October, 2009

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31
Oct 09

Just the Facts

* I lost my job on September 25, 2009.

* I applied for Unemployment Insurance on September 25, 2009.

* I received one official form to fill out, asking me questions such as “have you looked for work” and wondering if I was too sick to have worked. This form was to correspond with the week of September 27th through October 3rd, 2009, and also for the week of October 4th through 10th, 2009.

* I was instructed to mail my form in on October 11th, 2009, which was impossible, because October 11th was a Sunday. No mail is picked up or delivered on Sundays. It was followed by October 12th, 2009, which was a Monday, but also was a Federal Holiday (Columbus Day). No mail can be picked up or delivered on Federal Holidays. This means my official form was picked up Tuesday, October 13th, 2009, instead.

* I have NEVER received any of these important forms since that first one. NONE!

* I got a part time, ten hour a week job starting October 27th, 2009. Despite many attempts searching the EDD website, and countless attempts to actually speak with someone from the EDD on the phone, I have not been able to reach them. If they bothered to continue to mail me forms each week, I would be more than happy to indicate on those forms that I have obtained part time employment. I cannot do this if I never get sent any more forms.

* I had my official telephone interview on October 28th, 2009. The person I spoke with waited until after the two hour assigned time that I was supposed to be available to call me. Once I got him on the phone, I was given perhaps ten minutes to speak with him. I got questioned about how I lost my last job, and we went over this again and again. I was instructed to fax him a copy of the letter I got from the school district that informed me my job was over. This EDD man hung up the phone before I could even say one word about having finally gotten a part time job.

* Right now, as I write this blog, it has been 37 days since I applied for Unemployment Insurance. In this time, I have received exactly zero checks, for exactly zero dollars and zero cents.

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30
Oct 09

CalJOBS is harmful

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you might remember me mentioning a site called CalJOBS. This is the site that the government strongly encourages people to sign up for when they first apply for Unemployment Insurance. This is the job site that, so far, has produced the least amount of jobs for me to apply for.

Thanks to “Savage”, a friend who left me a comment on this blog, I became aware of another small, teeny, tiny problem with CalJOBS.

Check this out. The government has shut down the CalJOBS website because “A glitch discovered on Cal Jobs website could be at risk for identity theft.” Apparently, “a man” was on CalJOBS, and he accidently came across this “glitch” that, oops!, allowed him to view other people’s information through the CalJOBS site. Seems the state of California shut down the site after that.

Here’s a fun quote from the article: “While there’s no evidence that anyone has had their identity stolen, consumer counselors say that it’s a good idea to look over your credit report, just in case.” Doesn’t that just make you feel all safe and secure? Unemployed people desperately seeking financial help from the US Government don’t have enough problems, it seems. No, we also have to worry about if some nefarious person decided to use the private information they “accidently” found on this site to ruin our credit ratings, or, potentially steal our identities, in addition to every other worry we all are facing.

I went to the CalJOBS website today, just to see if it was still down. It was. There is no indication about when, or if, it will return. It is just “temporarily unavailable” because “of a few isolated cases of unauthorized access to posted résumé information.”

The CalJOBS site claims that “Such access was available to a limited number of résumé postings and did not compromise confidential information contained in the system such as Social Security numbers.” So, in other words, if you happened to put your resume on CalJOBS, don’t worry, they didn’t accidently give out your social security number. Just your name, home address, telephone number, cell phone number, and a list of places you used to work at. Nothing important, really. Not anything that could cause you harm.

Right now, I am very glad that I never got around to posting a resume on CalJOBS. I might have posted one, if, you know, I found any job listings there that I was both qualified for and interested in, but that didn’t happen. I’m still very nervous, though, after hearing this news. If the state run job listing website was unwittingly giving random strangers access to people’s personal information, and everybody who signed up there also had to go online to sign up for Unemployment Insurance….. how do I know that some stranger doesn’t have all my personal information right now?

Thanks, State of California, for being incompetent, and giving me more to stress out about!

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29
Oct 09

Voice Mail Jail

Today, after I got home from my brand new ten hour a week job, I decided it was a good idea to let the EDD know that I am not entirely and completely unemployed anymore. No, I have moved up in the world! I am now among the millions of under-employed people, who still need financial aide from Unemployment Insurance, if we want to, say, for example……. actually pay our bills.

I looked at the letter I got that informed me of the telephone interview, (the one I suffered through yesterday), and dialed the number sitting next to the word “English”. I got a recorded message, of course, welcoming me in English. Then I got to hear the same recorded message all over again, in Spanish. Would Cantonese be next, I wondered? No, it wasn’t. I was asked to “Press 1 for English”. So, I pressed one. BEEP!

Next, I had to listen to a recorded message informing me that people who have already gone through their Unemployment Insurance benefits, and have also gone through the second extension of their UI benefits can now apply for a third extension. There were lots of details about what months this was asking about, but, none of it actually applied to me. I guess this extension is called “FED ED”.

From here, things got confusing. I went through several layers of directions about which number to press for certain things. The problem was that not one of those numbers was for what I wanted. I was calling to let the EDD know that I had, in fact, obtained a part time job. Perhaps this isn’t actually something they want to know?

There were numbers to press if I was calling about child support payments. There were several numbers to press if I wanted to attempt to get an extension on my Unemployment payments. There even was a number to press if I wanted to attempt to fight a denial of my benefits. Numbers to press for everything, except what I actually was calling for.

