I've had it. All I want is a job.

[Scylla]

Svin and Rjung:

No offense, but don’t you feel a little sleazy using Airman’s troubles to make cheap political shots?

Yes, the fact that people are sometimes unemployed and have difficult spots is because of Republican policies and programs. Right. That’s just slimy, man.

And Rjung:

I’ve been wondering if Airman Doors current situation has given him some new insights on the flaws of the Republican philosophy

If this were to be printed out on Charmin, I still wouldn’t wipe my ass with it for fear of rectal inection.

As we all know, it is Republicans who have brought Airman to his current difficulties. Therefore wait you, like a Chickenhawk at the Port Athority bus terminal looking for some fresh ass from Kansas to get off the bus, so he can pimp it.

[LogicinMotion]

Airman.

I wholely sympathise with you, and I’m sorry for what you are going through and experiencing. I myself, have been on the receiving end of misfortune which was not directly, my own fault.

Brief thread hijack
I’m from the UK now living in FL. I arrived here some 5 years ago, and because of government redtape am awaiting paperwork regarding my status which leaves me at the moment in limbo.

The government acknowledges this error, and is doing its best to speed up the process which has left me persona non grata but unfortunately because of security concerns, and terrorist actions which have increased government awareness and overloaded departments who work on such administration, my case has reached the crisis point where it’s at currently.

It’s unfair to be in this situation especially when all I want to do is get back to a normal life, and resume my career, but until that paperwork is completed I have to sit back and do nothing, and it burns me no end.
Thread hijack over

I’m also outspoken, and I don’t have the shy retiring type of personality that ensures I play the political game as well as I might, so that doesn’t help me any more than your own personality helps you. You’ll have to swallow your pride I’m afraid, and accept any kind of work that you can, until your situation changes.

I have a fiancee who has ot go through my troubles with me, and it breaks my heart to see her have to endure what I have to endure because she loves me so, but she would have it no other way, and it’s the same with your family. You do what you must, and they’ll be with you, because they love you. It’s not your fault, it’s just not fair.

I hope things improve for you, and I look forward to seeing your post where you say so. Until then, my best regards to you and your family.

Love as always, to Hellcat (Mrs Logic to be.)

Logic.

[RickJay]

Here in Canada, there are perpetual ‘help wanted’ signs out in front of most of these places. Since our unemployment rate is actually quite a bit higher than yours, this might be a fruitful avenue to check.

The unemployment rate in Alberta is more like the U.S. rate. It’s the same thing here… Help wanted signs all over the place, too, but Ontario’s rate is also lower than the national average, and Toronto’s is lower than Ontario as a whole. (But Alberta’s is the lowest.)

AD-USAF, I heartily second Sam’s idea of specialized retail sales. And you really should get to the employment agencies; if you’re in a city of any significant size there’s probably dozens of them. They always seem to need competent people who can speak English. If you AREN’T in a big city… well, you may want to figure out some way to move to one.

Send me your resume, your standard covering letter, and your location. I have lots of U.S. contacts. I think my E-mail is in my profile. May as well get the resume out there, can’t hurt to try.

[rjung]

@Scylla

No offense, but don’t you feel a little sleazy using Airman’s troubles to make cheap political shots?

Considering the standard political practices of the GOP, I figure I’m saintly by comparison.

Like I wrote, I take no pleasure in Airman Doors’ predicament. But that doesn’t mean should simply turn a blind eye to the irony of the situation, either.

[Scylla]

Rjung:
In what way is it ironic that Airman is having trouble finding a job?

[jayjay]

Mr. Svinlesha and rjung, c’mon! I’m definitely more sympathetic to the Left than the Right, but this is really, really, really NOT the thread to pull this stuff into. Airman is hurting and it looks like you’re trying to take advantage of his pain to drub him about his politics.

If you really feel the need to express some schadenfreude, start your own Pit thread instead of hijacking Dave’s totally-irrelevant-to-politics thread.

[Airman_Doors_USAF]

jayjay, this has taken a discussion worthy tangent.

For those of you wanting to duscuss the pros and cons of Bush Administration policies, I started this thread.

Pending the results of that thread, I’m sitting the fence on that topic.

