In 2003, I quit my corporate job as a copywriter for a major retailer. I wasn't fired or laid off. I just had this crazy itch to completely change my life - so I moved and quit. My company had just relocated anyway, to one of those low-rent converted brownfield areas where they tack up a veritable corporate Disneyland so people will be inspired to remain at their desks instead of heading back into heavy traffic on one-lane back roads just to go get a sandwich.
The new office had a jacked up cafeteria, special rooms with exercise equipment ("The company gym"), and a "Zen Wall" in the lobby where you could realign your chi while staring at a faux stone waterfall (I never saw anybody sitting there). It wasn't for me. So since I really had nothing tying me down, I left.
It never occurred to me that I could have sponged off the system if I'd just worked it so that they fired me or laid me off. But apparently other freelancers regularly partook of the Government Cheese. It was all very hush-hush. "Are you collecting??" "Collecting WHAT?" "You know... unemployment." Someone pointed out to me that if there were breaks between my freelance gigs, I could collect. And if I worked from home "off the books," I could also collect.
I'm guessing that with all the massive downsizing going on, more and more people are "collecting." And I'm here to tell you that this is not necessary. Maybe I'm excessively prideful - but I see unemployment as a crutch! There's always a way to bring in income - and if you're going to "lower yourself" and sponge off the government, why not just suck it up and take a temporary job that you're underqualified for? It's the same difference, and when you're actually doing real work, you feel like MUCH less of a loser.
I was on unemployment for 2 weeks because I had taken a waitress job and "it didn't work out." Yes! There was a pretty humbling period between my life as a corporate copywriter and my next incarnation as a web copywriting expert. I was grateful for the income when I needed it, and I was also glad to be able to pass up the handout as SOON as I became able.
In short, if I had opted to sit there with an upturned palm instead of putting my nose to the grindstone making new contacts and sharing my copywriting expertise every day... Wordfeeder Copywriting would not be here today.
I think Americans abuse the privilege of being able to earn income when they don't actually have jobs. It's clearly a faulty system, because there is always work to be done. The FIRST priority should be to match people with jobs that they qualify for (even if they OVER qualify) - NOT to give them money to live. This makes no sense to me. But then, little about society does.
How about you? Has this "lousy economy" forced you to collect? What have you done in the name of finding new work? Do you feel that unemployment is a blessing, or a curse?