Each and every time I pressed a number, I had to listen to a recorded message directing me to go online, and apply for Unemployment Insurance there. I’ve already done that, so this was not the least bit helpful. After several levels of “Voice Mail Jail”, misdirecting me around and around, I finally got to hear a recorded message that meant something.

I was told that “due to the amount of calls” right then, that there was no one who could help me. I was told, by this disembodied electronically recorded voice, that I should call back later. Oh, and I was also reminded about how to find their handy little website. Then, the pre-recorded voice hung up the phone on me! Strike One!

This was around 2:40 in the afternoon, today. I decided to call back after three, and see if I could get a better result. This time, the message started by telling me that they were receiving more calls than they could handle at the moment. I had the same information, once again, about potential extension of UI benefits. They directed me to their website at least four times, even going so far as to spell out “double-you, double you, double-you”. There was something said about how calling on Saturdays won’t work, and to, you guessed it, use the website instead. After that, the wonderful, helpful EDD hung up on me AGAIN! Strike Two!

At this point, I decided to call their Spanish line. I speak enough Spanish to ask my questions, and to understand the answers, if only I could connect to an actual, real live person! The Spanish line was just as (un)helpful as the English one. Now I was listening to the exact same recorded messages as before, this time in Spanish. All the same, right down to the “Dough-blay- ooo, Dough-blay-ooo, Dough-blay-ooo” for their website. After giving me exactly no help, for the third time in a row, the EDD decided to hang up on me, in Spanish. Strike Three! It wasn’t even 3:30 yet!

I call once again, this time in English, figuring that I have all day, and the telephone number is one of those 1-800 numbers that I will not be charged any money to call. “We are currently receiving more calls than we can answer….” I am sick and tired of hearing that!

Hey, EDD! How’s about you go hire a few of these people who are trying so hard to talk to you right now, and have a bunch of them answer your phones for you? Solve two problems with one simple action! Oh, right, that would actually make sense, and the government seems to be allergic to common sense. I am completely convinced that the EDD isn’t there to help any of us, and is instead, as one of my Twitter friends tweeted yesterday “just hoping (I) will go away”.

3:30, I try again. This is my fifth try today. It troubles me that I am here trying to do the right thing, to report to the EDD that I have a part time job now, so they can adjust my benefits however they see fit right away. I am trying to be honest, and not end up with an accidental overpayment, so I won’t have to deal with the EDD trying to take the “extra” money back from me later on. They are doing all they can to make this impossible for me.

I get the same recorded message, again, starting with the “we are receiving more calls than we can handle right now.” What happens if I press one? BEEP! The recorded message continues, as if I have not pressed anything. How about if I press zero? BEEP! The snippy sounding recorded disembodied female voice drones on. I am starting to hate her.

Shawn checks the website I have been directed to go look at countless times now, in two languages. Guess what? That’s right! There is absolutely nothing there that I can click on to inform the EDD that I have a part time job now. Not one thing!

I walk to the mailbox, hoping to find some good news. It’s illogical, considering that I have never gotten any good news from the EDD, well, at all, and I definitely haven’t gotten any good news from the EDD in my mailbox. As I walk, I wonder if, perhaps, the EDD isn’t there to help people, but is instead just a front allowing the government to do random psychological experiments on the American people.

How many times does the average person desperately call that phone number before giving up, resigned to their fate? How can we make that happen faster? What if we start by sending disconcerting and somewhat threatening letters to people in the mail? Does this make people try to call us less, or more?

There was junk mail in my mailbox, and a letter for someone who doesn’t live here. There was a random christmas catalogue, and a small box of something Shawn ordered. Once again, my financial assistance from the EDD is in absentia. This officially makes 35 days since I have signed up for Unemployment Insurance. Thirty five days of being ignored. Thirty five days of bills we are struggling to pay.

The clock says 3:53, and I am trying once again. I get the same recorded entity who refuses to give me any help, once again. No, I will not “Please listen to this recorded message”. I already know that once I hear that you have more calls than you can handle that you aren’t going to bother to try and help me this time around either. There must be just one person out there, trying to answer the phones in English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Vietnamese, as well as attempting to run the TTY machine with his feet, all at the same time. What are their phone operators doing over there, drinking? Throwing a party? C’mon already!

4:03… Same results. No help at all. Just a recorded message telling me that, boo-hoo, poor them, they have too many calls to handle right now! Cry me a river, baby.

4:05… I start hitting redial, like a teenager trying to win concert tickets from a radio station. Over and over and over.

4:08… To my complete surprise, I get the first recorded message voice. I’m actually getting excited! Perhaps this means they can help me now. I listen to the same message about extended UI claims, all over again. I press 1 for English, and am directed to press 1 again to “check my information” about my claim. Eventually, it asks me for my social security number, which I punch in. “This call may be monitored…” Oh, my God! Have I finally broken through the walls of Voice Mail Jail? Will I get help now?

I am asked to enter a series of numbers, once again. It wants me to enter something that is specifically printed out on the forms they first gave me. The problem? That particular phrase is listed twice, and there is a different number sitting behind each one of them. I try the first number, and hope I guessed right, holding my breath in anticipation. “We are receiving more calls than we can handle right now…” You’ve gotta be kidding me! I get hung up on again.

