06
Jul 10

Is this my answer?

I recently had my fourth godforsaken telephone interview with the EDD, as those of you who have been reading this blog are already aware of. It was horrific, and stressful, as all the telephone interviews with the EDD are. The only satisfying part was that I managed to completely fluster the minion of the EDD that called me, because I wouldn’t change my story from what truly happened with the job I had at the answering service to something untrue that would nicely fit into one of their little boxes.

I also caught her in a lie. She insisted that I had not filled out the name of the company and the address of the company on the continued claim form that I sent in right before I stopped working for the answering service. I asked her to send me a copy of it, because I knew full well that I had, in fact, filled out all of that information correctly. (As I do on all of my continued claim forms). I bet she regrets admitting that she “didn’t have” the form, and that was the reason she couldn’t send it to me.

This telephone interview ended in a cliffhanger. The minion informed me that in “ten days/ two weeks” I would receive one of two things in the mail. I might get an Unemployment Benefit check, which would indicate that the EDD decided that I was still eligible for benefits after they called the answering service, and reviewed whatever information they got from that phone call. Or, I would be getting a letter, which would notify me that my claim had been terminated. There was nothing I could do, but wait for the answer.

Today, another brightly colored happy envelope arrived from the EDD. It contained a check, which was attached to a Continued Claim Form. This one is for the week ending July 3, and the week ending July 10, 2010. I am to mail it back on Sunday, July 11. The check is less than what I have gotten in the past, but I don’t know exactly why. It could be because I reported the income I earned from the freelance writing jobs. Or, it might have something to do with that audit (for lack of a better word) that the EDD did not too long ago. (The one where they decided that they made a mistake, and were “overpaying me” and now wanted me to give them $340.00, for their own mistake).

The telephone interview was on June 24, 2010. It hasn’t been two weeks. Should I assume that this check means that I will continue to get Unemployment Insurance benefits? (Well, until my claim ends in September, that is.) It won’t officially be two weeks time until July 8, 2010. There is the possibility that a letter telling me my claim has been terminated will still arrive in my mailbox, another letter of doom.

I am so very tired of this roller coaster ride.


04
Jul 10

Minimum wage

I’ve noticed that every time I read a news article, or an editorial, or anything else online that has something to do with unemployment, the comments that appear underneath it fall under a few specific themes. There will be comments from people who are attempting to connect the unemployment rate with the amount of illegal aliens that are in California. There will be comments implying that people who are on Unemployment Insurance are lazy, and content to live “on the dole”. And, there will be comments suggesting that the way to “solve” the problems with unemployment (as well as the problems with Unemployment Insurance), is to force all the government workers to try and live on a minimum wage.

Now, I think that when people start screaming that they want “government workers” to lose their salaries and end up living on just $8.00/hr, they don’t actually mean all the government workers. No, what they really want is to force the senators, representatives, and other high level government workers, (the one’s whose job it is to make and pass laws that can potentially change this horribly dysfunctional situation), to experience what it is like to try and survive on such a small amount of money.

The idea is to artificially induce a sense of compassion in these people. (Particularly the ones who are under the mistaken belief that there are plenty of jobs out there, and that unemployed people should settle for extremely low paying jobs). The underlying hope is that if these (rich) people had to struggle like the rest of us do, we would suddenly see much more effort being put into the creation of (good) jobs. We would see the minimum wage increase to what actually is an amount of money one could live on. We would have EDD workers who would be much nicer to the people unfortunate enough to have to be on Unemployment Insurance in order to survive.

On June 24, 2010, the San Luis Obispo Tribune posted an article called “Schwarzenegger: State workers to face minimum wage”. Now, at first glance, I thought this article was going to say that the Govenator actually was planning to do what so many people have been suggesting: to cut the salaries of the government workers who are responsible for making changes. However, it turned out that this was not the case at all!

Instead, the Govenator has decided that if California lawmakers don’t pass the budget soon, that he will have no choice but to cut the pay of state workers to $7.25/hr. until…. well, perhaps until they pass the budget, I assume? The problem is that he is not cutting the salaries of the California lawmakers who are supposed to be doing their job, and passing a budget. That would actually make sense.

If the Govenator went to those people, “locked them in a room”, and then told them “Hey, guys! If you don’t find a way to pass this budget, I’m cutting your salaries to minimum wage!” it might provide sufficient motivation for those workers to get over their differences, come together, and pass a budget.

Instead, what the Governator was planning was something completely ridiculous. What he is really saying is something closer to: “Hey guys! If you don’t find some way to pass this budget, I’m going to cut the salaries of….. those people over there.” In other words, if the people whose job it is to pass the budget fail to do their job, a bunch of people who have absolutely nothing to do with that job are going to suffer.

Oh, and by the way… the Governator also threatened to start using Furlough Days again. You know, those days where state workers are required to take the day off, without pay. Those days that have been, up to this point, reducing their ability to make money. Either way, he intended to punish the wrong group of people.

