Underemployed and Overjoyed
Here’s a story of the unemployementality from one of our favorite Michiganders who has recently joined the ranks of the underemployed:
So what if I’m making far less per hour than I’ve made at any point in the last nine years. So what if I have to put on a polyester apron and plastic gloves and travel back in time to my first job. So what. THE BILLS ARE GOING TO GET PAID! This is not the last stop in my career. This is just taking care of business, doing what needs to be done. I am not better than this job. I am not better than any job. This is not something to be embarrassed about. I will wear this nametag with pride. I will wear this baseball cap so that hair doesn’t get in the food. I will be on time. I will not complain. I will work my way up if I have to stay. I will get the hell out if something better comes along. Hello, underemployment.
As I master the ways of the grocery store bakery, I’ve found what I learned when I was slinging pizzas as a teenager is still with me, like what to put in each part of the three chambered sink and how to open the freezer door when you are shut inside. (There’s a handle, just remember it’s there before you freak out.) Sanitary practices and giant ovens don’t change, whether you are handling pizzas or tens of thousands of donuts, and the bottom line on both sanitation and giant ovens is “don’t be stupid.” Some people are cool, some people are dicks, it’s like that everywhere, no matter how much money you are or are not making. I respect people who do incredibly mundane jobs, especially those who can do mundane jobs for eons and still manage to be decent humans. So far I work with decent humans, for the most part. I can do this job, and once I learn it I will have plenty of time to think while I blob frosting onto things and pry apart frozen cookies.
When I left my first job at eighteen I swore I’d never work in food service again. I was bitter today at 2:30 a.m. when I had to get up for work, but overall I am trying hard not to be. If I was going to make a little cross stitch sampler, these days it would say “It’s not what happens to you in life, it’s what you do about it,” a little gem from my mother. Personal responsibility really is a bitch. That would make a better sampler. Needless to say this is not what I had in mind when I racked up all of those student loans, however, college has not been without benefit. Were it not for my education, I might still be unemployed, like more than one in ten people here in Michigan. Even with a bachelor’s degree, I searched for over three months before I could come up with this most basic of jobs.
If I had not been hired for this job, who would have been? How many people are currently underemployed, and how many have been displaced by them? What about the kids who were planning on college but can’t go, the kids who weren’t planning on college but now can’t find jobs because all of the entry-level minimum wage jobs are full of people who are overqualified? What about the people with checkered pasts who are trying to get on the right side of things and back into the workforce? Underemployment is a (temporary) solution for me and a problem for others. I can’t allow myself to be bitter because I owe it to the other people that would have gladly worked this job, or who may not get to go to college like I did, not to be an ingrate, to be glad for what has landed on my plate, even if I didn’t order it. However, I also owe it to them and to myself not to stay here forever.
Job loss, unemployment, and underemployment are just such shit storms of emotion and opinion. A big stew of outrage, denial, sadness, guilt, hurt pride, envy, embarrassment, low self esteem, peppered with a few moments here and there of optimism and joy, like the surge of hope after a great interview or the contentment when one is distracted enough to forget what’s really going on, for instance, the first few minutes of waking up in the morning before realizing “I have no job and I really, really need one.” On the one hand I envy the people who had amazing jobs for thirty years, because I’m not sure I ever will, but on the other hand, I’m glad I didn’t have that far to fall economically. The rug didn’t get pulled out from under me because, in a way, I wasn’t even on it.
Here comes some Pollyanna silver lining crap. Sometimes I have moments of clarity where I look at everything around me and marvel that I have so much, even though we haven’t really had discretionary income in many months and our house is a shack that we can’t afford to improve. I look around at the things we could pawn if we had to. I consider the number of people that would not let us be out on the street if it came to that. I marvel at still having health insurance and that no one we know is seriously ill right now. I spend contented evenings watching PBS with my husband and my dog. I have learned to want less and appreciate more. Puke. It’s just so wholesome. We’ve all learned our lessons, can things get better now? Is this a temporary hiccup or the new reality?
Guys who are good at math and bullshitting have said that this recession will be behind us soon. Here’s hoping that the next time I hang up my apron it really is for good. Until then, it’s a living, but just barely.
