June 30, 2009
Things Are Sooo Bad....
....How Bad Are they?
I really got sick of hearing about it, so I finally decided to investigate for myself - just how bad is this economy, how horrible is the employment situation.
I got myself a Sunday paper last week (the 21st) and perused the jobs section. Much smaller than I've seen before, but there were still jobs to be had for those with and without experience. I chose one that required no special training or skills, but would suit my experience...even though that experience is decades old. I dusted off the old resume, updated only the to add new contact info and more recent jobs, left my pertinent experience in the past (in other words, didn't goose it to be more current). Emailed one copy, snail mailed another. Made a phone call three days later.
That led to my first interview, which led to my second interview (today), which led to a job offer. One ad, one resume, one offer - granted, it isn't a great job and pays only slightly more than $50,000 (for a lot of work). However, it just shows there are jobs out there. I feel badly that I will need to tell her tomorrow that I am "going with another offer"; wasting their time when I knew there was no way I would take the job was wrong. If the general consensus is correct, though, she should have plenty of other applicants to choose from.
Concerts are still selling out, even though the tickets cost big bucks. Movie theaters are busy and you still have to wait in line at the concession stand. You still have to wait 40 minutes for a table at Oregano's. I know there are individuals who are hurting, but I think society as a whole is far better off than the MSM has been saying the last 15 months.
If the press and the White House would quit telling us we are miserable and all but doomed, if Congress and the POTUS would quit trying to "fix" things (even the few that are broken), we would recover quite nicely.
UPDATE: Apparently it is worse than I thought.
When I informed her on Thursday that I was going with a different offer, she tried to get me to reconsider. I told her I was sure that she had many other applicants to choose from, and she said they get an avalanche of 'resumes' for every position, but that they are lucky if more than 10% are even worthy of a second look, let alone a call back. Of those, it seems that around 50% inspire an in person interview - and she says she is lucky if she gets 5 actual potential employees to send for a second interview. As she put it, "These people don't care about how they come across on their resumes, they don't care enough to use spell check, they don't care enough to show up on time, they don't care enough to iron their shirt...and that is while they are trying to GET the job. What sort of effort would we get from them once they were on the payroll?"
I can see her point, I process applications and tax info forms every week. They are unbelievably, ridiculously screwed up. I assumed that was because I am dealing with unskilled laborers, her lament makes it seem universal. Is it a failure of the education system? Is there somewhere job seekers can go to learn basic application & interview skills? I bet that you could find volunteers to run resume & interview classes...and perhaps grooming ones, as well.
Things are SO BAD that every ad, every TV show, and everything else either exhorts me to go green or tells me how green they are.
I'm getting green about the gills with this and may hurl.
As for jobs, still have mine (cross fingers) minus annual bonus and annual raise, and minus a good percentage of fellow workers who got RIF'ed.
Posted by: John Moore at June 30, 2009 10:00 PMIt appears you are are on a higher level than the average human being judging from this post. It seems also you are in an esteemed position whereabouts you can make such ficticious observations to parlay some hidden agenda. I guess you are superior to the average worker incapable of finding work. Of course of all the millions unemployed none of them are prepared for an interview, none of them are well dressed and can spell. It's YOUR observation, not the fake employer you are supposedly relating it through.
Posted by: Dave Brock at July 6, 2009 01:21 PMWow, project much, "Dave"?
Never claimed to be on a higher level, or have an esteemed position (seriously, that made me LOL) Not sure what "hidden agenda" you think I have, or why; if I had an agenda, I would blog about it in the open (if I had a hidden agenda, I wouldn't blog about it at all). I don't think I am superior to anyone, and I don't know what average worker you are talking about. I have friends who have found jobs as easily as I did, and friends who are still trying. I don't think there is an 'average' to be had: luck, timing, skill, preparation...many factors are involved.
I don't need to make up someone else in order to post my thoughts; it's my blog, I can say whatever I want. [see look, I just did] I've never shied away from saying what I think, I'm not going to start now. If making up imaginary friends is your thing, though, more power to ya'. You can even continue to comment here as them (as long as you keep it clean, this blog is PG-13)
One day I actually imagined I was in the military. That was my only fictitious claim to anything.
