Someone Please Kill Me Now
I’ve spent the last few days trying to get ready for a major lifestyle adjustment. After a very long period of unemployment, I’m getting ready to start the worst job of my life on Monday working for the Census Bureau. I never thought I would stoop so low as to become a government employee. Someone please kill me now.
The economy began to tank just around the time that I started looking for a job over a year ago. Since then, the energy I’ve devoted to searching for worthwhile opportunities has fluctuated dramatically. At first I had reasonably high hopes that I might find something in keeping with my skills and experience, but those hopes evaporated pretty quickly. Over time, I’ve gradually lowered my expectations to the point that I would consider almost anything just to get out of the house.
We’ve actually been fortunate that we’re able to live on Jennifer’s income, but we haven’t had much of a cushion in the event of something unforeseen. Unfortunately, the meager wage I will be earning won’t provide much of a cushion either. I will actually be earning less than I did at my first job fresh out of graduate school over 20 years ago.
I won’t be one of the folks going door to door, but I think I would probably enjoy that more than what I will be doing. For the first time in my life I will be stuck in an office for 8 hours a day with a very narrowly defined set of responsibilities. I will probably go postal in the first week.
The job is full-time, but it is also temporary. The best info I’ve gotten so far is that it could last anywhere from a couple of months to a couple of years. The likelihood of me lasting two years doing mind-numbing administrative work is pretty slim.
Going back to work is going to create some serious logistical problems for our family. Last summer we decided that since Jennifer works at home, we could get along with just one car. We’ve had no problems sharing since then, but now I’m not sure how this arrangement is going to work out. We’re going to have to figure out a way to get me to work and Robert to daycare without leaving Jennifer completely stranded. I’ve thought about buying a second car, but for a temporary job that could end at any time it doesn’t make much sense.
Being unemployed has allowed me to devote a lot of time to doing things I enjoy. I started this blog exactly one year ago, and I have invested a huge amount of time in it’s care and feeding. Hopefully I can keep it up, but don’t be surprised if I fall of the radar for extended periods of time. I’ve also been spending about two hours a day on my walking and exercise routine. That’s definitely going to be hard to keep up, but I will do my best. Fortunately, the RAC is open until 10:30.
I’ve also volunteered a lot of my time over the past year, and I am frantically trying to finish up a major project for Gallop 4 The Greenways this week. I’m cutting it close, but I think I can have a new fundraising website up and running before Monday rolls around.
Since October I’ve served on the board of the Economic Development Authority, and I am hoping to score one of the 30 volunteer spots for the upcoming Creative Communities Leadership Program. The selections are supposed to be announced sometime this week, and I am seriously torn over the possibility of conflict with what is likely to be a very inflexible work schedule. If a choice has to be made, I would probably quit the crappy job and focus on the CCLP instead. The difference I could make there will hopefully lead to more promising opportunities in the future.
Dear Chris,
You neglect to mention that your wife (the one with income) is a government employee. I don’t think working for the government is stooping low. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!
Your saintly wife
My Saintly Wife,
I try not to hold it against you.
Chris,
I work for a big bank. The government owns 45% of us now. Pretty soon, I’ll be working for the government too! Let me know how it goes.
Sam
[Don't see a date on the blog but judging from the dates of the comments, the blog is pretty recent. Cool, so at least I don't have to feel weird about replying to a Blog written years ago...]
in any case, I would really like to see a picture of you Chris and of your saintly wife Jennifer. that would really make my day :-))
I was bored and googling “please kill me now” and came across your blog. Very well written, funny, a little sad (but funny), and intro-spective (which equates to intelligent to me in most ways).
Well, today is my b-day, I’m feeling a bit blue… turned 33, accomplished nothing in my life. Yes I do have a job, yes I have an Ivy league education, yes I am without a worries about meeting basic life needs. But there is still this big void in me knowing that I have done nothing worthwhile beside making a living to feed and cloth myself…
Chris, I can only say I feel the despair and frustration just like you… But you have something I don’t have… an obviously funny and supportive wife… I hope you will always cherish her… in the “About me” section of your blog, I don’t think you mentioned her, I think you should :-))
Best of luck to you both,
Jack
Terminated from job due to failing drug test.Denied unemployment insurance.Can’t find a job. And do not think I will be able to find anything half decent because of what I’ve done. Savings are getting low. Right now I am really not sure what to do . I do know I made a terrible decision and ended up getting caught ;now I’m paying for it, BIG TIME.There’s got to be something I can do to redeem myself.Any constructive suggestions would be appreciated.Thanks77 plus days clean.
whatever!!!!!!!!!!kill me now!!!!!!!
i find it sad that someone who so willingly bashes their new job found a new job in the first place and shocking that your employer wouldn’t (or hasn’t) fired you for your remarks yet. i wish i could find a job – and if i did, i certainly wouldn’t go online and rant about disliking it.
Hiring Employers, given the choice between 2 equally qualified candidates, and all other things being equal, generally will prefer the candidate who’s recently worked (doing anything, anywhere) than the one who hasn’t worked at all. So working, doing anything, is better than doing nothing.
yes it is- unemployed since January
Hey 2012 doesn’t seem to be getting any better. Graduating in may with a double major, honors, and a couple of solid internships, and great letters of rec. Having been turned down on roughly 40 applications to jobs in my field, plus a few inner city teaching jobs, I decided to start looking for min wage work. I worked at burger king in high school and can’t even get a job back there. What is wrong with me? Do I have a criminal record that I don’t know about?
People doing **** they don’t want (aka work) to earn money… the horror!
LOL, welcome to the real world old man… guess you’ve just been extremely priviledged/lucky for the first half of your life.