[nightshadea]

Well this would be out since the questionaire problem but my dad rejoined the army after not finding a job for 2 years…

This is what scared me when ssi decided i was cured and I took them to court and won

the admin law judge looked over my case and since ssi had lost two years of paperwork and we had 3 complete physicals from my personal doctor decided in my favor that and “My wifes brother is a doctor and hasnt told me of a miracle cure for cerebal palsy hasnt been found yet”

Theres a place that advertises called labor ready but its physical day work from what im told ya might wanna try that …

[jayjay]

@Airman Doors

jayjay, this has taken a discussion worthy tangent.

For those of you wanting to duscuss the pros and cons of Bush Administration policies, I started this thread.

Pending the results of that thread, I’m sitting the fence on that topic.

nods

Your call.

[liirogue]

Labor Ready is hard physical work. (I know this because the guys I work for hire these guys anytime it’s dirty work they don’t want to do or need help doing.)

Try call centers. The work sucks, but the pay is excellent and there is usually an opportunity for good sized bonuses. The turnover rate is high, so they are almost always hiring. Especially for bill collecting positions.

And definitely try the temp agencies.

[Wesley_Clark]

@Yllaria

Zigarre mentioned it, but I thought I’d repeat. There was a complaint in the thread above that some places hadn’t called back. Some places wait for you to call them back to check up, especially for lower level jobs that get a lot of applications. It’s used as a weeding tool. They say they reason that if you aren’t interested enough in the job to call back, then your performance will also lack enthusiasm.

Personally, I think it’s just a device to cut their work load.

yeah this is a good trick. i think i will start a thread somewhere to pick up more job finding tricks as i need them.

Um, for all of you who are willing to use your connections to help people find jobs do you know anybody in bloomington indiana who needs part time 2nd shift work? My only work experience is as a baker/janitor/inventory worker at a convenience store during 3rd shift.

the sucky thing is bloomington is a college town, there are 68k people and about 30k of them are college students, so the market is flooded with unskilled part time labor that wants to work 2nd shift which makes finding a job in this economy 2x as bad.

[Mr.Svinlesha]

Scylla:

No offense, but aren’t you sleazy, cheap, and slimy?

Yeah, right. No, no, that’s not offensive. Do you have any other compliments you’d like to send my way?

Look, everybody – it was just an offhand comment. Airman said he was “talking like a pinko,” and a couple of things struck me. One was the mystery of the failure of the left in the US: that many people (especially the poor) who would actually benefit from “leftist policies,” in a broadly general sense, are often those who are most fanatically conservative. They don’t seem to understand that they support policies which are directly inimical to their welfare. Why is that?

Another was the whole process of “radicalization;” that is to say, the idea that bad experiences tend to push a person in a certain direction politically, usually one against the status quo. I got the feeling that Airman was being “radicalized” by the shit he was going through, and that it worried him.

And no, it is not sleazy, cheap or slimy to bring that into the discussion. It was not an attempt to take “cheap political shots,” but rather to point out what I believe to be an important fact, one that deals with flesh and blood. It’s ridiculous to restrict political discussions to some sort of special, sanitized, abstract space, where we can open our gobs and just gas on about them. After all, the results of those policies do affect actual people. Airman, a good man who honorably served his country, now has, through no fault of his own, no job, no income, no health insurance, and no unemployment benefits. Due to an unfortunate fluctuation in the “market,” this good man may be reduced to cleaning toilets at minimum wage for a living, if he’s lucky. And it’s completely unfair, and it’s about to break him, understandably, and he’s practically blaming himself for something that’s not his fault. Shit like that can drive a man crazy.

Meanwhile, the fat cats keep on getting fatter. This the practical result of conservative politics in action. No wonder Airman’s going pinko!

Having said that, at the same time, I don’t indulge in the slightest bit of schadenfruede, nor do I find Airman’s situation particularly “ironic,” in any sense. Sorry, friend rjung, but I think you’re going a bit too far, there.

(Those interested can find the rest of my response in the Airman’s thread in GD.)

[Desmostylus]

@Scylla

Svin and Rjung:

No offense, but don’t you feel a little sleazy using Airman’s troubles to make cheap political shots?

If this were to be printed out on Charmin, I still wouldn’t wipe my ass with it for fear of rectal inection.

No offense, asshole, but you disgust me.

[Siege]

Airman Doors, I was in a similar situation a year ago, wondering if I would ever find work. Under your circumstances, I’ll even understand a little whining. After all, as I’ve had to admit a few times myself, sometimes there’s ap perfectly reasonable, rational reason one is depressed; life just, plain, sucks!

