“Frontline” Wants to Talk to You
by Ted GesingLink to article
Frontline, the PBS current affairs series, is developing a documentary
about professionals who’ve been laid off in the economic downturn. We
are looking for people who will be willing to share their stories, from
the mundane to the profound. How were you told you were being laid off?
What’s a day in your life now that you’re a professional job-seeker?
What are your concerns? And how do you cope?
All conversations are off-the-record. We may eventually ask you to
consider sharing your story on camera, but for now we are simply
looking to speak with people who can express what they’re going
through.
Please reach out to Line Producer Ted Gesing (tedgesing AT gmail.com or
917-282-4210). Thank you.
Tags: Frontline, laid off, layoffs, PBS current affairs, Ted Gesing
February 4th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
I was laid off by Boeing on December 18, 2008. I was a contingent laborer through Comforce (aka CTS). Boeing provided me with 6 weeks of notice.
I am still unemployed. In order to make ends meet my wife and I have taken our kids out of daycare. That means the time I spend looking for work is reduced, due to childcare and other household duties. My complaint is not about Boeing but about the way my official employer (ComForce) treated me. After 18 months of work: No Severance Pay; No Sick Leave; No Educational Reimbursement; and only 1 week of paid vacation. To add insult to injury, ComForce severed my insurance coverage immediately allowing no grace period of coverage forcing me to pay COBRA to cover medical expenses until my wife’s policy could cover me.
I also have worked for Volt Technical Resources, as a contractor at Microsoft. Volt provided no severance pay either, when Microsoft forced me to train my Indian replacement and then sent my job overseas, six months shy of my contract commitment. My complaint here is with Microsoft.
February 4th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Morally Bankrupt: How Much Am I Wort
Last year, it was the election commission… this time it was the Board of Ed who failed to secure the personal information, social security numbers, and financial data of local students and employees.
The Tennessean openly discusses the salary of Metro teachers in the The Tennessean. The reporter makes it sound like she has uncovered some profound secret: Teachers are underpaid. No shit?
The papers seem to gloss over the magnitude if the situation of teacher pay and mobility within Metro Nashville. I wasted a ton of money at Vanderbilt and almost as much in the Ivy League. By investing in a useless program and a worthless degree, I am the first to admit I have made some bad choices, but now I am asking for some advice.
I CAN’T FIND A JOB!
I cannot afford to complete the application, or find transportation to get to an interview.
I am beyond broke. I am so far in debt that I do not even bother to open my mail since it consists only negative balances, bank statements, and letters from collection agencies and the Department of Education.
When I found out that someone recently used my social security number to open an account in Jersey City, I was thrilled at the prospect that my credit score might actually go up!
I never dreamed that I would have to apply for a social services grant simply to find a job. I never thought about fees for fingerprinting, TB tests, official transcripts, examination fees, processing fees necessary to apply a position that really only requires a GED.
As an employee of the Metro Nashville Public Schools, I work part-time as an educator at the “Masters + 30″ salary level. I earn $10.46 / hour, before taxes without benefits.
That does not go far, and they are currently eliminating employees, so any chance of a raise or future opportunities for advancement seem unlikely during these tough economic times.
I cannot afford additional application fees or costs associated with the Alternative Certification options, and I certainly do not have the resources required to obtain another undergraduate degree just so I can bypass the 6 months of student teach necessary for Metro to deem me qualified to teach Head Start, pre-k or even adult literacy programs.
The bottom line is this: regardless of good intentions or misguided mentoring, I am a financial burden to you all. I pay taxes out of your taxes. I am absolutely convinced that there must be a better way to live than relying upon government subsidies to keep a roof over my head and Ramen noodles in my tummy.
There is a plethora of young, talented individuals like myself who would be more than willing to work for MNPS or any other company if we could simply access the resources necessary to complete the application. We all know that teacher salary is ridiculous to begin with, so no kudos to the reporter at the Tennessean for pointing out the obvious.
This is the reality I live in. This is poverty. This is why I am hoping that someone out there knows someone or some way that I can contribute more to society than what I am taking. I am a leach on society. I will continue to be a leach on society.
Relying upon the “welfare” of others is a terrible way to live especially when you have something to give back.
People used to laugh when I would inquire about transportation funds, internet access grants or assisted technology funds and resources…
Surely, the AT&T cable bill could have included a measure to assist the disabled and economically challenged members of our community free or discounted online internet service. Certainly one of these big companies coming to Tennessee can help by hiring just one over educated, underemployed, and dedicated employee.
I live so far beneath the poverty line that I am willing to work for the necessities in life that I simply cannot afford such as toothpaste and internet access. I cannot afford the application fees Metro charges for new or returning applicants. I’m not eligible for community training programs or work force development… there are no grant based training programs for people who just made a few bad, BAD investments along the way– say, for example, a college degree?