The story continues. On July 1, 2010, the Cal Coast News had an article called
Controller refuses to cut state workers’ pay”
. The person who currently has the job of State Controller is a man named John Chiang. On July 1, 2010, the budget had not been passed (surprise, surprise!), and so Schwarzenegger went ahead and ordered that all state workers will now be paid the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

Chiang decided to defy this order. He believed that forcing these state workers to take pay cuts will do nothing to solve the budget deficit. Why? Because when the budget finally gets passed, all of these state workers will be entitled to back pay. In other words, cutting their wages isn’t going to actually do anything towards reducing the budget.

Read the article to find out more. It seems that this exact same drama between Chiang and Schwarzenegger played out in 2008, as well. At this point in the story, the situation was handed over to the California Supreme Court. The belief was that there would be an appeal filed, no matter what the ruling turned out to be.

What happened next? The San Luis Obispo Tribune reported on July 2, 2010, an article called: “Court sides with Schwarzenegger on minimum wage”. The court has decided that the State Controller is not allowed to defy the orders of the Governor. Which means that from July 1, 2010, state workers are going to be getting minimum wage. The date of July 1 has significance. It is the date that the new fiscal year begins, and the deadline that the California lawmakers were supposed to have come up with a balanced budget. Sucks to be a state worker right now. Oh, I guess unless you are one of those California lawmakers, or Schwarzenegger himself. None of those people are going to have to take a giant pay cut!

This story is not over! Yesterday, July 3, 2010, the San Luis Obispo Tribune posted an article called : “Old technology foils Schwarzenegger’s wage order”.

Despite the court ruling, Controller John Chiang cannot comply with the order. Why not? It turns out that the state’s computer system “cannot handle the technological challenge of restating paychecks to the federal minimum of $7.25/hr.” after all! This “unfeasibility” means that he is excused from complying with Schwarzenegger’s minimum wage order. The fix to the state’s computerized payroll system won’t actually be ready until…. October 2012. That’s about two years from now!

* “The state’s payroll system was designed more than 60 years ago and was last revamped in 1970, Hallye Jordan, state controller’s office spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.”

So, it appears that state workers are spared, for the moment. If you read the article, you can find out more about the history of the ancient computer system the state is using. It’s pretty interesting.

I have a feeling this isn’t the end of the story, just the end of a chapter in the story. Oh, and here is something else that is interesting to me: Let’s say that everything went as the Govenator planned, and state workers had their wages reduced to the minimum. Let’s assume that sometime later on, the budget gets passed. Would these workers get their back pay immediately? Nope.

* “In its letter to Schwarzenegger, the controller’s office said it would take at least six months to reinstate workers’ full pay once a budget is passed.”


02
Jul 10

Yeah, what he said…

Not too long ago, I wrote about this letter I got from the EDD which informed me that they wanted me to pay them money. Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed, and enraged, by this demand. The reason why they wanted me to send them $340.00 was because they made a mistake, and then decided that they had been “overpaying” me. In other words, they expected me to pay them for their own mistake.

As a former teacher, I cannot condone rewarding bad behavior. This only encourages the bad behavior to continue. Unfortunately, it seemed to me that I had only two choices. I could either pay them the money the demanded (and do not deserve). Or, I could fill out (ok, let’s get real, have my husband, Shawn, fill out), the large and mostly incomprehensible form, send it back to the EDD, and hope that it reached someone who possessed some amount of common sense. We knew that the information we provided on the form would be judged by… another EDD worker… who would then decide if we should be paying them the $340.00 they demanded, or if we shouldn’t have to do that.

Now, my thoughts at the time were that filling out the form was pointless, and a waste of time. I was completely convinced that the EDD was going to simply vote in it’s own favor, and that whatever information we provided on this form was already irrelevant. But, then, (days later, after I calmed down a bit), we thought about it again. We ended up filling out the form after all.

Shawn wrote about what the form asked, and his thoughts about this whole problem on Shawnogram , which is his blog. He said things so much better than I ever could, so…. if you want more details, you should go over there to read them. As always, whenever we learn more about how this goes, I will write about it here, on Between Gigs.


01
Jul 10

This might help

If you live in the city of San Luis Obispo, (or even the county of San Luis Obispo), and are dealing with the EDD, this might help you.

There is a place called One Stop. Find it here:

Creekside One Stop Career Ctr,
Private Industry Council of Slo County Inc,
Creekside Career Center
880 Industrial Way
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

(805) 788-2600

It’s located in the building that the big Goodwill place is at. It’s not too far away from The Graduate.

From the information I have uncovered, it seems that the One Stop houses a small portion of several different governmental organizations that are designed to help people. In other words, if you are having problems with the EDD, you can go here, and speak with an actual person, who can set you up with someone who has the authority of making an actual decision about whatever is going on! Amazing!

