Ruminations While Being Unemployed

As our final paycheck day approaches at a rather glacier-like pace, what has occurred in the past three weeks of mostly sitting around?

Is it a good idea to go to employers' place of business when you can fill out applications online at home? Most employers direct you to their computers to fill them out anyway. There are some positions that are not posted online though, and employees usually hear about them first or are posted in human resources offices.

Herein is the power and convenience of the internet - questions like: do I qualify for unemployment insurance, how much will I expect to receive?, is it taxable income?, how many weeks can I collect?, etc. These may be questions that you might forget to ask the human resources department when they issue your last paycheck. These things pop up in my mind at random times of the day.

After a call from a coworker asking about severance pay, I told him I don't remember seeing it in the personnel handbook which was last revised in 2009. So after his call, I dug out the Human Resources handbook from my filing cabinet and I was surprised that there was a section about severance pay, although it wasn't fully explained but rather just referred to an obscure line mentioning a policy and procedure number. So off to the portal I go (and I'm glad this is still accessible). The search function didn't reveal anything but with further exploration, I found the policy and procedure manual with the aforementioned obscure number. Basically what it says is that the company does indeed a policy for severance pay but it's up to them to decide whether to pay it or not. The policy doesn't even have a calculator which shows how many weeks of severance pay to be given based on how many years of service to the company.

Here's an idea: since it's been chaotic at our former workplace and if we really want to help our former PHLB co-workers, we can sign up with the registry College Hospital uses and tell them we are available to work at College Medical Center. Provided of course we are not in their do-not-return list.

My excuse used to be I didn't have time to go places because I was working a lot. Now that I have the time to go places, my excuse is that I don't have the money to do so.

Time to compile my duties and responsibilities as a Behavioral Health Worker by copying and pasting from my blog and adding it to my resume.

Also time to consolidate bank accounts to lower the monthly balance requirements so I can avoid monthly maintenance fees. That's because I'm losing direct deposit of paychecks which the bank requires in waiving the monthly maintenance fee. Better still if I move my account to a credit union since their balance requirements are much lower.

Should I sign up for the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare so I can have health insurance next year? I've blogged about this earlier this year: An Obamacare Loophole For Early Retirees?

And lastly, should I pay off my mortgage with whatever savings I have left to decrease my monthly overhead drastically? How many months will the leftovers last? I won't know till I receive my final paycheck. Unemployment is so darn inconvenient! Let's just call it forced retirement without money to spend.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!

Interview at TAR-JAY

          When I updated my LinkedIn account a few weeks ago, a name popped out as a possible contact and I immediately recognized someone whom I've run with a few years ago. I remembered that she worked in the human resources department of Target, so I thought, what the heck, I'll try to apply for a position totally unrelated to healthcare and see if I'd like it. I could use some new challenges even if the pay is lower. So I scoured the Target website for positions that interested me and found one as a night shift backroom member, with little idea of what it involved. I thought it meant taking products from the backroom and stocking the shelves. Two days after filling out the online application, I received a call and was set up for an interview on a Monday morning at 5:30 a.m., which I thought was a very unusual time for an interview. But first, I went to the place two days before the interview to scout it and ask one of the workers what the hours for night shift were (10 p.m to 6 a.m.). I also checked out the inner and outer perimeter of the store. Having done that, I found the door where I was supposed to ring the buzzer on my interview day.

         I arrived at the site at the precise time and was given a short test which involved some work situations and how I would respond to them, plus some math problems about product stocks and shipping distances. Now I don't know about you, but at 5:30 a.m. with brain fog is not exactly a good time for me to be solving math problems. After I turned in my test, the first shift leader/interviewer said they don't check those answers anyway. Well, thanks a lot pal! My addled brain had to go all the way back to high school to figure out formulas on how to solve those math questions! I had to think long and hard but I think I got the correct answers. He posed more questions on how I would respond to certain work situations, then I was asked to wait in the employee break room for a second shift leader/interviewer. The second interviewer explained what the job involved, which basically was unloading delivery trucks, opening the boxes, and distributing the products to the proper area of the store, then tearing down the boxes and cleaning the distribution work area. He gave me a few more scenarios and how I would respond to them. They were hypothetical questions about safety, co-workers, supervisors, and moving merchandise. His main concern was that I didn't have any experience with the job I applied for and also that they didn't have a full time position that I desired. Since Thanksgiving and Christmas was approaching, it was going to be their busiest time of the year but they only needed seasonal workers, and that meant there would be no benefits like insurance coverage. After the interview, I was told that I would be receiving a call or email whether I would be hired or not.

          I was actually quite apprehensive about applying for this type of job because after all, I've been working in hospitals for the past 32 years. It would be challenging of course if I were offered the position, but on the other hand I won't have to deal with potentially violent psychiatric patients anymore. When you start perceiving the behavior of psych patients as normal, then you may already be one of them, LOL!

          In the end, a few days after the interview, I received an email saying that they will not be hiring me. No doubt it was due to my inexperience. Looks like my human resources connection didn't help :(  Nonetheless, that is okay by me. It may have been interesting to learn the system though. Thanks for the interview Target. I found it to be very interesting :)

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!