4:14, back to hitting redial. I get the snippy voice informing me of it’s woe over the excessive calls it is getting. Maybe they should, I dunno, answer some of them once in a while? I bet that would cut down the number of people trying to call for help. I get this snippy voice two more times, before getting the “good” voice mail entity once again.

Press 1 for English. Listen again to the stuff about extended claims. Back to the list of options. Pressing 1 got me nowhere, so this time, I press 2. BEEP! I get told about the website again. Not helpful, EDD, not helpful at all! I get directed to another level of Voice Mail Hell, and this time, it seems like I should press 4. BEEP!
One more level, and I’m guessing I should press 3. BEEP!

“This call may be monitored…” Yay! I’m about to finally get some help! “Due to the number of calls….” NOOOOO! Click! Hung up on again. I was so close this time!

4:18… redial until my finger falls off. I get the snippy voice mail entity three more times, until the “better” voice mail entity returns to me again. I follow the list of “press this number for… bla bla bla” commands, getting as far as I did before. This time, I press 4 instead of 3, just to see if that was the magic number I needed to press.

It seems to have worked. Huzzah! I am hearing voice mail options that I haven’t been told before! I decide that the best of these selections is to press *6, so that is what I do. That is what to press for, among a multitude of other things “overpayments”. I am trying to prevent an overpayment, so I think this may be the number for me. I listen to more options, but none of them are right. “Or, press zero for an operat…” BEEP! Could this labyrinth of voice mail finally have led me to an actual person? I can hardly breathe.

“Due to the number of calls ..” NOOOO! Why, God, why?

At 4:24, I go digging through the blue pamphlet, just in case there is some hidden information in there that might be able to help me. The table of contents says something like “Where is my check?”. I follow that to the right page, and look! A different phone number to call! See Jen. See Jen dial! Dial, Jen, Dial! If I can’t get an actual person to help me, maybe finding out where my check is at will offer me some solace.

I’ve got a new disembodied voice mail entity to listen to this time. I still have to listen to the stuff about extended claims, and the stuff about how to find their website. Eventually, I am allowed to punch in my social security number, and we are getting somewhere, I hope. I choose the first number beside the magic phrase. Incorrect! Click! *Sigh* I go through the process all over again, and this time, I pick the second number by the magic phrase. Correct! Yes, yes, yes!

It tells how to reset my “pin number” and I follow the directions until it is satisfied. I am informed that it takes ten days for the EDD to mail out a check. It’s been more then ten days, disembodied voice mail lady! I wait, as it seeks my information.

“There has been no payment sent out.” What? How can that possibly be? Beyond disappointed, I hang up the phone for the last time. I do not exist to the EDD, despite the forms I have filled out online, the forms I have mailed, the phone interview I did, and the fax I sent out. Something tells me I will be working full time before the EDD starts to send out payments to me, and then, it will only be so it can take them right back again. Thirty five days have gone by, and the EDD hasn’t even gotten around to starting to help me yet.

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28
Oct 09

Waiting

It’s now been thirty three days since I signed up for Unemployment Insurance. I have yet to receive my first financial aide check. When the mail arrives today, I will scurry down there to pick it up, hoping that the government decided to finally send me some money to pay my bills. Isn’t that what Unemployment Insurance is supposed to do? If it’s not there today, then it will be thirty four days that I have been waiting for help to arrive.

As I write this blog, I am waiting on the government for something else. Today is the day of the Super Important “Telephone Interview”. I am to be available “between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.” to take their call. I am to have with me all the information I need to answer their questions. I’ve blogged about this before.

Right now, it is 12:58 p.m., and I am waiting, as directed, for the government to call. I’m irritated and a bit nervous. Waiting for this phone call feels a lot like waiting in the dentist’s office, knowing I’m about to get a root canal. I can’t wait for it to be over and done with, and, at the same time, I really don’t want it to begin.

It is now 1:00 p.m., officially. Let’s see how long the government thinks it is acceptable to keep me hanging on, waiting on them. I’m both bored, and stressed out at the same time. Of course, I decide to let world share my frustration through the power of Twitter.

sitting and waiting / for the government to call / between one and three
about 3 hours ago from web

I still sit and wait / fifteen minutes have gone by / want this overwith
about 3 hours ago from web

and now the phone rings / but it’s not the government / watch my hope deflate
about 3 hours ago from web

half an hour gone / and I am still waiting for / government phone call
about 3 hours ago from web

At about 2:00 p.m. I start to feel sick. I’m either going to throw up, or I’m going to end up with a stress induced migraine. Why are they making me wait an hour for their call? I’m getting angry.

Now, granted, the government likely assumes that I have absolutely nothing else to do today. They don’t know (yet) that I’m only partially unemployed now, instead of completely unemployed. I had to tell my brand new ten hour a week part time job that I could not work today, because the government was supposed to call. Shawn works from home, and in doing so, he ties up the phone lines. So, he actually had to take time off work in order for the government to be able to call me. I suppose it’s not enough for the government to make me wait around and get frustrated. No, they want to actively prevent both me and my husband from making a pittance of an income while I wait for their damned phone call!

I’ve been waiting for / exactly an hour now / for government call
about 3 hours ago from web

The clock says it is 2:10 p. m. now. I feel sick, and frustrated, and enraged. How is it possible that a phone call that was so important to them that it required it’s own, personal, announcement letter be something that they don’t bother themselves to actually do?