Now, I haven’t actually been there myself yet, so, this information is based on what I can surmise from the internet, etc. But, it appears as though this One Stop is designed to actually help people, and specifically people who are having problems with the nonsense and harassment that the EDD is giving them. Bring the mystery mail the EDD has sent you, and maybe this place can help you understand it. Bring in the forms that say that you now owe the EDD money, and maybe someone at the One Stop can straighten that out for you. (I hope! I haven’t tried it yet.)

I have mixed feelings about the One Stop. I’m absolutely elated that there is an place that is easy to get to (if you live out here), that seems to be designed to help people with their EDD related problems. I’m also angry that the EDD never told me about this place, not once, ever. I’ve been on Unemployment Insurance Benefits since September, 2009, and the EDD has never even implied that there was a place that could help me. It’s as though they didn’t want me, and all of you, to know of it’s existence.

If you use the services of the One Stop, please leave a comment on this blog. Tell us if your experiences at the One Stop were helpful, or not helpful, or … well, any details about how it went would be great. My hope is that people who are being harassed and confused by the EDD can come across this blog post, and find the help they need.


29
Jun 10

I got a check

Well, that was unexpected!

The last contact I had with the EDD was via telephone interview, on June 24, 2010. The woman on the phone said that I should expect to find one of two things in the mail from them, within “ten days/two weeks.” I would either get a check, which would indicate that they have decided to continue my Unemployment Insurance benefit claim, or, I would get a letter telling me that they have decided to terminate my claim.

Yesterday, June 28, 2010, I got an envelope from the EDD. It was one of those brightly colored envelopes that means that there is a check inside. I was not expecting this at all! From the tone of the woman who did the telephone interview, I was convinced that I would never receive another check from the EDD ever again. Yet, here one was.

This check was reduced, because I had been working, and I reported my income to the EDD, (something I am required to do). It came with a continued claim form for the week ending June 19, 2010, and the week ending June 26, 2010.

I was expected to mail this form back to the EDD on June 27, 2010, which was, as usual, a Sunday when no mail can be picked up or delivered. It also just so happened to be the day before I actually received it. The mail does not arrive to me until after 3:00 P.M. at the earliest. There was no way I was going to get this Continued Claim Form into the mail on June 28. The best I could do was fill it out, and put it back in the mailbox for the mailman to pick up today, June 29, 2010. My best guess is that it is still sitting in the mailbox, waiting on the mailman, as I write this blog.

Every Continued Claim Form comes with the warning that if you send it in late, it could cause your benefits to be delayed. There is no information about what to do when the EDD decides to send the form to you late, forcing you to send it back to them even later.

It has been two business days since I had my latest godforsaken telephone interview. My experience with the EDD tells me that there is absolutely no way that the EDD managed to call the answering service I used to work for, ask them questions, send those answers to an adjudicator, and have the adjudicator make a decision about my Unemployment Insurance Benefits claim based on those answers in just two business days. I haven’t seen any evidence that the EDD can work this quickly and efficiently. Quite the opposite!

Which means that this check does not indicate if the EDD has decided that I am eligible to continue getting benefits, or, if it has decided to terminate my claim. Remember, I had to put up with two telephone interviews with the EDD this month. The first one was on June 8, 2010. The guy from the EDD who called me on June 8 said that I would be getting checks from them again, and I think this check is part of what he was referring to. It is simply too soon for the EDD to have processed all the information it needs from the June 24 interview, and to have gathered and processed the information they got from whomever they spoke with from the answering service I used to work for.

Which means this check tells me nothing about my fate with the EDD. I will be putting this check in the bank today. I will feel a tiny bit of relief, knowing that this small check will help us pay some of our bills. In the back of my mind, however, I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.


25
Jun 10

Look who is on Twitter!

Oh, look! My least favorite governmental office is now on Twitter:
EDDonTwitter

I’m not sure how this is even possible, considering the antiquated state of the computer system at the EDD. I’m wondering if some minion of the EDD is bringing his or her own, personal, laptop computer into the office, in order to maintain the EDD Twitter. I mean, as far as I can tell, they are running DOS, and using floppy disks at over at the EDD. I’m not convinced that the computers at the EDD are internet capable. How are they on Twitter?

I’ve read somewhere recently that you can learn a lot about what a person really thinks, and how that person unconsciously sees him or her self, based on what they choose to tweet, or use a status update, or what they put into their bio on a social networking site. The same can be said for the social networking choices of companies, businesses, and even the EDD. Let’s see what the EDD thinks of itself!

Most of the tweets from the EDD appear to have something to do with links to places that are hiring, or “soon to be” hiring. There are links to information about where to get a job training grant (for veterans), and links to articles with advice about what employers are looking for. At first glance, it looks as though the EDD is trying to be helpful, by showing people where to find a job.

