.) Sit on your ass watching soap operas and Judge shows all day in your nice warm house, all paid for by public assistance, while the ones who want to actually contribute to society are freezing their asses off and starving to death because the state has decided that those people don’t matter.
I got fired from a local greasy spoon in November – apparently I didn’t fit into their little close-knit family, and despite my begging for more hours, they found me to be unreliable. I injured myself and was unable to work one day. The guy they called in to cover my shift is scheduled for six days a week, and now had to work a seventh on a day where he was going to spend time with his family. I had asked for more hours every week, given how overworked everyone else was, but I kept hearing “we can’t take hours away from anyone else.” So, somehow they justified hiring me for a full time job yet keeping me under 25 hours a week by saying they didn’t want to hurt anyone else. I don’t understand how it’s my fault that their favorite cook was overworked, but I don’t own a restaurant so I guess I never will understand.
I filed for unemployment. The first few weeks were wasted because they somehow lost my claim. Their instructions said I was supposed to file my claims on their web page, but the link to do so was never available. I called several times, was told I would hear back from someone soon, but never did. Finally three weeks into it someone calls me asking why I never filed any weekly claims. I told her their web site did not work as advertised, so she took my info to get me caught up and I had to restart my claim all over again. Finally the Weekly Claim option was available, so I filed my claims every week. Most of them were showing that I had not worked at all, but as time went on I started getting more hours as a pizza restaurant where I had worked last year. Only 10-15 hours per week, but it was something. I continued to file claims, never hearing anything back from Unemployment.
Finally, halfway through January, I sent an e-mail asking what was taking so long. Next day I heard from someone who asked for clarification of why I left the country club, then the circumstances of my termination from the Grille. I had said to them many times that I was not claiming against the country club – I voluntarily quit that job and was not expecting anything in benefits. I did, however, expect something from the Grille, who I feel terminated me unfairly. A week later I received a series of Determination notes saying I was ineligible for benefits from the country club (duh) but I was eligible for benefits from the greasy spoon because their reasons for terminating me were not in line with some employment law someplace. (They claim they had issues with my performance, yet they had no documentation to back this up. They lied and got caught.) However, all pending benefit checks queued up since December were marked “Denied.” I immediately filed an appeal, got an automated note back saying they acknowledge the appeal, and that’s the last I heard of it. All subsequent calls and e-mail messages have been ignored.
At this point, I am working 40-50 hours a week at the pizza place. Due to a series of unfortunately (and stupid) events, I will be putting in even more time over the next few weeks to cover shifts. However, that doesn’t make up for the two months I was under- and unemployed. We fell behind on some bills because of that, but does anyone care? I made many attempts to find full-time work, and noted this on their form, yet I get nothing at all. At my job, however, all I hear about is this one disgusting fat slob of a delivery driver who lies on his weekly claim forms, works one night a week for the minimum of two hours (because the owner can’t stand the guy) but collects enough unemployment that he somehow managed to get even fatter since he filed. So, he can collect enough benefits to eat quite well, yet I am losing weight because I can’t afford to eat. What exactly about that makes sense?