Articles and Rants of a Writer, GhostChaser, Improv Actor, Father, Husband, Activist, Yeah, that may cover it

Waiting for more Fun!

Well, there it is. I’ve been reading a lot about folks who resent that people get unemployment checks and seem to be enjoying their “time off.” The newest term is funemployment. Funemployment? I mean, yes, I am doing things during my days that are not related to job searches. I mean how much time does it take to go through the employment ads in the paper, check the state website for job listings there, search Monster and CareerBuilder, and send out resumes? At most that is a half hour, other days it can be ten minutes. There aren’t many jobs out there that I am qualified for, and some of those jobs I have applied for and am over-qualified.

So on to the “fun” in unemployment. The state allows me to make up to a certain amount of money part time before that impacts my unemployment check, but they don’t allow me to work on self-employment. That’s against the rules. I also can’t work at anything that involves getting a 1099. The part time work has to be “traditional” employers, so I can’t get part time work writing for E-Lance or GURU, or try to drum up some “one time” work scenarios, like acting gigs or whatever, because that’s considered self-employment. No matter that I only make a couple hundred a month (max) on things like that.

So all the fun has to be extremely budget-friendly. But if you are working on less than half of your former rate, believe me, you are limited in your discretionary spending.

Vacation? That’s out. Day trips? Depends on how much gas it’s going to take. Dining out? Extremely limited.

So unemployment is not really funemployment. It’s a temporary state that you endure, and try to make the best of. If you envy or begrudge people without jobs, you should try walking a mile in their shoes. But be aware, the shoes have seen better days.

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Don’t get me wrong here. I am making the best of my time on the dole. Life isn’t miserable, it’s actually pretty good, but a lot of that has to do with love, family and mental state, not cash in hand.

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