Today's Gray: Unemployment

Being unemployed isn't that bad.  I like to think of it as forced early retirement, or vacation time, which I rarely had while I was working.  Fortunately, I have a roommate so it isn't that hard to make the bills.  I'm not saying it's easy by any means, but it certainly helps!  Tomorrow I have to go to the unemployment office for a mandatory job workshop.  It's not the worst thing in the world, but I kind of think it's a means for the IDES to justify their existence.  Frankly, I think they need to have more than 3 people at a time available to service the newly unemployed who sit in the waiting area holding their "deli counter" numbers upwards of 300 just to find out that the person at the counter has no interest in helping.  Well, why should they, they have a job.  Last time I was there I waited for nearly 3 hours for someone to tell me there was no way to review and print out my application that I filled out online.  They said, that's controlled information, it's not available to you.  Huh?  It's my personal information, shouldn't it be controlled by me?  I asked to wait for a supervisor and waited for an additional hour, it was just before 5:00pm when they close, there were still at least 20 people waiting to be seen, and the person I had spoken to had not gone to get a supervisor yet.  So, aggravating the people who were waiting, I went back up to the person I spoke to.  With an exasperated gesture she went to a supervisor's office and came out with a copy of my application.  Oh, she said, all I had to do was press print.  Really??? 

Now, I'm not ashamed of being out of work.  It is what it is.  I have some prospects, I've had interviews, and I have personal ideas and plans that I am becoming increasingly motivated to pursue.  With that said, there is no reason when you go to the IDES that they should act like you are bothering them, or that it's a pain their collective ass to do their jobs.  Hey, if you don't like your job lady, I'll do it.  I bet you get great benefits working for the government anyway.  I wonder, what are the qualifications to get a job there?   Is there a "deli counter" numbering system to apply for a job there too?  Was it just that they had the patience to wait in the lobby for someone to review their job application? Is it a first come first serve kind of thing?  I mean, after all, they don't even know how to press the print button.  

You may be able to tell, this particular time in my life seems to be increasing the speed at which I am developing those grays!