Between GigsSurviving unemployment

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.

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.

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.

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.