I am not too proud to beg for a job or take some free advice if it will help me to get from here to there. I need someone, anyone, willing to give me a chance to prove myself. I need someone to invest in me!
I believe I deserve more out of life than this, and I think that if you knew me, you would think so too. Help become the person I was meant to be. Try to the see the person I could become.
I have so much to contribute, but few resources get there. All I want is a chance. All I need is a mentor. Will someone please take the time to invest in me?
February 4th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
CAREER IN CRISIS!
ouch
May 18, 2003
now would not be the best time to mention my senior thesis– or my grad school major, or the fact that i spent the better part life as a volunteer and advocate for children at-risk.. working to give them hope and a second chance at life.
systematically invalidating such bogus, barnum-type feedback that one typically gets from a MBTI type of personality test that is given during high school or in college. i won’t bother to mention the standardization of SAT scores to help our country feel better– or the fact that the stanford-binet was created for military issue only.
who gives a shit anymore??? if you told a me a fat bearded lady at the circus could decide my fate and tell me what direction i should choose next– i’d take it! and throw in a fat tip for being smart enough to know that any answer– no matter how grim, is far better than just wandering aimlessly through life looking back on what might have been– at THIRTY! AT THIRTY!!!!
after receiving five letters of rejection from jobs that require nothing more than a GED or a high school diploma, i decided to go to the tennessee career center hoping to find a job that will allow me to afford the most basic necessities of life. toothpaste, toilet paper, cat food… i got hooked up with a counselor that afternoon. he has two masters degrees– one in educational career counseling, and a second in counseling psychology. could this be the guidance counselor i have been asking for since.. well… since… i was old enough to know was in need of guidance?
surely someone else must have recognized i was in need of guidance, but god knows my parents weren’t paying attention, and having good genes just doesn’t cut it these days. but now more than ever, i realize that having all the smarts in the world won’t get you anywhere if you never learned how to apply them.
i am the exact same five year old who needed to win the spelling bee. in college, i was the one to set the curve, not just make it. the one to break the rules, and, break them i did, but there is no glory in being second best, second smartest, second brightest, or second anything.
i wish i could say that after all this time i developed other ego strengths and finally felt okay with who i am, you know…. “just being me,” but i am sad to report that my “condition” (diagnosis) was amazingly accurate and predictable. just like all the doctors said! i wonder if they derive joy out of being right– if they crack open a bottle of aged liquor in my fathers office and say, “see, we told you so. we told you their was nothing you could do.” and so nothing they did.
and by doing nothing, and i do mean nothing– the illness will just take will its course. and i am now, in fact, nothing. nothing costs nothing (at least to them) and daddy made another fine investment. on the other hand, nothing has drained every hope, fear, security– every chance– and every last breath from my body. i might have believed in me. but i know i’m alive because a tear just rolled down the side of my cheek. i am home.
but i still haven’t learned. for some reason with all of my failures i am reminded of in so many ways… me, myself, as i watch them play out every time i shut my eyes or open them. yes- blink.
sometimes i ask myself, how did i get here? how did this happen? what happened to all of the plans i made for myself? where did they go? where did I go? constantly replayed over and over and over again in my mind. i must be FUCK1NG CRAZY!
but at this moment, here, even as i say the words, i am not truly insane, i am merely in pain. what a tragedy that those two words rhyme– they ruin what could have been a very profound misnomer of the human condition and the labels we hold so dear.
i am the exact same 5 year old who needed to ACE the spelling bee, set the curve, not just make it; break the rules, and, break them i did. there is no glory in being second best. second smartest, second brightest, or second anything. being second sucks. it sucks every god-damned second of the day.
and so my search for mediocrity continues and i wait for it each and every day hoping it will find me beaten and worn from the storm. all of the storms, but dammit, its still there. i still have questions those damn elyssa questions that made all my professors so proud, damn ideas, damn thoughts, damn hope.
my mother still calls me everyday to see if i went to get food stamps to feed myself, fuck her, and her fucking things. fuck diamonds and couture and fuck that life. i was here mom, the whole fucking time. just not pretty enough with out any surgery. not pretty at all, with all those damn scars.
i hope someone out there still loves me. i do actually believe that i deserve love and kindness despite the obvious fact that i am a royal pain in the ass. i refuse to work in burger king. for right now, at least.
so goodnight my dear friends. let’s all try to have sweet dreams. pepe awaits, as does alanis, and a pack of smokes that i can already taste.
yes, what could have been, what should have been–what MIGHT have been if you let me be
-m.e.
“When written in chinese, the word Crisis is composed of tvo characters: One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.” -JFK