Fire on the keyboard......

I used to exist in a perpetual state of outrage. There is so much injustice slapping us around on a daily basis, and the world can be a cold, heartless place. My letters to the editor of whatever publication I was nearest at the time were filled with pleas to City Hall, our legislators, even the dog catcher if he got out of line. No one was safe from my scathing keyboard.


I am still a believer in the power of the individual. And, as a teacher, I passed that torch to teenagers who struggled with the same kinds of feelings I had, but they had no clue how to make themselves heard. They know now.

But I don't get too involved any more in the daily turning of the planet. My shoulders are worn down from all the burdens I carried for myself as well as others, and I have to say that I don't see that much has improved during my lifetime of speaking out. So, today I write creatively and professionally, and I dance. Those of you who are regular followers of my journey know that I'm happier for it, too. The aging process tends to mellow us out a bit, and provides some perspective in many ways.

But every one in a while, something happens that really smacks me between the eyes. And I can't stay silent.

A young woman I know was recently told by her employer (who was also supposedly a friend) that the business had to cut back. No surprises there. Millions of folks are in the same situation, laid off through no fault of their own, put out on the street to line up, applications in hand, to compete for very few job openings. I've been there, and you probably have, too.


But this employer took a despicable action to prevent the employees from filing unemployment. They are kept on the company's books with the designation "as needed." And ever since this young woman has been "as needed," which has been over three months, she hasn't been needed once. Not once. She has really been laid off, but is being prevented from filing for some help while she looks for work in a damaged economy. Is it any wonder cities across this country are being occupied?

My daughter was laid off yesterday, too. She has been working one full time job and two part time jobs to make ends meet, and has been happy to do so. She grew up watching me work from before dawn until I literally couldn't stand up any more, and has inherited that work horse gene.

She lost the full time job yesterday, but she filed for unemployment before the sun went down.  That's the way it's supposed to work, and it's what we pay taxes for.

But the other young woman is sinking fast. Her "employer" won't release her, so she can't file for help. Get a lawyer, some folks advise. And pay them with what?

My keyboard is  on fire again.

How do people like that sleep at night?

Delay in justice is injustice.

You will be us.....

I can remember rolling my eyes and sighing when an "old" person started a statement with something like, "When I was young.....!" And then everyone had to listen to a detail-laden rant about whatever the topic of the hour happened to be. Why were they always so MAD, I wondered?

Ah, time......it adds perspective, I'm finding. But the fact is that the world is going to explode from its own insanity and it will probably be soon. After all, it started way back with the elders among the cave folks complaining about methods of berry-gathering and skinning mastiffs and how their kids only wanted to shoot each other with rocks instead of helping out, you know the drill. Just insert time-appropriate details through the ages and then track it through your grandparents and their grandparents. Older people have been alerting everyone for hundreds of years to the upcoming apocalypse, and no one has ever paid any attention, other than the eye-rolling and sighing.

So, why would anyone listen to my rants? You know, the one about the computer voices we have to endure when we call, well, just about anyone these days. I just spent 6 minutes (I timed it...I'm old, after all) listening to information I don't need in order to get to an actual human being who first asked me if I wanted to take part in a survey when we were all done with our business. A survey?? Are you kidding? They actually want to hear my opinion of the ridiculous "customer service" system that answers the phone for them? Oh, wait...if you've ever taken one of those surveys, it's a computerized voice interacting with you, and the choices offered don't even come close to offering me a choice that I really want to give. Not even close, believe me.

Or the article I read, in a real hold-it-in-your-hand magazine that comes in an actual outside-my-door mailbox, that reported this apocalyptic fact: More and more employers are refusing to interview unemployed people for jobs the company has open. If you haven't heard about this yet, go ahead and re-read that statement. I'll wait for you.

OK, did you throw things at the screen when you read it again? I just about threw the magazine across the room. The impending explosion of the world as we know MUST be near, don't you think?

When I was young, employers put a job posting in the newspaper and welcomed the unemployed who starting lining up at their door on the right day. According to this article, the unemployed are now viewed with mistrust and are not allowed to apply. After all, what transgression did they commit to be without a job? Well, if they're politicians, the article might have a valid point. But let's assume the article was talking about normal folks who really work for a living. That's what the article reported. More and more employers only want the employed to apply for job openings. And when I mentioned this fact (OK....it was more than a "mention"....it was a rant) to someone at a gathering the other day, they had heard about it, too. I didn't conjure the whole thing up on my own in an exercise-induced trance. It's actually happening, in this recession when good people, millions of them, have been downsized, "offered" early retirement, and otherwise booted out the doors of businesses all over this country.

And then to be told, "Sorry...don't apply here unless you already have a job." ?

So, YES!  I might be "a wonderfully mature woman" (or old to some readers), but I'm sick of computer voices and store "associates" who have the maturity of 12 year olds telling me I have to call an 800 number to get a refund and idiots not offering people work when they have it to offer.

Go ahead and roll your eyes, people under 40. I know you don't get it, or us, yet....but you will. Oh, yes. Someday you will.



If the Apocalypse comes, beep me.

Buffy, the vampire slayer