Posted by: Dave Brock at July 7, 2009 11:13 AMI've heard there is a lot of more of that happening lately.
I guess if you are going to dream, you should dream big, and being in the service is BIG. I mean, claiming to be an award-winning writer is just so passe'....
Posted by: Vox at July 7, 2009 11:28 AMThis building I'm sitting in here in Iraq is a fairly good replica of an Army installation. Maybe I have been brainwashed and am really still in Texas. Was it all a dream? Was that dude I saw wasted in a grenade attack on a Chinook a few weeks ago another vision? It's hard to say.
Posted by: Dave Brock at July 8, 2009 02:52 AMNot knowing who you are or where you are at is a bad sign, it would seem to indicate you've had some sort of mental break. I know that our military has counselors available should anyone need them; I am sure they would be interested in hearing that you are suffering from fantasies and delusions.
It is good to know that in your suffering you have found stalking my blog to be a worthy use of your time online. If you are who I think you are, I would expect you to spend that time reading your girlfriend's blog, and chatting with her, but if she doesn't care I know I certainly don't. (I'll take all the traffic I can get, send all your personalities to visit)
Interestingly, when my ex was stationed in Iraq last year, he was unable to access this blog. I have no doubt that the DOD put that on the top of their list and went out of their way to clear it so it would be available now to all the men & women serving down range. That is just how important I am to the war effort LOL
Posted by: Vox at July 8, 2009 04:31 AMIt's good you woke up at 4:31 am in the morning to check your blog. Comparitively speaking it's the reasonable hour of 2:07 PM Baghdad time here. I don't know why your blog isn't on the DOD's list here of not being blocked. The musings are fairly inconsequential so I assume it isn't harming anybody. Interestingly my 'girlfriend's'blog is blocked. Maybe someone realised hers has some worth.
Posted by: "Dave Brook" at July 8, 2009 05:13 AMNote: Having had no interest or concern in what time was displayed on my posts, I never bothered to change the configuration file to reflect daylight savings time. In the interest of ensuring "Dave's" stalking logs are precise, I have fixed the time issue.
For those of you who care (which I am sure is only him) posts & comments since most of the country changed their clocks have been tagged an hour late. From here on out it will be correct - at least until the Fall when I will once again care so little that I neglect to make the adjustment.
[Note: I made this comment after the one below but, it is in chronological order, and the clock was fixed for this one]
Posted by: Vox at July 8, 2009 11:53 AMROFL Maybe she just blocked you LOL
Or, maybe she quit writing and shut the thing down, she's done that in the past.
Or - she blocked you HAHAHA
Or, the Wordpress domain is blocked
More likely, that is just more of your baloney (you do seem to have quite an imagination). If you took a writing class or 12 you might be able to come up with a collection of short stories geared to tweens. And gullible singles.
(BTW: What in world does the time have to do with anything? You monitoring my sleep patterns now?)
Posted by: Vox at July 8, 2009 12:02 PMWhat I'm most curious to know is who the pretend employer was that 'offered' you work so quickly. Can this be verified? After all you seem to have conveniently forgotten the original intent of my initial post. Let's see how you can deflect it now.
Posted by: at July 8, 2009 12:45 PMYou appear to be reloading this page over & over, apparently you have a boss that doesn't mind you wasting time on the internet ROFL
As to your first comment, I thought the intent of it was to show you were a jerk. I felt no need to comment on that further as you have done a good job making that point yourself.
Posted by: Vox at July 8, 2009 02:26 PMWell that's rather convenient isn't it as all you have done is prove yourself to be an elitist, middle aged snob who doesn't have the courage to back up her false claims of being able to miraculously obtain a 50k job in one day and then have to turn it down.
So again who was the employer? Where can they be found to verify your claims? Where's YOUR credibility? You can call me whatever you want because at the end of the day I've done more for this country than you ever have.
It would seem your reading comprehension is as weak as your other skills. Never said I got a job in one day; maybe your math isn't good enough to count from 21 to 30, but even you should know it doesn't equal one.
