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OddTod Laid Low by the Law
nickynicky9doors writes "The International Herald Tribune has a NYT article on the recent woes of Tod Rosenberg who started 'Laid Off: A Day in the Life'. Mr. Rosenberg started www.oddtodd.com to tell the tale of a laid off guy who spends days watching TV and eating chips. Oddtod became so successful Mr. Rosenberg reaped cash donations and national TV exposure. Unfortunately it also brought the attention of the Department of Labor who have explained the catch of having to be actively looking for work while collecting unemployment benefits. Another dot com bust."
I would love to see a slashdot interview of todd... what i really want to know is does he really talk like that? For those of you who haven't seen it, definately check him out. I was even going to by his "Home Of The Whopper" underwear, but I had already bought my novelty clothing item of the month... So maybe later!
Once upon a time...
I wonder if the same argument would apply to someone collecting donations on the street. While it is likely that these people are not collecting unemployment how do they define "earning money". On the same note would gambling also be considered "earning money", I know in Canada winnings are not taxable yet there are some professional gamblers that Revenue Canada is attempting to tax due to the fact they consider it a job.
I stole this Sig
I've been (mostly) unemployed in NYC for almost 8 months now. I've spent much of that time on a new web project:
http://subintsoc.net
If someone actually buys the t-shirt we've got for sale on the site, the Dept. of Labor could come after me for making money while collecting unemployment benefits. Then again, technically, it's not a dot-com...it's a dot-net. So maybe Microsoft will come after me instead...
If you visit, try the new do-it-yourself Terror Warning Generator!
And remember, Cogito Ergo Rebello...
oh what's the problem .. put in a link to his resume on the page and then he'll be "actively" looking for a job by advertising his skills on the web ! The labor dept and everyone will be happy ! Well he might as well get a few job offers that way ;-)
Myth 6: The benefits system has any kind of internal consistency.
Reality:
I was pretty young and naieve then, you can tell. The trouble was that I didn't understand that the system is set up to support binary states: In work. Out of work. Nothing in the middle, no gray areas. You practically have to lie through your teeth (with the state's tacit collusion) to get enough to live on, and at some point when you get a job that pays a living wage, you're expected to stop lying.
Trouble is, once you get used to the idea that pretty much everybody in the benefits system is involved in a huge scam (and that the benefits office colludes out of compassion), it begs the question: at what point exactly does it become wrong to lie, when at $1 a week less, it was OK?
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
I had something similar happen a few years ago. It went sort of like this:
Welfare Social Worker: Okay, so you're filing for aid because you are unemployed and denied compensation, so you have no income and no assets.
Me: Yes.
Social Worker: Under Welfare rules, you're an "ABOD", an able-bodied worker. So you're ineligible for aid.
Me: But I'm not getting Unemployment because I was fired for being disabled. Disabled people can't get unemployment.
Social Worker: Are you disabled, or can you work?
Me: I can work, but I'm covered under the ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Social Worker: Then no benefits for you! *bam*
Cut to State Unemployment office
Unemployment caseworker: So you were fired because you were disabled.
Me: Right.
Caseworker: Well, if you were fired for being disabled, then that would count as an unfair firing, so you'd be elible for benefits....
Me: *dazed hungry look* Yes?
Caseworker: But if it *was* unfair, then you must really be disabled. If you are, you don't qualify for Unemployment Compensation.
Me: And if I weren't disabled?
Caseworker: Then you were fired fairly. Either way, NO benefits for you!
Me: Ummmmm.....
Caseworker: Have you tried the welfare office?
Back at the Welfare office...
Welfare Social Worker: Good news! You don't qualify for most aid, but we CAN give you food stamps.
Me: Well, that'll help. Now if only I can find a way to pay my rent before I get evicted...
Welfare Social Worker: Oh no! If someone gives you money to pay rent or utilities, that will affect your food stamps. You have to report any money over 25.00, and we'll deduct that from the food stamps.
Me:So, I qualify only if I promise not to pay the rent or utilities?
Welfare Social Worker: Exactly! Have a nice day!
Completely fucked. *laugh*
I have no way of knowing, but I am wondering about the people complaining about their meager benefits, and talking about how they can't afford to pay their bills with their unemployment checks, and how they can't afford living in a $1500 apartment (but would never get a roommate).
I am wondering if they are the same people who, a year and a half ago, were all buying copies of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and constantly posting to slashdot that government has no business taxing the wealthy (and therefore deserving) to help out the poor (who should just get up and start their own businesses).
The reason I wonder is that there seem to be fewer Randroids, "you don't work... you don't eat" people, people who complain and whine that underemployed people complain and whine. And there are more people talking about inadequate unemployment benefits, and how the government should help people pay their rent and food while they go to school to improve their job skills.
I know that it could be a coincidence, but I keep wondering if they are the same people.
God is real unless declared integer
In California unemployment is only $230 per week, and it has run out for me and most people I know anyway. Everyone is spending their retirement money now.
Due to fortuitous timing in joining a major software firm right out of college, he was a double-digit millionaire (in stock of course) within a few years. During the boom time, his job was of course utterly cushy (total slack time, work when you like, not a lot of supervision, plenty of toys, various nice benefits, etc.) After working the absolute minimum for a long time, they started asking him to show some dedication or to take some responsibility. He said they didn't "respect" him so he'd go somewhere that they understood "just how hard good engineers are to come by". This is of course still during the boom, when engineers are in huge demand...
