Ghost Writer: The Joys and Sorrows of Collecting Unemployment

It is obviously no secret that I am a champion of the NY state department of labor. I have been collecting unemployment benefits for almost two months now. Those weekly Dol checks have been an absolute life saver for me, and I know they are certainly helping other people stay afloat in these troubled times.

While celebrating the great Irish holy day I saw an acquaintance whom I hadn't seen for 6 months or so. As it turns out, since I had seen him last, we had both fallen on similar situations. Both misplaced our full time gigs and were forced to turn to the safety blanket the Dol has laid out for us. There were fundamental differences though and I invited him to write his experiences for this blog. I thought it would be a change of pace to find a different tone.

The Joys and Sorrows of Collecting Unemployment

don't think anyone is ever really excited to collect unemployment. I know I wasn't. Not working kinda sucks. But you owe it to yourself to stay at home and watch bad daytime TV and do absolutely nothing for a minimum of two weeks. I am deeming this as Mandatory. After all, you've just been laid off or fired so sit back and relax for awhile.

The first few weeks are good. Around week four I knew things were getting bad. You know its getting bad when you look forward to Octo-Mom being on Dr. Phil (CBS weekdays @ 3:00PM)

When this happened I started to go into holy shit mode and realized it was time to start getting serious and try to find a job. I don't think I would be freaking out as much if The lovely State of NY was giving me the amount of money I should be receiving. The amount of money that is rightfully mine.The amount of money I deserve. But no!

When I received my Benefits Summary it said I didn't work in the last Quarter. 10/1/08 -12/31/08, When in fact I did. This would be the Quarter where I made the most money. After submitting additional paper work along with the Request for Reconsideration form, I received an updated Benefits Summary, which is still about $4,000 short. So I submitted even more paper work including W-2's this time around. Still waiting. Hopefully in the next week or two everything will be fixed. In the mean time I am collecting a whopping $120 a week. So not helpful. When does that extra $25 kick in? Thanks NY. Please give me my money.

If you've ever been unemployed or are currently unemployed check out www.oddtodd.com. Its a great online cartoon and website about being unemployed. Guaranteed to put a smile on your face.