I read all of this and kind of felt bad about your situation. Then I saw in your signature that you own 2009 TURBO XP! I bet you didn't give up the cell phones either while you were on the "deserved" unemployment income. I promise you there were jobs, maybe not the one you wanted, or the one your pride wouldn't allow you to take but there was a job there. I have a good friend who has about the same story as you. He complains about not having a job or money, but that never stopped him from having Iphone, big screen tv's, going out all the time, etc. Jobs are there for him, but why take the one you don't want when you can get unemployment for the better part of 2 years. You gave your .02 cents, here is mine.
Sorry guys, way off topic.
Well, Skippy. Now that you have jumped to a conclusion let me explain. There WERE NO JOBS! Not that paid. And I live in rural Colorado, so hopping on a City bus was not a possibility. My wife is a cop so she has a great job with awesome benefits so I couldn't ask her to quit and follow me. Also, the housing market is trashed so selling the house that we had invested so much in was moot. I'm not a fan of losing money.
Maybe for people living in a large area, even finding a crappy job is easy. A job where they can use public transportation to commute. But in a small, rural area that isn't the case. There no jobs locally, even at the gas station or grocery store. WHY? Because people glommed onto those and held them for dear life.
The ONLY jobs that were around were ski resort jobs and we all know those don't pay sh*t. So that put me in a situation of working but not making enough to pay for fuel and daycare, so I'd be basically paying someone so I had a job. Doesn't make sense does it? All of these jobs were 40-50 miles away. So I stayed home, raised a newborn baby and took a pre-schooler to school. Then did the housework and made dinner. I only rode my sled when I was "hired" to take some flatlanders out so they didn't get lost. Was my sled turboed then? NO. It was a bone stock sled that was paid for. Sell it? No, not to some as$clown that wanted to lowball me into the basement. I did sell my wife's sled and my extra car. In 2010 I got a job, a good job and played some serious catch up on bills. I got to a point where I could pay the bills and left it at that. Then I got a fat bonus and boosted my sled in Early 2011. AFTER I HAD A JOB AND WAS CAUGHT UP ON BILLS.
So because some idiot on SnoWest thinks I should take a crappy job that would end up costing me money and in the end losing money just to work, I have too???? I hope one day that reality smacks you upside the head and you face that situation, just so you know where I was coming from.
When I was unemployed I didn't buy extra mods or toys. I sold what stuff I thought I could get a fair amouont back with out having my as$ reemed. I did sidework to supplement the awesome $475 a week.
Are you a family man? Would you choose to abandon your young kids in order to find a job in a place that lets you come home to see them every other weekend. I say Abandon because that is exactly what I felt I was doing when I took that job in SLC. But I actually thought that we could sell the house and move, as a family. But thank god that didn't work out. At that point in my life I was needed at home so that is where I stayed and looked for work. I knew that the Mine was ramping up so I concentrated on that job. It paid off and I got it. Now things are better. But them some judgemental dork jumps to his own conclusion and makes the wrong assumption. You know what they say about ASSUMING, right?
Oh, and I did take a crappy job that was WAAAAAAAAAAY beneath me. I went back to doing what I did when I was 20c and in college. I did work as a property manintenance man. It was hard, dirty and thankless, but I talked the owner into paying me just enough to make a tad more than fuel and daycare.
I didn't buy a bigscreen, we didn't go out to eat, and my wife didn't get anniversary or Bday gifts. Also yeah, I kept my mobile phone. How in the hell is a prospective employer gonna call if I don't have a phone? I also kept the internet so I could look for work, email and scan resumes. I did however cut to the basics with the TV channels. I cancelled the XM and I had my mortgage restructured so we didn't lose the house.