I mean, if I had hugely important things to ask a friend or family member, and I arranged a time to call them on the phone, I’d be a whole lot more prompt about it! Hell, even employers who call people to set up interviews are speedier about it than the US Government is choosing to be.

I don’t usually believe the words people say; I believe their actions. Waiting over an hour and ten minutes for an “important” phone call tells me that no, the government doesn’t actually consider this call to be the least bit important. Why are they messing with my head like this?

have been waiting for / hour and fifteen minutes / for government call
about 2 hours ago from web

Now the clock says 2:20 in the afternoon. I have given up all hope.
“They are not gonna call me.” I yell to Shawn, who is in the next room.

“They still got forty minutes.” he says. “Pick up the phone and see if there is a message.”

I grab the phone… no messages at all. I roll my eyes and put the phone back in it’s cradle, where it can continue to taunt me with it’s non-ringing.

starting to feel like/ government has forgotten / that I do exist
about 2 hours ago from web

half an hour left / of the assigned timing for / the government call
about 2 hours ago from web

At 2:31 p. m. I pick up the paper the government mailed to me about this super important, (but so far non-existent), phone call.
Yes, it does say “You will be called between 01:00 pm and 03:00 pm, Pacific standard/daylight time at (my home phone number), on October 28, 2009.” Ok, so it is definitely not me who has screwed things up here.

I look at the list of phone numbers at the top of the letter, one for each language the government officially speaks, wondering if it would be appropriate for me to just go ahead and call them at 4:00 p.m. after waiting the allotted two hours for them to (not bother to) call me. I have the distinct feeling that I am being “stood up” by the US Government.

A friend of mine on twitter seems to have read my mind. He sent this tweet as I was typing the previous few sentences:

(my friend says) @me I think they’re just hoping that if they ignore you, the you’ll go away. Is there a number you can call?
about 2 hours ago from Gravity in reply to me

@(my friend) yes, there’s a number / which I will be calling when / their time span is up
about 2 hours ago from web in reply to my friend

Twenty minutes left / of the time the government / said they would call me
about 2 hours ago from web

It’s 2:42 p.m. and I am furious! Where the hell is this person who is supposed to call me for this supposedly important telephone interview! If it turns out that this phone “interview” is simply how they are going to tell me that my Unemployment Insurance claim has been denied, I am going to scream at them, in every language I am able to! Sure, they don’t officially speak German, but somehow, I bet they will recognize the swear words I am about to use anyway.

fifteen minutes left / I think I’ve been stood up by / US Government
about 2 hours ago from web

I am wondering, at 2:47 p.m. if the US Government has anyone on twitter. You know, like some big companies do now. They hire somebody to sift through Twitter, and provide wonderful customer service to people who tweet that their company has made them completely dissatisfied and disgruntled. Would it be quicker just to send a tweet to the EDD? Something like :
@EDD Minutes ticking by / You said that you would call me / Are you going to?

Oh, who am I kidding! The US Government doesn’t care what the world thinks of it! If Big Brother is watching Twitter, I bet they see me, and simply don’t care about the problem I am having with them. I’m not important enough. I’m not a pharmaceutical company, or a lobbyist, or even a reporter for Fox News.

I got some more moral support from friends on Twitter:

my friend @me Hopefully they’ll actually do their job and calls at the right time….grrr hate chasing people
about 2 hours ago from Gravity in reply to me

my second friend to tweet @me It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve stood someone up. Sorry.
about 2 hours ago from web in reply to me

my third friend to tweet @me r u surprised?
about 2 hours ago from Echofon in reply to me

nine minutes to go / clearly, I’m not important / enough for their help
about 2 hours ago from web

Five minutes until “03:00 pm”, and, surprise surprise, no phone call from the government yet!

Five minutes left now / guess this “important” phone call / wasn’t “important”
about 2 hours ago from web

“What the hell am I supposed to do if they don’t call?” I yell to Shawn, who is in the other room still. He knows me well enough to stay out of my range when I am this pissed off about something.

“Give them until three fifteen, and then call them.” he responds.

I rant, loudly and incoherently, about the injustice of it all for a few minutes, before typing this into my blog.

It’s now three o’clock in the afternoon. Where the %#*& are they?!!?

Now it’s three o’clock / waited the whole two hours / and they didn’t call
about 2 hours ago from web

At about 3:05, the telephone rings. It turns out to be “Alfonso” from the EDD. Finally! To my amazement, he begins with apologizing for calling late. This is a wise way for him to begin.

He asks me questions such as “Who was your last employer?” and wants details about how I became unemployed. He says his wife was a school administrator, and he loves the town I live and worked in. We go over, in great detail, the letter I got that told me I didn’t have a job anymore, and all the implications it contains. Alfonso asks me to fax him a copy of this letter, and I agree to. He says “thank you” and hangs up the phone. It is only 3:16, so this call I waited more than two hours for didn’t even last fifteen minutes.

Wait! I didn’t get to tell you that I am only partially unemployed now, and that I have a part time job! Arrrrgggghh! I take a second to tweet the update on Twitter :

they finally called / now I have to fax something / still not getting help
about 1 hour ago from web

Then I hurry off to take a shower, before I drive over to Kinkos to fax the Letter of Doom to Alfonso. I’m a nervous, sweaty wreck by this point. The fax ended up costing me about $4.00 to send to Alfosnso of the EDD. So, now it’s actually starting to cost me money to attempt to get help in the form of Unemployment Insurance.

