Fired for Now Discussion Forum

I never thought I'd say this, but I miss working. It's been almost two years since I was laid off and it's getting very old.

I miss living on my own, not with my parents. They've been great and I couldn't ask for better parents but it's just embarrasing. I can pretty much forget about finding a date as long as I'm a 30 year old "basement dweller".

I miss being able to buy things on impulse. I was never rich but I did well enough to have a nice place to live and afford luxury items like video games and DVDs When I first got laid off I was still able to buy some of those things but that list got smaller and smaller until now even a muffin from Dunkin Donuts is a treat.

I miss having a positive balance in my checking account all the time. Now I'm lucky if it stays in the black for more than a week.

I miss not having to grovel for low level jobs that I would never have considered before only to be rejected even for them!

The only good thing about this whole mess is I get to sleep in every morning but I would trade that in a heartbeat for even a job at a call center. I fear that if this keeps up I'm going to have to bite the bullet and start applying for jobs in retail stores. But something tells me even those will be taken.

Even those retail jobs aren't easy to snag any more. Check out Norm's experience at joblessandlessdotcom (the forum would allow me to post a URL).

Plenty of us are in your shoes, be they heels or flats. You're now a basement dweller, I'm trying to figure out how to pay for COBRA when the payment is as much as my mortgage once the subsidy runs out this month.

They say the longer you're unemployed the harder it is to get a job. Historically, that may be correct. But now it's just a matter of fact that the longer we're unemployed the more jobs still continue to be lost and the options are beyond dwindling.

Ah well, this too shall pass. But I'm not sure where we'll wind up and when. Until then I'll juggle with the decision, COBRA vs Mortgage. I think the mortgage comes first, and lots of vitamins.

Good luck...