Life in the Unemployed Lane

It's not all about money – there's your head too

I became unemployed a month ago. I got the dreaded pink slip the day after I received my paycheck and repaid my Payday Loan. My slip was yellow, but it carried the same black message. The department is being closed down. I had nothing to do with it. I had been the company writer, hammering out technical specs, proposals for work, marketing material, whatever needed writing. My unofficial title was "Official Writer."

Everyone’s losing their jobs

It wasn't a surprise. The work scene had been steadily declining with the hi-tech drift over the past months and I watched in silence as more and more of the staff was fired. I was kept on until the end, in case a new request for a proposal came in - the big one that would stave off the end. It never arrived.

Life in the old-age lane

So I find myself two months short of 69 with nothing to do. I have a pension, true, but it is calculated in some esoteric way and the result is "thin." Interest rates on our savings range between zero and low and what comes in is about enough to see us through the first two weeks of each month, if we live quietly and breathe shallow.

Restless nights

My nights are restless and sleep is frequently interrupted as the problems surface. Then I manage to turn my thoughts to some pleasant incident and I drop off again, only to wake an hour later. In front of the TV in the early evening hours I am the champion sleeper, unable to keep my eyes open. ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "Life in the Unemployed Lane"