CHRISTMAS WHEN YOUR UNEMPLOYED AND BROKE

By: Patrick A. Fargo - [business]

I published an article about a year ago on the subject of "Over Fifty and Unemployed". At the time I was looking for work as our savings dwindled to zero. Somehow with my wife's hard work we stayed above water for almost a year and a half. I sit here this Christmas with about $12.00 in the bank, our house payment and two car payments overdue by a month, and wonder what next year will bring.

This Christmas will be very different from my last 52. On my mind is how we will survive. It is not a matter of credit card bills, or how much to spend on our grandchildren, it is how to pay for food next week. I count out quarters from my change jar to go shopping for food.

After eighteen years of schooling (I have a M.S. in Computer Science), and 27 years in corporate America, this is what my life has come down too. For the past 9 months I have sent off over 750 applications for employment and had 1 interview. I spend an average of 10 hours a day seeking work, applying for jobs I know I can do well, and never get a phone call. I have sent our mailings to local companies, tried to network with those I keep in contact with, and still nothing. For the past 19 years I was employed, I was rated Exceptional by my boss, and yet no one is interested in me.

It was necessary for me to take out a college loan for my daughter to allow her to continue school. There will be no presents and if things get any worse no food for dinner. Every commercial on T.V. just makes you feel worse. You see people shopping, ads for gift giving, people happy and stable. I feel discriminated against, because we have no money. Who would believe this could happen to them?

Being an optimistic, I have always felt I can handle any situation. During my employment, I would constantly get calls from recruiters trying to lure me to a better job, and I continued to stay where I was and be loyal. I am a thinker and have saved companies I worked for over $30 million. This is no brag, just fact. One morning I challenged our legal department over the need for licenses in each state to do work as a telecom company, and found state statute exceptions saving us over $4 million. To makes things worse, I know if I could get in front of the decision makers and talk about employment I would get a job. Why didn't I see this coming? What is happening to me?.

The key attribute that I believe is responsible for this lack of interest is my age. If you are under 50 you will say I am just lazy or I lack the skills necessary in today's corporation but I warn you the real truth is nobody is interested in you if you are over 50 years old. I have hundreds of emails from people all across America with similar stories. People have spent more than 30 years with the same company to find themselves let go in a lazy hour on a Friday afternoon, after their company's stock has fallen so low that their retirement funds are gone. It is happening everyday to thousands of people. Corporate America has become a cold and heartless home for the greedy executives with little concern for the employees. Corporate executives earning as much as 500 times the average employee take their company into financial ruin and receive millions in compensation. The unions are gone and with them the last representation of the employee. Some corporations have laid-off more than half of their staff and yet the executive level has not been touched. The irony is that you could save over 50 jobs by laying off one vice president. But who makes the decision to layoff the people? The executives.

I am a survivor. There is some hope next year will be better. But so many things work the wrong way when you are having money problems. First, they all charge you large late fees that just compounds the problems. None of them show a heart and understand your situation. Instead they call and call and tack on more and more late fees and threats. In the meantime, your credit plummets. Ours went from over 750 scores to under 550 scores in less than 4 months. Because our income is lower, we now have too much debt relative to our income. No one will lend us money. We have an attorney and prepared to file for Chapter 7 protection to eliminate our debt, but we cannot afford to pay the attorney the $1,700 he want to file. Amazing, everywhere we turn, there is a closed door.

There are a few glimmers of hope. We are trying to pull some equity out of our home with a lender that will do people with low scores, but while he is trying to get us approved, our bills continue to become late and our scores may drop below their limit. I have an opportunity presented by one of my former employers that may help me obtain a job next year, but the next 4 weeks are critical. All we have to show for our last 27 years of hard work are our possessions. I suppose if we sold off everything we had we could survive for another year or so. Not a pretty picture.

Let me end by saying that even after all of this I am thankful for my children, my wife and friends. Some of our friends have been amazing and helping us without question. To those of you complaining about the boss, or your last raise, or the cost of gasoline I say wake up. Wake-up on Christmas and look around you. It is not a God-given right you have to your house, your car or your job. Never forget that no matter how tough things get, there is someone worse off than you. Merry Christmas.

Patrick Fargo is the author of various articles and books on management, software and the internet. He has a manuscript for a book titled, "Management Evolution: Why Companies are Failing" completed and is looking for a publisher. Visit his site to see some of his articles and other "works of art" at http://www.patrickfargo.com Pat can be contacted via email at pfargo@e....

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