primitive loses job

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=367x22711

Oh my.

I thought Bo was supposed to have all this handled by 11:01 a.m. January 20.

I wonder what's up with that.

Alameda  (549 posts)        Wed Sep-09-09 12:56 AM
Original message
 
Went to work last Friday and found out it was my last day. In fact, it was the last day for all of us. We expected to be moving to a new office, but instead the company is under new ownership and none of us are needed any longer. We had time to pack our things and say good by to each other. I have been told we were lucky, most the time you are only able to get your things and leave.

A few sales people will stay and go to the new office as independent contractors. That means no benefits, no health insurance, no sick days, no vacation, no...no...no...no...They will sell off the remaining assets...then what?

I'm in pretty good shape, for the time being, but I worry about my co-workers. One had an anxiety attack and had to be taken to the emergency room. He is from another country, he married recently, brought his wife and stepson to this country just a month ago. He has a mortgage to pay, car payments to make....and no job. Another of my co-workers recently married, had a baby right away. He just signed up to buy a new home with nice new mortgage payments to make. No job to make the payments, a stay at home wife and 6 month old baby waiting to come to this country....no job to sponsor them.....This is the type of thing people commit suicide over.

Another co-worker's wife just was treated for breast cancer....now only COBRA...until when? So many tragedies.....

sharesunited (1000+ posts)      Wed Sep-09-09 12:59 AM
Response to Original message
 
1. Like an asteroid has hit the earth. Which industry?

Alameda  (549 posts)        Wed Sep-09-09 01:13 AM
Response to Reply #1
 
4. High tech.....made it through the dot bomb...been in business since 98....

XOKCowboy  (1000+ posts)        Wed Sep-09-09 01:08 AM
Response to Original message
 
2. So many people protesting right now don't know the same could happen to them tomorrow

Yet they still defend the insurance companies and say we've got "the best healthcare in the world".

Oh damndamndamndamn.

I was hoping to get a health-care-free bonfire.

Damn.

Stardust  (1000+ posts)      Wed Sep-09-09 01:13 AM
Response to Original message
 
3. I'm so sorry, Alameda. There just are no words... :^(

We live in shitty times. I live in dread that any day may be my last day of work.

Alameda  (549 posts)        Wed Sep-09-09 01:23 AM
Response to Reply #3
 
5. I am so glad I didn't opt to buy a new car..........&....... 

I'm lucky I didn't qualify for a klunker...and I had vacation time built up...glad I had not taken the vacation planned. At least I was able to cash in on my time. As I said, I'm lucky compared to some of the others.

Save as much as you can. If you can, grow a garden, do. If you don't have the space, do guerrilla gardening. Throw some useful seeds around. It sounds drastic, but learn what things in the empty lots are edible. Learn to make sprouts....they are nutritious and tasty.

Stardust  (1000+ posts)      Wed Sep-09-09 03:29 AM
Response to Reply #5
 
7. Thanks for the tips! Guerilla gardening sounded intriguing so I Googled it.

Seems that most GG involves ornamental rather than edible plants, but I'll keep researching. We had a community garden plot back in Virginia and it was prolific and very rewarding. With times like these, I don't imagine much would be "safe." That's an uncomfortable situation when you grow stuff because you're trying to save, someone comes along and takes it, and you feel like a Republican for resenting them...

I have a patio that's chock full of ornamental plants...I should probably graduate to edibles (or smokables)

I drive a 13 y/o car that gives me no major problems, but every once in a while I get a wild hair and start wanting something newer, prettier, more gadgets. Luckily, I've been able to resist that siren song. And there's a part of me that wants to look "cute" with cute clothes, cute hair, etc. I fight the urge to go shopping and end up wearing the same old stuff day in, day out, while my coworkers come in cute.  But there's that other part of me that doesn't want to be down and out with nothing but cute clothes and cute hair.

I'm pretty frugal but can't escape the L.A. rent situation.

Are your job prospects encouraging? I hope so...you seem like a kind soul.

