Employment Agency Account Manager: Hi Jude. I received an email from Saqib today that your project is wrapping up.
Me: What? Really?
Account Manager: Yes. Does that sound right to you?
Me: No. Saqib told me last month that he wanted me to wrap up the project I've been working on because he has a big project he wants me to start on. Gosh. I hope they were happy with my services here.
Account Manager: If they weren't happy with you, I would've heard about it by now. I'll find out what's going on.
Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp.
Is that the sound of crickets? Why, yes it is.
Being a consultant, I'm used to the up and down cycles of the job market. But it really smarts when you get blind-sided like I did this time. Especially when you're led to believe that you're being kept on long term. In a meeting I attended while at ABS NS, one of the VPs asked me to stay long term to help them with other projects. HEY! No backsies!!
I was a little upset at first, but because I've been a consulting technical writer for over 20 years, I recover quickly after being thrown under the bus. Soon, I realized that I would be free from the boss who would yell my name from across the room when he wanted me to attend an ad hoc meeting. Free from the boss who seemed to dislike me from day one. I moved through the grieving stages rather quickly. I wouldn't miss the job or the negative boss, or the coworkers, but I would miss the six figure income.
Easy come, easy go, am I right? I thought, no problem. I'll file for unemployment and then prepare to be bombarded with emails and phone calls from recruiters after updating my resume, which is always what happens to me.
I updated my resume. I filed for unemployment. This'll be a snap, I thought. I'll just wait for the flood of emails and phone calls. Any minute now. Any minute now.
Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp.
Wtf? Nothing was happening. No emails. No phone calls. Okay, a couple of emails about jobs in other cities and other states. No can do. I still have a couple of months left on my lease. Yes, there have been thousands of others who have been recently laid off here in Texas because of the oil situation.
Must. Stay. Focused.
In the meantime, the many envelops filled with paperwork from filing for unemployment benefits arrives. Why do we need an "owner's manual" to file for unemployment? It shouldn't be that complicated. Have you been working? What was your income? What's your bank account number so we'll know where to deposit your checks? Easy, peasy.
Hold on now! Wait just a cotton-picking minute. Easy? What were you thinking? The TWC (Texas Work Commission) website says to file immediately after you've been laid off. Done, check that off my list.
I open the letter from the TWC and my unemployment claim was denied. Did you know that if you work for a temporary agency in Texas that you are considered still employed by them for three business days after you are laid off? You didn't??!! Well, neither did I!
Claimed denied. Do not pass GO. Do not collect $465 a week (that's the maximum you can get here in Texas when you're unemployed). I started doing the math (of course, I used a calculator - I'm a tech writer, not a mathematician). That's about $24,000 a year. That WOULD pay my rent and my car payment with a few dollars left over for bread and water. Who needs electricity and running water? Electricity and running water are for pussies.
WOULD pay my rent and car payment. But because of the technicality of working for a temp agency and the "still employed for three business days" rule, my claim was denied and considered invalid. Suddenly, a sugar daddy was sounding like a viable option as opposed to sleeping in a refrigerator box under a bridge.
Okay, stop panicking Jude.
I wasn't able to re-file my unemployment benefits claim online; I had to call a phone number. Just another two hours of my life gone while I listened to the message over and over again that "due to the call volume, we're unable to handle your call right now, so call back later, you miserable piece of shit who doesn't have a job. Click. Dial tone." But I was able to have one of the pleasant (no, really, she was very pleasant) TWC people cancel my first claim, and enter a new claim for me over the phone.
I'm waiting to see if I've broken some other rule which I had no clue about because I'm someone who doesn't have to worry about being unemployed. The anticipation is killing me.
The good news is, I have an interview today. It's not the six figure salary that I'm used to making, but it's a hell of a lot more than what unemployment pays.
Stay tuned.
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