There are only a few reasons why someone would go to that much effort to appear helpful on a public networking site:
(1) They truly are helpful in real life.
My experiences with the EDD tell me that this is simply not the case.
(2) They desperately want to appear to be kind and helpful.
They realize that there are few people (if any) that like them, and scores of people who hate them with the burning intensity of a thousand suns. They hope that if they look helpful, then maybe they would finally have some friends.
(3) Subconsciously, they know that they are incredibly self centered, mean, and cruel to everyone they encounter, and cannot accept such awful truths about their precious self. They attempt to look like they are nice and helpful and good online, so they can convince themselves that they really are that way in reality, (instead of evil and vile). They are hiding from their shame, due to their bad behaviors. They secretly hate themselves.
(4) All this supposed helpfulness is really a passive aggressive way of pointing out that the other people in their life aren’t actually doing enough of the things they should be doing. Perhaps the EDD feels put out by all the people that are unemployed, who they should be helping. The EDD is basically saying “Look people! Go find a damn job! Here, I’ll show you where to go look for one. Here’s a link to a grant. Go take their free money instead of mine! Here’s a link to some classes, so you can figure out how to get hired. Stop expecting me to help you!”

The biography the EDD chose for itself on Twitter says:
“The official Twitter account of The State of California Employment Development Department”.
Is there an unofficial EDD on Twitter, somewhere? Does it say all the things that we all believe the minions of the EDD are actually thinking as they harass us on the telephone, and send us hate mail?

I mean, there is @BPGlobalPR, which basically makes fun of, and points out, the incredibly bad choices that the BP company is now, and forever, notorious for. There was (and maybe still is) @FakeSarahPalin, who first appeared on Twitter during the November 2008 election. Could there be a fake EDD on Twitter? If anybody knows of one, please, leave me a comment in this blog. I will totally follow that!

Hmm…I notice that the EDD is stating that they are the “official” Twitter account of the EDD. But, somehow, they don’t have that little checkmark that says “verified”, like celebrities who are on Twitter get. This tells me that the EDD is trying to appear as though it is incredibly important. In reality, it’s not all that and a bag of chips. It’s just obnoxious, and annoying. Overall, this tells me that the EDD is suffering from very low self esteem.

Is there an actual person maintaining the EDD Twitter account? It seems to be following 129 people, and there are 7,230 people following the EDD. My, my, my…. how selective you are! Who did the EDD think was cool enough to follow? I scanned through it. There are several websites that have want ads, or information about jobs. There are a few newspapers. NPR? Really?

The EDD follows CalPERS on Twitter. Somehow, I am not surprised that they are friends! They have a lot in common: an outstanding level of incompetence, and a general distain for most human beings. Not surprised they are following each other on Twitter.

Ooh.. here’s some irony: The EDD is following @CAStateParks and @CAStateLibraries. Both the parks and the libraries have been forced to lay off tons of people. Both groups won’t be able to hire people back anytime soon. The EDD has been getting lots of business from those groups lately! The EDD is also following a few government groups from different places in California, and some politicians, (including @Schwarzenegger). Again, more places that cut jobs, and gave the EDD more work than it ever desired. It is also following several teacher’s organizations, I assume so it can laugh at their pain.

@CA_EDD is following @calottery. The EDD is following the California Lottery on Twitter! LOLZ!

As I suspected, the EDD doesn’t follow anyone on Twitter who is, you know, an actual person. I supposed they don’t want to be bothered. Most of the people who decided to follow the EDD on Twitter are using the default icon of the bird that Twitter automatically gives you when you first join Twitter. The EDD has attracted thousands of spambots. Somehow, that almost feels like karma!

It appears that a few people have sent questions to the EDD on Twitter, because they are wondering about unemployment extensions. Instead of giving an helpful answer, the EDD has responded by sending the exact same link to the questioning people. Here it is. This is an incredibly confusing and frightening page from the actual EDD website, and not an answer. From what I can tell, it implies that lots of people are going to lose their benefits really soon…. but not when… or how anyone will know if they are affected by whatever the hell is going on.

I decided to test to see if there was an actual human being, you know, with a functioning soul, behind the EDD Twitter, by sending this tweet:
Screen shot 2010-06-25 at 2.41.03 PM
I’ll let you know if I ever get a response. I’m not expecting one, but I suppose anything is possible. I know that if I send a tweet that is not a direct message to someone else on Twitter, that tweet appears on my page and their page. I can see what I tweeted to the EDD on my page… but somehow… it doesn’t appear on their page.


24
Jun 10

Godforsaken Telephone Interview Four

I started writing this blog at 1:28 in the afternoon. Today is the day that I am required to put up with yet another mandatory telephone interview from the EDD. The one thing that the EDD is consistently good at is an astounding level of incompetency. The letter they sent me said that they would call between 1:00 and 3:00 this afternoon. It is now 1:31, and they have not called me yet. Somehow, I am not surprised.

I’d like to get this damned telephone interview done and over with already. Since I got this letter, sometime last week, I have been anxious to the point where it is making me sick. My allergies are off the charts, and it’s not entirely due to environmental factors. It’s been days since I could keep food in me, to put things politely. I’m having trouble falling asleep, and having trouble staying asleep, something that is extremely unusual for me.

