In the mail today I got a letter from the Unemployment Office (which is nice, considering I’ve not received any payment yet) stating that I am eligible for benefits because I was “discharged for not performing the job to the employer’s satisfaction.”
My old employer said they weren’t really given any choice but “Couldn’t do the work” or “Misconduct”. Nothing in between.
Now, last week I got a call from the “Agency For Workforce Innovation” (as they call themselves). I saw “FL ST” on the caller ID and figured my wife’s alma mater was trolling for cash like they do from time to time so I let it go to voicemail. I listened to the message, and a thoroughly bored desk jockey left a borderline threatening message that if I didn’t call him back within 2 days, bad things would happen to me.
I called back within minutes. Of course, I got voice mail and it was the next day before he managed to return my oh-so-important call. This guy was snide, condescending, and didn’t bother waiting for me to finish my responses to his questions. You see, I got a distinct feeling this person got a kick out of thinking he holds a tiny amount of power over the slovenly, unwashed, unemployed in his care. Technically speaking, they could screw up my payments (more) and I never see a dime of it and I’ll have managed just fine. I found and secured a job within 7 days, something I figured Mr. Angry-Phone-Guy would have a hard time doing should they decide to replace him with an irritated badger with colic.
Now I get this letter that makes it sound like I was a shitty employee simply because they don’t really care why I was canned, or possibly it makes the gov’t look better when they can say that unemployed people have no job not because the economy sucks, but because they are shiftless losers who can’t do their work.
Now, when you get to call into the Department of Health Rationing to try to get an appointment scheduled for a doctor to sign off on a refill of your lifesaving medication, you can expect the same warmth and caring from a bank of phone-rangers who have only one concern in the world – Quitting time.