Alameda  (549 posts)        Wed Sep-09-09 10:53 AM
Response to Reply #7
 
11. Many edibles are attractive plants. I have scarlett runner beans. 

They have pretty red flowers, and grow up. Another bonus is they attract hummingbirds! You can train them to grow in a small space. I think of the most nutrition for the space & water. Parsley has a lot of vitamins and is pretty easy to grow, so are carrots and radish. In fact radish grows wild all over CA. It get quite large and has edible beans that taste just like radish. It is not an attractive plant for a garden, but if you learn to identify it you can harvest it.

As for guerrilla gardening, you can't expect it all for yourself. If you do enough of it, some will be available for you too. Just take care to plant none invasive plants, and try to learn about native edible species. I've never understood what people have against dandelions & burdock. They both have both nutritional and medicinal value, and are abundant. Stinging nettle is another.

Yes, LA rents are pretty bad, but as a bonus, the weather is warm enough to grow all year long.

Orangeone  (363 posts)        Wed Sep-09-09 03:15 AM
Response to Original message
 
6. Unfortunately I know the feeling : (
 
The whole department where I worked got laid off three months ago. I'm sorry to hear it happened to you too...

The always-helpful Omaha Steve, a non-primitive on Skins's island:

Omaha Steve  (1000+ posts)        Wed Sep-09-09 06:30 AM
Response to Original message
 
8. Here is a link to the unemployment lifeline
 
It sounds like your in better shape than most of your friends. Be sure to share with them.

http://www.unemploymentlifeline.com /

The figures are staggering. Unemployment at 8.9 percent. Record new unemployment claims. By one measure, unemployment and underemployment at 15.6 percent.

Hardworking families are struggling to get by, and too often, they don't know where to turn for help.

That's where the Unemployment LifeLine comes in. It's a one-stop guide that links workers to the resources in their area, from unemployment offices to veterans' services to child care. It also offers the opportunity to talk to others and share support and lessons learned.

But Omaha Steve, old pal old buddy old friend, I thought Bo had this unemployment problem all resolved eight months ago.  The primitives promised us he would.

Earth Bound Misfit  (1000+ posts)        Wed Sep-09-09 12:13 PM
Response to Reply #8
 
13. Good job by you, OS....

Looks like I'm gonna need some of those resources, I may be out of work as I type this.

yellerpup  (1000+ posts)        Wed Sep-09-09 08:17 AM
Response to Original message
 
9. What an awful situation and how kind you are to think of your co-workers at such a time. Back in the 70's I worked in a sales office with forty other people. One morning when we arrived at work we discovered that the whole office had been cleaned out in the middle of the night. The company kept $500 per sales person as a reserve which none of us ever saw. We didn't get last checks, nothing accrued to vacation, sick, not even our personal belongings until one guy kicked down the door and we were able to get in to pick up our personal junk. I feel terrible for you and your co-workers. I'd love to hear a plan for how to recover from this type of failure. 

Alameda  (549 posts)        Wed Sep-09-09 11:08 AM
Response to Reply #9
 
12. ewww...and $500 was a LOT more then than it is now! 

I wonder if laws have changed now to offer better protection? It's not a good idea to leave anything you really want or need at work. One never knows, these days in particular.

yellerpup  (1000+ posts)        Wed Sep-09-09 05:14 PM
Response to Reply #12
 
15. We did engineer a retaliation.

When we reached the owners at their HQ in Idaho, they more or less said, "We go by Idaho rules. Come and make me," when it came to our getting our money out of them.

After a few weeks, they had reopened under a slightly different management situation in a different part of town and were willing to hire back those of us who were resourceful enough to find them. We spread the word and got almost all our old co-workers back on the payroll. We made sales on the phone, they had a verifier who double checked to make sure they were legitimate sales, and we'd get paid in advance of collection. The verifier had a crush on one of the guys and he romanced her and talked her into okaying everyone's sales slips without checking.

We all had record sales, we all got huge paychecks for a couple of weeks until the collector started finding out that the sales were not legitimate (the names on the sales slips were fictitious), but by this time we were all just bout even with what they really owed us -- including the reserves they had stolen -- and the management went ballistic and started threatening us on the phone. I put them on speaker and they were furious, i.e., "You can go to jail!", etc., but our answer was, "Come and get us!" We knew they couldn't set foot in the state without having to deal with their past fast and loose dealings and we hadn't hurt anyone except them. It was a successful and cooperative act of revenge. Sweet!

