Gordy01 Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 Mat, I can only imagine what it would be like to have to sell everything to live. My prayers are with you and your family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluelake07 Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 This is from the Rhode Island Temporary Disability Insurance website http://www.dlt.ri.gov In the FAQ section: The duration of your claim is equal to 36% of your total base period wages divided by your weekly benefit rate (not including dependent's allowance. The most you are allowed to collect is an amount equal to 30 full weeks. You may claim these weeks any time you are medically certified as unable to work during your benefit year. You should consider filing for Social Security disability if your condition is expected to last at least a year. You don't have to wait until your Temporary Disability payments end to apply for Social Security disability. The application process can take up to 6 months so filing an application early is important. Social Security can start paying disability benefits after you have been disabled for 5 full months. Please visit social security's website at www.socialsecurity.gov for more information or contact Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 or call your local social security office. So it may be less than a three-year wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altair Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 Wow m8, sorry to hear you're having problems. I hope you get back on your feet soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 Bummer, Matiac. I hope that you can find something to do to tide you over in the meantime. Selling off guitars is a temporary stop gap measure, but sometimes you have to do that sort of thing. My wife got laid off last year and found out that by going back to Tech school, she could get unemployment for the duration of time that she was taking a full load of 12 hours or more. On top of that, her school is fully paid for by the state lottery fund. So, she is in school for free and tapping off that money that her employer paid into unemployment for 30 years. There's all kinds of programs that will assist you. Check out what's available and you might find some assistance to get you through. Good Luck, Bud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matiac Posted September 16, 2009 Author Share Posted September 16, 2009 Well, thing is about T.D.I. you have to be working in Rhode Island, my last job was in Ct., and I do believe I can collect in R.I. if I'm attending tech, I'm gonna find out about that, but I can't express in words the appreciation I have for all the advice and well-wishes. Also gonna go look into gainful employment at the Guitar Center over in New London Ct...at least that way there they'll have someone there knows a little bit about a guitar, after today's trip to the scrapyard, I'll go have a peek at that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notes_Norton Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 Very sorry to hear about your hard times. Like others, if my gigs weren't down due to the economy, I'd buy your bomber with the agreement to sell it back for the same price whenever you were back to normal. Like others, I pray that something will come along soon for you. Good luck, and keep in touch. Notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tgifntx Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 Matiac- Oh man, I am so sorry to hear this. Sheez! The shtIhooks ain't happy 'til they push ya' down. I will tell you this right here and right now. Please, When you get to a point, Not being pushy or anything of the sort. We'll get another Epi in your hands when you say so. That my friend you may take straight to the bank!! You shout out budro and I'll get my a$$ just some of that busy from here! Man, I hate that crap!! Chaps my A$$!!! A test..? Yes sir, It is. And you my friend will be just fine! Always remember they can't kick yer a$$ unless yer out front. You budro are out front in my book. You and your family take real good care and if it is that you get hung up, YOU GET AHOLD OF ME RIGHT QUICK, Sir. Bless ya' and hang in there podnah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Summerisle Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 Guys, I thought I'd post this on Matiac's thread rather than starting a new one. Matiac - I'm very sorry to hear about your plight. I wish you well, brother. Basically, I found out last week that I am going to be laid off ASAP, because the state of North Carolina is, quite frankly, in the midst of a financial crisis. I'm not going to be around the forum for the foreseeable future, because I have to fix up my house in order to rent it out. There are some jobs in my field, but they are all in other parts of the U.S. As some of you know, I also have a British passport - so we may yet try our luck back in the European Union. I can't afford to sell the house as we are trapped in negative equity (we bought when the market was high, and the amount of our mortgage exceeds the current value of the house.) Luckily I have the skills required to do the necessary carpentry work and painting & decorating, in order to turn it into a somewhat desirable rental property. The realtor thinks we can generate the same in monthly rent as our current monthly mortgage payments, so we can hold off any sale until the market improves. All being well, I'm not going to sell any guitars. We have some savings, the guitars are not that valuable, and you only ever get a fraction of what you paid for them... See you back at the forum when things have settled down a bit. These are tough times. The toughest I've known in my 35 