Looking For an Outlet To Express Unemployed Frustration.
I just got layed off. I was downsized. I know this is going on all around me. I know I'm not alone. I know this isn't a sigle isolated case, but I am MAD. I think my former CEO made 2 million dollars last year. I have a college degree, and I cannot re-pay my $20,000 in student loans. Watching Mike Moore detail all of this just makes me more fed up and angry. Why have we as a people, the 99% who aren't getting rich, allowed it to go this far? I would work 40 hours a week. I'm hungry for success and I have a wealth of knowledge and creative potential that I wish I could direct into some company for a mutual profit. Where though?
http://collendubose.tumblr.com/
http://collendubose.tumblr.com/
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Two mill for the ceo. Says it all.
Yes, my friends at TPM wish to hear it all. WE KNOW IT IS TOUGH OUT THERE. HELL SO MANY OF US ARE LOOKING FOR REGULAR WORK.
This is the right place.
Thank you for this post.
October 6, 2009 7:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hi, Collen. Welcome to TPM. As dickday said, some of us have just been laid off too, so you're most certainly not alone. I'd like to leave with two posts about our situation -- the comments tell you all you need to know about the kind of people here. They're wonderful.
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/lisb/2009/09/the-fall.php
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/jasoneverettmiller/2009/02/post-partisan-traumatic-stress.php
Good luck to you.
October 6, 2009 8:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, and I checked out your website. Really cool artwork you got there.
October 6, 2009 8:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
I loved the bedbugs sketch, but now I itch.
October 7, 2009 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
After I got laid off I did many things including:
1. Took a vacation. It was well worth it to step-back and really assess what I wanted to do next
2. Made a list of all the places I wanted to work. Made a separate list of the business contacts I had. Then I tried to see who on the 2nd list might be able to get me introduced to people on my first list.
3. Then started pounding the pavement calling people on my 2nd list. Headhunters and want-ads are useless in this environment, you need to just go out and do it.
4. Make sure that one day a week you take a break from the job hunt and do something fun. It will help you keep your sanity.
Those are just some of the bigger things I found helpful.
Good luck.
October 6, 2009 9:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't know when you were laid off, MCB, but as one out here scrambling in the netherworld of semi-employment, I'd advise Collen to forego the vacation and stash that expenditure in an emergency budget. These days, there are fewer bootstraps by which we can pull ourselves up. But you're right about the importance of keeping one's spirits up; dying inside is no way to get through these rainy days.
October 7, 2009 9:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
I was let go in mid-2008. I didn't spend a lot on anything extravagant. But it was key to let yourself de-compress after being in the rat race for so long. Let's you step back and think about what you want to do next with your career.
October 7, 2009 10:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Damn Bill, sorry to hear that. I really want to make a snide Galt comment, but it would just leave me empty.
Good luck to you, Collen, Lis, Wendy, Donal, and all the rest of us here.
October 7, 2009 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I made this comment on another post a few days ago, but it comes to mind again..."Sometimes I wish I was in my 30s rather than my 50s. This is not one of those times."
You "youngsters" are going through things I never had to go through. The only advice that comes to mind that hasn't been said already (and it isn't original, but I can't remember where I heard it) is that when you are unemployed, "finding a job becomes your job." Spend as many hours a week looking for work as you did working. Supposedly it keeps you sharp and requires you to stay focused.
I wish you well.
October 7, 2009 11:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm in my 50s, too. I watch all those commercial with the retired guys golfing or fishing and I wonder if I'll even get social security.
October 7, 2009 2:25 PM | Reply | Permalink