How would you suggest I "back it up"? You think you could call in and ask if they offered me a job? Riiiiight. Even if I gave you their number and they verified, you'd just come up with some other reason to deflect the truth (like I made them up or paid them off or already work there...) I could get affidavits from my friends/co-workers who saw me get dressed up for the interviews, same problem. You don't want to believe there are actually people getting work, but all you have to do is watch the news. Times are tough but there is still work and people are still being hired.
The main thing, though, is I really don't have any reason to care whether you believe me or not. There is absolutely no reason for me to lie about it - why in the world would someone make up something like that? I decided to try an experiment (that involved very little time or effort on my part), I shared it with my readers (I would not have expected you to be among them), I moved on with my life (you should look into getting one).
I imagine the only people who make up employers & biographies are trying to impress lonely single women on the internet - certainly not my target market.
Those who actually know me would laugh at the idea of me as an "elitist", you have no idea whether I am middle aged or not, since you have no idea how old I am (and neither does your girlfriend) or how snobby (just because I don't care for you is no proof, I'm sure you get that a lot) or how much I have done for the country (I know you have an inflated sense of self-importance, but pissing on customers merchandise is hardly a valuable contribution to society)
I have no interest in 'proving' anything to you, even if there was a way to do so to your satisfaction. I have no credibility problem to deal with thanks to a history of telling the truth. You on the other hand have shown yourself repeatedly to have a questionable relationship with integrity. I didn't get the job in one day, and I turned it down because I already have a better job that I prefer to keep. I would have been crazy to take another. Someone who needs the job will fill it, a story that is repeated every a day all over the country.
And so it will happen again tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after....
Posted by: Vox at July 8, 2009 11:28 PMI imagine those words being typed out in fury, fingers pressing the wrong buttons, while spit and bile dribbles down your mouth as you angrily retort, unable to be mentally defeated, striving to get the last word in....but for now I have to go and interview a full bird Colonel for a story. If you want I'll send you a copy.
Posted by: at July 9, 2009 12:02 AMWow, you really must have just been hovering, quivering with anticipation, waiting for me to answer your last comment. LOL Glad I've become so important to you, but you really do need to get an actual life.
You do show once again quite an imagination, and absolutely no grasp of reality - or writing skill. Somehow dragging out of your warped mind that I would be typing "in a fury" (hardly, I don't lose control of my emotions over important stuff, I certainly wouldn't lose it over you. Guess that is projection on your part), "pressing the wrong buttons" (really, what would be your basis for that? More projection, I think), "spit and bile" dribbling (you are definitely thinking of someone else, is that how you see yourself? Or just women who don't fall for your bull?), not likely to be mentally defeated by you, and I haven't seen you offer even the slightest challenge (more of an annoyance like a mosquito).
If I was worried about getting the last word in, I could just close the comments* or block you - that's not my style. One, I don't have a problem with you displaying your ignorance and absurdity here, it amuses me & my friends. Two, all those refreshes from you increase my traffic. That essentially means you are paying me to show the world what an @ss you are. Works for me.
I'm sure it would be quite an honor for you to talk to "a full bird Colonel" - why don't ya' tell him some of your WalMart stories. Nothing impresses an officer like knowing he's in the presence of a moron.
Comments will be closed after 14 days, I put that in place to limit the amount of blog spam I get. After that time, if you want to keep being a jerk, you'll have to find a more recent post to rag on
Posted by: Vox at July 9, 2009 10:57 AMAss...moron...jerk...the hallmarks of a truly accomplished writer.
Posted by: at July 9, 2009 11:47 AMSee, there you go again, calling yourself an accomplished writer. Just for the record, I didn't say ALL writers (or those that claim to be) are those things, I said YOU are those things. I've known some very bright, very kind writers in my day.
Do you actually do ANYTHING other than troll my blog?
Posted by: Vox at July 9, 2009 12:18 PMApparently "11:47" was from someone in Phoenix who chose to remain anonymous. So, either "Dave" is someone here, or another of our locals wanted to call him names.
Posted by: Vox at July 9, 2009 12:29 PM