Everyone hears how frustrating the phone lines are for the Department of Unemployment Assistance but I don't think those who have not experienced it truly get how needlessly frustrating it is. You can read more about my experience over at DaveWrites (and listen to the call for yourself!). After navigating through a series of choices, callers "dead-end" at a point where they are told the DUA is overwhelmed and cannot answer their phone.
Paul Levy reports on a "town meeting" for Beth Israel staffers to try to come up with ways to cut costs without laying off workers:
... As expected, the response from the staff has been spectacular. People have a terrific sense of community and are quite willing to make sacrifices for the good of their fellow workers. (And, as you can see in the picture above, people are maintaining a good sense of humor, too.) I'm going to post some of their comments for you below so you can get a sense of the sentiment.
Beth Israel Deaconess CEO Paul Levy explains why: Basically, the shrinking economy is now affecting even hospitals.
Greatergrafton goes online to file her weekly unemployment claim and instead of the form she expects, gets "This online service is unavailable this morning due to the snowstorm. Please try again after 12:15pm today," which makes her wonder:
... Please tell me how it's possible that the snowstorm affected an online service? Can it only be turned on by someone in unemployment physically flipping a switch? ...
Aside from that tiny voice inside her head warning the money's going to run out fairly soon, Sassy Sundry reports she's just like those people in that Globe story: She's enjoying her forced time off:
... My life has a natural rhythm to it these days. I get up without an alarm clock. I stay in my jammies long past when it is proper. The Great American Novel this blog ain't, but these scribbles represent the first writing I have done in over a year. I've been cooking real food again, with joy instead of begrudging necessity. I made bread this week! Last week I cooked dinner for Date, and yesterday I had my sister and nephew over for lunch. Sure I also spent Tuesday working on my resume and sending out applications (I can't be completely impractical), but I've also spent a lot of time imagining how my life could be. Because if I am really honest with myself, if I could get away with it, I would never work in an office again. ...
Nancy Pearl Wannabe is a school librarian in a Boston-area town that is, like everybody else, grappling with budget issues:
... During the day I am usually pretty calm about it but there's no stopping my subconscious from horrible anxiety dreams where I am at a town meeting and they tell all the teachers to line up and then yell "HA HA, THAT'S THE UNEMPLOYMENT LINE!" and then all the townspeople turn into zombies and eat our brains. ...
Jo was laid off from her high-pressure IT job before the current unpleasantness, but she reports how much better her life became when she went into cooking as a career:
... All my life I just wanted a job I loved. I wanted to be that elusive person who couldn't wait to get up in the morning, I wanted to not resent overtime, or better yet, never consider time spent at my job to be overtime. I wanted to be my own boss, make my own decisions, I wanted my ideas to come to fruition. These days I have all that and more. ...
Ironworkers building Yawkey Cancer Center structure find way to cheer up cheer up Dana-Farber child patients.
Globe story by Michael Levenson, with video by photog John Tlumacki.
Our own David Yamada tackles the issue of bullying in academia:
... Academicians are adept at intellectual analysis, manipulation, and argumentation. When applied to the tasks of teaching, scholarship, and service, these skills reinforce the most socially useful aspects of the academy. But many of us who have worked in academe have seen what happens when they are applied in hurtful or even malicious ways. ...
The Boston Business Journal reports Goodwin Procter is laying off both staffers and lawyers. Oh, and so is Nixon Peabody.
Kat Powers, editor at the Somerville Journal, reads Globie Geoff Edgers's piece about second jobs - in which he spends a day on a UPS truck and then another as a fast-food cashier to see how the other half lives - and begs of you:
Dear reader, please kick my butt if I ever write anything like the elitist crap I just read about having a second job.
Dave Atkins has put together a good guide to collecting unemployment benefits. I was particularly interested in the info on a state program that will reimburse a large fraction of your COBRA health-insurance payments, since I had no idea it existed and since COBRA is pretty scary if you have a family (so hooray for universal health care!).
I posted an entry to my blog, "Minding the Workplace," about the culture of Boston that may yield nods of agreement, flames, or ho hums. Here are some excerpts:
In Boston, more than in many other major cities, there exists a "tinted glass ceiling" that continues to exclude those who in some way challenge the authority of those who have long held the reigns of power and influence in this city. It is grounded in the city's historically insular culture, and it is especially prevalent in workplaces of all kinds....
A Proper Bostonian writes:
It's after midnight, and I hope I just finished writing an article for a pharmacy magazine about sleep disorders. I'm too tired to be certain. ...
Over at DaveWrites, I've posted 7 tips on navigating the unemployment bureaucracy in Massachusetts based on my own experience being laid off on New Years Eve. A couple of key points:
Massachusetts lost 16,000 jobs in December, the Boston Business Journal reports.
The Herald reports Bose, known for its "mountain" headquarters, is cutting 10% of its workforce. No word on how many of those jobs are in Massachusetts.
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