Posted on 11/02/2004 8:38:08 AM PST by Willie Green
I ran into a relative at a wedding this weekend. We hadn't seen each other since the last family wedding, three years ago. I asked how her daughter was doing, and this story came pouring out.
Her daughter's husband was laid off in July from a company where he had worked for 28 years. He will miss out on his pension and faces job-hunting now at age 52. His wife is working 50 hours a week and fears making any missteps at her job because she is now carrying the family's health insurance. He's depressed and is a scatterbrained substitute mom to their two busy teenagers.
This is a sad story, to be sure, but a common one. Three years ago, when I last saw this relative, my husband was out of work. At that time, she asked, "Can't he just take another job? Oh, well, I guess he can't accept just anything."
I didn't go into sad detail with her back then. I don't like to retail my misery -- unless, of course, I can do so in the pages of a newspaper and get paid for it.
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
The resident FR Bush hater rears his head on Elecion Day.
You are my sunshine my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You'll never know dear how much I love you
So please don't take my sunshine away
The other night dear as I lay dreaming
I dreamt that you were by my side
Came disillusion when I awoke dear
You were gone and then I cried
You are my sunshine my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You'll never know dear how much I love you
So please don't take my sunshine away
You told me once dear there'd be no other
That no one else could come between
But now you've left me to love another
You have broken all my dreams
You are my sunshine my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You'll never know dear how much I love you
So please don't take my sunshine away
Happy Election Day Willie!
Heheheh.
"He will miss out on his pension and faces job-hunting now at age 52."
I don't understand how he will miss out on his pension.
After 28 years he must be vested!
Willie,
If we had some eggs we could fix bacon and eggs ... if we had some bacon.
Damn, you sure are a gloomy SOB
We pulled out of it, and we're back on our feet. The experience has made me braver because I know that I can make it through tough times. When my current boss is difficult, I think to myself, "What can you do to me, take my job?" I've been there. I can go there again.Last year, we started college savings plans for our daughters and bought them dress coats they could wear to the ballet. I tell people that the coats are my middle class dream, and then I laugh with relief and a little sadness. Most people don't get the joke, and I hope they never have to.
Layoffs are immoral and should be illegal.
Power to the people.
Workers of the world unite - you have nothing to lose but your chains.
...;)
This person is a whiner, but it is a valid observation about a lot of life's losses. I was one of the first I knew to be laid off in '01 (post Clinton's stock market crash). People had a "So sorry, but glad it wasn't me" attitude... Until it started to happen to them. I don't understand how her one relative is an unemployed nurse practitioner. On what planet would that happen on?
Laid off after 28 years and forfeits all pension rights, "Yeah right"
Hello Troll,
Before you go, make sure to add, "Layoffs will be outlawed under Kerry, and he will make minimum wage 100.00 an hour, so we'll all be wealthy."
Life is tough. The same thing happened to a friend of mine when Clinton was president - fired the month before he became eligible for a pension, after working for a company 19 years.
There have always been deceitful employers and always will be. And people will get laid off, get disabled, and run into financial trouble - That is why God gives us brains, to prepare and deal for the hard times when they come. And families to give us a hand.
People somehow always seem to think that good times are the natural way of life, and they are entitled to always do well. But the natural law is that nothing stays the same, good or bad, and you better be ready to deal.
No problem here.
I'm self employed. Because of that I don't have access to the "social safty net".
Maybe instead of "Get a job" it should be "Make your own darn job".
Still campaigning for Kerry I see.
Willie isn't a troll..He just posts every layoff in the US.
I can't see how, because he could have just taken a 1 year leave of absence to become pension eligible, if he just needed one month. unless you are saying he needed 1 year, 1 month, to qualify.
Go find a damn job!
I second your experience....
Of course he is. And he's been trolling for a long time on this site.
He's campaigning for Kerry on election day, if that isn't a troll, what is?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.