April Comes Earlier Every Year

Opened my mailbox the other day and guess what I found…

A CHECK!

This is a spectacular thing for me. I did my duty and worked me some freelance gigs a week and a half ago or so and this was my payday. This was great, I owe a bunch of money around and this is going to be a big help for me. So I open it up and it’s like $300 dollars short!

Alright then, time to do a little math.

After going through my calendar the hours seem correct. Originally when I was booked it looked like it was going to be more, but all the jobs didn’t take us the entire allotted time. So the actual hours worked were lower than the anticipated hours. Being that this was hourly and not a day rate, these types of things obviously effect the paycheck.

Ok, so worked a little less than I had anticipated, but still that doesn’t quite match up. The lower hours would have only made up about $150, so there is still $150 that I can’t account for that I feel I’m due…

So let me look at this stub a little closer. I have my Earnings… Taxes… Deductions… wait… taxes what is this?

What’s a FICA and why does it cost 40 dollars?

How is MEDFICA different than a FICA? At least that one only costs 10 bucks. What else is there, FED WTH? Those aren’t even words. NY, NYCITY, NY DIS.? What is all this? Well, how much is the total?

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO DOLLARS?!?!?

What the hell is going on here? What is this? Today marks the day that my payment plan for my aught seven Taxes. How much do I owe? I mean seriously? Doesn’t the government know I’m broke? They certainly should. I registered my brokeness with them. Are they not paying attention? I went to them like I used to go to my mother (and by used to, I mean last month) and beg for money!

Dear The Government,

In case you hadn’t noticed, I am receiving Unemployment Benefits. This means I don’t have a full time job, so if you would be so kind as to leave my wages alone when I actually DO get a gig I would appreciate that.

Seriously, I have bills to pay.

Regretfully yours,

Corporate Kerouac

The Joys of Unemployment and Freelancing

I worked!

It was awesome.  It wasn’t much but it was good to at least have a gig.  I did a little camera work for a few days a couple weeks ago. Really great opportunity to meet some new people in the business and hopefully this will all lead to more work.  So springtime is coming and thing are looking up.

As a good little boy on the dole, while I was clarifying my benefits for this week I told them that I had worked the week prior.

For those of you not familiar with the unemployment benefits you need to clarify your benefits each week.  If you work one week and make more money than you would on unemployment, they suspend your benefits for a week. 

This is totally reasonable to me.  Some people may say that they wouldn’t try to find work as long as the free money is coming in, but I make a lot more when I’m working than I do when I’m not working.  So if I can find a gig for a week I set myself up in a good spot and then the weeks I don’t work I get my unemployment to make sure I keep myself afloat. 

That was 2 weeks ago, and then this week happened. 

I got a very nice paycheck from that freelance gig and I promptly put it into my bank account.  This put me in a really good spot monetarily.  So I waited the week of my suspended benefits and I was sitting pretty to start collecting again this week. 

When your benefits are suspended, you need to fill out a questionnaire for the DOL about the previous work experience.  It asks questions about whom you worked for and why you aren’t working there anymore.  Very simple and I think relatively easy.

Problem was, my friends at the Dol use snail mail.  (I KNOW!) So I didn’t get the questionnaire last week like I thought I would.  I got it this week, on Wednesday.  Which means I didn’t get it out until Thursday, Again through snail mail. (I KNOW! I even had to buy a stamp!)  The issue with the questionnaire and the snail mail is that you don’t receive benefits until they receive the questionnaire.

Everyone follow so far?

Recapping quickly, my unemployment has been suspended for two weeks because they haven’t received my questionnaire yet.  This is a little annoying, but it is ok because I have some extra cash because of my freelancing. 

Until that check bounced…

It was in my account, and then it just evaporated. 

So now I have no income for the past two weeks.  I have been staring at my bank account on my computer screen for the past 3 days just wondering when the rent check is going to clear and hoping that I have all the other bills that automatically debit accounted for.  If another bill clears the same day my rent clears it will sink me.  It will incur fees that will start to snowball into a debt that I will have trouble paying off once I start getting paid again. 