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26
Oct 09

Where is it?

It might help to listen to this as you read these modified lyrics.

Oh Where, oh where, has my welfare check gone?
Oh Where, oh where, can it be?
A month has gone by since I lost my job
Where is the money for me?

Will it come this week or just not come at all?
How will I pay all the bills that are here?
I signed up on time for unemployment, so
Where in the hell is my check????

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25
Oct 09

Still Not Here

Earlier this month, I blogged about filling out the form that I needed to send in to the government in order to be able to receive Unemployment Insurance benefits. As I write this blog, I have yet to get any of the financial assistance that I was told I should be getting. All my bills are managing to arrive, safe and sound, and in a timely fashion into my mailbox. Why hasn’t the check from Unemployment Insurance arrived?

Here are a few facts:
* I became unemployed on September 25, 2009. I went online and signed up for Unemployment Insurance that same day.

* My form from the EDD was supposed to be sent in “no earlier” than October 11, 2009. It must be postmarked after that, but as close to that date as I could manage, or I would lose all my benefits.

* October 11, 2009, was a Sunday. The US Mail will not pick up or deliver on Sundays. The next day, Monday October 12, 2009, just so happened to be a Federal Holiday. So, once again, the US Mail was not picked up or delivered. My best guess is that the US Mail actually picked up the super special form from the EDD on Tuesday, October 13, 2009. No idea if the government will consider that to be “late”.

* The little perforated part at the top of the super special form said “ALLOW 10 DAYS FOR DELIVERY OF CHECK.” Right.

Ten days from October 11, 2009 = October 21, 2009. No check!
Ten days from October 12, 2009 = October 22, 2009. No check!
Ten days from October 13, 2009 = October 23, 2009. No check!

Let’s assume they mean ten “business days” instead of ten actual days, you know, like what they wrote on the super special form.

Ten business days from October 11, 2009 = October 23, 2009. As I’ve already mentioned, no financial aide check arrived that day.

Now, if I am being punished because the government selected a Sunday that was followed by a Federal holiday as the day I must send in the super special form, that changes things.

Ten business days from October 13, 2009 = October 27, 2009. Ironically, this is the exact same day that I will be going into my new ten-hour-a-week job. It will be my first day, and, like all first days at new jobs, I will very likely be filling out paperwork, and perhaps watching a training video. I might be there for two hours, tops.

I’m going to be incredibly, stupidly, optimistic for a moment, and believe that when I return from my teeny tiny work day, there will be an Unemployment Insurance check in my mailbox, waiting for me when I get home. If so, then I will have been Unemployed for exactly 32 days before I got any actual help from the government because I lost my job. I am very lucky that my husband has been employed this whole time, and so we have been able to pay for some bills. What about all those unemployed people who aren’t married, or who live alone? What about all those families where both wage-earners are currently unemployed?

Thirty two days is a long time to wait for help. Thirty two days is a heartbreakingly long time to check one’s mailbox, and find only bills demanding money that you might have if only the government wasn’t withholding your Unemployment Insurance for thirty two days.

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23
Oct 09

A COBRA in my mailbox

I’m starting to develop a phobia involving mailboxes and important looking documents from places with acronyms instead of names.

In a recent blog post, I mentioned COBRA insurance. This is basically a supplemental insurance you can purchase if you lost your job, and as a result, lost your health insurance along with it. In the previous blog, I was talking about how these plans are too expensive for unemployed people to be able to pay for.

This is why so many Americans have absolutely no health insurance right now. Perhaps the government expects us to all start praying to St. Jude, Patron Saint of lost causes, that we don’t catch H1N1, get hit by a bus, or have a stroke from the stress involved with being unemployed, and wind up in the hospital. If this happens to me or to Shawn right now, there is absolutely now way we would be able to pay the hospital bills. We would lose our (Mobile) home.

COBRA is supposed to provide help for unemployed workers. A fat envelope from COBRA arrived in my mailbox today. Let’s see what it has to say, shall we?

* “The cost of COBRA is 102% of the rate upon loss of coverage.”

* “You should pay the entire premium due at the time you send in the Enrollment Form.”…. “The COBRA benefits will not be activated until the payment and signed enrollment form have been received by SCIC”.

* “Rates are subject to change due to benefit modification and/or October 1st renewal”. This is written in bold. I have received this letter on October 23, 2009, and it was dated October 21, 2009. Does this mean that the rate I see on the next few pages is correct, or is that now subject to change? I became unemployed September 25, 2009. Should I assume that since I have been sent this COBRA information pack that I am actually eligible for the health insurance benefits it is talking about, or, are my benefits already gone because I wasn’t able to pay them anything on October 1, 2009, because I was no longer employed there?

Why am I getting this letter nearly a month after I lost my job? Shouldn’t they have sent this to me right away?

Here is a paragraph that makes me question the integrity of the whole deal:
” To help keep Californians informed about their health care options the California Legislature has required that the following wording be included in this letter: “Please examine your options carefully before declining this coverage. You should be aware that companies selling individual health insurance typically require a review of your medical history that could result in a higher premium or you could be denied coverage entirely.”"