I am so glad that I can vent. Today, I had to go to pick up food – for free. I was fine until they told me I couldn’t make a monetary donation to pay them back when I get a job – that they weren’t allowed to accept it.
This is my third time having to go for food. The last two times were to the Catholic Church then about a year later, the Baptist Church; but I paid both of them back. It took a while but I did it.
I was very upset and near tears, but I have decided to send the money (after I estimate the cost) to PhilAbundance and ask them to send the money to them – if that is allowed or they can use it for their organization.
I am a hard, very hard, worker, who enjoys a work challenge and have been abused on every job I have had since being in Philadelphia, which will be 15 years on Memorial Day.
I am not giving up though. I know there are good people, and I will find them.
Thanks for letting me vent.
Bev
Wow, that’s really stunning how someone can approach that situation. I’ve busted my ass my entire adult life (less than fifteen years) working for the same company and climbing the technical latter (I’m an engineer). Self educated. Self motivated. I’m the guy who sometimes seems to live at the office, because he can’t be bothered to stop working long enough to justify going home. I’m the guy who works holidays, never uses vacation or comp time, never uses a sick day, puts in 80 or 120 hours in a week on a very regular basis and spends his down time at home doing work as well. I am my work. It defines me.
If I were to lose it and the market did not offer a comparable job, I would probably consider a very dire response. I have no interest in just existing or just getting by. I worked very hard to reach a six figure income and I did not spend nearly every second of my life working myself to the bone and putting in week after week of over nights to complete projects I’m passionate about just to end up living paycheck to paycheck in a studio apartment cutting coupons and and asking people if they want fries with their order.
Since my company is laying people off… AGAIN… later today… I very well could be facing that. I guess I’ll wring the most out of my severance as possible and then… well… decide if it’s even worth continuing on after that. Some people may find their passion in other things. Mine is my career. Without it, there is nothing to make me even want to wake up in the morning. *shrug*
Bev, I admire your commitment to paying back the places that helped you so that they can continue to be there to help others. Good luck and I hope that your circumstances improve so that you can easily do so.
“no,” I’m a little worried about you. I hope that your job doesn’t tank, but if it does, you are going to pick yourself up and get on with your life, right? When you say you’ll “…decide if it’s even worth continuing on after that…” it sounds ominous. What exactly does a “dire response” consist of? I’d like to offer you a little perspective, and perhaps confiscate your belt, shoelaces, and any nearby sharp objects.
Please take into account that the word “career” has a broader definition than the word “job.” If this job tanks, you could very well find another great one and continue with your career. The wealth of knowledge and skills you have gained will not evaporate. If there is a lag where you have to do something else for awhile, before getting back to what you love, it won’t kill you, especially if you have a nice stash left over from when you were making fat cash.
I’m sure you’re a fantastic engineer, but I question your commitment to engineering. Really loving something, really being passionate about something, means that you will sacrifice everything in order to be able to do it. The work is the reward. Big money can result, but is more of a byproduct than a goal. I suspect that what you are really passionate about is punishing yourself and making a lot of money. No one should define themselves by just one aspect of their lives, but if you want a one dimensional way to define yourself, define yourself as an engineer. Even if you get let go and can no longer define yourself as a workaholic who earns six figures, you will still be an engineer.
These days there are a great many people finding themselves places they never wanted to be and they are sucking it up, building character, and looking toward better days. I don’t consider myself to be so special that I can’t prepare food for minimum wage. I don’t like it and I don’t plan to do it forever, but it’s honest work and will let me keep paying my bills. You are missing out on the big picture, which happens to be a rich tapestry. There are plenty of people who lead happy and fulfilling lives in studio apartments, and the thing that separates them from you is attitude. Your narrow view threatens to limit the ways in which you can reinvent yourself to overcome shitty circumstances, and limit the satisfaction you are able to achieve in your life. You sound depressed. Get out of the office. Seriously.