When I do sleep, I have nightmares. There are two themes that keep repeating. One series of nightmares consists of me working in a woefully understaffed day care center, with too many children for me to legally be left with all by myself, no help in sight, and me desperately trying to keep things from reverting to a scene from Lord of the Flies.

The other series of nightmares consist of me being back in high school, as a student. Im in a class where I cannot grasp the lessons or the material, and I’m pretty sure the teacher hates me. I am completely panicked that I’m going to be called on, again, because I know that I won’t know the right answer, and that I cannot “read” the teacher to discern what she wants me to say. I have this feeling of extreme dread, because I know that no matter what I do, or what I say, I’m going to end up in trouble anyhow.

Both of these dreams are basically about the same thing: having absolutely no control over what happens to me, or what happens in my life. This is how I feel when it comes to Unemployment Insurance, and the EDD. I never know when they are going to demand something from me, what they will ask, or what answer they are looking for. Even when I give them what I really think is the right answer, they still come back and harass me.

I need this to end.

1:37 : The phone rings. My anxiety level shoots through the roof. But, it’s not the EDD, it’s Shawn’s mom. I’d much rather talk to Shawn’s mom than the EDD, but this is not possible right now. We have to keep the phone lines clear until the EDD gets around to calling me.

1:42 : The EDD still has not troubled itself to call me.

1:50 : I am playing stupid games on facebook, in an effort to distract myself. My stomach hurts, as it has since I woke up this morning.

2:00 : Nope, they still haven’t called me. The EDD has, once again, wasted an entire hour of the time they demanded I set aside for them.

2:02: The EDD finally calls. A woman with a very thick asian accent tells me her name, but I cannot discern what she said her name was. She asks to speak with me, and I confirm that I am the person she is trying to call. She asks me if I got the letter that told me that they would call me today. I tell her that yes, I got the letter. (Why else would I be sitting here, waiting for the EDD to call, and wasting my time?) She asks me to confirm the last four digits of my social security number, and I do.

From here, she starts asking me a series of questions that are about the part time job I had at the answering service. This was a job that I started back in October of 2009, and ended the last week of December 2009, because I did not make it through the training.

Her: “What was your job title?”
Me: “Job title? Um… I was a trainee… telephone operator.”
She says ok, and repeats the information, which I am certain she is typing into her computer.
Her: “How much did you make per hour?”
Me: “Hold on, let me check.” I don’t remember. It’s been six months since I worked there. I consult Shawn, and together we come up with what was probably the amount I was paid per hour. I tell this to the Minion of the EDD. Now, she wants to know when I stopped working for this employer, and when I started. I tell her, and point out that all of this information is on the forms that I have sent to them.

Then, I am subjected to a series of questions that I believe are designed so that they can try and trick me into saying that I quit this job, (which is not true).

Her: “Why are you not working there any longer?”
Me: “I did not make it through the training.”
Her: “Did…not.. make it.. through…training… ok. Why did you not make it through the training? What did they require?”
Me: “Could you repeat that? I don’t understand your question.”
Her: “Ok, you didn’t make it through the training. What did they require from the training?”
Me: “I have no idea how to explain that to you.”
Her: “What did they want from the training?”
Me: “I have no idea how to explain that to you, either.”
Her: …..

Her: “Ok, so we found out in May that you are no longer working there.”
Me: …
Her: “So, why did you not tell us you no longer work for that job?”
Me: “I did tell you. I put on my claim form “Didn’t make it through the training.”
Her: “But… why did you not make it through the training?”
Me: “… I was not where they needed me to be at that point in the training.”
Her: “What did they need you to be?”
Me: “Not where I was at.”
Her: “So, like.. did they say to you “You aren’t where we need?” Did they give you warning… how?”
Me: “The manager and I came to the mutual conclusion that I was not a good fit for this job.”
Her: “Ok… not … good … fit for job….”

Her: “But, why did you not say when you filed a new claim that you were no longer working there?”
Me: “Filed a new claim?”
Her: “Yes, when you filed your new claim, why you not put from the drop down box why you don’t work there any more?”
Me: “Drop down box?”
Her: “Yes, when you go online… you use the drop down box…”
Me: (cutting her off) “I have no idea what you are talking about. I never went online to make a new claim.”
Her: ….

Her: “Ok, so we didn’t know you were not working there anymore. We find out in May.”
Me: “I wrote it on the continued claim forms. I wrote “Did not make it through training”.
Her: “But, you did not put the name of the company, or the address. You didn’t fill in the box that says why you no longer work there.”
Me: “I have put the name of the company and the address of the company on each and every continued claim form I have sent you. Every single one.”
Her: “Well, I have here that you did not put that down on the form for the last week you worked for answering service.”
Me: “No. I wrote the name and address of the company on all the continued claim forms.”
Her: “Well I have here that you did not on this one.”
Me: “Send me a copy of that form.”
Her: …. “send you… a copy?”
Me: “Send me a copy of that form. I know I wrote down the name and address of the company on all of the continued claim forms.”
Her: “We don’t have a copy. We cannot send you a copy.”
Me: “You don’t have a copy of the continued claim form, yet you say I didn’t fill it out?”
Her: …. “Well…. the form gets scanned into the computer. I don’t have the form here. It is on the computer. I cannot send copy from the computer.”
Me: “I put the name and address of the employer on all of the continued claim forms.”
Her: ….

