http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/15/down-not-out-unemployed-i_n_215110.html
(I did not include all comments due to length. I recommend reading on the website.)
The Huffington Post caught up with Marvin Bohn sitting on his porch in Yellow Springs, Ohio after a day of thunderstorms. He'd just come back from the movies. We'd heard he was out of a job.
I went through 26 weeks of unemployment benefits. Now I'm on the 13-week extension. I've been looking for work but not finding any. I ran the dining services for Antioch College in Ohio. Antioch closed June of last year. Good jobs in food service are hard to find.
At this moment I've already dropped COBRA. It was costing $597 a month. I just couldn't afford it. I take 11 medications, which I've gotten my doctor to put what he could on generics. But I'm still taking Plavix and Byetta.
In Springfield I worked as an executive chef, 80 hours a week. You could pretty much figure that from the Monday prior to Thanksgiving to New Year's Day I'd have no day off. So many banquets.
Do you live with family?
I'm a single person. I had taken care of my mother for 23 years. She passed away two years ago. She'd gotten to the point it was probably better.
I need to hopefully get a job that has benefits. When I've talked to insurance companies, what they want to charge you is phenomenal -- anywhere from $600 to a $1,000 a month. Some of them won't even quote me. I'm a type II diabetic. I've had two heart attacks, open-heart surgery, congestive heart failure. I've got a defibrillator in my chest. The same device that Dick Cheney has. It's the only thing he and I have in common.
How old are you?
There are nice people out there who say I don't look 57. I look in the mirror. I look 57.
Looking for work?
I did talk to a person last week with a local fast food chain. A local franchise. The job was $25,000 a year, on the clock 45 hours a week. He asked what I was making on unemployment. I told him $365. He just looked at me and said, "That's ridiculous that you make so much."
What fast food chain?
Burger King. They didn't offer me the job. They'd set up 11 interviews, the largest number they'd had for an assistant manager position.
What's your day like, usually?
Most days I get up in the morning, get on the computer, and look for want ads. Craigslist, Monster, Yahoo. I read the Dayton daily news, I check the Cincinnati paper, the Columbus paper. Trying to find if there's anything out there. If there is, I send in a resume. I basically stopped going out and knocking on doors.
Usually that's how I spend my morning. I will take a walk in the afternoon - today because of the thunderstorms I decided to go see a movie. I saw "Up." I love animation. It was just excellent. Every time I see an animated movie it's so much better than last time.
How did your heart problems develop?
My grandfather had a series of strokes. My father died of a heart attack at age 57, my brother died of heart attack at age 50. My mother had a heart attack, open heart surgery. My older sister died of liver cancer. It spread from her colon. I'm sure it's genetics. My cholesterol is under control, but the doctors will tell you, eating the wrong things, not getting exercise. But I was working 80 hours a week.
When I had my initial heart attack, I was living in Springfield and they were supposed to take me to the community hospital. My insurance company would not OK surgery at that hospital.
I had an IV in me, a pump to strengthen my heart, and an external pacemaker. They came up and told me the insurance company said I would have to pay the deductible. It was over $6,000, I think. Since they would not provide transportation and I would have to wait for the doctors to release me so I could go home, then eventually check into the other hospital, we just simply chose to go ahead and pay the extra amount of money. Four more weeks or five more weeks off work. How much money does that cost?
I always get a little t'd off when they talk about how government is going to tell you what doctors you're going to see. Insurance companies are doing that now.
I went back to law school in '03 because (I thought) the economy was bad back then. HA! I was laid off from my law firm job on the same day I was admitted to the bar, that was14 months ago. Have used up one full year of unemployment plus an emergency extension since, now beginning my second claim. It's ridiculous to have a law degree and be unable to find a job above minimum wage - thankfully I don't have health costs like this unfortunate fella, but I do have tons of student loans with expired deferments. Basically gave up trying for a real job several months ago - still spend part of my day looking, but have accepted the new reality that I'm not unemployed, I'm just self-employed, working out of my house with no benefits and no support. Ahh, the freedom! The new American Dream!
Welcome to MY world. I'm a 28-year Telecom guy who's won awards and has numerous certifications under my belt. I've been out of work for 3 years. I've worked on everything from the residential service lines leaving the house to the fiber, radio and satellite links heading out of town. At 55, I've sent out over 2,000 resumes got about 30 callbacks, 4 interviews and no jobs. This in a field that's still relatively in demand. In the meantime, my wife had a series of small strokes and is legally blind. I exhausted my 48 weeks of unemployment 2 years ago and have scraped by on a small inheritance and my wife's $475/mo in disability. I can't decide if it's just because I'm 55(age discrimination), I'm too overqualified or because I've been telling the truth about the warrantless wiretap system that currently monitors EVERYBODY'S communications and the telecoms' complicity in it's construction and operation.
So the Depression started with me.
We live in northern MI (the epicenter of this whole jobless fiasco) and my husband just turned 46 last week. He worked in tool and die since he was 16, same company (with a break to go in the AF and then one other time a different company, but all in all over 20 years with them). He got laid off in Jan. There are no and I mean NO JOBS in MI that are not home health aids being offered $8.00/hr. The State paid for him to be "retrained" in heavy equipment...there are NO JOBS! Used up our first unemployment claim and are moving onto the next. Fortunately I am working, but only part to 3/4 time with no benefits. Govt. helped to subsized our COBRA. That is down to $300/month, but that will end in September. We can feel your pain...scary times...
I am a 66 year old woman, divorced, my sole support. I have been working and supporting myself full time since my divorce at 40 in 1982. I got layed off in January. I am getting unemployment and last September began getting my social security. The COBRA coverage from my company would have cost me $475 a month, but since I am past 65, I chose to activate Medicare ($96.40 per month, deducted from SS) and buy a supplemental ($75 a month). After they take the Part B from my SS, my net is $1212 per month. After my unemployment runs out, that's what I have to live on. My bare bones expenses, including rent, are over $1700 a month--quite modest, if you ask me. But unless I get a job, I'll be on the street in no time. And try getting a job (I'm an administrative assistant--don't look more than 55--no grey hair) at that age--or, as a woman, at actual 55. Can't be done. I send out resumes, cover letters every day, network, etc. Have had 3 interviews in 6 months--nada. So Mr. Bohn, I feel your pain. I have no sugar daddy, no possible inheritance, and I have an 89 year old mother to watch over. Guess those "golden years" were not meant for me.
First Posted: 06-15-09 09:20 AM | Updated: 06-15-09 09:30 AM