years on the face of this planet. Godspeed, everyone. Johnny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JefferySmith Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 I feel like my surroundings are falling apart around me. I hope you guys won't completely desert the forum. But I understand that you have other concerns that are greater than this. What a sad time for all of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 Man, there sure seems to be something going on?! Almost feels like a lot of "negative energy," all over...right now? But...do your best to stay positive (everyone), and hopefully, it will subside?! Anyway...I'm sorry, LS...We'll miss you, though hopefully, you'll be back, soon...and/or check in, now and again...in the interim? God's Speed, to you and Matiac, both! CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 The day after Matiac's news, my cousin called from California to say that he and about 4,500 others are being laid off from SBC Global/AT&T. A few minutes ago, I got news that the project architect on a large project I'm working on has been let go. ****. Mat and LS, keep the faith and check in occasionally with your news. Things WILL get better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 The day after Matiac's news' date=' my cousin called from California to say that he and about 4,500 others are being laid off from SBC Global/AT&T. A few minutes ago, I got news that the project architect on a large project I'm working on has been let go. ****. Mat and LS, keep the faith and check in occasionally with your news. Things WILL get better. [/quote'] Wow...4,500 being laid off. That's never a good sign. ;>( Of course, "California" is in the tank, anyway... sorry to say. I'm kinda glad, I got out of there, when I did. But, I miss it, and my friends out there, as well. Sorry, too, about your project architect...hopefully, it won't filter down, to others? Hang in there!! CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
animalfarm Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 Matiac!!!! I JUST saw your post.... Been Out of the literal loop for a couple of days... Damn, guy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenrirlupus Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 why are you getting evicted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brad1 Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 why are you getting evicted? For the same reason most people are - can't pay the rent/mortgage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiggy Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 ..I also have a British passport - so we may yet try our luck back in the European Union... Johnny. I wouldn't bother coming back her if I were you - things are just as bad or worse than on your side of the pond. Got made redundant from a pretty good' date=' high paid job back in the back end of January and absolutely nothing since. Over 500 job applications, 1 interview, about 30 rejections and not even a kiss my *** from the others! Just had to go begging to the council to get the 'discretionary' housing benefit top up ( housing benefit where I live is about £300 per month shy of what actual rents are - average for a small 3 bed end of terrace is around the £1100 per month mark and housing benefit is £750 which is less than the cost of a 2 Bed!) extended to the end of the year otherwise we'd have been on the street. Spent 20+ years of low paid jobs crawling my way up the ladder inch by inch until I finally got somewhere near the top and as soon as I get there they take the ladder away and I'm back at the bottom again. Fed up reading on discussion boards about all these 'scum' who are on benefits and how it should be taken away if you haven't got a job after three months. I'm not scum, I want a job but in the UK there are currently over 2.7 million people unemployed and 440,000 job vacancies (over 90% of which are either part time or minimum wage). The only thing left is :- :D [-o< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 Found this... Why is Unemployment So High, and How to Emerge a Winner by Kevin WheelerFeb 5, 2009, 5:51 am ET Why is unemployment higher than it has been for decades and massive layoffs announced daily? Is something going on that is deeper than a recession? In past recessions the general reason for layoffs is twofold. The first reason is to use the recession as an excuse to remove the less-productive employees. Every organization has employees who perform marginally, but are not bad enough to discharge outright in normal times. The second reason is because customer demand for the products or services has declined and there is no need for workers who have nothing to do. The underlying assumption is that at some point customers will return and the workers will be re-employed as before. That’s the reason unemployment insurance (in the United States) is limited to a few weeks. The expectation is that workers will be brought back or rehired elsewhere in a short time. On the other hand, recruiters and hiring managers still report that it is exceedingly difficult to find workers for certain key jobs which include computer-security experts, computer engineers, pharmacists, health workers, and even senior-level executives. The time it takes to fill open positions seems to have increased, and hiring managers frequently complain that they have to settle for “second best.” Is there something we don’t understand going on? Panic, Job Markets, and Emerging Work I believe there are several factors influencing us. The first is simply panic. Corporate leaders are just reacting and playing the lemming game: They are thinking, “If one company is laying people off then I probably should be as well.” Despite