@”NO – sage advice from “inthehand” I would have to agree with most everything he/she has said. We wish you the best…
“no” – I hope that your position doesn’t get eliminated. That said, if it does, you may just find out a thing or two about yourself, your priorities and what your “career” really means to you. I know I did when I ended up taking some forced “time off”. It made me really take a look at what each aspect of my “career” meant to me. You may be thinking that I’m one of “those” guys who just “found” themselves or some sort of slacker. No, just a guy who also defined/defines (still trying to figure that out…) himself by his career. You may find, for instance, that your 80-120 hours a week may really be just your way of proving to either yourself or someone else that you aren’t a slacker, the latter was my case, and that the six-digit salary is really a status symbol or bragging right.
I’m going to probably put forth something that no one wants to hear, especially you at this point, but everyone should get laid off early in their career. Yes, you qualify as early in your career…It teaches important things like a company won’t think twice about letting you go, everyone from the janitor to the CEO is dispensible, you may seriously have to consider changing industries/vocation to make a living that makes you comfortable, plan to be laid off and save appropriately, and layoffs happen to bright/qualified/hardworking people. The most important thing is that getting laid off makes you more empathetic to others who get laid off. I remember my first layoff like it was yesterday, even though it was over a decade ago. I went through the a “Kubler-Ross-like” cycle of grief. That said, it made me a stronger and better person.
One thing that this new age of employment has brought forth is that those who have resiliency and can handle uncertainty are those that will emerge the strongest. The Guest Poster is clearly demonstrating that he’ll emerge just fine. The question is will you?
(John and Tania: I’ve lurked on this board for some time and it took this comment for me to finally participate. I just wanted to let you know that you guys rock for having this blog.)
I was laid in December, the day after Christmas. A first time for me and I am 48 years old. I was hurt, angry and bitter, among other emotions I had not experienced before. I was caught off guard. I didn’t know what to do next. My husband’s job had him working only one day aweek, and he didn’t know if he would be laid off entirely. there were a few weeks where he didn’t have work. So he went out west in feb. and he found a job. I am at home, packing up the house and waiting for our youngest to graduate high school. I can’t say it has been easy. My husband’s former employer didn’t take taxes out on him and we saved to pay them. UNTIL all this happened. I had to use what we had in savings and an unemployment check so small it doesn’t pay for toilet paper, let alone cat food. My husband has his checks direct deposit now, which he keeps some to survive off of and the rest I use to pay the monthly bills. He is coming back to move us and to see our son graduate next month. since being unemployed, I have had to really appreciate what I took for granted. Like you “no”, I worked long hours, and prided myself in my career/ job. But life throws you a wrench and sometimes you have to really access who you are, what your priorities are, and what is most important. You calculations of your career seem to come first. It should be You! Or family. Call me a POLLYANNA but I have changed. I look at this experience, no matter what age, as a learning lesson. I can move foreward and I don’t have to be that workaholic I once was. I barely saw my husband and son, didn’t spend time with other family members or friends. My job had become my life. Now, I see things differently. It is a cruel world out there and I am living paycheck by paycheck now because of the circumstances I was dealt. But the thing is, I am a lot more happier. I don’t have to paperwork, take complaints from customers, and I don’t have to keep proving to myself or anyone else that I could do the job better than most. I can acept my life as it is for now. I know it won’t be much longer before I am back to work because I have already gotten several calls from potential employers wanting interviews when I get out west. Relocation wasn’t the plan but I am glad it is happening because now I can choose my prospects and my choices for how many hours I will work and part-time looks good to me. I missed my family and I missed knowing them. I can look back at all this with a sense of freedom from the mundane world in which I lived to a more brighter future. If you think your job or career isn’t indispensible, think again, and I wouldn’t wish it on you but having compassion, and understanding might be better if you were laid off. I know. Been there, done that and won’t put myself before someone else again, employed or not. I have seen what unemployemnt has done to so many. I have taken a turn to be a better person. I have given clothes, shoes, toys to shelters for people who need those things, and given to soup kitchens, as well as Children’s hospital that enjoyed the books, the toys and movies I had not use for anymore. If you give a little, it makes you feel better, and it brightens those lives who really need it. Be happy you have a job but live a little and take some time for you and your loved ones, too. It is the right thing to do.