"Email: Job Hunting"

The young lady who posted her counter-OWS-protest photo has basically filled her blog with emails she has gotten in response. Some take her position, many don't. Of those who support her, the emails generally can be summarized, "ditto." Of those who don't support, few are as thoughtful or compelling as the one below.

For every apparent indolent layabout hefting signs on Wall Street or as clueless and as frankly stupid as this guy, there are hundreds of Americans who are this lady's situation. And the scorn being heaped upon Women's Studies majors who wonder why they are both unemployed and unemployable should not be transferred to the countless people like this woman. They get no news coverage. So I will help give them voice.

I think the only reason I haven't joined the protest . . is because I'm pretty sure that the only people who could actually do anything to help. . .feel the way you do about it. Which is unfortunate. I'm young. I have experience in retail, sales, cashiering, desk work, cleaning, and assembly line work. I'm friendly. I'm competent. I have good references.

I have turned in over 200 job applications in the past year. Everything from McDonalds to housekeeping to receptionist positions. I've applied to clean kennels at the animal shelter. I've applied to sell phones. Everything I can think of. I went to the mall Store Directory and applied to every. Store. They. Have.

I have called every single one of them. I have had one interview for a permanent position. I didn't get it.

The only jobs I've been able to get are temp jobs. Full time, minimum wage. Unreliable. It's not enough to pay the bills. I'm not in debt. I have a roommate. She works. We recycle, we don't waste anything. We reuse plastic dishes. We compost our fruits and vegetables to put in the soil, so we can grow food and vegetables at home. We do everything in our power to spend as little as possible.

My husband just returned from deployment. His military job filled his position while he was gone, and refused to hire him back. He's highly skilled - and can't find work.

Tomorrow I will be going to the local DHS office to beg for food stamps so I can feed my daughter. Because the other option is to buy groceries and lose . . .what? Electricity? Water? The place we're renting?

I know. "Internet". Because it's a luxury.

Except the bit where nearly every place of business requires . . what? Yeah, you have to go to their website and fill out an application. Online. They don't have paper applications any more. Most don't even have the computer you can sit down at in the store.

I have spent two hours, every day, at my computer. Filling out applications. Replying to CL job ads. Looking through CareerBuilder and Jobfinder and the state jobs listing.

I just . . I just hope you realize, in some deep part of your soul, that it really IS that bad. That people are trying. And losing hope. And giving up.

I'm not ready for that yet - if I weren't a mom, though, I probably would be. It's so hard to be rejected like that, over and over, when all you want to do is work. To earn enough to get by.

Your blog is your opinion. And it's your right. You don't have to care what I have to say here. I'm not asking you to completely rethink your position. I just needed to say, from one human being to another - they aren't all lazy hippies. Some just don't know what else to do at this point.

Jobs don't want them. Employees won't hire them. For one reason or another, their lives fell apart. And these protests, I believe, give them a sense of community, like. . .somehow, MAYBE, it might make a difference.