Translation: “We are only telling you this because we are required to by law. You better pay us the 102% of what you were paying before you lost your job. Other health insurance companies might not take you at all!”

I am warned that this COBRA rate is only for health insurance, and it excludes dental and vision care. If I want dental and vision care along with the general health insurance, I have to pay extra.
* “Premiums for State Continuation of COBRA will be at 110%.”

This is all on page one of the packet of information I got in the mail today. Page two is called “Summary of the COBRA Premium Reduction Provisions under ARRA”, and is nicely centered at the top of the page, in bold print. Two governmental looking symbols appear on either side of it.

The first paragraph informs me : “President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) on February 17, 2009. This law gives “Assistance Eligible Individuals” the right to pay reduced COBRA premiums for periods of coverage beginning on or after February 17, 2009 and can last up to 9 months.”

Who is an “Assistance Eligible Individual”? If it’s you, then you:
* “MUST be eligible for continuation coverage at any time during the period from September 1, 2008 through December 31, 2009 and elect coverage:”
Check.
* “MUST have a continuation coverage election opportunity related to an involuntary termination of employment that ocurred at some time from September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009:”
Check.
* “MUST NOT be eligible for Medicare AND”
Umm… I’m not eligible for Medicare myself, but my husband is. He gets disability benefits because he is legally blind. Does this disqualify me now?
* “MUST NOT be eligible for coverage under any other group health plan, such as a plan sponsored by a successor employer or a spouse’s employer.”
Um… I haven’t even started working my ten hour a week part time job yet. I don’t have any idea if I qualify for health insurance through them.

Nowhere on this page does it tell me how to find out for certain if I qualify for the ARRA discount in rates. How do I prove to my employer that I qualify for the lower rate?

Page three is a form to fill out called “REQUEST FOR TREATMENT AS AN ASSISTANCE ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL”. Here are a series of questions for me to check “yes” or “no”. If I can honestly check “yes” to all the questions, it looks like it gets sent to my former employer, and then they have to fill out the bottom half of the form.

Their part of the form says “REASON FOR DENIAL OF TREATMENT AS AN ASSISTANCE ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL”. They can check any of the boxes next to the four questions to deny a person the discount Obama offers. There are four questions.
1. Loss of employment was voluntary.
2. The involuntary loss did not occur between September 1, 2008, and December 31, 2009.
3. Individual did not elect COBRA coverage.*
4. Other (please explain).
The * connects to something called an “ADDITIONAL ELECTION PERIOD”, which means something like “second attempt to get COBRA and the discount”. I don’t like this “other” question. My former employer can check “Other” and write “Failure to complete the Probationary Period” or “Didn’t have Specific Skill Set”, and can legally screw me all over again, for the same event, twice. They will save themselves money in the process of denying me a discount on the cost of continuing their health insurance. I don’t trust them NOT to pull something like that.

Somewhere beyond more pages of forms to fill out is a page that tells me what, exactly, COBRA is going to cost me. If I would like to continue to have health insurance, and dental insurance, and vision insurance, it will cost me $634.34 a month. If I ever see a check from Unemployment Insurance, it will be for about $720 each month.
$720 – $634.34 = $85.66 to “live” on. I can’t afford to do that. Now, if I qualify for the ARRA discount, then I would be paying only $222.02 a month instead. This is still way to high a cost!

The last page starts with a paragraph I find threatening.
“Because the COBRA law does not allow for any break in coverage, your coverage will be retroactive to the date you became ineligible due to termination, retirement, death of the employee, divorce, or loss of dependant status. Therefore, premiums must be paid back to your qualifying event date (see page 1), even if services were not used.”

Translation: Pay us, right now for the month we sat on our asses and neglected to give you this form. We know that your doctors office and pharmacy denied you use of the COBRA insurance you hadn’t had the chance to sign up for yet for this month. Too bad! We don’t care! Pay us right now for the month we sat on, and the month about to start.

Now, remember earlier, where it said that “The COBRA benefits will not be activated until the payment and signed enrollment form have been received by SCIC”? Check out this little scheme:

*Amount Due if Enrollment Form Signed And Received In Our Office: 10/ 31/ 2009: $634. 34

* Amount Due if Enrollment Form Signed And Received In Our Office: 11/ 30/ 2009 : $1,268.68

* Amount Due if Enrollment Form Signed And Received In Our Office: 12/ 31/2009: $1,903.02

* Amount Due if Enrollment Form Signed And Received In Our Office: 01/ 31/ 2010 : $ 2,537.36

The longer I wait to give them the money they demand, the more money I have to pay. I got this letter on October 23, 2009. It will be impossible for me to fill out these forms, let the US Mail send the form to my former employer, and assume my former employer is going to get right on helping me out with that. If they stall, then I owe more money, AND I cannot use the insurance until they get paid the entire owed amount FIRST!

There are phone numbers I can call, and websites I can visit in regards to this, but I’m not intending to. I, like many Americans, cannot afford to use the COBRA insurance, even if I do end up being able to prove that I qualify for the discounted rate. Let’s hope I don’t get hit by a bus before I am able to qualify for whatever health insurance plan my new employer will offer.

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23
Oct 09

Somewhat Unemployed

Earlier this week, I saw an ad for a job on Craigslist that actually made me happy and excited. Here, in black and white, online for all to see, was an ad from a place that I applied to work at thirteen months ago.

