Have you ever been unemployed?

[girlsmiley]

A question for everyone.

Obviously a month off between jobs doesn't count.

I mean for a period of, say...3 months or more.

How was it for you?

I often wonder what it'd be like to be unemployed. Just get up whenever and shower. Apply makeup and jump in the car and cruise around town. Go shopping, get coffee. Meet up with people. Go surfing. Have sex on the beach. Go home, shower, change. Go out for dinner.

I'm pretty sure that's not actually how unemployed people live hahaha, but anyway.

 

[spanky5147]

..........

yes, twice recently. good thing the Mrs has a good job. she finally told me to et off my ass and get a job

 

[girlsmiley]

yes, twice recently. good thing the Mrs has a good job. she finally told me to et off my ass and get a job

How old are you, Spanky?

Ross! Don't be shy, mate. Come post in here.

 

[Noor]

Yes. Being in Oz, things are different than here.

In the US, you get a set amount of unemployment money, up to half per week of what you made, for usually 6 months and then nothing.

So you don't do fun stuff, you look for work and wonder how long you will be within it. You don't waste make up unless it's job related. There is no free unemployed health insurance.

Being unemployed in the US is stressful and no fun.

 

[smoothg103rd]

I'm always unemployed.

 

[sr71plt]

Nope. I've been working steadily since I was 16. Have retired twice and am still working.

 

[Noor]

I'm always unemployed.

You have worked, just not legally ...

 

[smoothg103rd]

You have worked, just not legally ...

Yeah, I guess you can say that. But anyways, how are you Noor?

 

[girlsmiley]

Yes. Being in Oz, things are different than here.

In the US, you get a set amount of unemployment money, up to half per week of what you made, for usually 6 months and then nothing.

So you don't do fun stuff, you look for work and wonder how long you will be within it. You don't waste make up unless it's job related. There is no free unemployed health insurance.

Being unemployed in the US is stressful and no fun.

So what do you do in the meantime?

I mean, when you aren't looking for work? Nothing fun at all?

 

[JohnnySavage]

I haven't had a job in about 7 years.

 

[smoothg103rd]

I worked a steady job before, and that shit is hell. Gotta get up at a certain time, get yelled at for being 2 mins late and have to work for 8 hours. Selling drugs is a dream job compared to actually working. You make your own hours, you get up when you want to, you can smoke and drink on the job, and the only thing you have to do is sit on the porch and hand to hand. You come and go as you please, and you will be getting pussy like it's nothing. If it wasn't for the jail time and occasional shoot outs, that would be my career.

 

[bronzeage]

A question for everyone.

Obviously a month off between jobs doesn't count.

I mean for a period of, say...3 months or more.

How was it for you?

I often wonder what it'd be like to be unemployed. Just get up whenever and shower. Apply makeup and jump in the car and cruise around town. Go shopping, get coffee. Meet up with people. Go surfing. Have sex on the beach. Go home, shower, change. Go out for dinner.

I'm pretty sure that's not actually how unemployed people live hahaha, but anyway.

I worked the same place for 22 years. Before that, when I left a job, it was to go to another one the next day. Since then, I've had several jobs, but whenever I lost a job, someone called and said they needed me tomorrow.

Now I work for myself. It's almost like being unemployed, but pays much better.

 

[girlsmiley]

Nope. I've been working steadily since I was 16. Have retired twice and am still working.

That's good. One of my good friends retired last year. She's 55 and set for the rest of her life. That's how I want it to be when I get to that age.

In the meantime I've decided to stop eating crap. I hardly drink. Don't smoke. Save as much money as possible. Just things I know will be good for me in the long run, you know? I still have fun, though. And family time is right up there on my priority list.

 

[marshalt]

Yes and it fucking sucks.

 

[Aquagal]

Yes, being a kept woman helps.

Minus the surfing and icebergs on the beach. Also, I hate to shop, you must have some hobbies or it would get boring.

 

[eyer]

That's good. One of my good friends retired last year. She's 55 and set for the rest of her life. That's how I want it to be when I get to that age.

In the meantime I've decided to stop eating crap. I hardly drink. Don't smoke. Save as much money as possible. Just things I know will be good for me in the long run, you know? I still have fun, though. And family time is right up there on my priority list.

You write very well.

There's plenty of online/remote writing gigs available all over the world: part-time, full-time, contract, freelance...

...if you find a niche that naturally suits you, that really stokes your passion, it won't ever seem like a job to you at all.

Better still, if you find niches...

...you'll always have as many gigs as you wish.

Plenty of family time when your home is your office...

...have a taste, if you like:

http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com/category/writing-gigs/

http://www.freelancewriting.com/freelancejobs/onlinewritingjobs.php

http://jobs.problogger.net/

 

[smoothg103rd]

You write very well.

There's plenty of online/remote writing gigs available all over the world: part-time, full-time, contract, freelance...

...if you find a niche that naturally suits you, that really stokes your passion, it won't ever seem like a job to you at all.

