What's Happening in Your Life?

[sodascouts]

Hey, it tastes just as good smushed as it does when it looks perfect! I can only imagine how you felt when it happened, though!

[Prettymaid]

Yum Molly, sounds de-e-e-licious! Happy anniversary!

[Z]

Happy Anniversary, Molly!! I'm sure Ditka was still able to 'force' himself to eat that cake.

[Wildthyme]

I am still keeping Amber and Francene in my thoughts and prayers.

Happy anniversary to Willie and Molly. Congrats!

And may everyone's friends and family who are down with the flu be well soon. They declared a flu emergency here today. We have had some schools closed with high absentee rates and one of the local high schools had to forfeit their football game on Friday because over half the team was out sick. I know we have a full on flu panic going on around here because I see people disinfecting the handles of their grocery carts and wearing masks. I suppose I am a bit prone to it myself. On Sunday I left church in the middle of the service because the people on both sides of me were hacking and coughing and wiping their noses and there was no way I was going to hold their hands during the Lord's Prayer or shake their hands during the sign of peace. And communion? Yeah right.. communal germ sharing! So I left before that portion of the mass (just call me chicken little...LOL)

So poor Rhonda got an earful about something going on in my life today (you can stop reading now Rhonda.... ) but I thought I might share with all of you since I can't seem to decide what to do. Anyway, I have been out of work since mid-August. I have been offered a job at a call center for a large health insurance company. The benefits are very good but the pay isn't. If I go to work for them I will have to take a 40% cut in pay over I was earning before (about $15K a year less) and it isn't actually enough for me to pay my mortgage and bills and also buy "luxury" items like food and toilet paper. Its even less than I am getting on unemployment and I am barely scraping by on that. I called the Employment Department and after a 35 minute wait got this woman who was totally useless in helping me to determine what my choices are (she wouldn't answer any of my questions) so I hung up with no better idea of what to do. Do I refuse the job, have my benefits suspended for 3 to 6 weeks while they investigate and risk losing my unemployment benefits all together or do I take the job and not earn enough to live on while trying to make the time to find both a second part time job as well as a totally different job that I can live on, not to mention wasting this company's resources on training me for eight weeks when I have no intention of staying there. This is really a conundrum for me and I have no idea what to do but I have to decide in the next couple days. To say the least I am having more than a little stress over this right now...

[MikeA]

Wow Cami...that REALLY Sux! Damned if you do and Damned if you don't! It sounds like a complete slap in the face with the GOV holding a hammer over your head, telling you that you have to take a job that pays less than your entitlements.

I wish you NOTHING but good fortune....and good fortune FAST!

[sodascouts]

It amazes me that they'd force you to take a job that pays LESS than you currently get on the dole!

Maybe it would be better to go down to the Employment Office instead of trying to talk to someone on the phone. A lot of times the people answering the phone just want to get rid of you and go back to checking the internet or whatever.

[tbs fanatic]

That really sucks. Soda makes a good point there - maybe it would help to go and speak with them in person. That is a crazy position to be put in though. Let us know what happens.

[Molly]

Cami, sorry to hear what you're going thru on the job front. That sounds frustrating and scary at the same time.

Good luck and hang in there.

[Wildthyme]

It amazes me that they'd force you to take a job that pays LESS than you currently get on the dole!

Maybe it would be better to go down to the Employment Office instead of trying to talk to someone on the phone. A lot of times the people answering the phone just want to get rid of you and go back to checking the internet or whatever.

Unfortunately I have to address my questions to a field office 200 miles away. The people in the local office can't help me with this question. All they can do is help me search for a job. Sooooo convenient. Gotta love state bureaucracy...

[TimothyBFan]

Wow Cami-I don't what to say! What a rough decision to have to make! Best of luck to you on whatever way you decide to go. Thoughts are with you.