Her: “Ok, so… why did you not fill in the box?”
Me: “What box?”
Her: “On the continued claim forms, there is a box to put why you are not working for employer. It says “quit” “terminated” or “laid off”. We send these forms to you every two weeks….
Me: (cutting her off). “No, you do not send these forms to me every two weeks. You send them occasionally. You do not send them every two weeks.”
Her: …. “Ok….but, why you didn’t fill out why you no longer work for them on this form? Did you forget? Or just not want to fill it out? Or why?”
Me: “Hold on. The form says I can choose “quit”, “terminated”, or “laid off,” correct?”
Her: “yes, it says those, and you supposed to check the box.”
Me: “I did not quit. I was not fired. I was not laid off. Is there a box that says “Did not make it through the training?”
Her: “No”.
Me: “Well, that’s probably why I didn’t fill that part out. Because I was not fired, I did not quit, and I was not laid off.”
Her: “But … we didn’t know you were not working there, because you didn’t write on the form that you were not working there.”
Me: “Yes, I did. I wrote “didn’t make it through the training.”
Her: “Well, you have to file a new claim every time you stop working, or else we don’t know you stopped working. We find out in May that you don’t work there. That’s what I call about.”
Me: “But you did know. I told you. I wrote “did not make it through the training” on the form.”
Her: “We did not know. You supposed to file new claim…”
Me: “Where does it say that?”
Her: “Where does it say what?”
Me: “Where does it say that I need to file a new claim?”
Her: “It doesn’t say. We would send you letter to say you need to file new claim… and..”
Me: “No, you never sent me any letter like that.”
Her: …..

This went round and round for a while. Then she tried a new tactic.
Her: “What was the name of manager?”
Me: “Um… let me think.” I come up with the name of the person who was the manager when I worked there. I have to spell this person’s last name for the minion of the EDD.
Her: “When you did not make it through the training, did they tell you?”
Me: “No. The manager and I came to the mutual conclusion that I was not a good fit for the job.”
Her: “Ok, but, did they give you warnings?”
Me: “Warnings?”
Her: “Yes, did manager say, you not doing good, or you did this wrong?”
Me: “No, it didn’t work like that.”
Her: “Why not?”
Me: “It just didn’t work like that over there. I don’t know why.”
Her: “But, how you know you not make it through training?”
Me: (at Shawn’s suggestion) “I am dyslexic. I was getting the phone numbers wrong.”
Her: “Ok, so you… got… phone…. numbers… wrong. And, did they warn you this could make you fired?”
Me: “no”
Her: “Did they say, ok, you make the number wrong, and we give you a warning?”
Me: “No.”
Her: (weary) “Ok….. So, what were the duties of the job?”
Me: “We… answered the phones and spoke with the customers who needed to speak with or leave a message for a client of the answering service. We passed that information along to the appropriate person.”
She repeated this as she typed it into her computer.
Her: “Ok, so… what did they do to make things better for the training?”
Me: “I don’t understand your question.”
Her: “I mean.. what did they do to help you with the situation?”
Me: “More training. Training by different people. I could ask people questions, and they would answer.”
Her: “Ok, they do this and… decide you weren’t doing good?”
Me: “The manager and I came to the mutual conclusion that I was not where they wanted me to be in this training, and that I was not a good fit for the job.”
Her: …. “So, they fire you? or?
Me: “The manager and I came to the mutual conclusion that I was not a good fit for this job.”
Her: (very tired) “Ok…..

Her: “Ok, so we gonna call this job, and talk to them, and then we send you a letter ten days to two weeks to let you know.”
Me: “To let me know what?”
Her: “If you claim continues. We have to call them, and ask them if you work there, and why you no work there no more, and see what they say. We have to decide if they should have fired you, or not, and see if they gonna pay your unemployment benefits or not. It depends on what they say.”
Me: “Wait, let me understand. You are going to call this job, and talk to them, and based on what they say… you will let me know in two weeks?”
Her: “Ten days, or two weeks, yeah.”
Me: “And I will be get a letter in the mail to let me know this?”
Her: “Well, a letter or a check, ten days, or two weeks.”
Me: “A letter or a check?”
Her: “Yeah, if we gonna still pay you, we won’t send you a letter, we just send you a check. If you get a check, you know that you eligible. If not, we send letter to tell you, and that’s how you know. We talk to the job, and then we send it to an adjudicator, and the review it.”
Me: “Ok, so in ten days to two weeks time, I will either get a check in my mailbox, or I will get a letter saying that you have cancelled my claim?”
Her: “No, not cancel! If you get a letter, it means that you are not eligible. If you eligible, we don’t send a letter to tell you, we just send check. That’s how you know.”

