Notes on Unemployment

Over here the government has tried to re-brand "the dole" as "Jobseekers Allowance" - After I left university I moved back into my parents and signed on for JSA for a couple of months, and I was using it as it was intended - to look for work. I needed that money to get to interviews, to pay for petrol, and buy food in the interim. I was pretty lucky that I only had to wait a couple of months before finding work, but I had no shame in the fact I was accepting help from the governement finding my feet. That's the system working.

However if it's possible to manipulate the system to live on that amount, there's obviously a problem. The solution shouldn't be "give them less", it should be to incentivise the support that you are given and to push people to find work in other ways. At some point you have to draw the line and say "Fuck it, this isn't working out, I need to find something else." Fortunately neither I, nor you, ended up in that position.

I sneak a "short" 2-3 months break everytime I decided that it's time to change my job. The worst part about getting unemployment benefits for me is the aura which these kind of places are emitting. You got to be careful in there or you might end up losing part of your soul.

P.S. I'm thinking about cancel my subscribing this time around but then you came along. I guess everybody wins.

@sweep: Yep, sounds about ideal. I know the JA is pretty low, something like 70 pounds a week. It's intended, so far as I know, to facilitate the kind of stuff that you were talking about, rather than fund lifestyles while people look for work. It's a decent theory. Glad it worked out for you.

@haziqonfire: Yep, the six-month thing definitely encouraged me to get a job right quick, even if it was pretty low-paying. If I had any recommendations for people looking to get into college now, it would be: get as cheap a rate as you can without going to a diploma mill. A nice college name is great, but after your first job it'll be all but irrelevant. Paying 40 grand/year for a top-flight college is nice and all, but if you can find the same education (and really, college is mostly about what you teach yourself) for half the cost, I'd firmly recommend it.

Not having a job sure does suck, so I'm glad you've bounced back.

Also, fuck getting your hair cut by someone else! I spent like $30 2 years ago, and haven't spent a penny since. I keep things pretty tight up top and I don't feel like paying $15 every week just to maintain that when I could spend $20 once every several years. Plus if I'm feeling a bit uneven I can do a touch-up whenever I want.

And my hair requires some actual finesse, as I go jarhead style. If you think getting an even cut on the back of your head is hard, try getting an even cut with two lengths in a straight line on the back of your head! But still, totally worth it. If I can do that, anyone who cuts their hair at a consistent and fairly short length can do the same.

I was unemployed for a year a little while ago, having held down a job of some kind since being a teenager.

Every day was a crushing defeat, I felt like I had set my life back by about ten years. I was extremely lucky to have been supported throughout that period, otherwise I'd probably have been out on the streets.

What the UK government gave me as a stipend was a pittance, and anyone who lords it over those that must take that pitiful amount is a truly detestable cunt of the highest/lowest order.

To all my unemployed duders out there, do what you gotta do, scrape and bow and reach and barge your way into any hint of an open door of an opportunity.

@mattyftm Damn man, that's mega rough. x

I haven't been able to find employment in 2 months... and I just got out of college. =-(

As an unemployed person, I can really relate to most of this... but jesus christ Rorie, where/how often are you getting haircuts that it comes anywhere near $30 a month? Are you getting man-perms or something?

Great Clips is just $12, and I rarely see a reason to get haircuts more often than every other month, or so. Maybe once a month tops. I guess you might need to get more of them if you're really into keeping short hair at all times, but then it doesn't take a professional to just buzz yourself down with a clipper guard.

(Edit: Just now noticed this is kind of an old thread that got bumped. Oh well, whatever.)

Strangely I'm employed, but hope to become unemployed so that I have more time to apply to jobs that will be a better fit for me(15 years experience gets me interviews usually). The weird part is that I get paid pretty good and work from home. Except I hate working from home, its boring and extremely depressing and I get about 1/6 of the amount of work done as if I was in an office. I've already interviewed for a job that I'd like better that would pay 30% less too.... Also, go buy yourself a Wahl razor and just shave your head. $29 up front cost and they last forever. I haven't paid for a haircut in 3 years now and the ladies really love to rub a freshly shorn scro... er I mean head.