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In reply to the discussion: I'm so sick of being poor [View all]chervilant
(8,267 posts)I have been un- or under-employed for close to four years. I have no health insurance--too bad I have carpal tunnel, chronic back pain, a molar missing a big filling and a bicuspid sheared off. Let's not even mention the tinitus, or the fact that I haven't had contact lenses or glasses for at least five years.
I was working part time at a community college, but had to resign because they dropped my hours by more than half, and my unemployment benefits were cut to a third of what I had been getting--so no more separate household for me.
Texas Workforce Commission now expects me to reimburse them $1380--an 'overpayment' according to them because I resigned my position with the community college before the amount of money I owed my landlady got over $5000. I asked the last person with whom I spoke where they expect me to get that money. I told her I felt like TWC is asking me to bend over and grab my ankles. She got very quiet then...
I'm getting food stamps for the first time in my life. People look at you with thinly veiled contempt when you use your EBT card.
I've applied for every teaching job or near teaching job I can find where I currently live, and no one will even condescend to respond.
I'm living with a person I've known since my early twenties, and she has become an angry, depressed person with high blood pressure and frequent bouts of inordinate rage. I feel like I'm walking on eggshells--just like when I was a kid with an alcoholic, abusive father.
I am bright, capable, and desperate to work--but, no one will hire me.
I share my story, because there are very MANY people my age (56) who are on the thin razor's edge of the Abject Poverty Abyss. While I am hopeful that the Occupy movement will result in significant economic reordering, many of us will still have to survive the ongoing economic storm (and, it's far from over, despite what our fearless leaders are saying).
If I don't get a job soon, I WILL have to exercise my Kevorkian alternative. I don't see any way around it.