Well, hello there and thanks for surfing my wave!
To say this mess is frustrating is the understatement of the Century; I do try to keep this blog on-topic with ways to enhance the job-search, but I’ve also conveyed to you that I am going through all the same hoops you are to find work so I feel compelled to share them with you.
Last I broached this topic, I was scheduled for an interview for a benefit continuance determination – that occurred yesterday and I am proud (and relieved!) to report my claim for my first extension has been granted. Having said that, it’s just for the moment as this extremely insensitive woman had no record of my last conversation with the EDD. So…I need to go through the whole application process again for the extension! The woman did say that as long as I made the phone call as soon as my next check arrives (this week?), and answer the questions correctly (again), I will receive all benefits due me. This woman also countered most of what the last person told me…
This female was impatient; she obviously had other people to call. After five minutes she tried to hang up – I didn’t let her. I proceeded to tell her that I was not an imbecile and gave her all the confirmation numbers I had prior so she could properly track my claim. Of course she was unable to locate them. BS. That was not a reference to a college degree that this woman was noticeably lacking.
In the process of this “interview” she asked me the proverbial questions to assure I was “looking and available” for work. Folks, if you want to continue receiving your unemployment insurance benefits checks, unless you are being paid to do something, tell them you’re available. If you are sick or on vacation and you state that, they will stop your cash-flow and schedule an “interview”, ask you another battery of inane questions, tell you that you can continue collecting your benefits and send you off into oblivion. The State of California is wasting our tax dollars by doing this…why?
The system is set up to be taken advantage of. Honesty is always the best policy, but these employees working for the State are not educated. These people are not trained in logical thinking or any high level process other than to look at filled-in bubble matrixes and pay you or not; there is no room for excuses, legitimate or not. You either can work or you can’t. So why set up interviews if these ignoramuses refuse to listen to what you have to say other than I can work or I can’t? I went through the entire list of what sites I’ve been on, LinkedIn for one, and she had no idea what I was talking about! One of the reasons I got into this chaos in the first place was mentioning this website, so they immediately thought I was self-employed and making money. I was suspended. They did not understand or care to know the concept behind it. How on earth can you work for an Employment Development agency and have no clue what resources are being tapped or necessary to develop avenues toward employment? They are about as equipped to help you gain access to employment as I am to conduct brain surgery. Although, given two choices, I’d do a better job. Are these people for real? Oh, yeah…they’re not. They’re machines that read bubbles. Maybe machines do read them and they have “people” looking at the ones that require “additional questioning” because you were trying to be human.
It is most unfortunate to have a society such as ours trained to be unhelpful and useless; governments at all levels are notorious for wasting. It is no wonder the State of California is in a fiscal crisis with no proper future direction or motivating factors to a productive end. And like I keep saying…I’m the one unemployed.
But, hey – at least I’m sort of, kind of, maybe, I think I might be – getting my money back. So why complain? I’m not. The System sucks, that’s all.
Why Just Look For A Job? Create One!™
TheUnemployMENTOR – email@theunemploymentor.com