Alameda  (549 posts)        Wed Sep-09-09 01:18 PM
Response to Original message
 
14. Just found out everyone's insurance was canceled! ............. 

and no COBRA availability! ...because the company was dissolved! The worst part of it is nobody was informed about it. I just called the insurance brokers and asked directly about it. It seems the owner of the company did some fancy planning to eliminate as much responsibility as possible.

Ooops.  So sorry.

[thundley4]

Stardust  (1000+ posts)      Wed Sep-09-09 01:13 AM
Response to Original message
 
3. I'm so sorry, Alameda. There just are no words... :^(

We live in shitty OBAMA times. I live in dread that any day may be my last day of work.

Fixed.

[Freeper]

Hmm wonder how the primitive will afford the mandated Insurance now. 

Sorry Frank. 

[NHSparky]

Bouncy.  And a not very good one at that.

[franksolich]

Hmm wonder how the primitive will afford the mandated Insurance now. 

Sorry Frank. 

It's pathetic, really, how obsessed the primitives are.

I'm actually afraid to wander into the cooking and baking forum, only to find some complaint about health care inserted in a recipe for onions.

[Freeper]

It's pathetic, really, how obsessed the primitives are.

I'm actually afraid to wander into the cooking and baking forum, only to find some complaint about health care inserted in a recipe for onions.

Well if you cut your finger while slicing the onion you may need to go to the ER. 

Ok I'll quit now.

[thundley4]

If this happened last Friday, why did the DUmmie wait until Wednesday to post about it?  I would  have thought the post to be made within 2 minutes of the fact.

[NHSparky]

If this happened last Friday, why did the DUmmie wait until Wednesday to post about it?  I would  have thought the post to be made within 2 minutes of the fact.

Whoopsie.

http://www.doleta.gov/programs/factsht/warn.htm

[Karin]

Good find, Sparky!  And, isn't COBRA for 3 months no matter what?  It's not cheap but it's something if you have an issue, I guess. 

[jtyangel]

I am sorry for this fella(and his coworkers) losing their jobs, but if they voted for this idiot in office, they helped facilitate the mess they are in now, yet it seems all he can tunnel vision on(once again) is health insurance.

As for COBRA, it goes on for far longer then 3 months.

Q14: How long does COBRA coverage last?
COBRA establishes required periods of coverage for continuation health benefits. A plan, however, may provide longer periods of coverage beyond those required by COBRA. COBRA beneficiaries generally are eligible for group coverage during a maximum of 18 months for qualifying events due to employment termination or reduction of hours of work. Certain qualifying events, or a second qualifying event during the initial period of coverage, may permit a beneficiary to receive a maximum of 36 months of coverage.

It can be extended based on subsequent events that may happen during the COBRA period as well.
http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_cobra.HTML

[IassaFTots]

Under ARRA, an employee that is eligible for COBRA due to an involuntary term gets to pay only 35% of the balance, instead of the normal 102%, which means that they are paying just right at the level they were paying while employed.  Now, if the company dissolved its assets, it is possible that COBRA would not be offered, but if anyone bought the company, typically, they hold that liability, so I call BS.  COBRA is offered for 18 months if coverage is lost due to losing your position. In addition, if you are laid off, you also automatically qualify for addl Unemployment benefits.  

And, she is is CA, right?  If so, then she is supposed to be paid all accrued vacation within 24 hours of term.  Again, BS.  

[LC EFA]

Alameda  (549 posts)        Wed Sep-09-09 01:23 AM
Response to Reply #3
 
...

Save as much as you can. If you can, grow a garden, do. If you don't have the space, do guerrilla gardening. Throw some useful seeds around. It sounds drastic, but learn what things in the empty lots are edible. Learn to make sprouts....they are nutritious and tasty.

Discarded pizza boxes are a great source of cheese !

Just make sure you have some open wounds on your hands when you rummage in that dumpster. I hear one can absorb plenty of nutrients that way.

[BlueStateSaint]

Discarded pizza boxes are a great source of cheese !

Just make sure you have some open wounds on your hands when you rummage in that dumpster. I hear one can absorb plenty of nutrients that way.

 

You're foul . . . and I like it!