I will eventually get all of this money, or at least I should.  That will be a good chunk of change, but now I have to wait and try to make sure I don’t drown while it comes.  I’m trying not to be terrified, but I quite literally have $100 to play with until I get the checks that I am owed, and there is no guarantee that this money will show up in time. 

These are the joys of unemployment and freelancing

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.

The Week Of Waiting Is Over

When you apply for Unemployment Insurance the first week is a waiting week. At first this seemed silly, but now I have a better understanding of this week of waiting.

Last week I wrote about how awful it made me feel to apply for unemployment benefits. However, seven short days later, that feeling has disappeared. I'm not sure exactly what is to blame for the change of heart. Perhaps it was the level of difficulty of actually finding a new job in this economy, or my bank account plummeting. For whatever reason, I have gotten over myself and began falling in love with the idea of that "free government money."

Now my only worry today is that the freelance gig I am going to embark on today doesn't earn me so much money that the government thinks I have fulltime work again.

Next time will be from the road.

Society’s expectation of wearing pants in public

Today I will venture out of the apartment in the daytime.

This is more difficult to do that it may seem. First I have to pick out clothes that don’t make me look like I’m unemployed. Today we have gone with a witty shirt that makes a joke out of Voltron and Jerry McGuire… hilarious!

I’m wearing my Timberland boots because it’s still a little slushy out, and I’m wearing a pair of my brown cargo pants… I don’t want to look THAT good, just in case someone out there is itching to hire someone out of pity, I'm their man.

There is a strange emotion of going out without having a job. I feel guilty leaving the computer. I won’t be searching the job listings again, just in case I missed something. It’s nerve wracking sitting back and worrying about missing an opportunity. I really shouldn’t be, especially since I have a blackberry that gets ALL my emails and ALL my phonecalls. So really I will get all my calls and messages no matter where I am in the city. The only time I would be unavailable is when I’m on the subway **Note: take buses**. I, as a rational person, realize that this is an unreasonable fear in such an age of technology. However, I can’t help but feel that I’m not doing enough to get out to get myself another job. Then as a person who is looking forward to new opportunities is afraid that the other part of me, the part that is worried about missing a job offer, is going to find a job that totally sucks and will only lead me to be depressed even more. So then the part of me that is trying to find a job is waiting for the part of me who is looking for new opportunities to come up with something that is fulfilling and something I can excel at, but it doesn’t trust that part of me because it knows the opportunity seeking side is idealistic but lazy and would much rather play John Madden Football 2005.

This is how my brain works when I’m left alone for extended periods of time.

Day 4 of Unemployment/ Day 1 of Freelancing

Surprise! You're working today. I didn't realize I was going to be so busy. Started with a phone call at 10 AM from my vendor for the show next week and ended now, at 6:00 pm eastern standard time.

Congratulations, You have successfully worked enough to bill for your day rate!! HOORAY!!

The trouble is that it's a surprise to those who will be paying it, so they may balk when the get that invoice. However, this is worth fighting for! Today = groceries for a couple weeks, or maybe even a date at that half price sushi place I really like!!

Got my unemployment literature in the mail today, need to go read that to figure out how long i get to wait on the phone.

Time to charge that bluetooth ...

The First Official Day Off

From the heart of the recession, I'm a man trying to find his new place.

Taking the first official steps in my laid off life, I applied for NY State Unemployment. I know this is something that I have paid into for most of my adult life and I know it's there to help me, however, it did not feel good filling out that application. It's a system that is in place to help me stay afloat, but I feel as though it's beneath me to take advantage of it. I have had a job steadily since I turned 14 and started bagging groceries. I like working, I enjoy having control over my life and how I will get my next paycheck. I've always been in control of how I will, or will not, make rent each month. To apply for this government benefit makes me feel as thought I've failed somehow, made me feel dirty. This is a foolish way to feel given that I have been reassured that it certainly was not my performance that caused this situation, but this is no solace for someone who feels as thought he's lost control over his life.

Hopefully this will serve as motivation to really get out there and find something that I not only want to do, but will also further my career.

I guess we will find out tomorrow.