At the time, I was working at a retail job that I no longer enjoyed. This was right around when the economy crashed. The retail store I worked at was telling us that we wouldn’t be getting any more workers to help us through the upcoming holiday season. They couldn’t afford to hire anyone new, and they had been cutting hours left and right for months by that time.

I had been through FOUR holiday seasons working for that particular retail company, and I wasn’t looking forward to having to endure a fifth one. Then the managers informed us that instead of getting one holiday off (either Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Years Eve), as promised, we would now be getting exactly zero of those holidays off. This intensified my resolve to escape from retail hell, for good! In fact, I had started searching for a non-retail non-sales type job immediately after I finished struggling through my fourth holiday season of hell.

My job search began in January of 2008, and I was unable to find anything suitable by September of 2008. It was obvious that there were no jobs to be had, except for sales, and even those were starting to disappear. I didn’t give up though. I was extremely motivated to get the heck out of Dodge before the holidays were upon us that year. Anything, but that again!

In September, I applied at an Answering Service that I knew was a nice place to work because my husband, Shawn, already worked there. The interview went well, and I was given a typing test and number recognition test, and started filling out some of the very preliminary paperwork. I would have been happy to work there, and they would have been happy to have me, except for one little problem. They didn’t have any jobs available at that time. September 2008 was a really bad month to try and find a new job, mostly due to the economy being so incredibly bad right then. I cannot think of another time in my life where the retail stores and shopping malls couldn’t afford to hire seasonal workers.

So, despite my wanting to work for the Answering Service, and them wanting me to work for them, it wasn’t going to happen. So, I kept looking. Instead, I eventually ended up being hired as a paraeducator for the local public school system. I filled out their paperwork in a mad scramble to beat the clock the day before their offices closed for their Christmas break. I started working for the school in January of 2009, and by September of 2009, I was right back to looking for work, once again. Circle of life, I suppose.

And now, here was this glorious ad for the place I originally wanted to work for! I applied immediately, hoping for the best. The people who do the hiring for this company remembered me for two reasons. One, they remembered me from my previous interview with them, and two, my husband was still working there. It also didn’t hurt that I am bilingual, which they happen to need right now.

I got offered this job because I was someone who applied and was interviewed thirteen months ago. This put me ahead of people who may apply for this same job who are complete strangers to this company. I believe this is happening with a lot of employers right now. My previous job lasted only nine months, so it had been exactly a year since I had applied at this company. People who worked at the same job for several years who are now unemployed aren’t going to have the same resources as I did. Wherever they may have applied at before they got the job they just lost won’t remember them if it’s been several years. Things are going to be really difficult for job seekers for a while longer, it seems.

I got an interview right away, and am now the proud owner of a part time job! Ta-da! They are offering me ten hours a week for now, with potential for the hours to increase in the future. This job on it’s own will not pay my bills. I am hoping that now that I officially have a part time job, the Unemployment Insurance will supplement my income to make up for the rest of what I was making as a teacher.

It is going to be interesting to see what happens with that. I have that super important phone interview with the government coming up next week. Will they say “Good for you! You found a job! We are going to continue to pay you Unemployment Benefits until your job becomes full time.” Or, will they say “Good for you! You found a job! We won’t be paying you one red cent from now on.” I have no idea which way this will go.

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22
Oct 09

A Looming Problem

The L.A. Times had an interesting article recently that caught my attention. The title is “An Education Problem Looms”. This article was published October 4th, 2009.

The problem is “looming”. The huge unemployment problem and lack of teaching jobs has become sentient, gathered itself together, and is now stomping through L.A. like Godzilla through Tokyo. Or, technically, I suppose it could have come to life and is now using a giant loom to weave a tapestry. Oh, wait, that’s just silly. The schools have been cutting their Art programs for years on end now. If the problem somehow became it’s own entity, there wouldn’t have been anyone to teach it how to weave!

It says: “As thousands of laid off California teachers sit out the school year, educators are worried about the long-term effect of losing so many teachers. Some instructors are considering leaving the state or even the profession, and if history is any indication, fewer young people will pursue careers in teaching.”

I, for one, am interested in leaving the profession. I wasn’t even considering leaving the state in an attempt to teach outside of California, in part, because I’m convinced that finding a job as a teacher is pretty much impossible all over America right now. However, I did toy with the idea of leaving the country entirely, in an effort to go teach someplace where education is actually, I don’t know, valued.

I’m absolutely certain that if I was in college right now, there would be nothing in the world that would convince me that becoming a teacher was a good idea. It seems that there are a whole lot of (former) teachers out there in California who are thinking the same things I am right now in regards to employment in education.
Many of us are wondering, just like the woman in the article, “Did I go into the wrong profession”?

Here are some particularly striking sentences from this article:
* “Faced with severe budget cuts, school districts last spring issued more than 27,000 pink slips. Although many of those teachers were eventually rehired by school districts, thousands are still out of work, existing on a combination of unemployment benefits, their savings, spouses’ wages and substitute teaching income when possible.”

* “Heather Hottinger was one day shy of becoming a permanent teacher when she was laid off from her job at Vintage Magnet Elementary in North Hills in July.”
I’m pretty sure I was within two days of completing my “Probationary Period” with the school district I was working in, when they ended my job.

* “The state is facing a looming teacher shortage as baby boomers reach retirement age and fewer young people are expected to enter the field.”

