O/T Add me to the list of unemployed.

Well today I was told Thursday will be my last day at Waterloo. I'm laid off. They went back ten years. I just passed the one year mark Jan. 2nd. I was in the Tool & Die department. They hit the Maintenance department too. The production workers are going to be next. It's not unexpected though. They told me to disregard the call back date, because it probably won't happen, even if it did we are looking at September at the earliest. The job market here in Missouri is bleak, I don't think I will find anything soon. I just hope this doesn't cost me my cars.

 

i know how you feel. i just got added to that list this week. i worked for ups and due to the poor holiday season they figured its not gona be any better any time soon so they let go a bunch of us and whats worse is the $600 christmas bonus i was promised i didnt get. the day i was fired and handed my last check i was given a bs lye about why i didnt get it.

 

My condolences. I have a couple friends in the lumber industries that are laid off probably permanently. Fortunately there is all the work anyone would possibly want to do shoveling roofs for 10+ hours a day.

 

Aint no fun, is it.
I was sitting pretty with a dream job 6 months ago. Then I took 2 months off work to have a cross country vacation with my kids. Got back and the boss said work was slow but they would try tp get me back in sometime over the next couple weeks,,, but the economy kept falling, and the company went out of business, leaving me high and dry.

I'v still got enough in the savings account to keep the basic bills paid till next summer, but I cant tell you how much I hate using up the savings account
I sold my '57 Chevy to gtive the kids a nice X-mas, and I'm debating selling the '52 while there are still a few people out there with some money left in their pockets.

 

I feel for ya bud! Going on my fourth week of being laid off and what really sucks is when you open the newspaper and see about 8 ads for positions only filled by highly experienced individuals. I used to check the classifieds (seemed like 2 pages of jobs) just for shits and giggles because I was set with a solid job that I quit 7 months ago to go to a job with better hours to get laid off 5 months later, oops. Now I make more on unemployment then I did working. I have tried to find a job but wtf do you do when you can pay more bills with your unemployment check then with a 8-10$ hr job? Government says I made 57,000 last year so I make alot on unemployment. I am in a quandry, I want to work but it seems redundant at the low wages. I have worked non-stop since 15 1/2 and now at 23 I am like shit!!!!!!! I feel like a H.S. kid again.-Weeks

 

shit wait til you have file for unemployment in missouri been 5 weeks and my son still has recieved anything.

 

I heard also that Alcoa is going to lay off 13,500 workers.
we all may be on unemployment before the years out at this rate.
maybe we need to open a HAMB shop...or rush the White House Steps and let washington know that if we dont work...they dont get paid...see if that wakes em up

 

Same boat as you. Been looking for 7 months. Savings is about gone, sold my 68 Charger, etc. I don't think things are going to get any better any time soon. Good luck to all in your searches.

 

Im on week 4 of no paycheck, work but no paycheck! I figure if I dont go then there is no chance of getting paid. Not to mention Ive been off $700-$1000 per week for the last 4-5 months anyway. Oh well life is grand , I have a great family and great friends, F#@$ the credit companies and my mortgage company thats gone up $750 per month in the last year! How about the credit card companies pulling there crap, I had been keeping a balance under half of my credit line to build my credit , well the went and lowered my credit line to just above my balance. No they have jacked my rate from 6% to 29.99% because of the debt to credtit limit!!! Asshats F 'em F 'em all!

 

I feel your pain. I've been laid off since oct. The sad part is that there is nothing out there right now. Companies around here that generally have a sign out all year round, have a hiring freeze on or they too are laying off, and there seems to be no end in site , at least not for now!!!

 

I got layed off new years eve, great way to ring in the new year. Luckily I work through a Union hall, but even they said expect 4-6 months if that. I've picked up a couple side projects, scrapping a couple old cars, and chopping the top on a truck, but that will only help for a little while. I too hope to be able to keep my hot rods, but I also believe my family and house come first, so we'll see. I will let the new cars get reposessed first though, we'll just have to drive hot rods as our dailys for a while if it comes to that. I really hope things start to get better soon. I get my self so worried at times I actually start to feel sick. Rusty.

 

I hate to say this on this board with the fear of being banned but trying to help a guy out. About the only stable job in the sedalia Mo. area is the Wal-Mart grocery distribution center in Harrisonville. They pay MUCH more than the stores have good benefits and if you dont mind a little hard work your job will be there as long as people need to eat, My wife and I have worked for them for 9 years and have transferred three times never once fearing our jobs. In fact we are the only place still hiring full time work in the area we live in now. Again not for everyone just trying to help.

 

Back in the early 80's I made the cut off for layoff by 1. That night I made up my mind to start my own shop, I didn't know how I was going to swing it, but I knew I didn't want to see if I would get lucky the next time. Well 25 years later I look back and see it was the best thing that ever happened to me.
I'm not saying it was easy by any stretch, money was so tight for a few years it was hard to do anything but survive.
Fat Ass, I was in the tool & die department too, Now I own the tool & die department.
Sometimes opportunities are disguised as problems. Best of luck to you.

