The Hardest thing about being Unemployed

Anyone who has worked as a rank and file Union member working in this strange business we call the “Exposition Industry” has had to make it through some pretty tough times. Just a few short years ago, there was not even close to the amount of Convention Centers that are in existence today. And the Convention Centers that have been around for a while were not nearly as large as they are today. The Convention industry back then was a seasonal, part time industry at best. Convention Centers usually had 1 or 2 small halls with some adjoining meeting rooms. A large show was a half million pounds.

So what did the workers do when the Convention Industry was slow? Where did they go? Some went to move household furniture. That is where a lot of the early Convention Contractors went to get their freight labor. Some workers went back to sign painting or carpentry work. That is where a lot of the Convention Decorators came from back then. But a lot of the out-of-work Convention workers that didn't have those job opportunities available to them so off they went to the good old "Unemployment Hall".

If you can remember far enough back to recall those early days when the Unemployment Hall was as dreaded a place to visit as the DMV or the Dentist Office. But there was no way around it. To file for unemployment you had to visit one of those miserable places and sit there the better part of the day. It was humiliating to say the least. It seemed that no one in the place spoke English, including the “employment counselors” as they were called back then. You started at the information window, window #1. Then you moved on to window #2 then to window #3 and so on. In between all of these windows you would sit with a bunch of people that looked like they just came to America yesterday. And some probably did.

When all of your interviews and form filings were completed you finally got to go home and wait for that check to arrive. It always seemed like it took forever. Of course, along with your check was a small form that you had to answer concerning your on-going unemployment. They wanted to know if you were going to school or if you were going to be working next week. They also asked if you were too sick to work. And of course, if you did work that week. they wanted to know how much you earned and the number of hours you worked. Every now and then they would even schedule you to a face-to-face interview. You would have to go back into that dreaded office so that they could ask you the same questions that the forms have been asking you all along, but this time they could watch you facial expressions to see if you were lying.

Well folks, don't despair. This is the modern era of Conventions and Convention Centers. They are bigger and better then ever. The job is not so seasonal anymore although it still seems to slow down around Christmas time for obvious reasons. Convention Centers are growing and adding broadband availability at an incredibly fast rate. Yes. High tech is here. So I'll bet that the procedures for filing for unemployment must be easier and faster than ever before. Wrong! While the world progresses, EDD is taking giant leaps backwards. Read on.

First of all, the Unemployment Office is no longer called the “Unemployment Office”. It is now called the “Employment Development Department” or EDD. There are no more offices. No offices? Then how do we file? Where do we go? Here is where the new technology comes into play. If you have an Internet connection available to you (and of course everyone does, right?) then you may file on-line. If not. then you may call their 1-800 number. This is where the ease-of-use part stops. The E.D.D. 800 number is a plain and simple joke. You can wait for up to 30 minutes and still be cut off or you can listen patiently to the information that you have heard over and over again just to have them tell you that the “maximum number of callers has been reached. Please call back at another time”. It is one of the most frustrating things I have ever had to endure.

I thought that maybe the clog in the system was due to an influx of unemployed people due to the 9-11 tragedy. But it is now several years after 9-11 and the situation has not gotten any better. I suppose that the people at EDD just figure that since we are unemployed anyway then we obviously have a lot of time on your hands and can sit and wait on the phone for as long as they want to make us wait or have us just keep re-dialing all day long. How is someone supposed to be out looking for work when they must spend so much time dialing phones just to get through to EDD just for even some basic information?

I find it hard to believe that there is no solution to this problem. Personally I would rather be stuck on hold for long periods of time then to just be cut off and told to call back later. That has got to be the rudest thing I have ever heard. Could you imagine a company answering the phone like that? They would be put out of business in a month.

Why here is a novel idea, Hey EDD, how about putting in a few voice mail boxes? Oh I see. You are right. If you put in voice mail boxes then there would be no excuses for your over paid, under educated, red-tape creating employees to shirk their responsibilities. If EDD were to implement voice mail or (heavens forbid) actually hire some more operators, then the EDD employees wouldn't be able to sit around on their fat asses and play on the internet all day while drawing a paycheck.

I may sound a little bitter or angry right now but I have seriously attempted no less then 30 times to get through to EDD since last Wed. That is absolutely absurd. No company could ever run that way and our tax dollars are paying for this service. I feel so ripped off.

I am extremely thankful that the Convention industry is growing and getting stronger so that being laid off due to lack-of-work is happening less frequently. Maybe someday it will even be a thing of the past. But in the mean time, keep dialing those phones folks. Maybe you will get lucky. Hell if you were lucky, you wouldn't be unemployed now would you?