Being Unemployed Sucks

I was born on February 25, 1979, and grew up in a small town called Highland Falls in the state of New York. It was home to 3,000 residents and located 50 miles north of New York City. There was virtually no crime and everyone knew each other. We were all friendly with our neighbors; I guess you could say it was a typical American small town.

From a young age, I’ve always known the true value of a dollar. When I was as young as 6 years old, I used to save and combine my Christmas and Birthday money. Sure, my parents would always kick in the rest if I was short, but I always tried to save up enough money to buy toys and such. When I was 7 years old, I wanted to buy a 50cc Honda dirt bike for $150. I used $40 of my own money, my grandpa gave me $50, and my parents gave me the remaining $60.

At the young age of 10, I began earning money for myself. I would cut lawns for neighbors in the spring and summer, rake leaves in the fall, and shovel snow in the winter. I felt a sense of gratitude going outside and earning my own money rather than relying on my allowance for spending money.

Initially, I started mowing lawns with my father’s lawn mower. Within 2 months I used $50 I had saved up to purchase my own at a garage sale. I purchased rakes and snow shovels at the local hardware store. Depending on the job, I’d get anywhere from $10 to $25 for my work. The money earned was used to purchase CD’s, stereos, and CB Radio equipment. CB Radios were a huge hobby of mine at the time.

In 1994 I was 15 and I started my first job washing dishes at a place called the Park Restaurant. Everyone there was really nice, they made me feel like part of the family; most businesses in Highland Falls were family owned. To tell you the truth, I don’t even know how much I made per hour. It varied from week to week and I was always paid in cash. It didn’t matter to me, I was just happy to have a source of income. My earnings allowed me to go out with my girlfriend and purchase my first car, a 1984 Honda CRX HF.

My first car was a real piece of work. It had 4 different tires, used as much oil as it did gas, but I was proud to own it. I remember seeing it at a school bus stop on my way to school and I had to have it. The asking price of the car was $1,000, which was a bit out of my price range at the time. My parents offered to buy the car for me, but I refused. Instead, I convinced my father to co-sign on a 12 month loan. At the age of 16 I had no credit, so I couldn’t qualify on my own. My offer of $900 on the car was accepted and initially was paid by my dad until we could get the loan. I remember making payments of $81 a month and paid off the car myself over the course of a year.

I’ll spare you any additional details for now, but the bottom line is that my life was very good for 30 years. I was never rich, but we were comfortable.

My downward spiral came on the morning of April 17, 2009. My wife and I took that day off. We had planned a weekend trip to Atlanta, GA to visit my father who was there on business. As we were leaving our apartment, bags and luggage in hand, my phone rang. My boss was calling. I just figured they had run into a problem and needed my help. But I’ll never forget what he said to me.

He said, “Eric, there were layoffs in the company this morning, and I’m sorry to inform you that your name was on the list.” My heart sunk, I didn’t know what to say. My wife looked at me and asked what was wrong; I couldn’t answer her, I couldn’t answer my boss either. But she could tell from the look on my face what had happened. After a long pause, I said, “Thanks for letting me know, I’ll make sure to give you back my company laptop on Monday morning.” It was a Friday, and we figured we’d make the trip to Atlanta anyway since we had packed. On the way to Atlanta, an O2 sensor failed on my Jeep Cherokee, which caused it to run very rich and blow black smoke. Needless to say, at 8 MPG on the highway we ate up nearly $150 of fuel in Georgia alone. At least we made it there in one piece.

Upon our arrival, I didn’t know how to feel. I was really happy to see my father after being away from him for nearly one year, but I felt so disheartened about losing my job. My wife and I tried to relax and enjoy our trip, but it was impossible. We were right in the middle of purchasing our first home, and had put a notice in on our apartment. We wondered about where we’d live and how we’d get by. My father tried to comfort us, but the empty feeling I had inside wouldn’t go away.

In the end, we lost the house, our deposit on the house, and our apartment. I’ve done some temp work here and there, but nothing significant. We have been bouncing around since July of 2009.

My only hope is to find employment soon and get back on my feet so we can continue on this wild ride we call life.

Introduction

I originally created this blog 4 years ago, but I never really used it for much of anything. It was done as an experiment to see if it was something I’d enjoy doing. At the time, I was working long hours at a stressful job so I never had much time to devote to blogging.

Things are different now and time is of the essence, so to speak. I’m currently unemployed and looking for work, but there’s only so much job hunting you can do in one day. So, I figured, now is a good time to start over fresh.

On this blog, you can look forward to posts about my life and current events that impact all of us. Please feel free to comment or email any time.