Myrydyan's Search for a Miracle

Things were going well for us. My husband had a good job at a local hospital. It was a job that provided enough hours to cover our bills, yet it also allowed time for his education. I had a part time job that basically covered our rent. Life was good, so, we applied for a credit card and invested in a time share that allowed us to take a much needed vacation. My son was going to school in a good area, getting good grades, playing his bass, and investing in his own technological toys. We didn’t see what our future had to offer though.

Last October, my husband lost his job. Ouch! He was the primary bread winner. It was his earning that went towards our everyday bills plus our investment. He applied for unemployment but after much wasted paper, time, and energy, they denied him benefits. They claimed that there were too many jobs available for his field of work. Yes there were a few but when there is only one position and a hundred applicants, what are the chances? Oregon was at its all time high for unemployment rate, 8.9%, the highest in the nation.

Months passed and the bills piled up, the phone calls began, and our dreams were being shot down the drain. In February, my husband filed for an early withdraw from the stocks he had invested in through his employment. Another ouch! What else were we supposed to do? My part-time job wasn’t doing it. We used this money to pay on some immediate bills and the rest went to our time share. They were the most annoying creditors. We figured that we could pay them the back balance and a month up front while we got settled and still stick to our contract. Well, we can dream can’t we?

Finally, my husband landed a job. Whew! Things were going to be okay. He wasn’t working enough hours to catch up on everything plus pay on our time share and finance charges on a credit card; but at least our daily needs were going to be met. Our time share creditors made sure we remembered them though, they called every other day. I was seriously considering talking to an attorney regarding harassment. I was almost relieved when we lost our phone. At least they couldn't harass me now. Things never really got easier though; in fact, they got a little more stressful. My son was getting ready to go off to college. Double Ouch! We didn’t buy him extravagant stuff, just the basics for a kid going to dorm it up, but it sure did hurt the pocket book. We were robbing Peter to pay Paul so we could borrow from Mary again.

So now the kid is gone and life should seem to get easier. Nope, fat chance! As of just this past October, I lost my job of nearly four years. We weren’t even caught up from the last loss. Well, I did my deed and marched right into the unemployment office, after all, the unemployment rate is still at 8.2% and still the highest in the nation. I may have only been working part time but that was our rent money and I need some compensation. I filled out the lengthy application and now the wait was on. Meantime, I accepted a job at a Chevron for much less per hour. I was okay with that, it was better than nothing. I worked a four hour shift and was forced to let it go due to an injury I suffered later that same night. I popped a bone in the top of my foot which caused severe pain and swelling. Unfortunately for me, I had no money to go to the doctor. This affected me more than one way.

I finally received a letter from the unemployment office stating that I had been approved for benefits. Yeah! Finally, maybe something will start going right. The very next day, I got another letter from the unemployment office, along with some forms. They wanted to know about my injury on one form and the reason I quit on another from. No problem.

A week later, I find out that my unemployment benefits have been denied. According to the Employment Department, my benefits are denied until claimant (me) has earned “remuneration” equivalent to four times the weekly benefit amount because I left a job without good cause. First of all, an injury is a good reason. The problem lies in the fact that I don’t have any documentation for it. I can appeal the decision, which I have done, but that takes 4-6 weeks before I even have a hearing, or I can earn about $500 after taxes. So, I figured I would try to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. I’d work for my rent and satisfy the Employment Department’s request for remuneration. Talk about going in circles. This dizzying cycle has given me a headache and has greatly increased my anxiety.

The next day, I called the Employment Department to ask if working for my landlord in exchange for rent counted towards my remuneration. I can’t believe they told me that it didn’t. In order for this work to count, he would have to actually put me on the payroll, deduct taxes, and pay unemployment benefits. This is crazy! I owe the man money. He isn’t going to want to pay anything out on me, besides, work is work and it is a form of compensation. According to

the definition of the word, it should apply.

Remuneration:

1: something that remunerates : RECOMPENSE, PAY
2: an act or fact of remunerating .

I never even received one payment and now it looks like I won’t be getting one at all, unless I win at my hearing four weeks from now. Unfortunately, this doesn't help me now. The nearly four years I spent at my previous job now has no bearing on my case. I didn’t know I was going to injure my foot. If I had known I would have never even taken the job and now I wish I hadn’t because it messed everything up

Because of these circumstances as well as the fact that 50% of my husband’s shifts have been cancelled, we are now in a heap of trouble. As of December 4^th, 2003, we are 2 months behind on rent, behind on utility payments and we lost the insurance on one car. We don’t live in a fancy place but $1300 for rent is a lot more than we have right now, the second car isn’t mine but my son was letting me use it to look for work, and just the other day, we got a disconnect notice from the utility company. This says nothing for the fact that we have almost no food left in the house which is bad since my son will be home for 3 weeks from college, not to mention that Christmas for us this year is simply out of the question.

I am scared. I usually bounce back pretty well from these type of trials but as an ex-coworker pointed out to me recently, I'm not bouncing back very well this time. Maybe it is because I really haven't had a chance to recuperate and heal.

We are not a bad family. We work hard, although I do wish I was capable of working more but fibromyalgia prevents that. I also am dealing with chronic depression, which is only in part, related to the fibromyalgia. We try to live good and decent lives and I don’t believe that we have lived irresponsibly. I do believe that there maybe lessons for us to learn from this time of tribulation but it's hard to see them when you are in the midst of the storm.

Well, this concludes my “sob story.” I really don’t mean to sound so negative; I’m just stating the facts. This really is our story. I do know though, that we can get back up on our feet with a little help from a few good heroes.