And that was the end of the call. Based on this conversation, I fully believe that the EDD will decide that I was not eligible for Unemployment Insurance Benefits after my job at the answering service ended. I believe I am going to get a letter telling me that I am no longer eligible for Unemployment Benefits at all. I believe that this letter will demand that I send the EDD back all of the money they sent me since January, 2010. I have no idea why they assume I can pay them back the money, since the reason I needed the money was because I didn’t have a full time job. If they stop paying me the pittance they occasionally send out…. where, exactly, do they think the money will come from that I am supposed to pay them back with?

All I can do now is wait and see what happens.


24
Jun 10

Still trying to get my two dollars

Here is the next part of the continuing saga called : “I want my two dollars”. (The continuing drama as one unemployed woman tries to pull her retirement money out of CalPERS).

Previously, on “I want my two dollars”……
* I unsuccessfully tried contacting CalPERS by phone.

* I tried again , another day, and was equally unsuccessful in my attempts to fight my way through their phone system.

* I finally got through! This time, I managed to speak with an actual person, who said he would send me the paperwork I needed to fill out, and then send back, so I could get my money. Things were looking up!

* The paperwork arrived, but all was not well. It turned out I could not simply fill out the paperwork and send it back. No, it required me to go find a notary, and to pay for the notary to put his or her official stamp on the paper.

And now…. today’s story……

Today, Shawn and I had time to run a few errands. Shawn located a notary that was downtown, and who had time for us to drop in and get our paperwork taken care of. This notary was located in a Bail Bonds office. We noticed that the Bail Bonds office was right next to several different attorney’s offices, across the street from the police station, and just down the street from the courthouse. We decided that this was the most efficiently planned section of town.

The notary was a very friendly woman who was able to immediately help us. She read over the paperwork that I needed to fill out in order to get my retirement money, and, in seconds, discovered some interesting things. These papers require a notary to check my identification, and be certain that I am who I say I am. They require the notary to watch me sign these papers. Then the notary can stamp it, and do all of the other necessary paperwork that she needs for her office.

However, the notary also pointed out that even though the paperwork required my spouse, Shawn, to sign it, that was all it required of him. He did not have to print out his name, something that is often used to help a person read what might be a name signed with poor penmanship. The paperwork did not ask the notary to watch him sign it, or to check Shawn’s identification to prove who he was. In other words, I could have walked in there with any male person on the planet, told the notary that this person was my husband, and that would be enough.

One can assume that this paperwork required the signature of a spouse because this is California, and they like to have official proof that a person’s spouse is aware when their partner does something like cash out a retirement fund. But then, they set up the paperwork so that it would be extremely easy for a dishonest person to get around things. What if I was someone who was separated from my spouse, or going through a divorce? I could have walked in with a complete stranger, had him sign the paperwork, and come to the exact same result as I did when I went in there today, and did things honestly and correctly. Pointless!

The notary and I had a short conversation about how screwed up things are over at CalPERS. It was interesting. Clearly, this notary had dealt with a lot of stupidly designed paperwork in her time as a notary. She checked my driver’s license as a form of identification, and started filling out some of the paperwork on the forms I brought over to her. I watched her cross out an entire paragraph of information located right next to where she was supposed to sign. She got a different form, and filled that out, and stamped it, as she explained.

The reason she crossed out the words on the form that CalPERS sent me is because the wording on that form was out of date, and therefore incorrect. The laws have changed between whenever that form was created, and now. She said that if she used that form, it would get sent back to me, and I would be told that they could not process the paperwork because it was incorrect. To avoid this problem, she used a new form that was correctly worded, and wrote notes to whatever person at CalPERS who will be checking this paperwork with the reasons why she used a different form.

It turns out that the old form had wording that was changed in January of 2008. The form itself claimed it had been updated in May of 2008, and one would think that they would have caught the changes, five months after the fact. Somehow, they didn’t.

This ends today’s episode of “I want my two dollars”. Stay tuned for more in this drama, as things unfold!


23
Jun 10

They want the money back

The letter I got in the mail today confirmed one of my worst nightmares concerning my Unemployment Insurance Benefits. They want their money back. It is now actually costing me money to be on Unemployment Insurance Benefits. I am expected to send them a check for $340.00.

As far as Shawn and I can tell, this is the result of the mystery mail that appeared not too long ago. The EDD decided to re-evaluate my claim, and has decided that I shouldn’t have been getting the amount I was getting on my checks. Instead, I should have been getting a lower amount. But, because they are extremely incompetent, it took them a long time to figure out that they were mistakingly paying me too much money. So, because they screwed up, I am now expected to somehow come up with an extra $340.00 to give them.

Oh, and they also decided to reduce the overall amount of my claim, while they were at it. This means that the amount of money I supposedly had left to receive, the amount that would appear on the little perforated part of the paper that was attached to the checks they would occasionally give me, was, basically, a lie. At this moment, I have no idea if this means that my claim is going to end earlier than September 2010, as I had been led to believe, or how small the checks I receive from the EDD in the future will be. (Assuming, of course, that they even bother to send me any more checks).

