My first lesson from unemployment is that unemployment is that I like to work. I haven't not-worked since I was 15. I often worked two or three jobs. My most recent professional position involved so much overtime it may as well have been two jobs.
Unemployment is boring.
I've read the news articles about the "funemployed." I have no idea who these people are. Are they independently wealthy? Travel the world, see the sights, spend all day and all night partying. Sounds fantastic. How they do this on no income is beyond me. I was smart and responsible. I have enough in savings to last me until October. If I don't have a job by then, well... I don't know.
For now, I've started this blog to keep myself from going stir-crazy. Why? Because this is boring!
For some background, I'm unemployed ... I suppose through choice. My fiance (I'll call him C.) and I thought we had safe jobs. I had worked hard to make sure I was too valuable to be laid off. My fiance's company had just poured millions into developing his department. We thought the only way we would get hurt by the recession was if the company I worked for went under. We were a bit worried about that, so we made sure we had enough in savings to last for a bit. I had plenty of contacts in my industry, so if my company did go under for any reason, we knew I'd have no problem finding another job.
We were totally blind-sided when my fiance's company announced they were consolidating, and almost all positions in Los Angeles would be eliminated. C's lab was being packed up and sent to New York.
About two weeks after the announcement, C's company came to him and offered a choice. If he wanted, there was a position for him in New York. All expenses paid move, a promotion and a 20% raise. He had one week to decide.
It was hard, but in the end, we decided that if one of us had to be unemployed, it might as well be me. There were very few jobs in his field in Los Angeles. We felt I was more employable, and I am far more comfortable interviewing than my painfully shy fiance. Plus, before graduating college, I had spent seven years waitressing. If all else failed, I could work as a waitress, right?
Ha! I've been in New York for almost two months now. I've had a few interviews for a professional job (analytical chemist), but nothing has panned out as of yet. I know it's still early. I'm not discouraged, just, as I said before, bored. When I fill out applications to waitress, it's either have a three year gap in my employment history or admit that my last job was as a chemist in Los Angles. I can't blame them for immediately assuming I'd only waitress for as long as it took me to get a "real" job.
It's time to do something about how bored I am. Today, I'm going for a walk. There is a very old, very famous cemetery down the street from my apartment. No more sitting around waiting to work.