 

Tool and Die huh?

Any chance you might be interested in a position in Mississippi?

Try American Eurocopter there. I can't give you any edge getting in, but I know they have extended a contract with the government and may be looking for people. Worth a shot anyway. Good luck-

 

The way it is going, it is only going to get worse. I myself think we are on the way to a full blown depression. The problem is this country does not make anything anymore. All the industry has left and what IS left, the positions are filled with illegals who will work for a lot less money. I don't see how we will get out of this one. This country was started and based on hard working people who would come here to better themselves and prosper, now the country is set up for the rich. PERIOD. If you are rich, you are catered to, if not, they could care less about you. Good luck to everyone looking for work.

 

You want to know how bad the economy is?

Click here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28549145

Larry Flint of Hustler, and Joe Francis of Girls Gone Wild are asking Congress for a $5-billion bailout for the porn and adult entertainment industry, saying the economic downturn has made the entire adult-industry go "limp"...

Sorry mod's, I know you guys dont like this kinda stuff on here, but I gotta say it...

If congress approves this, there will be riots in D.C.

 

My position was eliminated end of May last year and I am still looking. I have had interviews and have been told I am still in the mix. Places are waiting to see how bad it is going to get. I had 24 years in an High Tech industry that we are going to keep jobs and create more in the good 'ole USA. Well projects I had been working on went to India and the mfg of them went to China. The only change this country is going to have is the change that is left in our pockets. Just my $.02

 

I've been laid off and seen bad economies before. The only REAL difference is how the media portray it. I'm in the middle of starting up a new company right now. Most people would say that's crazy. But if everyone shuts up, shuts down, battens down the hatches so to speak, how would the economy ever get moving again?
The government can only redistribute money it has confinscated from other people. it doesn't have anything it doesn't first take from you or I.
I've had to lay a couple of people off recently; it's very painful, but its not B.S., it's just life. I always tell my employees; and I live myself, under the knowledge that the greatest single thing that will detirmine you success or failure is YOUR attitude. It should not be dependant on any other people,what they say or do, or by any circumstances; good, bad; or indifferent.
I know several businesses involved in manufacturing that are just busting at the seams with new work. One gentleman; who has a very successful business to begin with, I mean millions of dollars of revenue per year, is on track to make more money in '09 than he did in all of '08. so it's not ALL of the economy. Sometimes a business that can function in good economic timescan't make it in weaker times. That could be management issues (look at the sorry automakers!)
But back to my point; how well you make it through depends on you more than any other factor.

 

I guess I'm in the club, too. I didn't get laid off, I got fired for being a whistleblower. I used to work in NJ as a healthcare assistant for traumatic brain injury victims, and my company was doing a bunch of very illegal, hurtful, and dangerous things to these people, so during our annual inspection, I 'fessed up and told the state agency what my company was doing. I got fired 2 weeks later when someone found out, and it sucked for a while, but in the end things worked out for the best. I moved to another area, found a girl (who became my wife), returned to my hobbies to make a little money (art, tattooing, hot rods, and motorcycles), and the best part, that company was fully investigated and shut down. I still hear from 2 of the residents from there, who still thank me for standing up for them.
My point is, assess your situation, is there anything you do, even as a hobby, that you can make money at? You never know, it might become your new career.

 

The problem is so much of industry here is foreign owned and don't give a crap about US or its people. In fact I believe these foreign owners are actually working for the demise of the US high standard of living because we have been on top of the heap for so long. A global game of King of the Mountain, knock off who is on top.Just another $.02.

 

Not unemployed...I am self-employed and our business which has almost always been recession proof is really suffering now and I am faced with closing down our original location (leaving us one) and letting some good people go and/or cut way back to minimal part time...it kills me to have to do this as we are like a family as our attitude has always been that our employees don't work for us they work with us...praying that something miraculous will happen and something will give the economy a push-start. Good luck to everybody out there.

 

Since the mid-1990's most of what wasn't already moved offshore in the way of jobs was in the process of being planned to move out of the U.S.
Tom Delay was a huge cheerleader for companies to move out of the U.S. to places like the Mariana Islands where big U.S. companies could get cheap labor and not have to provide any health or safety regulations like they do here. Women are forced to live in "company" provided housing and then their rent is taken out of their pay checks, etc., etc.
The working class, ass busting Americans who built this Country and saw it through to two victories in two World Wars and the Great Depression are the ones being cast aside and forgotten.
If they were alive today, the likes of Johnny Cash and Woody Guthrie would have a huge pool of stories and heartbreak to sing about.
Few could capture the state of the Country in song as Cash and Guthrie. They would both have to sing through their tears as they would be witnessing the result of the dismantling of the middle class...all planned and orchestrated successfully by the greed of the power-brokers.
My heart goes out to all who are struggling, and to our next Administration who has been left with economic carnage to deal with.