So he leaves this very nice, mature company that's treated him very well, and has headhunters place him at the highest bidder... A small, hot company just about to IPO, where he'll get nearly a percent of the company in options. BOOM! The company IPOs, and now he's almost twice as rich again.
So here he is just a couple of months into a new job, having been compensated enormously for having so far done... nothing! Rather than contribute back to this company, which has shown right up front that they hope he'll be worth it (rushing through his employment so he's on staff the day before the IPO lockout), he loafs. If he slacked before, it was nothing compared to this. He goes to work maybe three days a week for a few hours in the afternoon. He's never around for meetings. He does this for *months* with them starting out with gentle reminders and then finally getting angry and confronting him about it. Meanwhile he's going to the beach when he's supposed to be at work, taking time off whenever he feels like it, all the while saying how shitty this company is because they have no dedication to quality engineering... all of their engineers are rushing out hacks; why the fuck should he work hard for them, they disgust him?
Finally they oust him. Their fucking loss, he says, they don't know how hard it is to find a good engineer; I'll just go do it again. Nope, sorry, here comes the hammer. Suddenly all of these options he's been expensively living off of and using as margin for other investments are in the toilet; the market has taken a shit.
California has this (truly unfortunate) law called the Alt-Min Tax, which has decimated thousands of lives in the San Francisco Bay Area... This guy is among the unfortunates... His tax bill is calculated according to the huge value of the stocks he never sold, and now he's utterly broke because he's unable to pay them. He barely manages to squeak out, but he's set back to zero, plus some savings. Oh yeah, and suddenly it's really hard to get a job.
Any normal person would be humbled at this point. They'd say, "Wow, this is the price of hubris... I have learned my lesson. I blew off responsibility in the good times, and everything I had is now gone. I'll never take a decent job for granted again."
But NO! This guy makes some feeble attempts to apply for some jobs, but mostly just hangs around, plays Counterstrike, whines about how he's too important to work for anybody else now, no job is good enough for his picky taste, etc. He gets on unemployment as money starts getting tight. Wait, did I say "tight"? No, not *really* tight... He's off to Taiwan twice in two months, ostensibly to look for jobs, but really to hit on Asian chicks and party with friends. But the money's tight, right? "Oh yeah, it's just awful, but if I didn't take a big trip before the end of he year, I'd lose my chance at the next higher frequent-flier bonus! Hey, you guys want some of my coke? It's not like I'm going to start a habit or anything; it's just helpful to keep my self-esteem up during the down time; this whole "not being a millionaire anymore" thing has been such a bummer, you know, money's so tight; at least unemployment is helping subsidize my blow. Hey, this chick I met in Taiwan? I'm going to go woo her in Europe for a while. You guys can file my unemployment for me while I'm gone, right? Why not? Fuck the system, man, they're just trying to take things from us people! Information (and my cushy lifestyle) wants to be free! Fight the man! Screw you, MPAA, you're not going to make us little guys take it up the ass!"
I know plenty of people hurt in the dot-com bust, and there are plenty of awesomely tragic stories out there. Yet I think for every hundred tragedies, there must be one or two like him, sucking off the system like a tick while doing nothing in particular. I used to think people were being cruelly harsh in saying "You fucking dot-commers, you got yours! That'll teach you to be so fucking full of yourselves!" Unfortunately they're forced to stereotype because they see him and not the rest... With so many more millionaires, it's easier to see the people like this guy and paint every single engineer in Silicon Valley witht he same wide brush. But he's the exception that screws it up for everyone else... Screws up the compassion that people across the country *could* have for the very real tragedies going on here due to AMT, screws up the unemployment system for people who truly, tragically are in need of help, screws up the respect that was afforded to him for *free*, not just by companies taking a gamble on an unknown, but by his friends.
Wow, feels good to get it out, though shitty to be this disgusted. With any luck he'll read this between Counterstrike levels.
Not to mention that if you try to go and start training or education to improve your chances of getting a job, the unemployment benefits stop. So, people get stuck with the same skills they had when they got laid off in a highly competitive job market.
Exactly.... I love how the govt. takes the stance that only people earning relatively little ever deserve to collect from the systems paid for nearly in full by the rest of us.
Right now, I live in a fairly poor neighborhood. (I wanted to own my own home instead of throw away a large part of my income on rent -- but I didn't have the money for anything in a better part of town.) I work full-time and do alright (not quite as well as the message poster I'm replying to, but I'm also in the midwest, where cost of living is less) -- but I can barely get by. My wife is not working right now, and we have a kid on the way. After we got married, I started getting endless collection agency letters for her past unpaid debts (mostly medical expenses, as she had a number of medical problems in the past and no health insurance).
We can't qualify for any assistance whatsoever, so if it wasn't for the generousity of her parents (bought us all of the furniture for the baby's room and most of her clothes to start out with), I don't know what we'd do.
Meanwhile, the neighbor who moved in next door is living with her husband, getting "section 8" subsidized rent and welfare (and claiming she's not living with him, so she can be sure to qualify for everything). Neither of them ever seem to go to work, yet they bought a new car last week (giving them 3 cars, total) and always have plenty of groceries.
Their 3 kids living with them always seem to have plenty of new designer clothes and shoes, too.
Every morning when I go to work and I see that, I'm reminded what my tax dollars are paying for.