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Thursday, January 20, 2011

And I got up early, why?

So today was the big unemployment review interview to see if I still qualify for my unemployment benefits.  I am at the end of the road with it, basically, because I am about 6 weeks in to the extended benefits so at the end of 20 weeks, there is no more for me.

I had been freaking out about this appointment and made sure that all of my files were in order and that I had everything that I was going to need.  In the letter that was sent to me, it merely asked for my job search records for the "previous" weeks.  I took that to mean two...basically I just brought everything from January.

So I get there 30 minutes early and get on line.  I was definitely in the minority - I was the only person there that was actually DRESSED like I wanted a job!  I was a bit shocked.  There were already twenty plus people in line and when I got up to the desk, I showed the receptionist my letter and she directed me to an office to my left.  I walked over to it and there was one guy sitting at a desk.  That was it.  He told me to come in, we shook hands and he held up a piece of paper for me and said "Have you ever filled one of these out before?"  I'm like "No" so he explains to me that I need to fill in two job searches for each week listed and they go back to mid-December.  I explained that I only brought January with me and he's like "You're a smart girl, you'll remember".

Oh...really?

He asked me, then, to go out to the waiting area and fill it out.  So I did.  I left the week between Christmas and New Year's empty because, honestly, I did not look for a job that week and the info for the week before is pretty vague because I had no idea where I applied to.  So I go back in to his office and he looks at the form and slides it back over to me.  Then, he leans in pretty close and whispers "You see that there, Stacey?" Meaning, the week I left blank.  "You're gonna want to go back out there and cross that out and put something in."  I told him that I didn't look that week and he's like "Yes you did" and I'm like "Um...No, I didn't" and he's like "I'm sure you did...now go fix that."

Are you as shocked and dumbfounded by this as I am???

Let's just leave it at I left three minutes later...

5 comments:

Ruth said...

Is it just me or does that guy sound really creepy???

Karen said...

Sounds like he was trying to say, if you leave that blank, you are going to run into a roadblock. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Da Dude said...

I agree with Karen. You need to fill in those weeks with something.

Sir Jorge Orduna said...

Yeah, you have to essentially "lie" if you want benefits. The same thing happened to me, and I just put "mcdonalds" and they passed me. I have integrity too, but the guy at my meeting said it's a matter of "do you want benefits" or not? and since i did, i had to lie, but the benefits came

Lin said...

I had the same thing happen 20 years ago! I was VERY pregnant and I had some really caring folks who helped me do the paperwork so that I still got the benefits. Don't knock him--he was trying to help you! He runs into people there that need help in navigating the system, he was doing you a favor, pally.