I found some insight on the evil, awful, suckful pre-employment tests in Nickel and Dimed to Death by Barbara Ehreneich (I may have got her last name wrong).

When I did eventually find work, it was through the want ads in the Sunday paper, despite all the fancy internet searches I had going. I assume you know you can search want ads for some newspapers on line. If you like, I can send you a link to the help wanted section of my local paper. For you, I’d even swallow my liberal pride and my resolve to keep as much of my money out of Richard Scaife’s hands as possible and sent you a link to their conservative counterpart’s want ads.

Please hang in there; it was a pleasure meeting you and Ms. Robyn, and I’d like the opportunity to do so again. Things do change, even when you have a hard time believing that.

CJ

[Jonathan_Chance]

Dave-

Two things…one helpful…one smartass and cynical…

Helpful: I’m told the mayor wants to get together with me here in Ohio to figure out how to lure other young-to-not-so professionals to Marietta. The city leadership is intrigued that Lady Chance and I relocated here and want to see if others would come. I figure you and Rob might well be a target, eh?

Zing me a resume but not to the address in the profile as it’s dead. Try nate at birdwatchersdigest dot com.

Cynical: So for a security guard position you get all sorts of honesty questions. Well enough. And understandable. Boy is it different when you get up in the dealmaking levels.

I quote Mary Prankster:

Rip off the wrong people and they send you to jail
Rip off the right people and they say you show initiative!

[PunditLisa]

I’m sure you know this but a lot of civil service jobs give bonus points for military service. Call and ask local municipalities where they advertise for civil service jobs and when the next test is. The pay isn’t outstanding but it’s usually sufficient to raise a family and the benefits are second to none.

No one company is going to guarantee you 20 hours a day of work because they’d have to pay you 12 hours of overtime but you could work two full-time jobs or one full-time job and one part-time job. I know it’s not ideal but, as you said, the family’s got to eat.

Good luck to you and the Airman family. Mr. Pundit was out of work for a few months a few years back and I know how badly it sucks. I was pregnant at the time with our second child and the situation looked very bleak. I can look back on it now but it’s still no laughing matter.

[Cat_Whisperer]

My sympathies, Airman. My husband and I are both unemployed right now, and we are also one unemployment cheque away from being completely out of money.

When I worked with a huge railway here, they had tons of people from the military employed there (in the department I was in, it was about 50% ex-military). I’m not sure how that works, if railway companies prefer to hire ex-service men or what, but that seemed to be how it was. If there are any railway companies near you, I would suggest you drop off a resume to them. Can’t hurt.

As for the people indulging in political cheap shots in this thread (from either camp), shame on you.

[Scylla]

@Desmostylus

No offense, asshole, but you disgust me.

Your little fixation is your own problem.

[WernhamHogg]

@Airman Doors

You know what the ultimate irony is?

Questionnaires like these cost me seven years in the Active Duty. Right now I should be a Tech Sergeant. I answered yes to one simple question and got myself permanently disqualified from the military way back in 1994. How I got in and the circumstances surrounding my disqualification are a long Pit thread all in itself.

These tests have brought me nothing but misery and struggle, and no small amount of suffering. Ten years after I first got screwed by these tests I’m still getting screwed.

Do you really know it was one answer to one question, or do you just believe it to be so? Usually the tests don’t take any one answer to mean that much… which is why they ask the same question again and again. They aren’t trying to trick you into contradicting yourself, by the way, but to allow patterns to emerge rather than weighing one question too heavily.

By the way, some of the questions are meant to discover if you’re lying on the test… such as, “have you lied in the past year.” There are a few questions like that, meant to reveal that you’re lying on the test, if you claim not to have lied at all and never to have stolen anything, etc.

[WernhamHogg]

@Airman Doors

Oh, I understand exactly where you’re coming from. I’ve learned that lesson over the years, God knows I payed a bitter enough price for that little tidbit. The problem is that when the questions are loaded in such a way that sooner or later you have to say something that is damaging whether the answer is yes or no. Then what do you do? Do you portray yourself as Saint David I, or do you portray yourself as vaguely human? Does the test call bullshit on people who canonize themselves, or does it make a fundamental allowance for reality?

They allow for reality. The secret is not to “play” the test, but just answer the questions as honestly as you can and don’t worry about it.