Along with this form of doom, was another form, basically saying that I could contest this claim if I felt it was wrong. If I do that, then someone else at the EDD will re-evaluate this situation. But, since they, too, are a minion of the EDD, they will, of course decide that the EDD is right, and I will still have to pay the EDD back the money they mistakingly sent me.

My cynicism is founded on actual experience here. Shawn is on disability, because he is legally blind. This is a condition that is not going to improve, is not going to go away,and is not something he caused. He was born this way. This condition prevents him from working a variety of jobs. To supplement, he gets a small amount of disability payments from the government. If you are reading this blog and cannot understand why a legally blind person can’t do the same job you are doing, then try this experiment: Get a pair of “cheater glasses” from the drug store. Next, smear Vaseline across the lenses. Now, wear them, and see how easy it is for you to get through your day!

When Shawn and I moved from Illinois to California in 2005, the Social Security Administration decided it was time to re-evalute his disability benefits. Mostly, this was because a new case worker was handed the file after it was sent from Illinois. In short, the Social Security Administration decided the proper way to do things was to cut off his benefits payments, immediately, with no warning. Eventually, they sent us a letter informing us that he had been overpaid, and they demanded that we pay them back for what was a much, much, much larger amount than the EDD is demanding from me today.

The letter he got also had a form that he could fill out if he wanted to dispute the claim, which we did. But, since a minion of the same government organization was the person who reviewed the claim, they, of course, decided that they were right, and we were wrong, and we would have to pay them back the money they demanded anyway. This is a micro-version of what actually happened.

This is how I know that attempting to fight this claim is going to do me no good at all. Why bother? The system is rigged, and there is nothing we can do about it.

This will be on my mind tomorrow as I wait around for the EDD to call me, for the fourth time, on yet another godforsaken telephone interview.


22
Jun 10

Thoughts on job hunting

This is from “Tales of Mere Existence”:

This is from “I Can Haz Cheezburger”:
employable

This is from FOUND:
12jobs

I’ve been putting a little extra effort into finding a job this week. Several of the people who care about me have suggested that it’s not the smartest idea in the world to just tell the EDD to &%#@ off when they call me in a few days. I can see the wisdom in letting cooler heads prevail, but it doesn’t make me happy.

In short, I have what equates to a part time job right now. The freelance writing is going pretty well, for someone who hasn’t even been doing it a year yet. However, Shawn, (he who understands how to balance a checkbook, how much the bills cost, and other numerically related things that my dyslexic brain cannot comprehend), tells me that the pittance of random money I am occasionally getting from the EDD is something we actually need. Which means, if I am going to be able to tell the EDD to stick it, I’d have to find a second job.

Now, it would only have to be a part time job, but this still doesn’t please me. I, like the character in the video above, started thinking about what kind of job I could likely get. Mostly, this is making me depressed. When I was in college, I worked three jobs at the same time, while taking classes, and was always exhausted and miserable. Back then, I told myself that this was temporary. Once I got my degree, I wouldn’t need to work multiple jobs to get by anymore. That was the whole point of getting my degree. Now, here I am, with a degree, hoping that I can pick up a second part time job in order to survive. The difference? I’m not a student anymore, and I’m much older now. It’s depressing.

So, as I said, I started thinking about the kind of job I could likely get, like the guy in the video above. Teaching is a dead end, especially now that it is summer. I used to work in a bookstore, so I went into a small, Christian bookstore recently, to see if they might hire me part time. Nope, they aren’t hiring at all right now. In fact, the worker I spoke with seemed a bit miffed that when she asked me if I needed anything, I asked for a job, instead of a book, or DVD, or CD, or something that I was going to purchase.

When I was seventeen, I used to bag groceries. So, I called up a local grocery store, to see if they were hiring baggers. This is a corporate owned chain, so I basically got Colonel Klink on the phone (“I Know Nott-ing!”). I was told I could go online, search through their website, and fill out an application. This, I know from working retail, is code for: “No, we aren’t hiring right now, but Corporate doesn’t like it when we tell people that, so we are going to give you this vague, “corporate speak” answer, and string you along, instead”.

My biggest fear is that whatever part time job I get will result in very bad things. I am afraid that they will require me to work on the days that my husband has off, and that we will never, ever, again get to spend any time together, or do anything fun together. Or, the part time job will mess up my allergies, (most workplaces manage to do this), and I will once again be too sick to do anything fun on my days off. The alternative to that is to pump myself full of allergy medication in order to make it through the workday, and go back to being a zombie. (Which makes my brain work just like the brain of the person who wrote the unfinished list from FOUND).

If I become this sick, or this drugged, it will be impossible to do any decent writing. Which means that the supplemental part time job that I don’t want will result in me losing the part time writing job that I really enjoy, and hope to make a career out of.