market information or sales data, they view layoffs as an insurance policy against future shareholder complaints and against possible market downturns. They do not factor in employee morale or the effect such actions have on key workers, nor do they realize that by their actions they signal that things must be bad and thereby potentially influence customer behavior. Most of us do not understand how deeply the job market is changing. We are in the midst of a global redefinition of what a job is and how it should be performed. The Internet and the virtual worlds it has made possible, combined with video technologies and virtual-presence capabilities means that thousands of traditional jobs are going to disappear permanently. We will need thousands of people newly skilled in occupations that are being invented right now. Jobs such virtual community managers, collaboration experts, globally skilled sales consultants, and web designers with a mix of graphic language and human interface skills are just a sampling. No one knows what all of these jobs are, but we do know that many will be performed virtually. Many will be augmented with mobile devices and will require a blending of old skills with emerging ones. One emerging example is in hospitals where doctors and nurses will be equipped with mobile, wireless information devices. These devices will read a barcode or RFID chip on a patient and get that person’s full medical history. Doctors can examine a patient virtually using remote sensors connected to this device and subsequently order drugs and start treatments virtually. These devices are already in use and are getting more sophisticated each year. Congress is about to focus on digital medical records, and this is a keystone in every discussion about national health care. These devices will eliminate many current jobs by reducing the need for record departments, accountants (the devices track all procedures and drugs and automatically generate invoices that can be directly sent to insurance companies) and a host of other occupations, but they will create many new jobs. Every profession is the midst, whether they realize or not, of a similar transformation. Tools, technologies, processes, and traditional assumptions about how people work are changing at a very fast rate. This is the cause of many layoffs. Most employers are followers, not leaders, and rather than take a chance at defining the future, they are using the time offered them by the slow economy to wait and see what the trend becomes. In many cases the layoffs are triggered by human resource and recruiting functions that very narrowly define jobs and lack imagination about how a traditional occupation might be transformed with training and a new focus. We set up expectations and define jobs based on yesterday’s needs. Education and Learning Models Corporate training and recruiting functions have a lot to offer in these recessionary times. They can be showcasing the emerging jobs and educating management about which jobs are in demand and which are declining in interest. Job postings and a variety of analysts offer this kind of information. For occupations where demand is growing, the learning functions can concentrate on developing those skills. The best firms are building learning portals and guiding employees to explore and learn around areas of emerging need — even if specific jobs are not yet defined. Successful firms accept that they have a responsibility and a business need to develop the people they need. Unfortunately most of us — or most of our employers, anyway — would rather spend money on search fees, agency fees, administrative overhead, and advertising rather than on finding the right balance between recruiting new people and intensively training those employees who have decent basic skills. After all, it is very hard to find people when the skills you may need are vague or not clearly defined. On the other hand, development programs can be much more general and strive to create an adaptable and flexible employee with the technical skills needed for 21st century success. Waiting for the school system or the government to do your job for you has never been a very good strategy. As recruiters, we need to become coaches to our managers, as I have mentioned in previous columns. It is very difficult, I know, to convince a hiring manager that the kind of person he is looking for is better developed in-house than found externally. But I think it is to your credit if you can convince them. As a recruiter you need to develop a relationship with them that is good enough and strong enough that they will listen to you. In a slow economy, you can use the time to build the relationship and redefine your role as a talent adviser rather than just a recruiter. I constantly argue for integrated staffing and development because I believe the two functions are inextricably intertwined. It is very difficult to do one without doing the other. If we are to look at recruiting as a process, we are going to have to incorporate development into our staffing thinking and staffing into our training thinking. Whether this is done by merging departments or whether it is done simply through good collaboration doesn’t really matter. What is critical is that there is a dialogue between the two functions. If you work in a small company where there are no separate training and recruiting functions, then this becomes even easier to do. Layoffs are unavoidable, but understanding why they are occurring and having a strategy to deal with them and with the demands that will face you as we recover from the recession will keep you sane, safe, and successful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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