Being Unemployed

Hello From the Underclass: Unemployment Stories, Vol. One

I was unemployed from late December 2008 to late September 2010. I was in a great publishing job, close to home when the company had to relocate to North Carolina. We found out the week before Thanksgiving. I had a brief stint at a horrible corporate job with a boss who threw me under the bus every chance she got and I cried every day at my desk.

It was humiliating, calling unemployment, sending resumes out every single day to places who never returned my calls, staying home because I had no money to do anything else, being bored to tears, feeling terrible that I could only contribute pennies to the monthly bills. I had done everything right; gone to college, worked hard, applied in my field and it didn't mean squat.

And then, right after I got married in the spring of 2010, I lost my unemployment money because of an beauractic error. I was supposed to file in one state, not the other and because no one told me, they took the money. I literally had no money coming in for two months that summer. I had to swallow every ounce of my pride and borrowed money from a friend, feeling like the lowest of the low.

I finally got a part-time job in September 2010 and then worked two jobs at once, both part-time, struggling to put food on the table. Only in November of 2011 did I finally land a full time job, almost four years after graduating from college.

More attention needs to be given to these stories, these people in desperate need of help. Not just money, but being believed and mental health resources.