"Due to the call volumes, we cannot handle your call at this moment....."

I am grateful that was able to claim unemployment, but the process is hell. They no longer serve people in person so the only way to respond to a request for information is to call. After getting that request I called, and called and called. They get so many that it took me almost a week to get through.

Then I got another letter. They said I could not collect because I failed to respond to their request. Im in the middle of writing an appeal when I get yet another letter. They want me to repay last weeks deposit because they accidentally paid me when they shouldn't have.


I got it cleared up after finally getting through to them, but I'm still pissed. How can they serve people by phone only and not have enough people working to take calls? Hell, I need a job, let me do it.

I had a interview today for a receptionist position in a law firm, and will hear back from them by tomorrow.

wish me luck.

Where do I start?

I think I am about to burn a hole into my cellphone. My thoughts racing, screaming almost.
"RING YOU JERK, RING!"

Silence.

Ok, that didn't work. I stare and stare and find myself barganing with this object.
"Please ring. If you ring I swear I will do the dishes more often, never ever tell a lie and smile at every person I encounter."

I'm beginning to think that my unemployment is karma's way of getting back at me for being a psycho in a past life. I want that phone to ring and I want it to be one of the places I've interviewed with calling to tell me how they would be over the moon if I joined their team!

It started when I was called into my boss' office one Friday afternoon. I had been working there for about two months when he springs the news on me... my drug test has come back positive. I was immediatly terminated.

I was baffled. Not just because I know I hadn't done any drugs, but because I wasn't supposed to even be hired if it was positive. I figured everything was ok because I was hired and had been working 5 days a week as a supervisor.

Next I was furious. Well, I became that way after breaking down crying because of my lack of money and loss of dignity. I asked what they found, and he said they didn't tell him. I asked to re-take it and he said his hands were tied. Corporate needed me gone ASAP.  In Texas there is a law protecting employers by giving them the freedom to fire an employee with out reason. As someone who is planning to go to law school I went down any avenue possible to clear my name (er, urine). I wasn't able to get my job yet but they did vouch for me when I filed for unemployment since you are not eligible if your reason for termination was a failed drug test. Thanks!

The only answer from the lab I got was that I had flushed the toilet when doing my test. I told the woman that I would re-do it if it could possibly do harm to the results. She said it wouldn't and I believed her.
ugh. 
This is where my journey began almost three months ago. I am tired and frustrated but still manage to laugh at myself on occasion, something my boyfriend finds bewildering. Other times I am just as pissed about my unemployment benefits as I am about my lack of job... but that will be saved for the next post. I plan on bringing my readers along with me as I hunt, and although it may have been done a million times over, each person has a different path. Lately mine just seems to have landmines around every corner.

Until then, 
Jessie


P.S -Yikes! the phone is ringing!


P.P.S - Its just my mom... (I love you mom, but I thought you might be my future employer!)