The Comcast Gods Have Silenced Me

Note: I have now been trying to post the post below for TWO FULL DAYS. Every time I try to post it, my Comcast cable broadband connection goes kerflooey and stays so for hours at a time. Comcast then attempts to tell me that it's something wrong with my computer, even though the connection was working minutes earlier and no change was made to the settings. I'm getting a wee teeny bit tired of Comcast, to say the very least.

I'll try this again:
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I've done what I can to enlarge that so it's readable, but Blogger has its own ideas of how large a picture can be, apparently. What you see above is a letter from the Illinois Department of Employment Security, otherwise known as the unemployment office. The letter is explaining why my application for benefits has been denied.

Here's the reason, in its entirety.

"The claimant was discharged from: BUTTWEASEL INC because: OF SLEEPING ON THE JOB. Since the reason for which the claimant was discharged constituted a violation of a known and reasonable company rule, the claimant was discharged for misconduct connected with the work."

I opened this letter, and within seconds both Tim and the cats had fled to various safe corners of the house. I was furious. "Furious" is actually a grave understatement. "Sleeping on the job"?? That information came from one of two places: either it came directly from Buttweasel Inc, or it came from my "caseworker" at the unemployment office. (She gets irony-quotes because when I called her, she loftily informed me that she was just about to go to lunch when I called, and when I offered to call back, she was gracious enough to actually take my call--with several breaks in the conversation so that she could negotiate with co-workers as to who was going for sandwiches, how much they would cost, and how much change she expected. Then, weeks later when I'd still heard nothing back from her, I left a message every day for five days sequentially and she never returned my call ONCE.)

Regardless of where this reinterpretation of my medical condition as "sleeping on the job" came from, it is wholly inaccurate and a gross distortion of the facts. We're talking about lapses in consciousness lasting 15-60 seconds at a time--they make it sound like I fluffed up a pillow, stuck a thumb in my mouth, and pulled up my blankie for a nice long nap. Needless to say, I WILL be appealing, and I WILL be requesting a different caseworker. I've called my doctor and asked for copies of my diagnosis, and proof that I'd made the appointment before I was fired. Once I have those, I'm going straight to the office and pleading my case. But regardless of whether or not they reverse their decision, I've decided: I do NOT like bureaucracies.

I have had ONE offer of employment, however. It was for a one-year contract position, no guarantee of work beyond that point--and it was 40 miles from home. One way. On two of the four most ghastly expressways in the Chicago metropolitan area: the Eisenhower (290) and the Elgin-O'Hare (90). I went to my interview at 1:30 on a Friday, and the traffic heading out there wasn't bad--but the reverse trip, at about 3:00, took me the better part of two hours. I am not sacrificing four hours a day to go to a job which could easily dump me at the end of the contract and leave me back in the same situation I'm in now. They wouldn't even be giving me benefits; I'd have to get them through the recruiting firm's insurance plan, which isn't that great. And worst of all, they weren't even willing to pay me what I was asking--I had raised my requirements when I realized how much gas I'd be burning, and how much wear and tear I'd be putting on the truck. The recruiter said the client was very interested in me, which...yeah, nice, but....I told him I'd have to pass.

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This is as far as I've managed to get in my effort to compose this post without Comcast kerfloo-age taking place. In the two days that have elapsed as I've attempted to post this:

1. The nonprofit job turned out to be offering not-nearly-enough money to make it worth my while;

2. Still no word on the other job--the manager's still sick;

3. With about five hours' notice yesterday, LJ showed up.
(No, I was not pleased either. He'll only be here for a day or so--he didn't bring any clothes with him, and plus he has his friend Damien's car, so he CAN'T be staying long...I devoutly hope. He came in about 2 AM, to tell me he'd just been robbed as he waited for one of his friends to get off work as a bouncer at a nearby club--the robber pulled a pistol and got $6 and a non-working cell phone for his trouble. Stupid.)

There have been other developments, as well, financial-and-I-don't-mean-that-in-a-good-way in nature, but I'm going to keep those gory details to myself for a bit. So far, nothing irrevocable has happened, and I'm working to make sure it stays that way...but the holidays are coming at a mighty-inconvenient time, this year.

I don't think I've ever looked forward to January so much before.