* The article goes on to say: “In addition, the layoffs are having a ripple effect on the next generation of teachers: Past economic downturns in California have produced fewer teachers. In the years after the dot-com bust, the number of students enrolled in teacher preparation programs declined 13% and the number of new teaching credentials dropped 17%, according to the Santa Cruz teachers center.”

Here is my favorite quote from this article:
“”It’s a noble profession. In many other countries, children do aspire to be teachers, and they are regarded as some of the most important people in society,” said John White, the education department spokesman. ”

Now, there’s a novel concept for the United States to try! Actually treating teachers as if they are worth something. Acknowledging, on a state and governmental level, that teaching “is a nobel profession”, instead of something to be looked down upon.

Due to the budget cuts, the way that teachers are being let go with no warning, and the abysmal conditions and situations that many teachers are expected to work in right now, smart people will choose to do anything to avoid getting stuck working as a teacher. We, as a nation, are going to sit idly by and watch the truly talented and inspirational people who used to be teachers leave education forever. This is really sick and sad.

Five or ten years down the road, when the budget improves enough to start hiring teachers again, no one will want these jobs. Teaching will become one of those jobs that you take because you couldn’t find any other work, (sort of like telemarketing). I, for one, will not be the slightest bit interested in returning to teaching. Who would want a job that requires so much, gives back so little, and now, can’t even offer job stability?

It is troubling to think about how these severe teacher cuts are going to affect the students who are stuck in the schools right now, just getting by. I cannot guess what these students are thinking about doing when they “grow up”. I can’t imagine any of them will want to be teachers.

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21
Oct 09

No Responses Yet

I have been unemployed for four weeks now. I haven’t found any jobs in education so far (that I meet the requirements for). Instead, I have opened up my search to jobs that are outside of education. It seems my Diploma from my college is nothing more than something to hang in a pretty frame on the wall at home. It’s slightly less interesting than a family photo, and slightly more expensive than a painting from a modern gallery.

Here is a list of job I have applied at, sent a resume to, or made contact with an employer so far:

* The Mental Health Hospital that I already blogged about.
Found : From the local New Times
Contact: Actual people, by phone, on October 16, 2009

They supposedly wanted a teacher. I got to play a long game of phone tag with a bunch of different people, which was somewhat entertaining. At the end, one hospital wanted a teacher with credentials I do not possess, and the other wasn’t sure what it wanted, exactly.
End Result: There isn’t a job here for me

* Pre School Teacher
Found: Local Craigslist
Contact: I sent them a resume through the “reply to” link on the ad. I sent in on October 4th, 2009

This was for a part time job. They wanted a “fully qualified” teacher, and also wanted a certain amount of “ECE Credits”. I’ve no idea what age group they want a teacher for. The ad said “Please send resume if interested and you will be called for an interview”.

End Result: I have not gotten a phone call, or an email, or anything at all back from this employer. Is the job filled? No way to know.

* Switchboard Operator / Room Reservation Agent for a local Restaurant and Inn
Found: SLOJobs
Contact: Sent a resume through the SLOJobs site on October 6th, 2009.

They want to hire someone to answer the phones, and make reservations. It’s local, and seemed like it could be a nice place to work.

End Result: Other than the automatically sent conformation letter from SLOJobs, that let me know that they sent my resume to the Restaurant/Inn? Nothing at all from this employer. I’ve no idea if they read my resume and rejected it, or filled the position, or what. All I know is that they received my resume from SLOJobs.

* Bilingual Customer Service Representative at an Eye Care place
Found: SLOJobs
Contact: Sent a resume through SLOJobs on October 13th, 2009.

This is an eye doctor’s office that wants someone who can speak Spanish (as well as English) to assist customers.

End Result: Nothing at all so far, except for the automatically generated email letting me know SLOJobs sent the employer my resume.

* Front Desk Receptionist/ Concierge at an assisted living center.
Found: SLOJobs
Contact: I walked into the place with my resume. I filled out a four page application, and attached my resume to it on October 19th, 2009. It was handed to a real person.

This place is looking for someone to run the front desk, answer questions, and provide help for elderly residents and their families.

End Result: I’d like to think this one was “pending”.

This is the farthest I’ve gotten in my job hunt so far. I found a job that sounded like something I would want to do. The pay might be okay, and it provides some benefits to it’s workers. I handed my resume and application to an real person, who placed in in a file on her desk that had at least two other resume/applications already sitting inside it.

On the last page of the application, there were two paragraphs to read before signing my name underneath. One was the expected stuff, about how you agree to follow the rules, and that the information you provided them was accurate and truthful.

The other paragraph was one that gave me pause. It stated that this was an “at will” job, and that the employer can fire people without cause, at any time. This means that if I happen to get this job, the employer can take it away from me again, for no reason, with no warning, just like my previous employer did.

Right now, it feels like I could get this job, only to lose it again in less than a year. If that happens, and this job pays me less than my job as a paraeducator did, it will be a problem. Unemployment Insurance looks at your most recent job in order to determine how much you will get paid in benefits. I guess it doesn’t matter, though, considering that I doubt I’m going to ever hear from this employer, either.

Why can’t employers simply send out a mass email, saying “Thank you for your application/resume. The job you applied for has been filled”, or something like that? I hate that employers are allowed to keep people hanging on for no reason.

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