 

go and look at how much money this country is spending on "security"
DHLS, Border Patrol,Border Protection, local enforcement gets money too, TSA, CIA, FBI, and a few more i cant remember now.
there is a 380 page budget for H.L.S. alone
and they dont talk in millions anymore..they are talking Billions...34.6 Billion here..22.8 Billion there etc...
maybe all these unemployed will eventually be working for our government..and than when there is no one in the private sectors and big buiz pull all out of here..who will be funding those jobs? This govenment needs to remember who is paying their way.
govenment is way too big folks..and its killing us, and along with it all our good paying jobs.
we have only become consumers..not producers..and we are being driven by a govenment that is using fear tactics to get it done..i could go on and on..but we all know where this is heading if we the people dont pull our collective asses together and remind this govenment who the fuck they are really supposed to be working for....screw the lobbyists..and special interst groups..well i gotta stop this rant before i blow a head gasket

 

The economy reeks of what went around in 1979 or so. I was laid of back then and recovering from a serious injury, so the timing wasn't that bad for me.

I'm fortunate to be working at a pretty good job that is actually hiring permanent employees and job shoppers as well. My wife is working in the insurance field and brings home a decent check. I do the machine shop gig on the side and will never give that up. That has potential to expand if needed.

When I went back to work in 1981, I swore that I'd never rely on one source of income and would have something to fall back on when things got bad. All I need to do is hang in for another 8-10 years and I can pack it in. In 13 months I can take the lump sum from this job and work elsewhere.

So keep your options open, be willing to take a lesser job even if you have to cut back on the lifestyle. Look at unemployment as a "base salary" and augment it from there with an "off the books" gig. Just don't get caught!

Bob

 

Well, its a global thing. In a rather roundabout way I am unemployed....sort of!
It started with Veterans Affairs when I was on a pension, I couldn't work. That is until they took the pension off me, I went on unemployment until I managed to get one of my qualifications recognised. So I started to work through an agency, some weeks I would get 7 full days of work, others two or three.
Well recently the bottom has dropped out, its not a line of work the world can do without and there are adverts on the TV telling us how Queensland is desperately short of us! Hmm.....
So with this lull I head out to all the places I have worked and some more armed with my resume and an application, or letter of interest in employment (46 places!). For some reason there are no positions available, so Im stuck without work.
Right at this time something else happens with VA and I find I have to spend a lot of time fighting them on mine and a deceased mates behalf. They want 10 and a half grand from me for an 'overpayment' that they never made! My mate committed suicide not long ago and they are taking his wife to the cleaners.
So with no work, a big debt I walk into social security and ask for help. Turns out I have the 'Potential' to earn X amount of dollars per so I don't qualify for un-employment.
I ask about an invalidity benefit as I am still classed 'Totally and Permanently Incapacitated' by VA. They cant help me with that as its VAs job and they cant step on their toes. So where does this leave me?
Unemployed,
Considered Incapacitated to a degree that I can not work,
Ineligible for unemployment, and
Ineligible for Invalidity payments.
So in the last few months I have sold everything. I sleep on a folded quilt on the floor, I sit on a fold out Army chair. I sold my project car, my tools, most of my hobby gear, my TV, stereo everything.
Im still not earning so I found out a few days ago I am loosing my home in two weeks.
Bugger, no family to turn to, no mates that are in a position to take me in either.
I am out on the streets very soon, it can happen to you too!!
So, soon my boorish angry rants will disappear from the HAMB until I find a way to get back on my feet.
Yup, its happening everywhere.

Doc.

 

I feel for all who have been effected by this economic downturn. I myself am not sure what I woulod do if laid off! We recent completed the budget for 2009 here at work. while the powers to be where reviewing budget I got called in to a meeting (I am a Chief Engineer) with them. The first thing they asked as I walked in was can you cut a man out of your department. well I have only been on this project for a 2 months when this was asked and was still getting things in order. What I was able to do was buy a guy 6 months time. I told them to give me 6 months to look at the operation, see if I could cut utilty cost and expenses in other areas. They where ready to give a guy walking papers that DAY!
My wife was effected by this whole down turn 11 months ago. I would say she was one of the first batch of lay offs. The wife had worked for a law firm for over 20 years with no prior issue. problem was that she was at top scale and they cut a group of them first.
We all need to look at our expenses be thrifty, in the long run this may bring all of us back to a time when life was slower and people spent more time interacting with eachother.

 

I guess no matter how bad you think you might have it; there is some one else that has it worse. Good Luck Doc!!!!!!!!!! God help us all.

 

All the best of luck to you Doc! I hope things can turn around for you soon. Keep fighting.

 

DocWatson..you are in my thoughts..no vetran should ever be treated this way.....EVER!

 

Doc,
If your really serious about all of that, I would take your story to the media. It sounds like a cluster-f#ck of epic proportions. Having your story on the 10 O'clock news just might embarass the powers that be into doing what should have been done in the first place.

No vet should ever be treated like that!