File for unemployment compensation. There’s no reason to be ashamed of that. That’s exactly what it’s for - to provide assistance until you get a new job. You’re not getting welfare, you’re getting help to tide you over since your employer screwed you.
But to me that’s the same damn thing as getting welfare. I live in a Very Nice House™ in a decent neighborhood. I WANT to work,desperately, but out of all the places I put an application in to on Tues,only 1 has called me back and had an interview. To me,that does not bode well. It means I will be jobless for awhile if the one place (a semi-coffeehouse type called Beignet Elite) doesn’t hire me.I do NOT want to be on the public dole,whether it is unemployment, welfare or whatever. That would be extremely s hameful and I would rather live out of my car than be on the public dole in any form.
IDBB
You paid for unemployment insurance the whole time you had a job. This is what it is for. Use it. There is nothing shameful about it (or are you insulting those of us who have needed public assistance?)
Doesn’t sound like you qualify anyway, unless you worked significantly longer than you are giving the impression you worked (which was not long enough to learn your co-workers names). Or had significant employment before your B&N stint.
BTW, next year, any retail job for which you get hired between Oct 1st and Christmas can be assumed to be seasonal. No one should need to tell you this - and if they are “giving you the impression” that it is otherwise, you should follow up and clarify so there aren’t any surprises. “You are talking like I’ll be around here in January. I’d like that, but I was assuming I was hired for the holidays.” There is some chance that, between the time you were hired and Christmas, one of the permanent employees will have left (or they will have discovered you are wonderful and work the schedule to give you some hours) and you will continue to get hours, but generally speaking, you will be out of their once return season ends. This is the way retail works.
I read the Texas Unemployment thing and I’m assuming I don’t qualify.le sigh Great…do you know how much that sucks? I am guessing that this is also partially my own fault as I didn’t get clarification as to whether or not the job really WAS a perm position. It is MY fault for assuming it would be perm when I was lead to believe so even though I was hired right before Thanksgiving.Of course I should have expected this. THAT"S THE WAY FUCKING RETAIL WORKS…or so sayeth Dangerosa,an all-knowing,all-seeing,all-being god-like person. UGH!!! It’s all my fucking fault because I choose to work in retail willingly. I like retail. I love dealing with customers. I have excellent customer svc skills. Heck…when I worked for Godiva, I got eight out of nine different secret shops 100% right. I must be doing something right,right?WRONG!BECAUSE I WANT TO WORK IN RETAIL I MUST BE FUCKING INSANE??? Ugh. It’s also my fault that I don’t have any real ‘marketable’ skills. All I know is selling and cust svc and how to type. Which leaves me virtually un-fucking-employable, right?
IDBB
I fell into my field under similar circumstances.
After spending several years in retail (including being Assistant Manager at a couple of stores), I left the company I was with (which was a small local mall chain) and went to work for Fanny Farmer. It was around October. So I kind of thought going in it would be pretty seasonal. But I was used to the feast or famine of retail hours - and I was a college student, so I could make due on feast or famine hours. The Fanny Farmer I worked at had huge turnover issues - it was in a part of town that you’d consider populated by “Princesses” - kids would take the job, but after working ten hours a week, their check would be less than the allowance Daddy was giving them, and they’d quit in a couple weeks. So college students like me willing to work ten hours a week, who would show up every shift, were needed commodities.
Fanny Farmer’s business is (as you know, having worked at Godiva), a little different. They were interested in keeping good people on through Spring. January is slow, but Feburary brings Valentines Day - and they need lots of staff again. Than Easter and Mother’s Day. So, in January, I still had a job, just really shortened hours.
So I started doing some clerical work - temping here and there on the days I didn’t have classes. My boyfriend’s employer needed someone to stuff envelopes, file and do a little data entry. Another friend’s employer needed someone to do a little data entry. Like you, few skills, but I could type. Eventually, the boyfriends employer offered to make my job permanent, and I ended up quitting the retail work (quitting Fanny Farmer is a story unto itself, as they were somewhat reluctant to let me go and kept scheduling me past my two week notice). That stuffing envelopes and data entry during college turned into a data processing job, which turned into a computer support job, which has turned into an IT career, and I’ve been working in IT for the past fifteen years.
What I’m saying is, don’t shut doors - and you may be surprised how marketable customer service and being able to type is. I also enjoyed the years I spent in retail, and was also very good at it. But, know your chosen industry. If you’ve chosen retail as a career, its often feast or famine - and seldom stable. Stores sometimes shut on a moments notice. New managers stop scheduling you so they can bring in their own people. Retail management itself is notoriously bad - it doesn’t tend to pay well, has lots of headaches, and the hours are lousy - which means people with good management skills get promoted into corporate offices or leave retail. (On the plus side, the management in retail is usually a step up from the management in fast food). That doesn’t mean it can’t be a great career - it can.
And I’m not knocking retail. My husband spent a number of years working in the glamourous field of Advertising. Client lunches, creative work (he was a copywriter), fantastic offices, pool table in the back to unwind. But long hours, poorly paid for the majority of the staff, and - if you ever lost a big client - agencies lay off at the drop of a hat - no security. (BTW, he now works in retail. Corporate side retail).
because a server is down.
Dangerosa—
I fully apologize for going barbaristically insane in that last post on ya. Sorry about that.
On the upside…I have an interview tomorrow morning at the local Starbucks. YAaaaay!!!
Maybe this will turn into a job and while it may not be the most prestigeous of jobs, I will at least get caffienieted on a regular basis. I heard they give their baristas free coffee. Any truth to this rumor?
IDBB
Opal cat wrote:
Nitpick to follow.
I don’t think that is quite true. FUI and SUI (Federal Unemployment Insurance and State etc) are employer paid payroll taxes. They are something like 2-3% of the first $7,000 or so of wages, IIRC.
You do pay them, even if you’re not working, because they are included in the “cost of doing business” and are thus part of the overhead included in the cost of everything you buy.
…wow, what is your employment contract law like over there?
In New Zealand, contract’s are compulsory-and they are either on a Full-time, Part-time or a Casual basis. Termination’s such as this one would be illegal here-how on earth do employers get away with this???
Yup.In the good old US of A, Banquet Bear, they are able to really screw with some people’s lives. This is a fact that sucks, but American workers, esp the dirty-shirted blue-collar folk like myself have to put up with it cuz a lot of us don’t have a whole lotta choices.
On the upside… Yesterday I did an interview with Galyan’s, a sporting good store. I am scheduled for interview number 2 on the 15th and I just got a call from one of the mgrs asking if I’d like to come help out with inventory on Sun night. Granted…I’m not getting ‘paid’ per se…they’re giving me about $64 on a store gift card I can use plus food and sugar to keep me going all night. I’m guessing that by this they mean they REALLY like me and want me to work there.I know they have to go through certain channels to get me hired but I’m pretty sure at this point that it’s a shoo-in.
IDBB