Better still, if you find niches...

...you'll always have as many gigs as you wish.

Plenty of family time when your home is your office...

...have a taste, if you like:

http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com/category/writing-gigs/

http://www.freelancewriting.com/freelancejobs/onlinewritingjobs.php

http://jobs.problogger.net/

I think this is the only post I seen of yours where you wasn't hating.

 

[eyer]

I think this is the only post I seen of yours where you wasn't hating.

BIOYA...

...YRPOS.

 

[smoothg103rd]

BIOYA...

...YRPOS.

EAD

YPLB

 

[Noor]

So what do you do in the meantime?

I mean, when you aren't looking for work? Nothing fun at all?

Spend 8-10 hrs a day looking for work, or learning more things. Basically I put in as much time as I would work. I also usually have something part time on the side.

Other time is fun like when I am working, although I probably do less when not working because I don't want to do anything that is not free.

I am in 2 steampunk groups, part of a mystery larp, go to the museum, watch movies, hang out with my friends, walk around the lake look for turtles, conservatory in the winter, go snoop shopping. I see plays, hear music. There is actually a lot of free stuff to do where I live. I go to 3 to 4 sci fi fantasy conventions a year. I volunteer. I go on the road sometimes with musician friends.

For an introvert, I am fairly social. I usually have more events, parties and get together than I can attend. I used to just stack them up and do them all, but the leg break and getting ill, I can't be on the go for 12 hrs, so I limit.
Tonight I had two activities scheduled, I only did one, I will probably only do one per day, maybe two on Saturday.

 

[warrior queen]

Yes, I have been unemployed. Usually through choice (living on savings) but twice as a result of serious illness/accident.
None of those times was really 'fun' - I spent a couple of years altogether recuperating.

To me, work is fun. You get to interact with loads of interesting people and there's usually a social aspect after hours. What's not to like?!

 

[domroger]

Twice and it was not fun .
There is no money to spare for anything frivolous and the boredom is terrible .

 

[DesEsseintes]

Twice and it was not fun .
There is no money to spare for anything frivolous and the boredom is terrible .

This exactly. I was never unemployed long enough to claim any benefits - I think the longest was 6-7 weeks - but it felt like forever. Every expenditure is a drain on capital when there is no income, so you have no discretionary income at all. And in those days I had no mobile phone, so could barely leave the house in case an employer rang.

No - having a private income so you have no need to work is glorious. But being unemployed is utterly miserable. Job seekers' allowance in the UK - the dole, or unemployment benefit, in other countries - is currently £57.90 a week. From that, heating, electricity, water, food, rent, transport, etc, etc has to be paid. I honestly don't know how it's possible.

 

[IrezumiKiss]

When I was freelancer back in the early '90s, I hit a three-month dry spell. Fucking hated it. The worst feeling was depression, the loss of pride and self-worth that comes from not being able to work while seeing money and wealth in various forms being wasted by others.

Had to slug through it, though. Did the daily grind. I was mailing resumés like crazy, sending portfolios everywhere. Cold calling. Kept hitting up my school's job board, which is how I got most of my freelance gigs since sophomore year on and was available for alumni to use. Broke the spell when I got with the office I'm with now.

You find a way to get through it, because it's sink or swim no matter what. Every now and then when I feel like I've gotten too comfy and know adversity can hit at any minute, I try to get back into that mental zone I was in during those jobless months in order to tighten up the edges and clear the clutter.

 

[DesEsseintes]

I quite agree, Zumi. It never does to get too comfortable.

From the Island of Sheep, the last Richard Hannay novel by John Buchan:

Sandy, as he sniffed the scents coming up from the woods and the ploughlands, seemed to feel the magic of the place.

'Pretty good,' he said. 'England is the only really comfortable spot on earth--the only place where man can be utterly at home.'

'Too comfortable,' I said. 'I feel I'm getting old and soft and slack. I don't deserve this place, and I'm not earning it.'

He laughed. 'You feel like that? So do I, often. There are times at Laverlaw when it seems that that blessed glen is too perfect for fallen humanity, and that I'm not worthy of it. It was lucky that Adam was kicked out of Paradise, for he couldn't have enjoyed it if he had remained there. I've known summer mornings so beautiful that they depressed me to my boots. I suppose it is proper to feel like that, for it keeps you humble, and makes you count your mercies.'

'I don't know,' I said. 'It's not much good counting your mercies if you feel you have no right to them.'

'Oh, we've a right to them. Both of us have been through the hards. But there's no such thing as a final right. We have to go on earning them.'

'But we're not. I, at any rate. I'm sunk in cushions--lapped about in ease, like a man in a warm bath.'

'That's right enough, provided you're ready to accept the cold plunge when it comes. At least that's the way I look at it. Enjoy your comforts, but sit loose to them. You'll enjoy them all the more if you hold them on that kind of tenure, for you'll never take them for granted.'