# I pit Poverty and the current economic crisis

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-poverty-and-the-current-economic-crisis/479487>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [January 1, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-poverty-and-the-current-economic-crisis/479487 "2009-01-01T18:38:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 41

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**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-poverty-and-the-current-economic-crisis/479487/41 "2009-01-01T23:55:03Z")

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> [@Sateryn76](#):
>
> Why can’t you find a job? I know that our local papers are _filled_with job listings. Granted, some of them are “nationwide” scam-kinda listings, but there are still many, many jobs. I am a paralegal, and out of curiosity, I always check the clerical/admin type of jobs. There are tons of them around here, and that’s just in my field.

As I said, I _have_ found work - in construction and retail, of all things, but nothing fulltime or lasting. It’s not _enough_ work and it’s not _enough_ money. My savings are slowly dwindling over time as they must cover anything my meager paychecks don’t.

I suspect one factor in my difficulty is a company policy of my former employer. They will _only_ confirm that you were employed, the dates of employment, and that you were either satisfactory or unsatisfactory. I can not get a reference from any current employee of that company because to give out such information is very clearly spelled out as a firing offense (and yes, in my 13 years there I did see people fired for doing just that). These days, given the competition for jobs, if you can’t get a glowing recommendation from your former manager you’re shit out of luck. EVERYONE laid off from that company goes through this shit, but these days it really works against a person. All the positive recommendations from other former employees, including high level management, immediate supervisors, and peers, apparently is not sufficient. They want the most recent manager who, still being employed there and in fear of her own job, is not going to risk getting fired for my benefit.

Thus, I am trying to build up a rep as a good worker doing other jobs so I can deliver more current references saying how wonderful I am. But this takes time. Meanwhile, my savings bleed.

Being over 40 doesn’t help either. Yes, I know age discrimination is illegal, but it still happens.

I applied, and still apply, for administrative work and in 13 months I’ve only managed to get three interviews total. Hence, I also applied for retail and asked a general contractor I know for work. Neither pays anything near what I earned before and neither is fulltime, but it’s better than nothing. Trust me, for every listed job there will be a LOT of people applying and only one gets in the door. So far, my best prospect is still the government job I applied for, but the hiring process takes _months_ and I’m still going through it. I’m really hoping it comes through before I’m out of money.

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